Chapter 12 #2
When they’d cleared a large enough area, Asher stood, took a shovel off the wall where it was hanging.
He stabbed it in the dirt, lifted out the first scoop, and dumped it in a wheelbarrow.
The ground was hard and full of gravel-size rocks, but he kept shoving it into the ground, pushing it deeper with his foot, then lifting it out, over and over until the shovel clanged against something hard. Something metal.
He shifted where he was standing and began taking out dirt from around the object, scraped away the top layer of what was covering it until the whole lid of the strongbox was revealed.
It was a gut-punch, and a relief. The truth was right in front of them.
“What do we do now?” Dylan asked.
“We leave it. We don’t touch it. We don’t open it. Grab a drop cloth and cover it up, then stack some boxes in front of where we’ve been digging. I’m calling the FBI. It’s theirs to claim and recover.”
They stood, staring at each other, uncertain how to react, and then Asher broke the shock and hugged them in celebration.
“We did it, all of us…together. We’ll have to stand up to public scrutiny again when the media finds out it was Brenda who hid it, and right beneath our feet. But to hell with all of them. We have nothing to be ashamed of, and we’re the ones who solved a twenty-one-year-old cold case.”
“Gunner and I will cover it up,” Dylan said.
Asher nodded. “I’ll try getting in contact with the Feds, but it’s late. Gunner, were there any contact numbers on the files you requested from them?”
“I think so. I’ll check as soon as we finish here,” he said.
“Lock the basement door after you come up. The next people to go down there will be the Feds. We don’t tell anyone, and we ask them not to reveal the recovery until we’ve got the Brandt brothers for the shooting.”
“How are we going to do that?” Dylan asked.
“That’s something we still have to figure out,” Gunner said.
“I’m going to make a food run,” Asher said. “Are you picky, or do you want me to just bring it home?”
“Whatever you get, I’ll eat,” Dylan said.
“Same,” Gunner added.
“Be back soon,” Asher said, then headed up the stairs.
Minutes later, he was driving away in his dad’s truck. It was too late to dump a big order on Pearl, so the deli in Belker’s Grocery was the next choice.
He grabbed a shopping cart as he went in and headed straight for the deli counter, eyed the choices, and opted for an assortment of sliced deli meats and cheeses, potato salad, pasta salad, and put a small carrot cake in the basket before heading to the bread and condiment aisles.
Instead of sliced bread, he got hoagie rolls, pickles, a jar of wholegrain mustard and a jar of mayo, a head of lettuce and a couple of tomatoes, and headed to checkout, fielding questions about Jacob, and laughing when he found out that Gunner was the most recent local hero for running down a longhorn, which put him on a pedestal with Sonny Bluejacket, who once caught three men robbing Belker’s pharmacy by putting a skunk in their car.
He was still grinning when he exited the store, but instead of going straight back, he made a quick detour to Nora. Got out on the run, took the steps up two at a time, and knocked.
He heard her footsteps as she came into the living room, and the moment she opened the door, he swept her off her feet and into his arms, kicking the door shut behind him as he entered.
She saw the look on his face and started smiling.
“You found it. Don’t tell me. But I can see it in your eyes. My God, Ash… All those years.”
“I don’t have the words to say how much I love you. Thank you is not enough. I have a phone call to make, and we’ll be out of pocket until it’s out of our hands. We still have to connect the Brandts to the shooting, but when this mess is over, it’s you and me, darlin’. Together forever.”
Nora frowned. “Do you think the Brandts will try again?”
“We can’t be sure, but greed always changes the odds. We know they’re in Amarillo, but that changes nothing. We still need them to make another move.”
“You need bait. Who do you know connected with the Amarillo news affiliates? If they would interview the sheriff to air an update on the shooting and the victim, then have Reddick mention Kingston’s recovery time is unknown, and the bar has been closed indefinitely, that might give the Brandts the impetus to try again…
but both parties would have to agree to do that. ”
Asher’s eyes widened. “While we lay low and wait for them to show!”
“If the universe aligns, it might work,” she said.
“You are going to be the best secret weapon a special investigator would ever want, and I have to go. The guys are waiting on me to bring food. God, I love you,” he said, and kissed her one last time before walking out the door.
