“Exactly.” Snow begins to fall as we slowly start heading back toward the house. The first flakes of the season.
We get almost to his porch when he grabs my arm. “Do you want the hundred back?” His voice is soft, carrying no judgment. The same as it was when we first got to know each other at a grief support group. He’d just lost his girlfriend and was as shut down as I was. I’d left a meeting early after confessing that I had suicidal thoughts. I’d denied having a plan or anything that would’ve ended up with me in a locked room, but maybe he saw how close I was because he followed me outside.
During our walk to the nearby parking lot, a hundred dollar bill tumbled right into our path. We both saw it at the same time and reached for it, but the wind blew it into his hand. I thought it was likely fake, but it wasn’t. Arlow handed it to me so I could see a four leaf clover drawn on one side in black ink. When I tried to hand it back, he shook his head and told me to give it to him on his birthday the following month.
At the time, making it through another month felt impossible. All that had kept me holding on was the thought of Lacey losing another person she loved. Most days that was enough to make me struggle through, but it was getting harder to convince myself. “That’s the only thing I want on my next birthday. That hundred dollar bill,” Arlow said.
It sometimes seems silly to me that it worked, but it gave me an end date. Ajust suffer until this timedate that was easierto handle than looking ahead to forever. I handed it back to him on his birthday and it’s become a tradition ever since. If I’m struggling, I ask for it back. He knows what that means and checks in on me. Then I give it back to him on his birthday again.
I’m not surprised he asked if I wanted it tonight, but I shake my head. “No, I’m good. Pissed.”
“Pissed is good,” he agrees. “Be careful.” He looks back at me with his hand on the front doorknob. “And if you find the bastard, the ground in the graveyard isn’t frozen yet.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
We’re met with sudden warmth, laughter, and music as we enter. It’s almost a shock after our conversation, like I’m living in two different worlds. “Have you seen Silver?” I ask Alicia, who has two whiny toddlers hanging on her.
“She walked over to the cabin with Calli to get the kids’ pajamas for me. They should be right back.”
I catch the kids’ attention. “Look at this.” I walk over to the window that faces Arlow’s backyard, where there’s a light, and pull open the curtains. “It’s snowing.”
They clamber off their mom and sit glued to the window watching the fat flakes fall. The look on their faces tugs at something inside me. We only seem to have that sense of wonder when we’re young. When do we lose it? It’s such a powerful thing, but we can’t feel it go, only remember we had it once.
CHAPTER 14
SILVER
“What’s going on?Are you okay?” Calli asks, as we’re walking across the driveway from the house to the little cabin. She knew something was up when I volunteered for us to go grab the kids’ pajamas. It’s been impossible to get her alone all night, and Lee will be back soon from helping Arlow with the goats. I need to talk to her.
“I’m fine. I need your help with something that has to stay between us.”
“Of course.” She opens the door and we dodge the toys on the floor to sit in the small living room. “Is this about Lee?”
“No, it’s nothing to do with him. You’re not going to fucking believe what I found out. Do you remember Celia? The elderly woman who comes into the diner for crullers?”
Calli briefly worked the overnight donut shift. “Vaguely.”
“I was friends with her granddaughter, Molly, when we were kids, and Molly was locked up with me the night I spentin jail. Celia gave me a ride back to my truck and asked me to come and visit her. She claimed she could help with the Matheson’s. I didn’t believe it, but Jesus, Calli, she handed me everything I need to bring them down.”
Calli’s eyebrows raise. “What do you mean?”
“Celia was county clerk for years, and she used that position to basically spy on everyone. Mostly because she liked to know the gossip from what I can gather, but she also collected all the documents and ledgers. They’re full of proof of the Matheson’s crimes. And there are a ton of them.”
Calli’s jaw drops and she scoots forward to perch on the edge of the couch as I continue.
“They’ve been embezzling funds, accepting government grant money for specific projects then using it for their own shit, committing tax fraud, and laundering money. You name it, and they’ve done it.”
I pull a flash drive out of my pocket. The little thing holds a week’s worth of reading, sorting, scanning, and lining up all the proof I was handed. I still have the paper versions as well.
Calli covers her mouth with her hand and talks through her fingers. “All the Matheson’s?”
“Austin isn’t mentioned, but you can see the things that were done to benefit him. Grady and Emmett’s signatures are all over it. And the police records make it evident that Clay was an accomplice, using the threat of arrest against people when they needed him to.”
Calli can’t contain herself and gets to her feet to pace thefloor in front of me. “Why did Celia give it to you? Surely, they’d know it was her.”
“She’s dying of cancer. And I spent a lot of time at her house when I was a kid. She wanted to give me a weapon that would get them off my back. So I can keep the diner.”
Calli is quiet for a moment as she lets it sink in. “You have all of it on that flash drive?”
