Julia hesitated outside of Sarah’s door and thought about the events of the previous evening, Duke slipping out of her and Navarro’s sight, followed by Julia being detained at the police station until the wee hours of the morning to give her version of the events that unfolded at the late Max Mueller’s Macomb County property. And finally, the most beautiful reprieve, when she had come home and stood over her two little boys, both asleep in Logan’s room.
Julia told herself to buck up, that she needed to give Sarah a second chance, and entered her sister’s room. Her sister was sitting alone, with her right leg bandaged and above the bedsheet, and she was staring out the window.
“How’s the view?” Julia asked, realizing she was glad she brought along the flowers, because she didn’t see any other get-well tokens, not even a single card, in Sarah’s room.
“Can you believe it? There’s a friggin’ cemetery outside. What kind of lunatic builds a hospital right next to a cemetery? Anyway I appreciate you coming by. And you brought flowers. How about that? Not sure if you’ll find a place to put them with all the others,” Sarah said.
“How’s the leg?” Julia asked, and put the bouquet on Sarah’s side table.
“With some physical therapy, it should be okay. I’ve been cold turkey without a cigarette for twelve hours now. It’s killing me. The doctor wanted to put me on pain meds, but I told him no. That shit gets into your system, you just want more. It’s too much of a temptation, and I really want to try and stay clean this time.”
“Good for you. That takes guts,” Julia said. “Have you been watching the news?”
“Never if I don’t have to. Why?”
“We found out what happened to Ben. The Detroit Chief of Police confessed to Ben’s murder. The chief’s name is John Linderman, and I’ve known him for a long time. Linderman was tangled up with the Muellers. Ahote kidnapped Ben as payback for Duke taking off with the van Goghs, but Ben was able to get away. Ben flagged down a car, and it was Linderman who picked him up. Linderman killed Ben when he realized Ben would tell the police what happened.”
“A cop killed Ben? Jesus, that’s crazy. The poor kid. I guess the only good thing is at least you finally know. They got a body?”
“Yes. The police found Ben’s body buried underneath a willow tree on Mueller’s property. Linderman put him there.”
“This Linderman guy told the cops this?”
“He confessed to Duke and me first before the police got there. Duke’s alive. He made it out somehow.”
“I know. He banged on the trailer door and told me he called the cops and help would be there soon.”
“Duke called the cops?” Julia asked.
“That’s what he said,” Sarah answered. “So you and Duke were alone with the police chief and you didn’t kill him when he told you what he did to Ben?”
“I thought about it,” Julia said. She looked through Sarah and instead could picture herself holding Duke’s gun between her hands, pointing it at Linderman’s head and the temptation that ran through every cell of her body to pull the trigger.
“You’re not a killer. It’s better you didn’t,” Sarah said.
“I’m going to do a service for Ben. Something small. I want to lay him to rest. I can wait until you get out of here. I’d like you to be there.”
“Of course. You and Ben were close, me and Ben weren’t.”
“It doesn’t matter. You’re his sister. I’ve been thinking about something. How come you didn’t run out of the trailer like we talked about after I went after Phoenix?”
“Because he was a nut, and I was pretty sure he was going to shoot you. Did the police get him?”
“Phoenix is dead, they all are. I was thinking, maybe after you get out of here, we could grab a coffee or something. I mean, if you want to,” Julia said. “If you’re busy, it’s okay.”
Sarah’s face softened and Julia realized her sister was truly beautiful when she let down her guard.
“Yeah, I’d like that. I’ll pay this time, okay?” Sarah said.
A tapping sounded on the door and Julia turned to see Navarro.
“Helen told me you’d be here,” Navarro said.
“Sarah, this is Ray Navarro. He’s a Detroit cop.”
Sarah raised one eyebrow at Julia and her usual hard mask returned.
Julia picked up on Sarah’s vibe and moved to Navarro’s side.
“I don’t think Ray’s here on official business. He’s my friend. I’ve known him for a long time,” Julia said. “We’re seeing each other.”
“My sister is dating a cop. How about that,” Sarah said. “Well, at least he’s good-looking.”
“I’ve heard a lot about you,” Navarro said to Sarah.
“I bet you have.”
“Julia, you got a second?” Navarro asked.
“Sure,” Julia answered, and turned to her sister. “I should get going. You need someone to pick you up when you get out of here? I don’t think you’re going to be driving anytime soon.”
“That would be great,” Sarah said. She waited a beat until Julia started to head out of the room and then called out to her sister. “Hey. Thanks. You coming here and everything else, that was something.”
“Call me when you know you’re going to get out,” Julia said.
Julia left Sarah and then followed Navarro into the hallway and toward the elevators. When they reached the visitors lounge, Navarro turned around, and his expression looked tight.
“You hear from your dad?” Navarro asked.
“No. I swear. If I did, I would tell you. You think I helped him get away? Is that what this is about?”
“You tell me,” he answered.
“I didn’t know Duke was going to make a run for it. Come on, Navarro. You know me. I would never lie to you. I might screw up, and I’m sorry about leaving you at your house when I met Duke and Sarah. I knew if I told you about it, you would’ve convinced me not to go. I wasn’t choosing sides. But if I had to, I’d pick you. Always. But I felt like for the first time, I was close to finally finding out what happened to my brother. And we did.”
