Cold Hard Cache

by Amy Isaman

  “Nope. It don’t have one.” He eyed me, his mouth a grim line.

  “Exactly, which makes this coin worth at least ten to twelve thousand for a collector.” I crossed my arms and raised my eyebrows at him. “You can have it for nine.”

  He laughed, and I wondered if I should pull out the coin that I knew was worth at least ten times that.

  “Where’d you get this thing?”

  Now it was my turn to shrug. “Do you want it?”

  “Eight thousand out the door,” he countered.

  I nodded. “Write it up.” I was sure he had collectors on speed dial. He could probably turn this thing and make a quick four or five-grand the second I left the shop.

  He leaned back and studied me, his arms crossed and resting on his ample belly. “What else you got?”

  I pulled out the priciest coin, keeping one I valued in the mid-range, around forty thousand, tucked in the pocket of my purse. I wanted to keep one of them, as proof to myself that I found the damn stash. My sister could call me crazy all she wanted, but I wasn’t.

  These coins proved it.

  Bill kept his poker face solidly in place when he saw the coin.

  I waited silently and studied the coin with Bill.

  He eyed me before picking up the coin and bringing it up to his reading glasses which were perched precariously on the end of his nose.

  “This is all I’ve got,” I lied, leaning on the counter. “It’s an 1883 Liberty Double Head Eagle, again with no mint mark. But this one is in close to mint condition.”

  He shook his head. “Nah. It’s been circulated.”

  “Possibly, but I think it could have a rating of almost uncirculated.”

  Bill glanced up at me, a look of chagrin on his face. “Do you now?”

  “Let’s not waste time. I own an antique store in San Francisco. Coins aren’t my specialty, but I’m fully aware of how they’re valued. I’ve worked in art insurance fraud for years. I’ve been a certified member of the International Society of Appraisers for close to twenty years, and I’m sure you want to get home to dinner. No need to haggle.”

  He raised one eyebrow as I spoke and nodded before returning his attention to the coin. Finally, he set it back down on the counter. “I’ll give you sixty thousand for it. If you want more, you’ll have to take it to auction.”

  “It could go for double that at auction.”

  Bill shrugged. “It could. Or it could go for sixty-one, minus fees. You obviously know how those things work.”

  Unfortunately, I did. I debated haggling with him but decided to take the money and go. Even if I gave Carly most of it, I could keep some for a quick trip to London. Or pay for a chunk of Trent’s college. And Bill could deal with the hassle of an auction or a pain in the butt collector.

  “That’ll do. Write it up with the other.”

  He stood slowly and studied me. “You want me to write this up?”

  “I figured we’d do a bank transfer.”

  “We can do it that way. Or,” he paused, “cash.”

  Holy crap. No tax bill. No paper trail. Just cash. Other than totally breaking the law and having tens of thousands of dollars that I’d have to deal with, why not? Nobody believed I had the damn gold anyway.

  My heart raced a little with the thought. I’d paid almost forty percent in taxes on the finder’s fee Darius gave me when he sold the tarot cards I found. I used the rest of the money to start and build up the inventory on my shop but having to give such a huge chunk away to the government who hadn’t risked a single damn thing to find the cards irritated me to no end.

  I nodded. “Alright.”

  “I’ll be right back. I’ve gotta get into the safe.” He shuffled toward a door behind the counter and vanished.

  When Bill returned, he handed me a stack of cash barely three-inches tall.

  It’s funny to hold a wad of cash. I remember watching Scrooge McDuck cartoons as a kid, where he would dance around in piles of cash. He must have had billions of dollars.

  I thought about taking it to the Boise branch of my bank and making a deposit. But I couldn’t. I needed to take this directly from Bill’s safe to Carly or to my own safe back at home. A twinge of guilt hit me as I shoved the envelope in my purse.

  I stood just inside the shop and waited for the Uber ride I ordered and considered this whole thing.

