Episode 149
EPISODE 149
MISSING PERSON
Sebastian
After tossing and turning most of the night, I finally get up. The carafe of bourbon is still open on the bar—a reminder of how I tried to ease my racing thoughts and cold sweat with booze.
It didn’t work. I’m exhausted and nauseated. Things are so screwed up.
I shower quickly, slide on a pair of swim trunks and a muscle shirt, and head downstairs to get a cup of coffee.
Though the kitchen is empty, to my surprise—thank God—the coffeepot is full. I pour myself a large mug, ready to head outside onto the deck, when I change my mind. I go back to my suite.
My satellite phone sits next to my bed on the night table. Worry consumes me. It’s time to check in with Shelley.
Twenty Years Earlier.. .
I sneak into my house, my backpack full of Larson’s cash. My mother, of course, is passed out in her bed. I crack the door and watch her until I see her chest rise. Satisfied that she hasn’t killed herself with alcohol poisoning, I walk into my small bedroom, close the door, and lock it. Not that I think Mom will try to walk in on me. She’s out cold, and if she was awake and sober, she could easily break into my room with a small screwdriver.
No chance of that, though.
I take the backpack off my shoulder and toss it on the bed. It’s not that heavy, maybe ten pounds or so. I unzip it and empty out the stacks of hundred-dollar bills.
I inhale.
The scent of crisp money. Kind of fresh and clean, with a lace of chemicals.
I’ve never smelled anything better.
I quickly count the stacks.
Forty-seven.
Forty-fucking-seven.
I remove the paper band from one and count the bills. It takes a minute. There are a hundred.
A hundred hundreds.
“Oh. My. God,” I say out loud.
I’m pretty good at math, but it doesn’t take a genius to figure out there’s four hundred and seventy thousand dollars on my bed.
Damn! That’s nearly half a million dollars!
Among the five of us—well, four of us since Riv didn’t carry any cash in his backpack—we could be looking at a cool two mil!
Who would have thought Old Man Larson was holding that kind of money on his property? Damn. Is it even his ?
When Brett saw him bury it, we just assumed it belonged to him. But if he had this kind of loot, would he be living alone in that house that needs all kinds of repairs?
Fuck.
Maybe we stole from someone else. Maybe Larson was holding it for someone.
Or maybe he’s just a damned skinflint who doesn’t deserve this good fortune.
If Jake, Brett, and Alex all have about the same amount in their backpacks, that’s a hell of lot split five ways. We can’t spend it, though. Not until we’re eighteen and gone from here. It’d be too obvious.
But hell, I can wait. Not like I have a choice if we don’t want to get caught.
Hot diggity damn.
We’re lying low today. We won’t get together and compare notes until tomorrow. In the meantime, I have to hide this treasure. I shove it back into the pack and then put it on the top shelf of my closet, behind my hiking boots. Mom never comes in here anyway.
I walk out of my room and into the kitchen, searching for something to eat. I grab a couple brown-sugar-cinnamon Pop Tarts and a can of Coke out of the fridge. Breakfast of champions.
I pop the can open and take a long drink, letting the fizz coat my throat. I’m knee-deep in daydreams about the new electric guitar I’m going to buy for my eighteenth birthday when I jerk at a soft knock on my front door.
My heart thuds as my flesh goes cold.
The cops.
They’re onto us.
Who else would be here this time of the day ?
I open the door. River stands there, and behind him...Jake.
I open the screen door, dart my gaze up and down the street, and motion them inside. “What the hell, guys? I thought we were lying low?”
“Your mom home?” River asks in a whisper.
“She’s passed out.”
“Any chance she can hear us?”
“Doubtful, but let’s go out back just in case.” I lead them through the kitchen out into our small backyard. “What’s this all about?”
Jake runs his fingers through his unruly blond hair. “I couldn’t go to Brett or Alex. They don’t know. But you and Riv. You know.”
“Know what?”
“About Marnie.”
“She’s knocked up? Yeah, I know. But why the hell are you here?” I lower my voice. “We shouldn’t be seen together.”
“I’ve got to go back,” Jake says.
“To Larson’s?” I shake my head. “Are you nuts? We need to stay the fuck away.”
Jake rubs his forehead. “You don’t understand. It’s Marnie. She was at my place last night, but she was gone when I got back this morning. I called Riv, and we sneaked over to her place. She wasn’t there. She wouldn’t have gone back there anyway. She and her folks had a huge fight.”
“Is she with a friend?” I ask.
Jake shakes his head. “No. God, I should have never left her at my place. She doesn’t like to be alone. She followed us, Seb. I just know it.”
“Calm down,” I tell him.
River nods. “I’ve been trying to get him to calm down.”
“How can I? I can’t find her, and I know her. I know how her mind works. She followed us, and somehow she didn’t get back.”
“Jake,” River says, “listen to reason. No way would she follow us. No way would we not have known she was there. You’ve got to calm down.”
“She’s pregnant!” Jake hisses. “She’s carrying my kid. I don’t want a kid. But I love her, man. And I’m going to take care of her and the kid.”
With that loot, Jake will be able to take care of ten kids. Has he even counted it yet?
I nudge Riv. “Did you count yours?”
“I don’t have any.”
“Oh. Right. Did you?” I ask Jake.
“Nah. I got back and freaked out when Marnie wasn’t there.”
“Fuck, Jake,” I say. “What did you do with your backpack?”
“I threw it in my closet.”
Thank God. At least it’s not sitting out. I’m trying to feel for Jake. Really, I am. But no way did Marnie follow us to Old Man Larson’s.
No fucking way.
Except my flesh is cold and prickly, as if icicles are poking at me.
Jake knows Marnie better than Riv and I do. And if he thinks she went to Larson’s...
Damn.
Damn. Damn. Damn.