“I didn’t want you to get hurt. I knew you were being set up, and Duke and your sister have done a lot of damage to you in the past. I don’t trust them.”
“I’m sorry.”
Navarro shook his head and reached out for Julia’s hands, taking them in both his own.
“You don’t need to apologize. I understand why you did it. But next time, how about you rely on me, instead of relatives who’ve served time?” Navarro said.
Julia finally smiled. “That’s a deal.”
“So you’re friends with your sister again? What’s up with that?”
“I know how it must look. She’s had my back, though, over the last few days. Phoenix was coming after me in the trailer, back at Mueller’s place, and she stopped him. We’re going to have coffee when she gets out of the hospital. Baby steps. So we’ll see. Is there anything new on Linderman?”
“He’s still in jail. I’m not sure what kind of bail the judge is going to set. He confessed to deleting part of the video footage of Ahote’s van outside of Home Depot. He was also Kenny’s liaison to the police department and you, since Linderman knew Kenny was on leave from the Bureau. Linderman’s attorney is claiming his client was blackmailed by Kenny and his crew. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you, but the media is going nuts with the story.”
“I know. I’ve been getting calls all morning from the press. The only one I called back was my editor, Virginia. I did an interview with Tom, the political reporter. Virginia is champing at the bit to get me to write a personal column about what happened with Ben and my search for him all these years, leading up to Linderman.”
“Are you going to do it?” Navarro asked.
“I might. It’s not a story I necessarily want to keep bottled up inside me anymore. If I didn’t tell you yet, I’m very glad to see you,” Julia said. She wrapped her arms around Navarro and h
ugged him as hard as she could.
As Julia embraced Navarro, she felt something tucked inside the pocket of her jeans press against her thigh and remembered the piece of paper Duke had handed her in the woods.
“Hold on,” Julia said. She pulled away from Navarro and fished out a folded piece of white-lined paper from her pocket and read the few words that Duke had written: 1680 Baker Rd., L. Left of the cornfield. Behind tractor. 77.9.37.4.
“What’s that?” Navarro asked.
“Duke gave me this right before he ran off. I’m not sure, but I think it could be the place where he hid the van Goghs.”
* * *
Navarro ran the 1680 Baker Road address, and found sixty hits in the state of Michigan, but the one in the city of Leonard, which he and Julia realized the L stood for, was their jackpot, especially after Navarro discovered the now-deceased Chip Haskell owned the property.
Leonard was an hour north of Detroit and about thirty minutes from the hospital. Julia watched the suburbs and the big-box stores slip by as she looked out the passenger window of Navarro’s Chevy Tahoe as the two drove to the clandestine address Duke had left for her.
“How are you doing about everything with your brother?” Navarro asked.
“We found him. And I’m going to bring him home.”
“I know you were hoping he was still alive. This isn’t meant to be a consolation, but now you know.”
“That’s what everyone keeps saying.”
Julia looked down at her hands and thought about Ben with his crooked smile and his devotion to her until he took his last breath, and she started to cry.
“He’ll always be with me. I need to keep moving forward with my life. Ben would want that.”
Navarro squeezed Julia’s hand and then turned off the highway toward Leonard. The bucolic route took them through rural landscapes until they reached the Baker Road address. Navarro killed the engine, and the two did a quick assessment of the property, which consisted of a worn two-story white house, which was badly in need of a paint job, an old barn, and about ten acres of a dried-up cornfield that was infested with angry, cawing crows.
“Your dad hid something worth fifty million dollars here?” Navarro asked. “This place is a dump.”
“I’m pretty sure this is the spot. Let’s go.”
Julia and Navarro exited the Tahoe, and the two wove through a littered array of rusted car parts and a faded John Deere grain harvester as they beat a path to the cornfield.
“Is this the tractor?” Navarro asked as he gave the green harvester a quick once-over.
“You are a city boy. Follow me,” Julia said. She led the way, taking a left at the cornfield, like the note implied, and then stopped next to a large, rusted-out tractor with its hood open.
“This is the place. We’re looking for something behind the tractor,” Julia said.
“There’s nothing here, but dirt and a field,” Navarro answered.
“It’s here. It’s got to be.”
“Fine. You check around the tractor, and I’ll take the field. Catch up with me if you don’t find anything here, and we’ll search the field together,” Navarro said.
Julia watched Navarro make his way to the field and then got down on her hands and knees and began to sweep her hand across the dry, loose dirt and patches of gnarled grass behind the tractor. She worked for five minutes until her hand hit something smooth and a glint of silver poked through the dirt.
“I think I got something,” Julia called out to Navarro.
She quickly brushed the rest of the dirt away from the area as Navarro jogged over to her side.
Julia used her forearm to remove the rest of the dirt, exposing a large, round metal hatch with a handle on top.
“Got it!” Julia cried out. She reached for the handle, but Navarro pushed her hand away.
“God knows what’s under here. Let me go first,” he said.
