Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 93002 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 465(@200wpm)___ 372(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93002 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 465(@200wpm)___ 372(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
“Don’t be sorry, Mom. You did the best you could,” I said, wishing I had better comfort than that.
“I should have known. Because your father never gave up.” She reread the letter. “We fought about how much he was working,” she murmured, “and he kept promising. ‘Soon,’ he said. So many times. ‘Soon.’ But there was always one more hurdle, one more goal. And soon never came.” She let out another long sigh. “I’ll be right back.”
My mother pushed to her feet, her legs a little wobbly as she walked into her bathroom. Through the open door, I saw her turn on the water and splash her face.
“You okay?” Sterling asked.
“Yeah,” I said, looking down at the letter in my father’s strong, distinctive hand. “I think I am. I’ve been so angry at him for leaving us. For so long, I wondered why, what I did to make him leave. Wondered if I could have changed his mind, done something to make him want to stay.”
Sterling’s hand closed around mine. “Forrest, no.”
I let out a laugh I didn’t feel. “I know it wasn’t about me. Kids always blame themselves. I get all the psychology of it, and still…still, I’ve never been able to stop myself from wondering if I’d been just a little better. But there wasn’t anything I could have done because he didn’t choose what happened to him. He didn’t leave us.”
I looked up to see my mother standing in front of me.
“It’s going to take a while for that to get through my head,” she said, her face and eyes red from her tears.
Sitting back down on the side of the bed, she picked up the book and leafed through it, studying the endpapers at the back where the note and the itinerary had been hidden.
“What are you looking for?” I asked, watching as she peeled back the endpaper all the way and ran her fingertips over the exposed cover.
“I’m looking for some clue about what happened to all the money,” she said, one eyebrow raised as if surprised I’d ask.
Sterling and I looked at each other in shock. After all this time chasing the big payday, it seemed both of us had forgotten that was what we’d expected to find at the end. To me, learning my father hadn’t killed himself was priceless. I didn’t care about the money, but Sterling…
She smiled across at me, shaking her head. “I don’t care about the money,” she said in a whisper.
“But it’s odd, isn’t it?” my mother said. “We all assumed that ugly little statue had the key to Alan’s missing fortune. And while this is a lovely…” She drew in a ragged breath and pushed it out, straightening her shoulders as if she could throw off these ugly, raw emotions and get back to practicalities. “He sold his company, the one he started before the VoIP business Prentice stole from him. He was paid for it. I know that much. If the code on the statue of Vitellius wasn’t hiding the money, where is it?”
Sterling took the letter from my mother’s hand and reread it, turned it over, looked again at the itinerary. “I don’t see anything we missed,” she said. “It’s just a letter. Maybe this really wasn’t ever about the money at all. The money could be a completely different thing. And…” Sterling handed the papers back to my mother. “Maybe my father screwed Alan out of what he owed him, and there was never any money to find.” She gave my mother an apologetic glance. “Knowing my father, that seems like the most likely answer. If he had something to do with Alan’s death, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’d somehow arranged to steal the money.”
“All this work,” I said, “and there’s no payday.”
A small, secret smile curved across Sterling’s mouth, and she shook her head. “Oh, I think we got our payday. This is better than the money.”
My mother smoothed her fingertip over the indentations of my father’s writing. “Well done, you two. I’m proud of you,” she said, gaze on Sterling.
My heart squeezed as a flush hit Sterling’s cheeks, her eyes shining at my mother’s praise.
My mom shifted her gaze to me. “I may not have approved of all the decisions you made on this journey of yours, but I’m so proud of you for taking on the challenge your father set in front of you. And proud of you for seeing it to the end. If you hadn’t, we never would have known the truth.” She stood, brushing her hair back from her tear-damp face. “Why don’t you two go for a walk? Forrest, you haven’t shown Sterling the cliffs. I need to share this with Jerry. He’ll want to see it.”
“Of course,” Sterling said, popping to her feet. She looked at me and then at my mother. “I need to wash my face.” She disappeared down the hall, leaving us alone.