chapter 37
WALTER PULLED THE money out of the cat litter, spread it out on the bed, and admired the cash. It was more than he had ever been able to accumulate during his career. As he slowly studied it, he thought of his wife and wished they had vacationed in Hawaii like she always wanted. He was suddenly filled with regrets for never taking time to enjoy time with his family. He had worked nonstop out of fear of not being able to provide for his family. He was born in the waning years of the Great Depression and clearly remembered its effect on his parents and others. He slowly stacked the cash and rewrapped it in a black garbage bag. The knock on his door caused his heart to race, even though he expected the visitor was a friend.
“Just a minute,” he yelled as he returned the money to the litter box. His knees popped as he stood to open the door. He peered through the peephole to see Lucille standing impatiently.
Opening the door, Walter said, “Come on in. Sorry it took so long.”
“We got a problem,” she said as she placed a plastic bag of recently purchased burglary accessories on the counter.
“What?”
“None of the codes for the safe worked. She was able to try sixteen versions from your list.”
“Damn,” Walter said as he toyed with the cigar between his index finger and thumb.
“We still have twenty-two versions to try.”
“What if one of them isn’t it?”
“I don’t know. If it’s not bolted down, we might could rent a hand truck that’s used to move refrigerators and just take the whole safe…that would give us more time to try more codes.”
“Where would we hide it?”
“We could rent a storage unit.”
“Yeah, I suppose so,” Lucille replied as her cell phone rang, surprising her.
“Hello?” she answered.
“Hey, it’s Bernard. What’s Bailey’s home address?”
“Why?”
“We need to go check on her. Woody followed her when she left the store.”
“Oh dear. She lives in those apartments by the hospital. Building G, apartment four. Downstairs on the right.”
“Okay, don’t worry. Sebastian says to tell Walter there aren’t any motion detectors, and he has an idea for the code. He’ll explain when we get back.”
Lucille stared at Walter, growing concerned. “Please let me know about Bailey. That boy’s got serious anger issues.”
“Sebastian said for you to call her and warn her.”
Lucille stood staring at the phone and looked up at Walter. “Yes, okay, I will. Right now!”
Walter flashed back to Minnesota, where ten years ago on a cold night much like this one, his own daughter had been physically abused by her husband.