Chapter 27
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Pamela went to the living room and put one of the babies down on the floor in front of Tim and the gunman, absolutely hating to do that, then raced back to grab the other two.
By the time she had awkwardly carried both of them out, the gunman eyed her with sympathy. “They really are a handful.”
“They’re a handful only because there’s three of them,” she stated, her tone hard. “Other than that, they’re totally normal babies.”
“Right,” Tim huffed.
“Of course this loser doesn’t understand that and decided it was all too much for him,” she shared, fed up and more worried than she could have imagined possible. She looked over at the gunman and asked, “Is it really necessary to have the gun around the children?”
He frowned at her, stared down at the babies, and shrugged. “I can’t really do anything about it right now, but you’re right. They probably shouldn’t be involved in this.”
“No, they shouldn’t be,” she declared and just waited, hoping he would put away the gun, but of course he didn’t.
He added, “You’ll have to live with it for now. I can keep it behind Tim. That should help. You can just sit down on the floor beside them.”
And that’s what she did. She took up a spot on the floor, and she asked the gunman, “What are you waiting for?”
“He says his brother-in-law’s here.”
“He’s at the hospital. The doctors plan to reduce Talia’s sedation and try to wake her up so Anderson can talk to his sister and get some answers.”
Timothy glared at her. “The doctors should leave her alone.”
“Oh, so she can just die while you’re out and about being an absolute asshole?” she snapped.
The gunman laughed. “You really don’t like him, do you?”
“What’s to like?” she asked, staring at him. “I mean, what is there to like?”
He looked at her and then shrugged. “No, you’re right. There isn’t a whole lot. It sounds as if he threw his entire family under the bus so he could run away with his girlfriend.”
“You’ve got to admit that’s pretty low,” she muttered.
He laughed and added, “That may be, yet I need to know that the brother-in-law won’t come barging in here, not until Tim finds the money.”
“Even though you know no money is here?” she asked, frowning.
“I have to be sure,” he replied. “For that, I’m sorry.”
She nodded. “Me too,” she muttered, “because no money is here. I don’t know what Tim did with it, but I can tell you that he wouldn’t have had it here because he wouldn’t have taken the chance of his wife finding it.
Plus, he told the cops he refused to come back to his house, what with the crying triplets. ”
He looked at her and then slowly nodded. “You could be right there.”
“You know I am. Look at him. He’s not the kind to let Talia get a hold of any money.
He’s not the kind to take a chance on losing his freedom.
He is ready to fly anytime you take your eyes off him, and that’s what this little trip is about.
It’s an escape opportunity for him. He doesn’t care about you.
He just wants to get out of this, grab that money, and go.
All he needs is that one opportunity,” she suggested.
The gunman stood up and paced. “But I need that money. My life isn’t worth anything without it.”
“Then you’ve got to figure out how to get it from this guy,” she said, pointing to Tim, “because I can tell you right now, he has it stashed somewhere. If he didn’t, he would already be long gone.”
“Shut your trap,” Timothy snapped.
“Make me …”
“She’s right. I know everything I need to know about you from the way you treated your wife and these babies.” The gunman nodded.
“That’s true, very true,” she added. “He’ll sell anybody out, including you,” she pointed out.
He nodded, as if deep in thought, and then he turned to Tim. “I need to talk to your brother-in-law. He’s the one who will have the money.”
She stared at the gunman and laughed. “He didn’t even know there was any money until yesterday.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because he and the cops were following Tim’s movements on street cams. Tim doesn’t have the money yet, or he would be long gone already.
And Tim’s only here to get you off the scent of his real money trail.
This guy’s been hanging on to it, like I told you.
He’s looking to make a run for it. So, if you somehow think Anderson will try and save Tim, he won’t.
Not after what he did to Talia, who is Anderson’s sister.
But nobody’ll listen to me anyway, so why am I bothering with all that?
” She returned her attention to babies, checking that they were okay.
Sure enough, one of them was busy trying to climb the fireplace and getting into trouble.
She picked her up and brought her back over, shushing her. “It’s okay, sweetheart. It’s okay.”
But Lisa wasn’t having anything to do with it. She wanted to get back to that fireplace and fought Pamela. “Just let her go,” the gunman said. “Anything’s better than listening to that.”
“See? I told you,” Tim said. “Nobody ever listens to me, but all these brats do is cry.”
The gunman glared at him. “They’re your bambinas, you idiot,” he snapped, his tone bitter. “They’re supposed to cry. That’s what babies do.”
Tim didn’t say any more, just glared and shut up.
Only as she picked up the baby, taking her away from the fireplace, did she note that something was off, but she couldn’t tell for sure, and she didn’t dare bring attention to it. Would Tim really have hidden the money in this house with his whole family here?
As she thought about it, the answer became clear. Of course he would have. He was the kind of man to risk his family over the money. He would have snuck in, took it, and run like hell.
Did she let it be known that’s where it was, or did she trust in the two men hanging around the place, looking for an opportunity to bust this mess wide open? The answer came without her even having to think about it.
It was all about trusting Anderson and Leland.