Chapter 24
Half an hour later, Owen settled Ruby on the couch in the living room of her home with a bowl of toffee ice cream—her favorite. Anna made her tea and covered her legs with a crocheted afghan.
Ruby beamed. “I hope you’re going to marry this one,” she told Owen. “It’s not like you’re getting any younger.”
Owen ignored this as he sat on the coffee table facing his aunt, and her smile faded. “What is it?” she asked quietly, her eyes serious now. “Something’s on your mind.”
He was so overwhelmingly grateful that she was there today, like really mentally there, that he nearly embarrassed himself. “We need to talk to you.”
His great-aunt looked to Anna, then back to Owen. “What is it?”
“Have you ever met a man named Joe Shade?” He showed her Joe’s mug shot from his phone.
Ruby had her glasses around her neck on a beaded chain. She slipped them onto her face and gasped. “Well, for heaven’s sake. I haven’t seen him in... well, years.”
Owen must have looked shocked, because she smiled. “You probably don’t want to hear this about your ancient great-aunt, but once upon a time, Joe courted me. What a charmer he was.”
Owen’s insides chilled. “You dated him?”
“I wouldn’t say that exactly.”
He did his best to hide his grimace.
Ruby laughed. “He used to visit me here, bring me flowers and candy, that sort of thing.” Her face softened with the happy memories. “He made me laugh.”
Owen had to take a deep, calming breath. “How did you meet him?”
“We were both at a local fundraiser and had a connection. But then one day he just stopped coming by. This was obviously way before cell phones and such.” She shrugged. “We simply lost contact.”
Owen had a different theory. Most likely, Joe had purposely run into her at that fundraiser and courted a friendship so he could come by and case out her house, looking for information on her infamous necklace and coin set. And then once he’d found them right there in this house, he’d stolen them and vanished.
“Can you remember when this was exactly?” Anna asked Ruby.
Good thing one of them was thinking clearly. Anna was trying to nail down if this was before or after Ruby’s necklace and coins had been stolen, and he should’ve thought to ask.
“Oh... um...” Ruby shook her head. “Well, I don’t remember exactly, but probably about a decade ago.”
Owen was trying to figure out how to speak calmly when Anna put a hand on his arm and leaned past him, smiling sweetly at Ruby. “That’s a big help, thank you.”
Ruby smiled back. “I remember because I wore the Ruby Red for him a few times. Such a handsome man. I wanted to look my best.”
Owen closed his eyes for a beat, knowing deep in his bones that Shady Joe had somehow managed to pull off this job. He was surprised when Anna ran her hand down his arm and entwined her fingers in his, squeezing, waiting a beat for him to feel the grounding connection between them.
“Please don’t be upset,” Ruby said, surprising him. “I wasn’t hurt when he stopped coming by. He was way too young for me anyway.” She laughed, but broke off at Owen’s expression, sucking in a breath. “Wait. You think he’s the one who took my things. That’s why you’re asking about him, right? You think Joe was a bad guy.”
“I think it’s possible,” Owen said carefully. “But we don’t have any proof.”
“Is there anything you can remember about that time that might help us?” Anna asked her. “Anything at all.”
Ruby thought about it and shook her head. “I told the police everything I knew at the time.”
Anna nodded. “Do you think you could look at one more picture?”
“Of course, dear.”
As Owen watched Anna scroll through her phone, he knew just how hard this was going to be for her. He could tell when she landed on a pic of her dad because a small smile crossed her face before she flipped the phone around. “Do you know this man?”
Ruby put her glasses back on and bent over Anna’s phone, taking in the small picture. She looked for a long time.
Owen leaned in. “Ruby? Do you recognize him?”
Brow furrowed with unease, his great-aunt wrung her hands together.
“It’s okay, Ruby,” Anna said, clearly not wanting to upset her. And that she would put Ruby ahead of her own need to know the truth about her dad just about undid him. “We can talk about something else.”
Ruby shook her head. “No, this is important, I can tell. But no, I’m sorry, I don’t think I know him. I’m sorry, I’m just so embarrassed by what I let happen.”
“None of what happened was your fault,” Owen said. “None of it.”
“I guess I know that much, but I still feel foolish. Old and foolish.”
Anger burned deep in his gut, but he worked to hide it.
Anna squeezed his aunt’s hand. “It’s okay. Please, don’t worry about it.”
“I hate when I can’t remember.” Ruby sat back. “What’s his name?”
“Louis Moore.”
