Sunny gives me an annoyed look from the dock. “’Bout damn time,” she shouts. “My Black ass about to melt off in this heat.”
I snort a laugh then descend the steps into the boat, an ache forming in my chest at the scene. The place is tidy, the TV off. It’s much smaller without Cap sitting on the chair in the middle of the galley.
From the envelope Cap left in the hospital, I reread the note he scribbled along with the title.
Everything worth a damn is with the engine.
Same thing he told me the first day we met.
Across the floor, there are lines for separate panels. I push a toe against one and it moves. It must be access to the engine for mechanical work—I’ll need information about it to sell. Moving the director’s chair, I pry a panel up, leaning it off to the side so I can see the hollowed-out bottom of the boat.
There’s an engine—old, rusted, and with blue paint chipping. I’d be surprised if it runs. Cap might have called it value, but I doubt it has any.
In the open space next to it sits four large plastic tubs.
“What the . . . ?”
I lower myself into the bilge and look around. There’s nothing else down here except the fiberglass walls of the boat and a little bit of water pooled at the bottom. Sunny shoutssomething as I pry the lid off one of the tubs, slightly terrified of what I’ll find.
But at the sight in front of me, my jaw drops.
At the next tub, it’s the same.
And the next.
And the next.
“Why you laughing in there?” Sunny barks.
When I don’t respond, the boat rocks slightly by her climbing aboard followed by muttered swears about boats and drowning like James.
“I swear to God,” she says as she enters the galley. “I drown on this boat, Imma come back as a damn kraken and take you dow—the hell?” At the sight of me in the bilge, her eyes nearly pop out of her head. I already have my phone pressed to my ear, tears once again streaming down my face. “Holy shit, honey child.”
“Hey.” Reese answers on the first ring. “How you holding up? I’m so sorry about Cap. And Mom is just?—”
“Do you have enough money to pay the roofer?” I ask, cutting her off. “And I can pay you back.”
She laughs, loud. “Rue, I made over two million dollars last year.”What?“You think I didn’t pay that shit the second I went through the bills and saw the mess you two were in?” She scoffs. “It was past due. And embarrassing.”
I momentarily forget where I’m standing. “You madetwomilliondollars last year? Why the hell didn’t you tell me that? You sent me on a treasure hunt thinking a tumor was going to overtake mom’s brain because we had no money.”
She snorts. “You never asked and this was more fun. Why are you calling anyway? There’s an echo.”
I plummet back to the moment and the scene around me.
“My dad,” I tell her, looking at the tubs filled with gold coins. There’s more money than the two million Reese made last yearand most people will ever spend in a lifetime. My gaze lands on an envelope with my name scribbled on it next to two empty coffee cans. “That crazy sonofabitch found the gold.”
Rue,
Guess your old dad can surprise you even after kicking the bucket.
As I write this, you haven’t figured it all out yet. You will. Faster than me and without time spent in jail. Almost though. Still wish we got a picture of you in cuffs.
Years ago, I’d looked everywhere before I realized the gold was at 64 Legare, but it was occupied. I had nothing but time on my hands, so I watched the house and waited. Couple of blue hairs livin’ in that big old place. It was only a matter of time before they downsized or dropped dead. Lucky for them, they downsized. The night they moved out and it went up for sale, I was in that backyard digging. It didn’t take me long to find it. Right under the bench that had never been moved, just like Anson said. It took me five nights to move it all.
Happy as I was, I refused to turn it in just to have it all taken by the government. Those suit-stuffed assholes wouldn’t have given me a cent, you know it, and I do. But I missed the bank reward. Funny how those things go. I was blind to what was right in front of me. Sounds like someone else I know.
I thought once I found the gold, I would give you and your mom a good life, but all it did was hold me hostage. That and my damn pride. You were grown by the time I found it, and the thought of showing up after all those years was almost as scary as losing all the money.
