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“He was buying gold and planting it,” I said.
“Yes. And he was marking off the locations of the bars on the blueprint. It hit me like a big brainstorm! Like BLAM! I went all over the house looking for the blueprint, and when I couldn’t find it I went to his office. It was real smart of him, because when the police searched the office they didn’t bother to take the landscape plan.”
“Did you find all the bars?”
“I got all the ones that were marked on the plan. I don’t know anything about the price of gold, so I don’t know if all the Cranberry Manor money is there. It wasn’t easy to get those stupid bars up either. It took me all night, working with a flashlight and one of those little shovels.”
“Where are they?”
“In the kitchen.”
I went to the kitchen and gaped at the bars. They were stacked up everywhere.
“How many are there?” I asked her.
“A hundred and thirty-three. Actually there were a hundred and thirty-four but I took the one so I could get a manicure. Digging up gold bars is hell. My nails were destroyed.”
“I have to think about this,” I said. “Keep your doors locked and your shades down so no one sees what you’ve got in your kitchen.”
“There are so many of them,” she said, looking at the bars. “I didn’t know what to do with them.”
“I’ll figure it out,” I told her. “Just lay low until I get back to you.”
I left Susan, got behind the wheel, and broke out in a sweat. A hundred and thirty-three gold bars. At least five million dollars’ worth of gold, stacked up in her kitchen. This went way beyond putting a couple hundred dollars under your mattress. This was mind-boggling.
I went back to my parents’ house and ate the ham. At least I think I ate the ham. At some point I looked down at my plate and realized it was clean and I must have eaten something, but I couldn’t remember. My mind was on the bars. It was hard to get past the fact that Susan Cubbin had five million dollars in gold in her kitchen. A dilemma I wasn’t likely to face because the men I loved didn’t have stolen gold bars buried in their backyards. At least none that I knew about.
TWENTY-ONE
I WAS SHOCKED out of sleep by someone banging on my apartment door. I rolled out of bed and padded to my small foyer. The sun was pouring into my living room. The day had started without me. I looked through the peephole and didn’t see anyone. There was more pounding and I realized it was low on the door. I looked through the peephole again, this time down toward the floor. It was Briggs. I opened my door and he rushed in.
“A person could grow old standing out there,” Briggs said. He squinted at me. “Are you still in pajamas? It’s the middle of the day.”
“It’s eight o’clock in the morning.”
“Well, it feels like the middle of the day. I’ve been up since three. I can’t sleep. This disappearing patient thing is driving me nuts. And I think the hospital is interviewing security people. They’re gonna fire me over this.”
“I’m sure it’s not that bad.”
“Are you kidding? It’s worse than that bad. They didn’t want to hire me in the first place.”
“Because you’re short?”
“No. Because I’m incompetent. I have no qualifications. All I’ve got going for me is the short card.”
“Better than nothing.”
“Yeah, go figure.”
I walked into the kitchen and got the coffeemaker working. “What do you want from me?”
“I want you to find these guys.”
“I’ve been trying,” I said to Briggs. “Do you want coffee?”
“Yeah. You got any eggs?”
“No.”