Ruby sucked in a breath. “Wait a minute. That name... He sent me a letter. Well, his attorney did, on his behalf.”
Owen was stunned. “A letter?” This was the first he’d ever heard of it. He looked at Anna, who just shook her head. She hadn’t known either.
“I’m sorry,” Ruby said, wringing her hands. “I don’t know why I’m just remembering. When I got the letter, I put it in a safe spot so I could remember to give it to Owen, but...” She shook her head. “Like so many other things, I forgot.”
Owen squeezed her hand. “It’s understandable. When you moved into the memory care facility, the letter got lost in the shuffle.”
She looked at Anna. “Do you know him? Is that why you’re asking me about him? Is he somehow related to Joe?” She put a hand to her chest again. “Do you think they were working together?”
At his side, Anna drew a deep breath. “I hope not.” She paused. “He’s my dad.”
Ruby took this in for a beat. “Well, then maybe he could fill in some holes for us.”
“I wish he could, but he passed away last year.”
“Oh. Oh, honey, I’m so sorry.”
“That’s incredibly generous of you to say,” Anna murmured. “I’m just grateful to you for being willing to talk about this with us. I know it’s difficult. I mean, I can’t even remember where I left my sunglasses this morning, much less something from a decade ago. Is there any chance you still have the letter?”
Owen’s heart ached, impressed as hell watching her talk to Ruby with a sweet, quiet respect.
“I’m almost sure I wouldn’t have gotten rid of it,” Ruby said slowly. She looked at Owen. “I’m positive I meant to show it to you and have you read it, but...” Her eyes went sad, and she turned away. “I clearly forgot. Like I always do.”
Owen took her hand in his. “It’s okay, Ruby. Like Anna said, everyone forgets things. Do you remember when I first got my driver’s license and you let me use your car? I went to the movies and forgot where I parked.”
Ruby barked out a laugh. “I’m sure I wasn’t very kind about it.”
In fact, she’d made him clean all her friends’ houses for a month. “Can you think of where you might’ve stashed it?”
Ruby looked around, shaking her head. Then she gasped. “Oh! My keepsake box.”
“If you tell me where it is, I could get it for you.”
“I’ll show you.” Ruby gave a shaky nod and patted him on the cheek. “You’ve always been such a good boy.” She got up, leaning heavily on her cane.
Owen got up with her, following her into her small bedroom, watching as she headed straight for the closet.
“There,” she said, pointing to an ornately carved wooden container the size of a shoe box on a high shelf.
He brought it down, coughing as dust fell into his face.
“What a beautiful box,” Anna said when he’d brought it to the living room.
“It was my grandmother’s,” Ruby said. “Her dad gave it to her as a child, when they still lived in Lithuania. After the Ruby Red necklace and coins went missing, it was all I had left of my entire family.” She opened the box. Inside were a few stacks of old pictures and other keepsakes, along with a few envelopes. Ruby flipped through them and then held out a sealed white envelope addressed to Ruby from an attorney’s office.
Owen opened it. There was a letter inside. By the look on Anna’s face, she knew it was her dad’s handwriting. He held it out to her, and after a brief hesitation, Anna began to read out loud:
Dear Ruby,
You don’t know me, but I know you. Or, more accurately, I know about the theft of your ancestorial necklace and coin collection. It’s always bothered me that the police never recovered your things, mostly because I suspect I know who did it. If I’m right, I hate myself for not stopping him.
Here’s what I know. This man had a plan, and if he did this, I can tell you that he had a hard-to-reach spot where he kept his loot locked away until the coast was clear. As he wasn’t a creative man, I doubt the spot has changed. It won’t be easy to find and will be, frankly, impossible for you at your age. I’m sorry. You’ll have to have help. The hidey-hole is in a widely unexplored area. To find the right spot, you go to the fork of roads and go west toward the sound of water. Look for the stooped trees, as they point the way to the grottos. Go to the farthest south area that you can get to without walking right off the cliffs.
I’m sorry I didn’t go to the police when this first happened. If I’m being honest, I was protecting myself, afraid I’d be linked to the robbery, which was me being a coward. But I’m a better man than that now, or at least would like to think so. I can thank my daughters for that, and it’s for them that I’m coming clean at all because I should’ve become a better man far sooner than I did.
You’re probably wondering why this letter came from my attorney, and that’s another sign of my selfishness. I’m not ready to see the look in my daughters’ eyes when my past comes to light, so I’ve asked my attorney to wait until I’m gone. I hope you can forgive me...
