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“Kid…” Deke started.
“No.” Betty put her hand up. “I got this.” She bent her head and closed her eyes in concentration. Then she lifted her chin and said, “The safe. Henry’s safe. Go back to the slide of the upstairs office.” She walked up and pointed to a built-in fish tank in the wall. It’s behind the tank. The bottom shelf that the tank is on swings out and it’s behind the tank.”
“It hasn’t been touched” Crix observed. “If they were looking for whatever was in the safe, they didn’t find it.”
“What’s in the safe, Betty?”
“Money. Some jewelry. Our mortgage agreement, insurance policies. Things like that.” Betty bit her bottom lip. “I don’t know how much money…but I had cash lying around the house, and none of that was taken. I also keep money in my jewelry box along with my earrings and watches. Some of those were gifts from Henry. Expensive gifts. None of that was taken either. So I can’t believe money or diamonds were what they were after.”
“What else is in the safe?” I prodded.
“Christ, I don’t know. Books. Some metal trays.”
“Books? What kind of books?” Crix stepped closer. “Like first edition stuff?”
“Well, no. Notbookbooks.”
“Ledgers?” Deke leaned in.
“Yeah. Like that. Accounting books! That’s what they are. That’s what Henry called them. Liddy got kind of mad…no confused might be a better word…when I told her about them.”
“Why?” Deke asked.
“Because Liddy’s been spending weeks trying to work out Henry’s fucked up accounting system, and she thought she had it finally figured out.” I said, “She’s been bitchin’ about it non-stop.”
“That’s right.” Betty nodded. “I told her not to worry and that we’d just hire an accountant when Henry got back.”
“So, Henry is keeping two sets of books for the Trailer Park?” I looked at my brothers.
“Looks that way.” Deke nodded.
“Those trays. What can you tell us about those, Betty?” Crix asked. “Big, small, heavy, light?”
“I’m not sure. He keeps them all wrapped up. They are heavy though; one fell on my toe and I saw stars. I think they’re metal.” Betty bit down on her lip. “But they weren’t that big. They were stacked separately in flannel bags with locked zippers.
“Round? Square? Rectangle?”
“Rectangle. The size of maybe ...I don’t know… a Hershey candy bar.”
“Or a dollar bill?” Deke lifted an eyebrow.
“Yeah.” Betty nodded. “That would be about right.”
Crix looked at me, I looked at Deke, and Deke let out a low, “Holy Fuck.”
“What? What?” Betty asked.
I volleyed a look between from Crix to Deke and back again.
“We’ve got thewhy,” Crix said.
“You think Henry’s involved,” Betty said dully. “You think he knows where Liddy is.”
Deke scrubbed a hard hand over the back of his neck, shook his head, and let out a long breath.
“Tell me.” She pleaded. “Tell me what this is. Tell me what everybody else seems to know, Deke.”
“Forgery, counterfeiting, money laundering. Looks like Henry is up to his ears in it. Could be he’s been laundering money for someone through the park financials. And could be now he’s expanded his business so as not to include whoever is backing this.”
