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CAN WE MEET?” SAID GIBSON.
She was on the phone with Francine, who had just gotten back from her encounter with Rochelle, and her brother.
“Yes, same place?”
“I’ll be there in an hour.”
Gibson drove over in her van and found Francine waiting for her in front of the café. She had on a floppy hat, glasses, and a dark blue suit.
They sat outside with iced teas, and Gibson opened her laptop.
Before she could show what was on it, Francine said, “I found my mother. And I saw Rochelle and Dougie.”
“What! How?”
Francine explained her method for tracking them down.
“Pretty ingenious,” noted Gibson. “But you left her there?”
“She’s actually far happier with them than she was at the facility in Greenville. And they won’t let anything happen to her. They want the money.”
“Okay. So…how was your brother?”
“In some ways the same, and in some ways different. I was going to try to figure out how to get him away from Rochelle.”
“And?”
“And then I realized he was happy with her. In fact, I think they were made for each other. Sort of threw a wrench in my plans.”
“Of what, reuniting your family?” Gibson said dubiously.
She gazed off. “I’ve spent so much time alone that…well, I thought I might try another slice of life.”
“But?”
“But I can see now that that won’t work. Too much time has passed. We’re all too different.” She looked at the laptop. “So, show me what you found.”
“You know about NFTs?”
“I do, but don’t tell me my father did, too?”
“It looks like it.” Gibson clicked on some keys and then held the laptop at an angle so Francine could see. “I found a bit of dangling code on one of the accounts that your father had closed out. I think he did that on purpose, sort of another breadcrumb to the treasure. So I followed it up.”
“Well, NFTs are definitely twenty-first century,” remarked Francine.
“Yes, they are. So that fits in with the note he left.”
“But what sort of NFT could he have dumped a half billion dollars on?”
Gibson gaped. “Isthathow much money we’re talking about?”
“That’s what I calculated, yes.”
“Holy shit.”
“‘Holy shit’ probably doesn’t cut it.”
“I found this.” She hit one more key, and an image came up on the screen.
