"Good point." Zach finished lining everything up and reached for his phone, sending a quick text. Before he'd even sat back down at the table, Alex had responded.
With a chuckle, Zach shook his head. " Let's get started. He's only ten minutes away. "
Lucy's eyes rounded and Zach wondered if she was imagining him arriving earlier and finding them in bed together. He squashed his smile and focused back on the pile of things in front of him.
None of them wanted to move or touch any of it. They were all subtly watching Lucy, waiting for her to make the first move. Finally she reached for her father's laptop, running her finger over the yellow smiley face sticker with a sad smile.
"Elliot do you think you can have a look at this? It was my dad's," she said softly.
"Sure." His reply was gentle, as was his smile. Zach could see she was holding her breath as Elliot lifted the lid and turned the machine on.
Nothing happened, making Zach's chest deflate, but Elliot was soon scrambling for a power cord and a few minutes later the computer clicked and whirred, taking its time to start up. Zach reached for the file he'd started going through the night before. Now that he had decent light, he could easily read the documents and basically had no idea what they really meant. They were bank statements, but they all looked legitimate, so why were they hidden away? Tenner had investments in various local businesses in the San Francisco Bay Area. He donated heavily to a charity Zach had never heard of and he also had a trust fund set up for Billy. Zach frowned as he scanned the documents, trying to find patterns or inconsistencies. Maybe Uncle Alex would have a better idea.
Elliot had started clicking away at the laptop.
"Any idea what his password might be?"
"Um...." Lucy shook her head. "Try, Edith or Edith71 or Edith92, maybe."
"Birth year and wedding year?" Jaeda asked as she reached for a small bag on the table.
"Yeah." Lucy cleared her throat, watching Jaeda carefully as she unsnapped the bag and let the emerald necklace fall into her hand.
"This is so beautiful." Jaeda held up the gold chain, admiring the large emerald with a smile.
Lucy opened her mouth to reply, but was interrupted by Elliot. "Nope, none of those."
"Um..."
"How about a pet name? Did you guys have a cat or anything?"
"No." She shook her head.
"Did he have a nickname for your mom or you?"
Scratching her eyebrow, Lucy closed her eyes, looking pale. "He used to call me Lulu."
Zach rubbed her ankle with his foot again, knowing how hard this must be for her.
"When were you born?"
"February '96."
Elliot's lips bunched as he tried out a few combinations. Zach kept his gaze on Lucy, wondering if she could handle this.
"Bingo."
Her head popped up, her eyes wide as she looked at Elliot. "Lulu was his password?"
"Lulu, exclamation point, 9602."
Her lips quivered with a smile as tears built in her eyes. They didn't have time to fall though, because the doorbell rang, making them all jerk.
It was a testament to how on edge they were all feeling. Zach let out a nervous chuckle as he rose from his seat and opened the door for Uncle Alex.
"So did you get anything good?" He whipped off his shades as he walked into the room, giving a cursory wave to each person at the table.
"We're just going through it now." Zach slipped back into his chair while Alex went to stand behind Elliot.
"What's Carrots doing here?"
"Hey! I—" Her offended reply was cut short by one of Alex's sexy smiles, he added extra punch to it with a quick wink that had Jaeda's cheeks blooming with color. She went back to studying the necklace, running her thumb over the gem.
Everything dropped to a quiet murmur as Alex and Elliot fiddled with the laptop, Zach studied the files and Jaeda admired the stone. Lucy remained stiff and awkward, her curiosity obviously not quite strong enough to rifle through other random papers they had haphazardly shoved in the bag.
"So, why was this in the lock box?" Jaeda asked.
"I'm not sure," Lucy murmured. "It was my mother's. Dad gave it to her for her birthday...about two weeks before they died. She loved it and wore it everyday."
"Hmm," Jaeda raised it up to the light, unable to take her eyes off it. "My grandparents used to own a jewelry store. I used to love sitting with my grandpa as he assessed these gorgeous gems and told me all about them. He used to..." She frowned, squinting at the stone. "Is this a real emerald?"
Lucy's brows puckered. "Yes. My dad wasn't cheap."
Zach's head popped up at her sharp tone.
"I didn't mean it like that." Jaeda shook her head. "There's just something slightly weird about this stone." She stood up and walked towards the sunny window, pressing the green gem against the glass."
Lucy and Zach stood at the same time, following her.
"See." She pointed at the gem. "There's a tiny black square, which I guess could be a flaw, but it just looks wrong to me, it's too straight. It doesn't look natural."
Zach saw where she meant and reached for the stone, flipping it over and picking at the gold casing around the gem.