A Deadly Row (21 page)

I picked up the telephone and dialed my uncle’s number, even though I knew that it was past his bedtime.

“Hello?” he answered after several rings.

“Uncle Thomas, it’s Savannah.”

I could hear the weariness in his voice. “I was hoping you’d call. Just not this late.”

“Sorry, but it couldn’t wait. Do you know anything about a safety deposit box my mother had?”

There was a long pause, so I asked, “Uncle Thomas? Are you still there? I need you to wake up. This is important.”

“I’m awake, trust me. I honestly never put the two things together.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I got a notice last year that a safety deposit box at the old Southern National Bank in your mother’s name had lapsed, and I was named as the other signatory. They asked me if I wanted to renew it, or collect the contents of the box. I went to the bank, and I paid fifty dollars to have them drill it, since I had no idea where the key was. When they got it opened, they put me in a room by myself, and I opened it. Inside was another box, with a note to me.”

“What did it say?”

“That I was supposed to hold it for you until you asked me about it, and not turn it over until then. I wanted to give it to you right away, but I didn’t want to break my word to your mother, either.”

“So you’ve still got it.”

“Not anymore.”

I felt my spirit sink. “What happened to it?”

“When I went to get the first box, I slipped out to your car and put the second one in the backseat under an old blanket. I kept trying to tell you about it, but your mother’s note haunted me. I didn’t know what to do.”

“So, I’ve got it? What’s inside?”

“I didn’t look in either box,” he said. “They were both for you.”

“You shouldn’t have sneaked it into my car,” I said.

“Darlin’, the list of things I shouldn’t have done would fill up a notebook the size of Texas. If I wronged you or your mother, I’m sorry, and that’s the truth.”

“You did the right thing. I just wish you would have told me about it sooner.”

“I’m truly sorry.”

“You’re forgiven,” I said. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got another box to open.”

“At least you won’t have to come back here and go to the bank.”

“I’ll call you tomorrow and tell you what I found.”

“You don’t have to do that,” he said. “I lost that right.”

“Not on your life.”

He sighed. “Then call me tonight.”

“No matter how late it is?”

“Not even if it takes an hour.”

I hung up and grabbed my car keys.

I was panting as I reached the car, and my hands shook as I retrieved the box. A part of me had worried that someone might have taken it since I’d arrived back in Charlotte, but it was still where my uncle had put it.

I thought about opening it right there, but though the parking garage was well lit, it still didn’t feel very secure. Tucking it under my arm, I headed back upstairs to see what was so important that my mother had locked it away from the world.

Back in my suite, my hands were shaking as I opened the box.

Inside were stacks of hundred-dollar bills.

My mouth fell open as I counted them, and I was shocked when I realized there were a hundred of them.

My mother had stuffed ten thousand dollars in a safety deposit box, and she’d asked me for her forgiveness when she dumped it into my lap.

Beneath the money was a brief handwritten note.

And as I read it, I was more shocked than I’d been when I’d found the cash.

J.B. had to be my uncle. After all, the note said as much, didn’t it? But why hadn’t she spent the money? Had she held a grudge that long over my uncle’s desertion of her and their family?

I was more confused than ever, and I thought about calling Zach, but the man I really wanted to speak with was my uncle.

“Good, you’re still awake,” I said when Uncle Thomas answered his telephone.

“Are you kidding? I’ve been dying to find out what I’ve been holding onto the last two years.”

“Would you believe ten grand in hundred-dollar bills?”

“Not likely. What was inside?”

“Ten grand in hundred-dollar bills,” I said.

There was a pause, and then my uncle said, “You’re not kidding, are you? What was she doing with that kind of cash?”

“You didn’t get a packet of money yourself, did you?”

“Not hardly,” he said. “Why, should I have?”

“That’s not up to me to say. From what I can tell, your brother sent Mom that money and asked for her forgiveness.”

I hated to tell my uncle that his brother hadn’t cared all that much for him, but it was pretty clear he wasn’t surprised by the news.

“That makes sense,” he said. “They were always close.”

“What am I going to do with all of this money?”

“What did the note say?” he asked.

“It told her to spend it on something that would bring her some happiness.”

“Then that’s what you should do,” Uncle Thomas said.

“If she couldn’t bring herself to do it, why should I?”

“Savannah, I don’t have to tell you what a complicated woman your mother was. I’m sure she had her reasons. If you’re not comfortable spending it, maybe you could donate it to your favorite charity.”

“Maybe. I honestly don’t have a clue what I’m going to do with it.”

“Then put it in the hotel safe until you do,” he said. “You can’t just leave that kind of money lying around.”

“You’re right about that. I’m sorry I called you so late.”

“No, I wouldn’t have been able to sleep anyway.” He paused, then asked, “Did J.B. say anything else?”

“That’s strange. I always heard everyone refer to him as Jeffrey,” I said. “And yet the note was signed J.B.”

“My brother always was an odd bird. Sometimes he went by his first name, and sometimes he would only answer to his middle name, but most of the time, among the family, he was just plain J.B.” Uncle Thomas stifled a yawn, and then he said, “I’m going to be up in a few hours, so I should probably try to get a little rest. Thanks for calling me back.”

On an impulse, I asked him, “Uncle Thomas, do you want the money?”

He seemed shocked by the question. “Of course not. It’s not mine.”

“It doesn’t belong to me, either,” I said.

