“It was on the way, and I wanted to see the place one last time,” Maddy said. I could swear a tear crept into her eye as she explained, “I just found out about her passing away, and whether you believe me or not, we were friends. I admired her, and what’s more, I respected her, and I can’t say that about many people these days. Your mother was a fine woman, and she’ll be missed. I know I’ve said it before, but I truly am sorry for your loss.”
“Well, it turns out that it’s your loss, too,” Rebecca said, “if what you’re telling me is the truth.”
“What are you talking about now?” Maddy asked.
“There’s nothing left for either one of us to inherit. The house has two mortgages on it, I already told you that her savings and checking accounts are both empty, and she liquidated her retirement money three months ago. Thank goodness she prepaid her funeral expenses and left enough to let me take care of Grant, too. As it is, I’m going to have to take a second job to pay off the seven thousand dollars in bills she still owed.” Rebecca started to crack a little, no doubt from the strain of losing her mother and her brother in such a short span of time. I felt sorry for her when I tried to put myself in her shoes, and I couldn’t imagine how my sister must have felt.
“Actually, you might not have to do that,” Maddy said quietly.
“What do you mean?” Rebecca asked suspiciously.
I tried to warn Maddy off of disclosing the fact that we’d found ten thousand dollars until we were ready to, but she pointedly ignored me. “Do you happen to know if Grant still had that old rolltop desk he used to love?”
“How did you know about that? He had had it since he was a teenager.”
“We were married once upon a time, remember? Did you check the lower left-hand drawer, the one with the false bottom?”
“I never knew that it had one,” she said.
“I’d advise you to go back to your mom’s place and see if anything’s tucked away in there,” Maddy said. “You might just be surprised by what you find. He always liked to keep some mad money tucked away there for a rainy day.”
“I doubt you know what you’re talking about, but even if you’re right, you’re not getting a share of whatever I find. You know that, don’t you?”
“I wouldn’t take it even if you tried to give it to me. Whatever you find there is all yours,” Maddy said.
Rebecca pointed at me. “You heard her say that. You’re my witness.” She raced out the door, and in a second she was gone.
Maddy turned to me. “Don’t even say it, Eleanor. You think I’m a sucker, don’t you? You know what? You’re probably right. I should have held out for a share of it, anyway.”
I touched my sister’s shoulder lightly. “You just don’t want anyone to know what a good heart you’ve got, do you?”
“Well, if word got out, I’d hate to ruin my reputation,” she said. “There’s only one thing that bothers me, though.”
“What’s that?” I asked.
“What if I was wrong to tell her about the stash of money we found? Did I just give a murderer enough cash to get away?”
“We’ll deal with that if it ever becomes an issue,” I answered. “Based on what you knew at the time, though, you did the right thing.”
“I hope so,” Maddy answered.
“Hey, stranger,” I said when Greg Hatcher came into the pizzeria’s kitchen ten minutes after Rebecca left. “It feels like you’ve been gone a month.”
“It’s been barely a week,” Greg said as he grinned at me, “but I know what you mean. I’ve missed this place.” Greg was tall and broad, a young man with a good heart, but the thing I loved most about him was his loyalty to the Slice, and to my sister and me.
“So, how bad was the exam? Was it a monster?”
“If it was, I think I managed to tame it,” he said. “I understand you’ve been going through your own set of trials and tribulations. How’s Maddy holding up?”
“Didn’t you see her when you came in?” I asked. “If she’s not waiting on customers, I can’t imagine where she might be.”
“She’s out there, all right, laughing and acting as though no one just murdered her ex-husband. That’s the brave face she shows the world, though. I want to know what’s really going on with her.”
“Honestly, I’m not sure it’s even completely sunk in yet. Right now, she’s more concerned about Bob than she is about anything else. He doesn’t have an alibi, and what’s worse, half the town saw him arguing with Grant the night he was murdered.”