  Some robbers stole this gold years ago. Frank and Del found it. Logan and Alex stole it from them. I stole it from Logan and hid it in my closet. Someone else took most of it from me. And I just sold two coins under the table, for cash. Something I would never have allowed to happen in my own shop.

  Now I was not only a thief but also an active tax evader. This whole thing started with trying to help a man who was dying on the street.

  I tried to help my sister and Carly.

  I tried to help my mother.

  I hadn’t helped anyone.

  I’d just pissed everyone off.

  And now, I’d put my own business and family in financial peril if anyone dug into the source of my cash. Unless I got rid of it all.

  My emotions swung between elation to the swampy guilty feeling of what I’d just done. Finally, a wave of fear engulfed me now that I was a criminal and could lose everything for tax evasion. This feeling was one I knew, after I returned from London last summer.

  I waved goodbye to Bill when my ride arrived, and though I felt somewhat nauseous with nerves, my stomach started growling as soon as I sat in the car, so I tamped down the fear and focused on a trip to London and how I could get this money to Carly. A nice meal with a glass of wine sounded lovely, but I had tens of thousands of dollars stuffed in my purse.

  “Can you take me downtown? What’s the best restaurant?”

  The driver glanced at me in his rear-view mirror. “Well, that’ll cost more. I’m supposed to take you to the location you entered when you hired me.”

  “That’s fine. Just take me to a good restaurant downtown, please.”

  He nodded as I thought about tomorrow. I was supposed to fly home, but I couldn’t put this cash in my suitcase that I was checking, which meant carrying it on the plane and through security. Tens of thousands of dollars in a carry-on would be a red flag for TSA. Crap. I would be a nervous wreck.

  I leaned forward. “Hey, are there any rental car places downtown?”

  “I think there’s an Avis. Wanna go there instead?”

  “Yeah. Please.” I’d be driving home tomorrow. It’d make for a long day, but I’d feel better not having to deal with the cash. I could leave on my own schedule. I’d make it back to the city around the same time as my flight, anyway.

  One non-descript Toyota Camry, a great meal, and two hours later, I finally made it back to my hotel. The stuffed bear’s glassy eyes seemed to follow me as I entered the lobby. “Stop watching me. Catch your damn fish,” I muttered as I walked by it. But it didn’t. The frozen fish would always be about six inches out of reach. Poor damn bear. I knew how it felt. So close to getting what you wanted, but it was never going to happen. No matter how hard I tried, I’d never be able to do what I needed to for my sister or her family. They had to do that for themselves. Even though I felt like a failure, like I completely let them down, I couldn’t do it for them.

  My phone buzzed as soon as I opened my door, and I was shocked to see Mom’s name show up on the screen. Mom? The same mom who kicked me out of her house today?

  I pushed decline and got ready for a long, luxurious soak in the tub. At least the bluebird room had that going for it.

  But the phone rang again. And again.

  “What?” I snapped when I finally picked it up. “I don’t really want to talk to you right now.”

  “I’m sure you don’t. Did you make it back to California?”

  “No, I didn’t. San Francisco was fogged in, and my flight got delayed until tomorrow. But I’m not going to talk to you and pretend that nothing happened today. You threw me out of your house.�
��

  My mother was silent for a moment. “I’m sorry. I handled the whole thing poorly.”

  “Ya think?” I yelled into the phone before pausing to try and take a breath to calm myself. “You’ve chosen Mom. I told you everything last night, and now, I’m this crazy person who’s made up this story. And magically, the gold is missing. So you know what? You and Anne can have the gold. And your new boyfriend can even sell it for you. You don’t need me. Goodbye.”

  I went to press end when I heard her yelling, “Tricia, wait. Don’t hang up. I believe you.”

  I collapsed onto the bed and kicked my shoes off.

  “Are you there?” my mom asked. “Tricia?”

  I sighed. “Yes, I’m here.”

  “I just got off the phone with Roberto. He—”

  “Mom, I really don’t want to hear about your little romance right now. I’m going to hang up. And I’m going to get in the bath. And tomorrow, I’m going home, back to California.”

