Chapter Twenty-Nine
Eric had been reluctantly returned to the US Marshals. Two extremely nice agents had met them at the sheriff’s station and had taken him into protective custody. Presley had tried one last time to convey to him that he was being given a huge chance to start his life all over again and she might have succeeded. By the time he was loaded into a dark-windowed SUV he was almost smiling, although quite nervous. She didn’t blame him. Starting all over again was a daunting task but she had a feeling he was going to be fine.
And he’d promised not to run away again.
She’d only known him for a few hours, but in reality she’d felt like she’d known him for years. She couldn’t tell him that, though. Even now, she and Seth kept her origin story quiet. Not because they were afraid but because it brought up so many questions that frankly she didn’t want to talk about. The past was the past and best left there.
Seth pulled up to the small parcel of land and parked the truck. “Let’s walk the area and see if we can find anything, but let’s stick together.”
“Because looking for bank robbery money is romantic?”
“Because I don’t want you getting lost and then having to find you, too.”
Sticking out her tongue, she brushed past him to walk around the perimeter of the old house. “Other husbands would have just agreed with me.”
“Other husbands wouldn’t even have you here. Your cute little bottom would be sitting at home.”
At least he’d called it cute. Romantic man. He might get laid tonight.
“I wonder what other couples do when they spend quality time together?” Presley wondered out loud, giggling at the scowl on her husband’s face. He hadn’t been as amused by Eric as she had. “On our tenth anniversary will you take me out on a search for a dead body?”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” he growled. “I thought you wanted to be here.”
“I do,” she assured him with a laugh. “But come on, Seth. Even you have to admit this is funny. Other couples don’t spend their free time the way we do. It’s not a complaint – I love it. It’s just an observation.”
At first she’d thought he was going to growl at her again but then his smile widened, turning into a grin. Laughing, he pulled her into a hug and dropped a chaste kiss on her lips.
“I never thought about it that way before. I guess we’re not exactly Ozzie and Harriet.”
“What do you know about Ozzie and Harriet?” Presley laughed. “Have you ever even seen them on television? I know I haven’t.”
Chuckling, Seth led the way to the barn. They’d found nothing around the house. “I haven’t either but I remember my parents talking about them. Apparently, they had the perfect American family. Or maybe that was the Cleavers, Ward and June? That show I did see but in reruns.”
She’d seen Leave it to Beaver and the image of Seth as Eddie Haskell had her giggling, her hand over her mouth to try and cover it up but Seth was on to her.
“What’s so funny? Your face is all red.”
“You look so lovely today, Mrs. Cleaver,” Presley mimicked. “I was just picturing you as Eddie.”
That got a smile out of Seth. “I was more like the Beaver. But we had a friend a little like Eddie. Always kissing up to adults.”
She’d never heard this story from Seth and she’d thought she’d heard everything. Multiple times.
“What happened to him?”
“Dale is the mayor. Now he kisses up to everyone…for votes.”
Sometimes Seth’s deadpan delivery was simply a riot. He had her leaning against the old barn, holding her stomach as she pictured Seth with a little Dale Fincham, debating on stage. People were always trying to get Seth to run against Fincham and Seth always said no. She now had a better idea as to why. He didn’t like kissing up to anyone.
“You’ve never told me this before.”
“You never asked.”
She sighed in annoyance. “And yet you tell the same stories over and over so many times I’m beginning to think they’re my memories, not yours.”
“Are you saying I need to get some new material?”
“I’m just saying that you probably have other stories. I wouldn’t mind hearing them.”
Presley stopped and studied the area around the barn. Trees and an old tractor. Not much else. This was turning out to be a complete waste of time. “I don’t think about the past all that much, to be honest.”
That was true. Instead he was always thinking about the future, planning carefully and studying his options.
“I’ll just ask your mom. She loves to talk about when you were a kid.”
“You can ask but she gets all of us mixed up. You’re just as likely to hear a story about Sam or Jason as you are me. None of us were angels, although Sam will try and say he was. Don’t believe it.”
“Are you saying that Sam is not a credible witness to his own past?”
Seth snorted and checked behind an old shed. “No, I’m saying he’s full of shit.”
“Can I ask you another question?”
“Can I stop you?”
Blowing out an impatient breath, she gave her husband a mean look. “Funny. Seriously though, what are we looking for? Is it one of those where we’ll know it when we see it? Because I haven’t seen anything even remotely interesting. It can’t be anywhere obvious or Perry and his men would have found it.”
“But he can’t have dug a deep hole to bury it because he didn’t have time,” Seth said. “Or traveled too far from the main area here. I think at most he had a ten-minute lead on me. I also doubt he would have tried to go into the house. Eric said that Danny and the aunt didn’t see eye to eye. He might have thought she’d turn him in.”