Nora turned the lock, but when she turned to look around at the room in which she was standing, still filled with all of the furniture and photos, instead of the angst and grief that had brought her here, she felt nothing but a sense of duty to see it through.
It was the first signal of healing. Being able to see the future, without the need to hang on to the past.
* * *
Asher’s thoughts were a jumble of what-ifs and maybes as he drove back to the house. Dylan came out to help carry in bags. As soon as he was back inside, everything went on lockdown. Shades down. Curtains pulled.
Gunner had the information Asher wanted pulled up on his laptop and set it aside as they began opening packages and laying out the food.
“Awesome choices,” Dylan said. “Submarine sandwiches with all the fixings, and cake. I like the way you cook.”
“You like everything,” Asher said. “I can’t remember you ever turning down food.”
“Yes, he did,” Gunner said. “I know, because he gave what he wouldn’t eat to me. Told me it would make me a man, and not to tell Dad.”
Asher grinned. “What was that?”
“Mountain oysters. He just said it was meat,” Gunner said.
Dylan burst out laughing. “And when you found out what it was, you blacked my eye, remember?”
Gunner frowned. “Hell yes, I remember. I haven’t gotten over it, either.”
Asher was grinning from ear to ear. “So, you don’t like sushi, and you don’t eat…”
“Don’t even say the word,” Gunner said. “I don’t want to spoil my appetite here. This all looks good.”
Asher got out plates and flatware and stood back while they built their own subs, then made his after they’d taken a seat. In that moment, life was good, but it would be even better once they exorcised the ghost in the basement.
* * *
It was just after 6:00 p.m. when Asher was finally able to contact the federal agent in charge of cold cases, and when he began laying out the whole story, it left the man scrambling for words.
“Your mother? That certainly came out of left field! Of course, that would have been an option for us to explore if we had been able to interrogate her, if she had not killed herself,” he said.
Hearing the agent quickly shifting blame to a dead woman ticked Asher off. “That happened in your custody,” he said.
“Yes, of course. That had to be rough for your family,” he said.
“The whole debacle was a nightmare. She’d already destroyed the image we’d had of her when it happened.
We were kids. Dad was humiliated. It was years of hell and finger-pointing, and the rumors he had to live down would have ruined a lesser man.
But that will be cleared up now in due time.
However, we have a request that you do not reveal the recovery of the money until we get the Brandt brothers arrested.
After they are, you will also make it known that it was Jacob’s sons who solved the cold case after his attempted murder, or we will make our own public statement to that effect.
It will go a long way in clearing our family name.
Keeping it quiet is imperative right now.
If the Brandts realize the money is no longer within their reach, they’ll walk, because we don’t have enough evidence to convict them. ”
“We can make that happen. How long are we talking here?”
“Within the next few days, for sure. We have a plan.”
“Then consider it done,” he said. “We’ll be sending agents to take possession tomorrow morning.
They’ll arrive at daybreak when most people are still asleep.
There will be three armored SUVs with multiple agents.
A lead car. The car that will transport the lock box, and a third car to protect the transport.
There will be a chopper flying overhead, strictly for the agents’ extra security.
It will not be landing. They will ask you to sign off when they take possession, and that will be the end of your participation.
We will take an official statement from you at later date, after you have apprehended your men. ”
“You can always contact me through the Texas state attorney general’s office—Department of Special Investigations.
My brother, Gunner Kingston, is a homicide detective with the Dallas PD, and my middle brother, Dylan, is a general contractor and lives in Austin, near me.
We’ll be waiting for your arrival. Tell your men to take the driveway on the west side of the bar and circle behind it.
The house is attached to the south side of the bar.
If you do, it’s unlikely their vehicles will even be seen. ”
“Will do,” the agent said. “And may I say, you three are very remarkable men.”
Asher didn’t respond. He just hung up.
Saying nice words now didn’t take away the sting of how their dad had been treated after Brenda died on their watch. The Feds’ passive-aggressive questioning of Jacob had been a feeble attempt to point blame anywhere but at themselves, and even at the age of twelve, Asher knew it.
He dropped the phone in his pocket and then went back to update the brothers, but he was keeping Nora’s suggestion about setting a trap for the Brandts to himself until the Feds had come and gone.