  “Wait, Roberto said that you sold an 1881 Liberty Head Double Eagle gold coin this afternoon. For eight thousand dollars.”

  I stared at my phone in shock.

  “Tricia?”

  “Yeah, I’m here.” I got off the bed and began pacing. “How did Roberto know I sold that coin?”

  “He’s good friends with Bill, who you sold it to. Bill told him. Apparently, it isn’t the first time they’ve had coins like that come into their shop.”

  “Well, of course not, Mom. They’re coin collectors. And, they have giant ‘We Buy Gold’ signs hanging outside their doors.”

  “It’s just that, well, last night when you told me everything, I was so upset that you’d think anything like that of Logan.” Her voice hitched. “He’s my grandson, Tricia. I couldn’t believe you’d even think that. Then, after you went to bed, Anne called. She was so hurt and upset with you for making those accusations about her child. I’m sure you can imagine.”

  “Oh, I don’t need to imagine. I’m fully aware that she hates me. And I’m also fully aware of how horrible everything is that I said. But I don’t know what other conclusion to reach.”

  “I live here in Idaho. With them. I know you’ve offered, but I’m not ever moving to the city. I wouldn’t make it there. We both know that. It’s just not me.”

  Anger spiked again. “Okay. Fine. You chose my sister. It’s sad that she’s making you choose and you’re doing it, but whatever.” There it was again, the “whatever.” I sounded like a petulant teenager.

  “Just listen to me. I didn’t want to believe you. I needed time to think. And Roberto, well, he verified your story.”

  I stopped pacing. “He what?”

  “He recognized Logan’s picture when he came here on our first date. He hadn’t known Logan was my grandson. But he said that Logan has been in his and Bill’s shops for the past few years selling off coins every few months. He’s sold tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of gold for cash. Apparently, Frank used to come in and sell them too, but he hadn’t been in for over a year.”

  “So, did you ask Anne? Did she take the gold out of my closet?”

  “She swears she has no idea what I’m talking about. She says she spent the night at her house with Madi and Brian.”

  “And you believe her?”

  “I do,” my mom said, her voice hitching as she started to cry. “Because there’s one more thing.”

  “What? What else happened?”

  “You didn’t notice it when you got home?”

  I thought back to this morning. We were at my mother’s house for all of ten minutes before I’d been banished and headed back to Boise.

  Then it hit me.

  “Mom, your lawn was mowed. Logan came back to Elk Creek last night after I left his apartment, which means he was in the shed and realized I moved the gold.”

  “Yes. He would have seen that it wasn’t in the shed any longer, and he must have found it wherever you put it. What do we do now?” my mom choked out through her tears.

  “Is there any chance at all that Brian mowed?” I asked, hoping that it might be him.

  “Oh, hell no,” she choked out. “But you need to come back. We need to work this out with the family. I can’t do this alone.”

  Chapter 25

  I WAVED GOODBYE TO the permanently frustrated stuffed bear in the lobby and headed toward the parking lot, still debating with myself. Even after an entire night of tossing and turning, I still wasn’t one hundred percent sold on my next steps. I felt heavy, like the sky, which was low with clouds and a dreary drizzle. This was a typical Idaho spring - warm and beautiful one day with a sudden return to winter the next.

  I dragged my suitcase as I ran across the parking lot. By the time I wrestled it into the trunk, water dripped down the back of my neck and I started to shiver. I tucked the final gold coin into my bra where I could feel its weight and solidity. Putting it there felt a little ridiculous at first, but I decided that keeping the damn thing on my body until I could get it into my safe at home was the smart thing to do. I still didn’t know what I should do with it. Cash it in? Hang onto it for a rainy day? Give it to Carly? To Del, Brian’s dad, who had it stolen from him in the first place?

  My Mom wanted me to go back to Elk Creek, so I could make things right with the family, which sounded painful and miserable, and most likely impossible. I could attempt to work things out, or I could just head back for a quick stop to give Carly the bulk of this cash before heading back home.

