Chapter 14
Fourteen
Kane checked his watch. “We’ll need to get the boys home soon, but while they’re playing we’ll have time to take a look at that safe.”
“Sure.” Rhett pushed away from the table and stood. “Follow me. The safe is in the dressing room in my father’s old bedroom. It is only by chance that we’ve discovered it. It’s very well hidden in a closet behind his clothes. It looks very old. I would say it’s been here since the house was built.”
“You won’t need me up there.” Carter indicated toward the family room. “I’ll go and play trains with the boys and Julie.” He headed along the hallway with Zorro on his heels.
“Can you open old safes?” Rhett looked at Kane and raised an eyebrow. “I know you have gadgets for the electronic ones.”
Kane followed him toward the stairs. “All I can do is look at it. I’ve been lucky in my lifetime to have met many people who can break into different places.
In law enforcement, this can be advantageous, especially if people are in danger inside.
I can open many types of locks and I’ve opened a number of safes in my time.
I do have the gadgets Jenna mentioned but I can still use my ears and listen to the tumblers falling. ”
The bedroom was surprisingly light and airy.
It had been kept in pristine condition. Light filtered through the cotton curtains bleached by the sun.
A tall chest of drawers as old as the house, with a rich patina gained from years of beeswax polish, stood against one wall.
On top, a pair of glasses sat beside a book, as if left to continue at another time.
The only bare space in the entire room was the bed, solid with a carved wooden headboard, and on one end of a pristine new mattress sat a neatly folded patchwork quilt.
Jenna’s gaze moved to the bedside tables, on one side a bowl containing cufflinks sat beside an old oil lamp that had been converted to electricity.
It was as if Rhett’s parents had just walked away moments later.
Being inside felt obtrusive, as if she had invaded their privacy.
“The bathroom is on the left and the dressing room on the right.” Rhett led the way across the room and threw open a heavy door.
“The safe is in that closet—the other one was my mom’s.
We’ve already removed the clothes. Julie and I packed them into the old suitcases.
I’d planned to take everything to Goodwill but we figured they may carry some evidence.
Everything is packed in plastic bags.” He stood to one side to let Kane and Jenna enter.
“You’ll need this.” He handed Jenna a flashlight. “The above light isn’t very good.”
“Is this the only safe in the bedroom?” Jenna turned to look at him. “You mentioned others throughout the house. Have you managed to open any of them?”
“Yeah. The lawyer gave us keys to open all the others. They held business documents, personal documents, a copy of his will, etcetera, but nothing relating to his fear of being murdered.”
Kane took the flashlight from Jenna and ducked inside the closet.
Paneled in dark timber, the room smelled faintly of tobacco.
He’d seen photographs of Rhett’s parents in the family room and his father smoked a pipe at one time.
After all these years, the smell had clung to his clothes and infused the wood.
He moved his flashlight around the small room.
Sunk deep into the wooden paneling, the safe was hardly visible.
Dark with age, the surrounding boards had warped from a century of Montana winters, leaving only a dull steel face visible.
The dial was worn smooth and the numbers barely readable.
When he angled the flashlight, faint scratches on the dial stood out.
Someone had tried to force it open and not so long ago.
He looked over one shoulder at Rhett hovering in the doorway. “Did you try and force this lock?”
“Nope, I spun the dial a few times trying my birthday and other significant dates that I could think of, but no I didn’t try to force it. We searched all over for a key but couldn’t find anything that would fit it.”
Kane turned back to the safe. A thick line of dust clung to the top edge, undisturbed for decades.
He ran his fingertips over the lock. It was a failsafe in case someone forgot the combination.
He used his flashlight to examine it closely.
The safe was a museum piece with a reliable old mechanism and built long before the ranch had electricity.
He bent to look at the small scratches on the metal.
Maybe someone had tried to force it years ago.
That discovery alone was enough to tell a story.
It wouldn’t be easy to crack this safe, but he had tackled something similar before.
He turned to look at Rhett. “On closer inspection, I can see that the scratches around the lock are old. It would be difficult for anyone to get into this safe. Your father might not have trusted anyone, but he trusted this safe. Just looking at it from the outside, I would say it’s intact.
It would be unusual for someone to open a safe and lock it again, especially after the owner is dead.
” He handed the flashlight to Jenna, who held the beam steady on the front of the safe.
Allowing the tension to ease from his shoulders, Kane bent and pressed his ear to the cool metal. He spun the dial back and forth, listening to the clicks and feeling the subtle shift in resistance. Around him the house groaned and Jenna shifted her weight.
“Can you hear anything?” Jenna sucked in a deep breath. “I’m glad I’m not here alone. I’m waiting for the door to slam shut and lock me inside.”
“Oh, thanks for that.” Rhett scratched his cheek. “Julie said his room gave her the creeps, as if it were still occupied, and when she helped me pack up the things, she felt as if she’d invaded someone’s private space. I hope it’s not haunted.”
Kane stopped what he was doing and turned slowly to look at them.
“Like I’ve said to Jenna before, it’s not the dead you need to worry about.
In any case, this was your dad’s bedroom.
He made it very clear he only wants the best for you.
Why would he want to scare you away?” He sighed and went back to work.
“Now can the two of you keep quiet so I can hear it?”
“Is it talking to you?” Rhett barked a laugh.
Kane looked over one shoulder at him. “This is a very old safe and old safes talk to you if you listen.”
He pressed his ear against the front of the safe again and turned the dial, listening to the faint metallic drop that signaled the first number had fallen into place. “Jenna, maybe you should write this down. The first number is three.”
“You hold the flashlight.” Jenna thrust it into Rhett’s hands and pulled out her notebook and pen.
Moving on, Kane heard a second click and then a third before the dial stopped resisting.
He relayed the numbers to Jenna, took a deep breath and turned the handle.
The door came open in a soft metallic sigh and a smell escaped that was reminiscent of old paper with a faint tang of gun oil.
Behind him, Rhett aimed the flashlight into the interior.
The beam moved over a stack of notebooks, a bundle of letters tied with twine, a small tin box, and a gun wrapped in a yellowing white handkerchief.
As Rhett stepped forward, Kane raised a hand to stop him.
“Don’t touch anything yet. This could all be evidence and we need to be sure no one has tampered with it.
I’d imagine that the contents will only have your father’s fingerprints on them.
They’ll be on the letter he left you and other documents he’s handled, so we can get a match.
” He pulled examination gloves from his pocket and handed Rhett a pair before pulling on his own.
“We’ll remove everything piece by piece before looking at it and laying it out along the top of the nightstand.
We’ll be able to examine it there in the light. ”
“Suddenly I’m not sure if I want to know.” Rhett’s mouth turned down. “With the murder of that poor woman, what if my dad had something to do with the killer and the man’s still here?”
Kane raised one eyebrow. “It’s remote but possible and this might be the evidence we need to catch him. It’s your property. If you want us to drop it, we will. Your choice.”
“No, keep going.” Rhett sighed. “I need to know the truth.”