Twisted Twenty-Six
Page 24
“No kidding? I always liked him.” My father went over and sat in the chair. “Oh man, this is great. I always wanted a chair like this.” He put the footrest up and reclined the back. “Oh yeah,” he said. “Heaven.”
“It was Jimmy’s chair,” Grandma said.
My father got wide-eyed. “From the Mole Hole? No kidding?” He brought the back up and the footrest down and ran his hand along the leather. “Wait until the guys at the lodge hear about this.”
“It’s a little lumpy looking,” Grandma said.
“It just needs to be shook out,” my father said. “The cushion can probably get turned around.”
He picked the cushion up, and two long keys were lying on the seat bottom.
“It’s the keys,” I said.
Everyone went statue still and stared at the keys.
“Do you really think they’re the keys?” Grandma asked.
I picked them up. I’d seen keys like this before. They were keys to a safe.
“They’re engraved with six initials,” I said. “These are the La-Z-Boys keys. No one thought to look in the most obvious place.”
“We should call Joseph and turn them over to the police,” my mother said.
“No way,” Grandma said. “These are mine fair and square, and I’m going to find the treasure.”
“How are you going to do that?” I asked. “You have no idea where the safe is located.”
“You’ll find it,” Grandma said. “You’re good at finding things.”
“What about the two sicko killers that are still out there and want the keys?” I asked Grandma. “What about the three crazy sisters who want the keys? What about Barbara? Don’t you think it would be a good idea to give the keys over to the police and get on with our lives in a sane, less stressful fashion?”
“Indiana Jones wouldn’t do that,” Grandma said.
“I’m not Indiana Jones!”
“You could be if you wanted to be. You could be anything.”
I didn’t have a comeback for this. Truth is, I wouldn’t mind being Indiana Jones. He was brave and smart, and he could crack a whip and ride a horse. He didn’t like snakes, but he was okay with spiders.
“Indy would have curiosity about the keys,” Grandma said. “He’d want to go out there and see for himself, even if he had to hack his way through jungles and go into creepy caves and tombs.”
My mother was looking at Grandma as if she had corn growing out of her ears. My father was laid back in his new chair, eyes closed and a smile on his face.
I was smiling too. “Fortune and glory, Grandma. Fortune and glory. Let’s go find a treasure.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Over the course of the last 25 years, Janet Evanovich has written a staggering 23 #1 New York Times bestsellers in the Stephanie Plum series. In addition to the Plum novels, Janet has co-written the New York Times bestselling series, Fox and O'Hare novels (including The Big Kahuna with Peter Evanovich), the Knight and Moon novels, the Lizzy and Diesel series, the Alexandra Barnaby novels, and coauthor of a graphic novel, Troublemaker, with her daughter, Alex.
Evanovich.com
Facebook.com/JanetEvanovich
@JanetEvanovich
@JanetEvanovich
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