  And forget about seeing my family. I could cut bait now and head back home with the cash and the final coin.

  If nothing else, I couldn’t leave Carly hanging. No matter that she was apparently still having an affair with my brother-in-law. Or they rekindled it recently. I didn’t know and honestly didn’t care about that. She deserved whatever small share of the cache I could share with her.

  I also had to tell Mike what I knew, even if it destroyed my family. I wondered if he’d discovered any of this. He must know about the strife between my family and Frank’s family, but I didn’t know if that pointed to one of my family members killing Frank even though Logan had a clear motive, to protect the gold he stole.

  Two people were dead. I had no idea if Alex’s death had anything to do with the missing gold, but if anyone else died, and it turned out I could have stopped it by sharing what I knew, I was morally bound to do it.

  And since I trusted exactly no one in my family, even my Mom at this point, I needed to tell the police everything. And hope that they believed me.

  I sat in my car and tried to warm up. I felt like I was looking at an airplane cockpit with all of the options to try to turn the damn heater on in this new rental car.

  A trickle of warm air finally started to come out of the vents, thank God.

  I pulled out of the lot and made my decision, turning toward Elk Creek.

  For Carly, and for my mother.

  I didn’t see any reason to hash anything out with my sister. If she made the accusations about Trent that I made about her son, I’m not sure I’d ever want to see her again either. I’d let that lay, let her calm down, see what Mike decided to do with the investigation, and maybe in a few months or even a year or two, we could talk about it.

  I felt like I didn’t even know her anymore. When I got here, a few short weeks ago, I liked her husband, and she’d never uttered a word about the disaster their marriage had become with cheating and violence. I shuddered, hating the whole situation. I wanted more than anything to help her escape, but I couldn’t. Only she could do that.

  If I learned nothing else over these few weeks, it was that.

  Even if I couldn’t ever reconcile with my baby sister, maybe we could convince Logan to come clean about the gold and return it to his grandfather and Carly. I doubted my nephew would ever admit to murder, but so many things pointed at him.

  Everything pointed at him.

  I sighed as I pulled out of Boise and toward my hometown with my brain
racing. No matter what happened when I got there, this was not going to be easy.

  ♦♦♦

  Carly’s car wasn’t in her driveway. But at least Brian wasn’t there either. I called, but she didn’t answer, and I decided to stop by anyway. Maybe she’d be there for lunch? I didn’t know if she’d gone back to work or if she was still taking time off after Frank’s death.

  I hoped at least Kat was there. I didn’t dare leave the cash in her mailbox. But no one answered my knocking.

  I hurried back to my car and the heat where I could text Carly. I told her I had something for her. Something that she could use. Maybe that would get her attention and she’d reply. I stared at my phone for a full minute, waiting for her to answer. She didn’t. Dammit.

  Now what? I thought about going to her work, but I didn’t know where she worked. In fact, I didn’t even know what she did other than her job provided benefits for her family, which was why she didn’t do her jewelry full-time.

  I tapped the steering wheel and stared at Carly’s house while I thought about my next move. Seeing Carly and giving her the cash was the priority, so I called my mother. Within five minutes, I was heading toward Elk Creek Elementary where Carly worked as a teacher’s aide. The secretary made me wait about ten minutes until they could get coverage for her. Apparently, she was the aide to a severely disabled little girl, so Carly couldn’t just take a break and come see me. I sat on the seriously uncomfortable bench in the hallway and waited.

  Surprise registered on her face when she saw me sitting outside the office.

  I stood as she got close. “Let’s go outside. This won’t take long.” I started toward the door.

  “What’s going on? Why are you here?”

  I turned to face her and handed her the envelope full of cash. I still had one coin stuffed in my bra.

  She peeked inside the envelope and her mouth dropped open. “Yeah, let’s go outside.” She stared at me, her mouth agape. “Where did you… is this the…? Did you find it all?” She finally managed to get out.