“Just please get over here. I’ll explain then.”
“Be there in fifteen,” says Clay.
Clay gets dressed, brushes his teeth, and softly knocks on Braedon’s bedroom door. When he gets no response, he cracks the door open, peers inside, and sees nothing but dark. “Brae,” whispers Clay. “Brae, sorry to wake you up.”
“Huh…” says Braedon.
Clay opens the door and a wedge of light from the hall shines across Braedon’s bedroom floor and wall. “Grandpa just called. He wants me to come over. I don’t know why yet, but I’m guessing it has something to do with Uncle Teddy. You want to come with me or stay here?”
“Stay here,” says Braedon, his voice dry and raspy.
“Okay. I’m going to lock up behind me. You need anything, just call.”
When Clay gets there, Mei has already left. She has to be at work at the Mayo Clinic at sevenAMand didn’t feel she could get back to sleep anytime soon. Better to use the next half hour for travel time. Clay finds his father sitting at the kitchen table with a rock, an envelope, and a letter. He’s wearing rubber gloves.
“This arrived through my window about forty-five minutesago,” says Judd. He lifts the letter from the table and then looks at what is underneath it.
Clay’s eyes follow Judd’s. “Is that Teddy’s earring?”
“Yep. And read this. But put on these gloves first.” Judd hands Clay an extra set of nitrile gloves.
Clay takes the gloves from his father and snaps them on like he’s done it a hundred times before. He then takes the letter. It appears to have been printed on an inkjet printer.
IF YOU EVER WANT TO SEE TEDDY HAWKINS ALIVE AGAIN, PUT $45,000 IN A BEAR CANISTER AND SEAL IT TIGHT. DROP IT IN THE ROOT RIVER AT MOEN’S BRIDGE AT 12:01 A.M. TUESDAY MORNING. DO NOT NOTIFY THE POLICE. DO NOT GO DOWNSTREAM FROM MOEN’S BRIDGE OR STATION ANYONE DOWNSTREAM. IF YOU DO EITHER, TEDDY WILL DIE. ONCE THE MONEY IS RECEIVED, YOU WILL GET FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS ON YOUR MOBILE PHONE.
Clay sighs and returns the letter to Judd.
“What do you make of it?” says Judd.
“First of all,” says Clay, “are we sure that’s Teddy’s earring? A small gold ring is not exactly one of a kind.”
“Pretty sure,” says Judd. He pushes the earring toward Clay with a gloved hand. “See the backing thing that goes behind the ear? Teddy lost his in 1980. He took it off to clean the earring and misplaced that clasp thing. Your mother had an extra one laying around, but it didn’t match. The earring is gold. The back thing she had was pink. Teddy said he didn’t care—no one wouldsee it anyway. So he took it and has used it ever since. Maybe someone else out there knows that, but I doubt it. Teddy hardly ever took off that earring, and as far as I know, never did so in public.”
Clay folds his arms over his chest. “So whoever threw this rock through your window plans on camping out somewhere downstream of Moen’s Bridge with a fishing net or something like that to haul it in. Water’s still high from spring runoff. One of those bear canisters could make it all the way to the Mississippi River. That’s over fifty miles of stream we’d have to cover. Impossible.”
“Or I could just pay it,” says Judd.
“You can’t just pay it,” says Clay. “We’re not even sure Teddy’s alive. We need some kind of proof.”
“We have the earring.”
“The earring, if it is Teddy’s, does not prove he’s alive. We need to talk to him on the phone or see a video of him or something.”
Judd shakes his head. “You’ve been watching too many cop shows. Old cop shows. You can’t make a phone call or send a video without leaving yourself vulnerable to being traced. Only an idiot wouldn’t know that.”
“Thank you,” says Clay. “Thanks very much. I know how modern technology works. But there are still camcorders and memory cards and VPNs and…” Clay wonders why Judd asked him to come over if he’s just going to belittle all of Clay’s ideas. Same old Judd, he guesses. “I’m just saying forty-five thousand dollars is a lot of money to toss into a river if you’re not sure Teddy’s alive.”
“I’ve been saving my pennies for decades,” says Judd. “You got a full scholarship to Dorset-Cornwall. No tuition at West Point. House was paid off a long time ago. I can risk losing forty-five grand. I’ll be just fine without it.”
Clay shakes his head, almost to himself.
“What?” says Judd.
“Forty-five thousand is an odd number. Why not fifty?”
“Maybe whoever has Teddy thinks I don’t have fifty. Maybe Teddy told them I might only be good for forty-five.”
“Does Teddy know your finances?” says Clay.