Signed,
L
There was a long beat of stunned silence during which Owen’s mind spun. He could tell by the look on Anna’s face that she was spinning too.
And doubting her dad about his claim to not know more than he’d revealed.
Owen actually wasn’t. Sonya had said Louis declined helping Shady Joe do this job, and he believed her. And then there was the fact that Will had seemed far more furious at his dad than at Anna’s, not to mention certain that Joe had done this.
And then there was something else. Something about the careful way Louis had worded his letter. Why would a guilty man send a letter that could be used as evidence against him, even a year later?
He wouldn’t.
Because he wasn’t guilty, at least not of this.
Anna leaned back, her mouth even more grim than it had been. “He was protecting himself, even to the end,” she said. “He knew he’d be implicated.”
“No, honey,” Ruby said. “He did it for you.”
Anna drew a shaky breath. “You’re kinder than I am. He didn’t write this letter until he knew he was dying.”
“You think he knew?” Owen asked her.
She nodded. “I know it. The doctor told us after he’d passed that he’d known for many years, and at the time Wendy and I were so overwhelmed with grief, we didn’t really question why he didn’t tell us. I think we assumed he was trying to protect us. But now I think he was protecting himself.”
“Don’t be too hard on him,” Ruby said. “If it turns out he’s right, it means I’ll get my things back. That’s all that matters.”
Anna looked stunned at her generosity and got up to hug her. After, she turned to Owen. “Fork of roads? Stooped trees? Grottos? It sounds so vague. The greater Tahoe area is made of hundreds of thousands of square miles of rugged, hard-to-reach mountains. It will be like finding a needle in a haystack.”
Owen pulled out his phone. “I’ve heard the term ‘fork of roads’ before...” He thumbed something into his search engine. “Okay, so there’s a fork of roads in the Mojave Desert. Too far... And—” He looked up and smiled. “. . . And another at Mount Lion.”
Anna shook her head. “Where’s Mount Lion? I’ve lived here all my life and I’ve never heard of it.”
“It’s a remote—extremely remote—place where thrill seekers hike up and then backcountry ski down. The reason you don’t know it is probably because it was closed off years ago. People kept dying up there.”
“But not you,” she said.
“Not me,” he agreed. “Ky and I have been up there several times, though not since we were stupid teenagers.”
“Dear God,” Ruby said. “I’m glad I didn’t know.”
“Can it be accessed by anyone?” Anna asked.
“Not easily.”
“But you can get in.”
“Yes.”
Anna nodded. “Good. But you’re not going without me. We’re a we, remember?”
Owen’s heart took a good hard leap at that, but he could tell by the look on her face that the words had slipped out without permission. “Anna, I can bring Ky. You don’t have to do this, it’s incredibly dangerous—”
“Let me repeat myself,” she said. “I’m going.”
He knew by the familiar look of obstinance that there was no use arguing with her. “Depends.”
“On what?” she asked in disbelief.
“On whether you promise to do exactly what I say, no arguing.”
Anna made a show of looking around. “Did we step back into the 1950s when I wasn’t looking?”
“Anna,” he said on a short laugh. “I’m not one to exaggerate, so when I tell you this place is closed off because people died out there, and died horribly, you have to understand the danger. Some people went into that area and never came back, and their bodies have never been found.”
She stared at him, then slowly nodded. “Okay. I hear you.”
“But you’re still going.”
“Yes.”
Ruby smiled at her. “I like the way you can’t be bossed around. Oh, to be young again in these modern times.”
After putting the box away, they drove Ruby back to the memory care facility, walking her to her room. Owen held her close, not sure if when he came by in the next day or two she’d actually be... herself.
“I love you, Victor.”
Owen closed his eyes at his grandpa’s name. And so it began. “I love you too.”
Outside in the parking lot, Anna stopped and hugged him. Overwhelmed by emotion, knowing that once Ruby was gone, he’d be completely alone, he dropped his head to her shoulder and held on for a long moment.
Back in the vehicle, Anna pulled on her seat belt and said casually, “You know there are only two places where I’d let you be the boss of me.”
“Mount Lion,” he said. “And... where else?”
She flashed a smile. “In bed.”
He laughed and realized he wasn’t alone at all. Damn, he loved her. It should’ve felt too soon, it should’ve terrified him, but instead of feeling the need to ruin what they had, he wanted to do the opposite. He wanted to nurture it, accept it, and for once let his heart lead.