Judd shakes his head. “We don’t discuss things like that in Riverwood.”
“You don’t discuss money? With your own brother? With yourtwinbrother?”
“Nope,” says Judd. “Decent people don’t.”
Clay pulls up a chair and sits across the table from his father. The table and chairs are of the same vintage as Judd’s bedroom furniture. All inherited from Clay’s great-grandparents on the Hawkins side.
“Listen,” says Judd, “unless the kidnapper or kidnappers contact me again, I have no way of asking for proof of Teddy’s life. And if there’s one thing I know from forty years of law enforcement, it’s that criminals are generally stupid. Scared criminals are even more stupid. They do stupid things. They’ve given me a simple set of instructions. My gut says follow them and that’ll give me the best chance of seeing my brother again. Otherwise, I’m just putting Teddy’s life in more danger.”
Clay wants to sayif Teddy even has a life anymorebut the resulting argument would be pointless. If Judd’s socked away halfa million dollars over the years and he wants to blow forty-five thousand of it on a Hail Mary to save Teddy, that’s his business. He decides to try another tactic. “Can we at least bring the police in on this?”
“Why?” says Judd.
“Maybe the kidnapper has tried something like this before. Maybe they’ve seen a similar ransom note. Maybe—”
“No,” says Judd. “I’m leaving Mike and Andy and Zoey out of this. Their involvement could lead to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension sticking their nose in. Or worse, the FBI. I say let’s just get Teddy back. If we’re going to catch whoever took him, we can work on that after he’s safe at home. Teddy must know something that can help us. Something about the kidnapper. The sound of his voice. A scent. Maybe even a location. I’m fine risking the forty-five grand. Teddy’s safety is my main concern.”
“Okay,” says Clay. “If your mind is made up. Think you can get forty-five thousand in cash tomorrow?”
“Technically, it is tomorrow. And I don’t see why not,” says Judd. “Every penny I have is at F&M Community Bank.”
“Your retirement savings aren’t with a brokerage service?” says Clay.
“Hell no. Janice down at F&M takes care of all that. Sends me statements every month. Some money is in mutual funds. Some is in bonds. But the bulk of it is in cash in case an emergency comes up. And I’d call this an emergency.”
“But banks don’t have that much cash on hand.”
“I know that,” says Judd, “but I’ll call Janice first thing. Before the armored truck comes. Plus there are half a dozen otherbranches in our corner of the state. Janice can pull the cash together by the end of the day for a lifelong customer like me.”
Clay looks into his father’s eyes and sees there’s no room for negotiation. He gets up, goes to the kitchen, and fills a glass with water from the tap. He returns to the table and says, “Criminals might be stupid, but whoever wrote that note isn’t an idiot. They were very careful not to give any hints about their identity. They spelledreceivedcorrectly. They used the wordfurthercorrectly. And the plan is smart. It’s pretty easy to station a lookout on a fixed location, but over fifty miles of river? Almost impossible to cover that without being detected.”
“Yep,” says Judd. “That’s why I want to keep this between us. I don’t even want to tell Deb. She’ll get her hopes up. And you never know what could happen in a situation like this. We don’t know what kind of conditions Teddy’s being held in. We don’t know how he’s handling the stress. He and I are not young men. The physical demands could take a toll on him. I don’t want to say anything to Deb except,Here’s your husband.”
Clay sips his water, sets down the glass, and says, “Are you at least going to get this to the crime lab? See if they can find any prints on the rock, tape, or paper? Maybe ID the printer ink used?”
“What do you like better,CSIorLaw & Order?”
“Am. I. Wrong?”
“Listen,” says Judd. “Mike and Andy are my guys. They’re good cops. But I can’t take the chance that they’ll talk. Even if it’s just in their sleep. I don’t want anyone else knowing about dropping that money into the river. I don’t want anyone trying to be a hero. Or a thief. Besides, the forensic lab for Fillmore Countyis up in Rochester. They’re always backed up. Wouldn’t get any results before midnight anyway.”
Clay leans back in his chair and says, “Why did you call me over here in the middle of the night if you were just going to shoot down all my ideas?”
“No one else I can trust,” says Judd.
“Out of all the people in town, you trustsome soccer player? How is that possible?”
“Yep. Some soccer player who’s blood. Some soccer player who loves Teddy as much as I do.”
Clay can’t argue with that. “All right,” he says. “Do you want my opinion on this?”
“I bet I already know what it is,” says Judd. “You think Teddy faked his own kidnapping to milk me for forty-five grand.”
Clay half laughs. He can’t believe his father guessed correctly. He shakes his head and says, “Maybe Teddy got himself in a jam. I’m not saying it’s a strong possibility. But you should dust the rock, the earring, and the note for prints and compare what we find to Teddy’s fingerprints, which are all over his and Deb’s place. If we find Teddy’s prints on this stuff, we’ll have to face the likelihood that Teddy’s behind this. If we find someone else’s prints, even if we can’t identify them, we’ll know odds are that this is legit.”
Judd just stares at Clay and doesn’t say a word.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” says Clay.