Navarro opened the hatch, and the two peered down to see a set of stairs that began at the mouth of the cinderlike hole.
“I’m going down. Don’t follow until I tell you it’s clear,” Navarro said.
Julia waited for about a minute when she saw a light turn on at the base of the hole and Navarro waving at her. “Come on down, but be careful. This place, it looks like a doomsday bunker or something.”
Julia made her way down through the cylinder until she reached the bottom rung of the stairs and found herself in a fairly large room. One wall was lined with a pantry filled with dried and canned goods and cases of bottled water. Along another wall, there were enough weapons lined up neatly in a gun rack to arm a small battalion.
Navarro whistled as he surveyed the place. “At least he’s got a bed in here. Who the hell was this guy?”
“Someone my dad knew,” Julia said.
Navarro began searching the pantry, and Julia flipped over the mattress of a double bed in the far side of the room.
“Nothing here. You have anything?” Julia asked.
“If you’re hungry, I’ve got about twenty cans of Spam,” Navarro said. “Haskell probably has a hidey-hole somewhere.”
Navarro bent down and began to rap his fist against the floor as Julia’s eyes hung on a large, cheap-looking oil painting of a hunter with a gun in one hand and his trusty dog beside him as the two pursued a duck midflight trying to escape.
“Why would someone decorate a bunker? Could you help me get this down?” Julia asked. “It’s too high for me.”
Navarro grabbed the picture and removed it, revealing a large metal safe built into the wall and carefully hidden away from sight.
“A picture behind a picture,” Navarro said as he studied the safe. “Shit, there’s a lock. We don’t have a combination.”
“Maybe we do,” Julia said. She reached for the piece of paper Duke had given her, still in her pocket, and read off the numbers written there: 77.9.37.4.
Navarro tapped his finger in a steady rhythm as he entered the code.
Julia heard a click as the door of the safe creaked open and watched as Navarro carefully reached his hand inside and then pulled out an old leather-bound journal, which was cracked and weathered, an almost-150-year-old artifact finally coming to the surface after being hidden by Duke for three decades. Julia took the journal from Navarro’s hands and opened the cover as gingerly as she could. She scanned the contents of the journal, which were written in what Julia assumed was Dutch.
“I wonder what he wrote,” Julia said. “If this is van Gogh’s thoughts before or during the time he went mad, it would be fascinating to find out what was going on in his head.”
“The painting is gone,” Navarro said as he finished inspecting the contents of the safe. “Duke must’ve taken the painting and left the notebook, because he probably figured it wasn’t worth anything. I found something else in the safe. Looks like Duke left it for you.”
Navarro handed Julia a white envelope with her name written across it. Julia tore it open to find a handwritten note from Duke and a ten-dollar bill.
Julia felt Navarro move in behind her as she began to read.
Julia,
I figured you’d be able to find this place. You were always a smart kid.
You brought Ben home. Be proud of that. I know your brother is proud of you.
Here’s the ten bucks I owe you from lifting your birthday money when you were seven. One day, I’ll pay you interest on the loan.
Have a good life, kid. The cop you’re seeing doesn’t seem half bad, for a cop anyway. If he makes you happy, that’s good.
I’ll be keeping an eye on you.
Duke
“Your father is an interesting man. But if he shows up again, I’m sending his ass to jail,” Navarro said.
“I realize that,” Julia said. “You break the law, you pay the consequences.”
“Come on, beautiful. We have a notebook to deliver to the Feds.”
* * *
Two days after the stolen van Gogh journal w
as returned to the FBI’s art crime division, Julia stood in Logan’s room, adjusting the knot of a red tie around her older son’s neck as Will, dressed in a dark blue suit, sat on his brother’s bed and pumped his little feet back and forth against the footboard.
“You don’t have to wear the tie, if you don’t want to,” Julia said. “But you look very handsome.”
“It’s okay,” Logan answered. “I know you want me to look nice.”
“There’s something I need to say. I want to apologize.”
“For what? You didn’t do anything.”
“Yes, I did. More than anything, I want you and Will to feel safe. I know you’ve been worried lately, and I didn’t mean to put you in a bad situation. You’re safe now. I promise. And I’ll do everything in my power to always keep you and Will that way.”
“I wish you would’ve let me stay with you instead of making me jump over that stupid tree to the neighbors’ house. I would’ve protected you.”
“I know you would have. But right now, it’s my job to look after you and your brother, not the other way around. I was thinking after my brother’s service, the three of us could take a little trip.”
“Are you going to invite Uncle Ray?” Logan asked.
“I wasn’t planning on it,” Julia said.
“It’s okay if you do. You’re dating him, right?”
Julia looked back at her son and tried not to let him know how caught off guard his spot-on deduction had made her.
“Why do you think that?” Julia asked.
“I can tell you like each other. He looks at you just like Dad did a long time ago, before things got weird between you guys.”
“How would you feel if I was seeing Detective Navarro?” Julia asked.
Julia watched as her little boy cast a glimpse at a framed picture on his nightstand. The photo was a picture of Logan and David on the beach taken two years earlier, before their family began to unravel.
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