“According to your mother it does. You inherited everything she had when she and your father died, right?”

“Right.”

“Then that money, and any problem she had with it, is yours now.”

“Gee, thanks for the support,” I said with a laugh.

“If your worst problem today is figuring out what to do with ten grand, I wouldn’t mind trading with you. Good night.”

After we hung up, I called the front desk and was surprised to hear Garrett answer. “Don’t you ever go home?”

“Tonight I’ve been catching up on paperwork. How may I assist you?”

“I’ve got some cash I need you to keep for me in your safe.”

“I’ll send someone right up,” he said.

“I hate to ask, but could you come here yourself? It’s not that I don’t trust your employees, but if it’s not too much trouble, I’d rather deal directly with you.”

“Say no more. I’ll be there in two minutes.”

He was as good as his word, and within ninety seconds, there was a discreet tap at my door.

I asked him to identify himself, and after he did, I opened the door for him. “Thanks for doing this.”

“It’s my pleasure. You have some cash you wish to keep with us? There’s a safe in your suite, you know.”

I’d considered the idea, but then I’d rejected it. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust it. I would just feel better having it out of easy reach, in case I got tempted before I figured out what I was going to do with it.

“I’d rather you take it,” I said.

He nodded, and I handed him the stack. Garrett counted out the bills, wrote me a receipt, and then put the cash in an attaché he’d brought with him.

“You have access to this around the clock,” he said. “Is there anything else you need?”

“Not tonight.”

“Then I’ll bid you a good evening,” he said.

After he was gone, I felt better not having the cash with me. There was something about my mother’s note, and her reluctance to spend the money, that made me glad I didn’t have it in my hands.

I was going to have to tell Zach, though.

But not tonight.

He was still working, and I was so exhausted, I could barely keep my eyes open.

Tomorrow would be soon enough to tell Zach what I’d found. Knowing my husband, I was certain his instincts would help guide me, but ultimately, the decisions were mine to make.

I WOKE UP TO A NOISE IN THE OTHER ROOM. MY FIRST IN
stinct was that it was Zach, but the bed beside me was empty. I doubted it was the cleaning crew; they never came in unless they had my verbal approval.

I looked frantically around the room for some kind of weapon, but the closest thing I could find was a table lamp. I quietly unplugged it, pulled off the shade, and opened the bedroom door.

There was no one there, but then I heard someone moving around in the bathroom down the hall. It was a large suite, and Zach and I had just used the bathroom that was connected to the master bedroom.

I should have called the front desk—I realized that later—but at the moment, I was experiencing a surge in adrenaline. I crept up to the door, and then shouted, “I’ve called the police. Stay right where you are.”

Against my orders, the door opened, and I saw Zach peek out. I hadn’t even realized that I’d raised the lamp in the air and pulled it back, ready to strike.

“Thanks, but the light’s fine in here,” he said as he pointed to the lamp in my hands, still poised to strike. His hair was wet, and he was wearing one of the hotel’s luxury robes.

“You nit. Why didn’t you use the master bath?”

“I didn’t want to wake you, if you can believe that.” He gestured to the lamp, which was now on the table. “Did you really call the police?”

“No, I didn’t,” I admitted. “But I was going to.”

“Savannah, if you thought there was a prowler in here, you should have locked yourself in the bedroom and called the cops, or at least hotel security.”

“I panicked, okay?”

“Fine, but learn from it. If it happens again, don’t try to handle it yourself.”

“You would have,” I said a little petulantly. “I don’t always need a big, strong man around to protect me.”

“In the first place, I was a cop for a lot of years. In the second place, I’m armed. And in the third place, if I weren’t either one of those things, I would have done the exact same thing.”

“As I did?” I asked, hopefully.

“No, that was just nuts. I would have stayed in the bedroom and called someone for backup.”

“I don’t believe you.”

He smiled broadly at me. “Well, shame on you, then.”

“When did you get in?” I asked my husband as I followed him into the master bedroom.

“Ten minutes ago.”

“Did you get any sleep at all last night?”

“There’s a great couch in Davis’s office,” he said with a grin as he got dressed. “I crashed there for about three hours.”

“That’s not much sleep.”

“I’ve gotten less in the past when I was working on a case, and we both know it.” He slipped on his shoes, completing his outfit. “I’m starving. Any chance you can have breakfast with me?”

“Sure. Let me make a phone call first.”

“Hang on a second. You’re meeting Lorna downstairs, aren’t you?”

I nodded. “I was, but I can cancel it. I’d much rather eat with you.”

“You canceled yesterday, didn’t you?”

“Yes, but it wasn’t exactly in concrete.”

He shook his head. “I won’t ask you to do it on my account. Tell you what. Why don’t I order a huge breakfast from room service, and you can keep me company. I want to hear about your day yesterday. Do we have time?”

I looked at the clock and saw that I had forty minutes before I was due downstairs. “We should be fine.”

He grinned. “Then I’ll place my order.”

After he got off the phone, I asked, “You did hear that I wasn’t eating with you, right?”

“I heard, but if I know you, you’ll graze anyway, and I wanted to be sure I’d have enough to eat.”

We walked out into the living room and took our usual seats by the windows. The city was overcast today, and rain tapped at the windows. It wasn’t a perfect postcard filled with sunshine, but it was still beautiful. There were days when I enjoyed a good gloomy overcast sky, and today was going to be one of them.