Presley’s gaze ran over the tractor, barn, and a scrub of bushes and trees. “That doesn’t leave us with much. I do think he’d want to hide it well enough that the elements or wildlife wouldn’t get to it, though. So I don’t think he would have shoved it in a tree.”
“Good point,” Seth agreed, his own gaze traversing the property. “He’d want to keep it safe and dry, plus hidden well enough that no one was going to accidentally stumble onto it.”
Harbaugh would want to keep it hidden well, especially from his aunt who was still living here at the time. And where better to hide the money than where Danny had hidden successfully all those times he’d been in trouble?
“Seth, I think I know where he hid the money.” Excitedly, she grabbed his arm and tugged him toward the barn. “Remember when Eric said that Danny hid in some room under the barn when he was in trouble with his aunt? Wouldn’t that be the first place he’d go to hide the money?”
She could tell from Seth’s puzzled expression that he hadn’t been listening to Eric’s stories all that closely, instead concentrating on driving. But dammit, he should have been. This was important.
“Aren’t you glad that people want to tell me their life story? Because Eric said that Danny hid out in some sort of room under the barn,” she explained again. “Maybe like a cellar? If we find it, I bet we find the money.”
Seth rubbed his chin. “I am glad, and honey, you’re a genius.”
“Naturally,” she sighed, acting quite put upon. “If only you’d admit it more.”
“But if I picked you for a wife, doesn’t that make me a genius too? In fact, maybe even more so.”
They stepped into the barn and left the doors open so the sun would shine in to the dim interior.
“It makes you lucky, not a genius. Now let’s look for this room.”
Like most old barns everything was covered in dirt and dust. Presley’s skin crawled and within seconds she wanted a shower. It was hot and grimy and kind of spooky. Clearly she’d seen way too many horror movies in her lifetime.
Moving a wheelbarrow aside, Seth uncovered a door in the floor. “This must be it. It was probably used as a root cellar when the barn was built as I’m guessing this hole in the ground is older than the house.”
“It’s not even hidden all that well,” Presley observed. “Aunt Lena never looked for Danny here?”
“Maybe she didn’t want to find him,” Seth said, grunting with the effort to lift the heavy door. Years of dirt flew into the air, making them both choke and cough. “Maybe she was content to let him hide while she cooled off.”
She peered down into the darkness. “I don’t suppose there’s a light switch?”
Chuckling, Seth shook his head and stood. “I’ve got a flashlight right here in my pocket.”
He pulled out his cell phone and hit a few buttons.
“That’s not a flashlight. That’s a flashlight app.”
“I’ve got a flashlight in the truck but I don’t want to go back. This will do. Looks like there’s a ladder to climb down.” Seth shined the light into the cellar. “It’s not even that deep or large. You stay here and I’ll go down and check.”
Presley wasn’t sure she liked the look of that old wooden ladder. Would it even hold Seth’s weight? Presumably the last time anybody had used it was years ago.
“Maybe I should go.” Presley clutched at Seth’s arm. “I’m lighter than you are and that ladder doesn’t look too sturdy.”
“It’s from when things were made to last. It will be fine.”
Fine. It will be fine.
That’s what Seth always said and most of the time he was right. But wasn’t he due to be wrong?
“Why don’t you wait for Tanner and the others to get here?”
“Honey,” Seth said gently, bringing her grimy fingers up to his lips. “I’ll be okay. The cellar looks really small and shallow. Even if the ladder broke I think I could climb out of there without too much trouble.”
There was no sense arguing, not when he was like this. Stubborn. Hard-headed. The last time she’d tried they hadn’t spoken to each other for hours, each one pretending that the other wasn’t in the house. She didn’t want a repeat performance.
“Fine,” she huffed. “But be careful. If you get hurt, you’ll have to wait for Tanner to drag you out of there because I can’t lift you.”
With the phone in his right hand, Seth quickly descended the ladder into the cellar. He was right that the room wasn’t that big. Once he was down there, she was able to see that the space wasn’t much more than five by five with low ceilings. Seth was stooped over so he wouldn’t hit his head. He could definitely climb out without any trouble.
“There are some shelves on the wall,” he called up, his voice muffled slightly. “I think I found something. Step back.”
Heart racing with excitement, Presley waited as two black bags emblazoned with the bank name on one side in gold lettering flew up and landed at her feet.
“My God, we found it,” Presley said. She was staring right at the bank bags but it was almost too much to comprehend. This money had been missing for years but now here it was. “I can’t believe we found it.”
The sound of footsteps behind Presley had her whirling around.
“I was hoping you would. Now step away from the money.”
Brittany. Holding a gun pointed right at Presley.
This was the third time her life was in danger. This was becoming a really bad habit.