AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Two hours later, the first floor was totally empty. They vacuumed and washed the floors in the kitchen, bathroom, and living room.
While Tim carried the trash bags to the drum in the garage, Erin went upstairs. She opened Ben’s old desk, checking every drawer, digging out pens, notepads, sticky notes, and other items. After emptying the entire desk, she squeezed her fingers deep inside and brought out a sticky note with a number written on it.
“Tim, look at this number. 8510176.”
“It may be a phone number.”
“The first six numbers are Ben’s birthday, October 17, 1985. I don’t know what the 6 stands for.” She shrugged. “Six always makes me think of our six children.”
“Is it Ben’s handwriting?”
“Yes.”
“Keep it aside, but let’s not waste time.” He opened the dresser in the room and checked the drawers. They were empty.
Erin stepped into a closet, mumbling. “It’s time to give away Ben’s suits and clothes. I couldn’t do it before.”
“Check all the pockets before setting the clothes on the bed. I’ll fold them into a bag.”
A moment later, she gasped. “I found another sticky note with the same number 8510176.”
“Strange. It must have been important enough for him to write it on two sticky notes. You said it’s his birthday and thesix.It could be a password or a safe combination. Do you have a safe here?”
“No.” She frowned. “Come to think of it, when we moved into this house, Ben mentioned there was an old rusty safe that wouldn’t open.”
“Where is it?”
“In his closet, somewhere in the wall, behind his suits.”
“Let’s check.” He removed the two suits remaining in the narrow closet, then switched on his phone flash light, and waved it over the wall. “Here it is, old and rusty. Yet the knob is shiny. Hold the flash light on the door. What’s the combination again?”
She dictated the numbers and he entered them. “I heard a click.” He rotated the knob. The heavy door swung open.
“There shouldn’t be anything in it.” She bent, peering into the dark box.
He took his phone and directed the beam of light into the dark hole. “It looks like it’s full of stuff.”
“No way.”
He shoved his hand, and brought back a stack of bills held with an elastic band. “Money. A lot of hundred dollar bills.” He handed her the stack and brought out another. “More money.”
“Oh my God. What’s all this?”
“There’s a sticky on each stack.”
Erin read one. “Paid and delivered. And on another sticky,For the children.”
“What about the other stack? It has a sticky too.”
“Paid. To be delivered on Feb. 10.”
“So he was planning to deliver the goods,” Tim mused. “The crash prevented him from doing so. Ben had been honest in his dealings.”
Still Erin’s heart squeezed with pain. “Why didn’t he tell me anything?”
“Don’t let it upset you. He wrote,For the children, so he hadn’t forgotten you. Maybe he wanted to surprise you later.”
Her lips twitched. Damn it, she wasn’t convinced. They’d lived like strangers for more than a year, and he hadn’t shared anything with her.
