chapter 49
DARKNESS FELL. WALTER and his team were drinking coffee in the Henry Clay Hotel library. They were studying the video from the camera Bailey had brought back. The combination appeared to be 36, 24, 36, pound.
Walter laughed out loud when he realized what the code represented. He knew that no one would have tried that particular combination of numbers. Sebastian had spent countless hours studying relevant numbers in Moon Pie’s life, and something so off the wall as a woman’s measurements—it was just too much for him.
Sebastian grunted at the genius of the code.
Lucille blinked in disgust.
Bernard smiled, knowing that he would have chosen that exact sequence; it would have been so easy to remember.
Now the gang had to decide when to do it.
Bernard and Lucille wanted to strike right away—tonight. Walter wanted to plan for a few more days, study the layout more. Sebastian didn’t really care but was very anxious to see Woody get what was coming to him.
“Tonight’s a good night. Everybody’s watching football on ESPN,” Bernard pointed out. “What else do we gotta do?”
“I’m not sure. I’m just worried about gettin’ in and gettin’ out without bein’ caught by our boy or the police,” Walter said with a worrisome tone.
“What? Lucille and I’ll be watchin’ from across the street. We’ve talked about this.”
“What’s the matter, Walter?” Sebastian asked.
“Nothing. I-I-I…I mean, we just had the Kroger job planned so well, and I know they suspect me…but with this…we really haven’t considered all the angles—in the same detail—so it could go to hell in a hurry. I don’t want any of us getting into trouble.”
“It could also go off without a hitch,” Bernard said. “All we gotta do is get in and get out. It’s pretty simple, really. And easier than the last one. There won’t be any people around.”
Sebastian stood up and then made sure that no one was outside in the hall who could hear him.
“Look, Walter Severson. Listen to me! I’ve been here for almost three years, basically sittin’ ’round with nothin’ to do, nowhere to go, and nothin’ keepin’ my mind engaged other than readin’ the paper. I had a good life, but I ain’t got shit to show for it now. My wife died years ago. She tried to be healthy, but it wasn’t in her genes. I lost my daughter in a car wreck, and my son’s overseas, fightin’ in the war in Afghanistan. Hell…he’d understand.
“I ain’t told y’all…but I’ve got cancer, and it don’t look good. I won’t go into that—but my point is…until you came along, Walter, with this idea to help others, I was just wastin’ away. Waitin’ to die. Just goin’ through the daily motions. Now I’ve got a reason to hang in there. Yeah, I don’t really agree with robbin’ folks, but these guys are criminals and…and we’re gonna do good with the money. I believe in this. None of us has got material wealth, but we all have big hearts, and we wanna help other people. If we do get caught, I’ll tell ’em that it was my idea and that y’all didn’t know shit about what was goin’ on. I’ll take whatever punishment they lay out. What you don’t know, Walter, is that you done me a favor and I owe you…big-time.”
Walter tried to swallow the lump in his throat. He looked around the room. Lucille had tears in her eyes. Bernard wiped his nose.
“This whole foundation makes sense to me, and it would to a lot of people if we explained it to ’em. One thing I do know—there are way more people who need a little assistance than we can actually help. Way more. But we gotta try. So when you worry about something happening to us…I don’t want you to, ’cause if anything does, I’ve made up my mind; I’m gonna take the fall. I’m gonna tell the police that I’m just a blind hog that found an acorn. That way you and Lucille and Bernard and whoever else you get can keep this foundation alive.”
Bernard put down his coffee cup. “I feel the same way. The exact same way. I’m settin’ my alarm clock now. You know, I used to just sleep till whenever. Now I don’t want to miss a thing. You’ve given us life…purpose.”
Lucille was sitting next to Walter and took his hand in her hands. “Walter, I raised two kids by myself, and wasn’t any of it easy. I had about lost faith in the male of our species,” she chuckled and wiped her nose, “until you came along. I don’t have anything to leave my kids and grandkids. I’m okay with that, and so are they. Oh, I have some silver and a few pieces of jewelry, but that’s it. What you offered to do to help Bailey is a dream come true for me. You don’t have any grandkids, so maybe you don’t know how it is for us.” She indicated the others with a wave of her hand. “We wanna help them, and it’s sad when we can’t.” She leaned over and kissed Walter on the cheek. “Thank you.”
Walter was moved by his friends’ heartfelt words. He didn’t quite know what to say, since he hadn’t been open about his motivation for starting the foundation. The gamut of emotions was swirling through him. For a long moment, all he could do was stare out the big windows into the dark street. He eventually looked at his watch, shook his head, and smiled.
“We pull this off, you gotta go see an oncologist,” Walter said to Sebastian.
Sebastian, a big, burly man, didn’t like being told what to do. He looked at his friends and saw true concern. Bernard and Lucille both nodded their heads.
“That’s a deal.”
“Well, we better get started if we’re gonna rob the place and get back in time to go to bed at a decent hour.”