“It is.”
“Should we count the coins?” As soon as the words are out of my mouth, we hear a voice coming from the front of the house.
“Yoo-hoo.” It’s a man’s voice. “Lou? You here?”
“That’s Bill,” she whispers. Glancing down at everything on the table, I’m about to reach for something to cover it when Lou shouts back, “Just a second, Bill.”
But it’s too late. He’s already found us. “Hey…” He stops speaking. “Holy moly, Lou. What’s all that?” His arm is raised, and his finger is pointing at the loot.
Who says holy moly anymore? Or yoo-hoo for that matter?
Lou’s leaning against the plywood table, arms crossed. “What can I do for you, Bill?”
“I, uh, stopped by to see if you needed any help today.”
Odd. He’s in dress slacks, button-down shirt, dress shoes, and a tie.
There’s no way in hell this guy is here to work.
Glancing up at the ceiling, I scan the room quickly. And that’s when I see it. As casual as possible, I take a step over to Bill. “Hi, Bill. We met when I bought my new sneakers.” I raise my hand to shake his, but he hesitates. I swear I see him flinch a little. “You gave me a T-shirt.”
He doesn’t smile. He doesn’t acknowledge my comment about the shoe purchase or the free shirt. “When did you get back into town?”
“A couple of hours ago. Lou called. Said she needed help. So, I came.”
“Hm.” Bill crosses his arms over his chest, and I’m relieved because I have a feeling Bill didn’t show up to help. “Last I heard, you left her high and dry and that she hated you.” He points my way as he looks at Lou. “Bella told me.”
“She did?” Lou sounds unconvinced. Looking at me, she adds softly, “I don’t hate you.”
I don’t take my eyes off Bill, but I feel like that deserves a response. “I’m glad.” To Bill I add, “I think we’ve got this under control for today. Thanks for stopping.”
“Right.” Bill smiles but it’s off. “I’ll see you later, Lou.”
“Thanks for stopping in.” Lou gives him a sincere smile. She doesn’t sense the danger that we’re in.
And we are in danger.
“Bye.” Bill waves and turns. I take two small steps into the hallway, making sure he actually leaves. When he sees me, he smiles weakly and waves again. “Later.”
“Yeah. Later.”
The second he’s out the door, I push it closed and lock it. I don’t for a second believe that would be enough to keep him out. Doing my best not to alarm her, I move back into the room and wrap her up in my arms. Glancing at the ceiling discretely, I kiss her head. “Are you okay? Handling all this?” I nod to the treasure because that’s exactly what this is. A treasure. I do my best to act like I don’t know that fucker is watching us. Because, he most certainly is. The tiny camera placed into the crack of the ceiling molding is proof of that. I suspect, the second he saw us lay out the coins, he jumped into his car and beelined it here, offering to help in his salesman attire.
“I’m okay.”
“What do you say we pick all this up and take it somewhere safe?”
“Safe?” She looks around the room. “I suppose you’re right. It’s not safe here.”
“The bank would be good. A safety deposit box.”
“You think I need to worry about it?” She looks back at the door. “You’re right. Bill saw it. He’ll tell people.”
I doubt it.
“Let’s put this in something and get it out of here.”
We work together placing every coin and gem into a small cardboard box she found in the kitchen. I’m tempted to ask her if I can carry it, but she’s clutching the thing close to her chest like she’s got an infant in her arms.
