Chapter Twenty-Seven
Marshall
I awoke in a strange bed to find Sean and his grandfather standing over me looking worried. There was a nasty bruise on the back of my head, and I had only vague memories of what had transpired in the moments before I blacked out.
“What happened?” I asked.
“We were clobbered,” said Sean. “Luckily a woman who happened to be walking by called the police before they could do any serious damage. God only knows what might have happened if they hadn’t shown up.”
With a sinking feeling, I remembered the money in the briefcase. I was afraid to ask, but knew it couldn’t be avoided. “Did the police catch them?”
He shook his head. “No, they scattered like mice when they heard the sirens approaching. Last thing I saw, one of Tom’s guys was speeding away down the alley carrying the briefcase in tow. I’m sorry it was all for nothing, but at least we made it out alive.”
I lay back in bed with a feeling of deep disappointment. It was good to be breathing, yes, but I didn’t like the fact that our assailants had evaded arrest. As long as they were still roaming the streets, they were still a danger to both of us. “What do you suppose are the chances they’ll come looking for us?”
Sean shrugged. “They don’t know our names, do they? It was only by the worst of luck that we stumbled onto their poker match. Of all the dank basements in all the pubs in the city, we had to walk into that one.”
“All the money was in the briefcase, yes?” asked Mr. Wood, speaking up for the first time. When I didn’t respond, he eyed me warily. “Marshall, did you hear what I said?”
I motioned for my shoes, which were lying together on the opposite side of the room by the window. Sean ran to fetch them, but he hadn’t walked more than a few paces before he saw what was hidden in the toe and let out an oath. “Holy—”
“Are they still there?”
“Yeah.” He ran forward, handing me the shoe in which I had laid the stack of bills. “How did you even do that? I was watching you the whole time you were handling the money.”
“The hand is quicker than the eye, my friend.” I held up the ten thousand dollars so that he and his grandfather could see them. Sean gawked at me as though I was the Count of Monte Cristo. “Tom and his gang might have absconded with most of the money, but they didn’t get all of it. I made sure to get my ten percent.”
Sean let out a low whistle of approval.
“Of course I don’t know what we’re going to do with only ten thousand dollars,” I added, “but at least it’s something. I suppose it’s ten thousand more than a lot of people have.”
“In this country, if you have more than five hundred in savings you’re doing better than most,” Sean pointed out.
“True, but it won’t be enough to save Lori’s bakery. If we had managed to get away with the entire winnings, it would’ve really helped.”
Sean nodded unhappily. “Anyway, I’m sure they’ll be pissed when they realize we took a substantial cut.”
“I just hope you’re right and that they can’t find us.”
I went on staring at the ceiling, wishing there was some way I could go back in time and undo just that one moment. If we had only gotten in the car a little faster, if we hadn’t been so high on our victory that we had paused in the parking lot to celebrate, if we hadn’t been hopelessly outnumbered… but River was right, no matter how we had done it, we would never have escaped with the money. And it was useless to beat myself up over something that I couldn’t undo.
The Vegas invitational was still over a month away, and it was unlikely I would be able to acquire another hundred thousand within the next few days. Tom and River and their gang were the only guys in the city who played for that much. I had ten thousand in my shoe and another fifteen thousand in savings, but that still wasn’t enough to save Lori’s business.
“What happened to all your money?” asked Sean. “I remember you saying you had close to a hundred thousand in savings, or were you just trying to impress me?”
“No, that was the amount I had—at one point.”
“What happened? I know girlfriends are expensive, but they’re not that expensive.”
“This one would be, if I hadn’t just given nearly all my money to my mom. They were getting ready to tear down their barn and build a new one. She said it was going to cost about fifty thousand, and you know me: I like to help out with my family. They’ve been good to me.”
“See, and if you hadn’t done that, it would’ve solved all our problems.”
I nodded soberly, feeling annoyed with myself for my short-sightedness.
“That’s why you never lend money to family,” said Mr. Wood. “I loaned ten thousand to my brother back in 1972, and he promised he’d have it back to me by the end of the year. I still haven’t seen a dime of that money.”
“That is a sad story, Grandpa,” said Sean in a tone of mild sarcasm.
“It is.” Mr. Wood’s eyes blazed with indignation. “The moment he gets out of prison, I’m coming after him.”
“Well, anyway,” I said, lowering my legs onto the floor, “I don’t have any regrets about helping out family when they needed it. I just wish we hadn’t lost all the money we won last night, and that Lori and Sam weren’t facing the end of their business. It seems like anytime you start to get ahead in this world, there’s someone waiting to pull you back.”
***
I checked out of the hospital that night at around sundown. The first thing I did when I reached home was to call Mom.
She and Dad were just finishing making dinner: vegetable lasagna served with a warm, buttery baguette, chilled artichokes, and roasted red peppers. In the background, I could hear the faucet running, the clink of dishware, and a dog barking, and for a moment I was transported back home to East Texas.
“How’ve you been?” Mom asked. “Me and your dad were about to sit down and watch World’s Most Amazing Budgerigars.”
“I’ve been okay.” I decided it was best not to mention the bruise on my head or the circumstances in which I had acquired it. “Lori and I went out for dinner again a couple nights ago.”
One of the great and unnerving things about my mom was that she could always tell when something was wrong. “You sure? You don’t sound okay. Have you been taking medication for your allergies? I know it gets really bad in the spring.”
“It’s not that.” I could see there was no way of avoiding the subject; when Mom sensed trouble, she was relentless. “Lori’s business is about to go under. She has exactly two days before she has to pay this guy $70,000 or she loses the right to her building. She doesn’t have that much money, and she can’t afford to move to a new location.”
“Why does she have to pay him?” Mom asked in a tone of concern. “Are you sure that’s legal?”
“We’ve checked, and it is legal. Lori was prepared to go to court to avoid having to pay the fee, but then Sean looked over the documents and said they were perfectly within their rights to demand the money.”
“Oooh.” Mom was quiet for a moment, as though thinking. In the background, I could hear a sitcom with a laugh track on it, something I couldn’t recall hearing since the late ‘90s. “Hang on a second.”
She set the phone down and walked away. There was silence for a moment while I pulled into the driveway, the beam of my headlights cutting through the haze of twilight.
I climbed out of the truck and unlocked the door. By the time I had reached the kitchen, Mom returned to the phone.
“I’ve talked it over with your dad,” she said, “and we’ve decided to send back the money you sent us.”
In my surprise, I dropped a bottle of French mustard. “Are you for real? Why are you doing that?”
“Because it sounds like Lori needs the money a lot more than we do. We don’t have to repair the barn immediately, but if she doesn’t get help, she’ll be out of a job. I know how important her bakery is to her and to that community, and I know how important she is to you.”
I was speechless for a moment trying to process this new turn of events. “Mom, you really don’t have to do that. That’s a lot of money!”
“Yes, and it’s your money,” she pointed out. “You gave it to us, and now I’m giving it back to you. Use it to help someone who really needs it; and if I ever need a favor from you in the future, I’ll let you know.”
She hung up the phone, and I fell back against the counter, my head buzzing. Lori and Sam weren’t going to lose their jobs after all; they were saved. I tried to picture the looks on their faces when they found out we had the money. I couldn’t wait another moment; I wanted to tell them immediately.
Leaving the mustard bottle where it lay on the floor, I grabbed my keys off the counter and ran from the house.