Fairplay, Denver Cereal Volume 6 (8 page)

“
We’re wondering if you
kids know of anything that might link your mother to the horrible
crimes that happened to your sister, Sandy,” Agent Angie
said.

“
Anything, even the
smallest thing, can be really significant,” Agent Tony
said.

“
Like what?” Sissy
asked.

“
They’re looking for some
gold,” Sandy said.

“
Like what you have?”
Charlie asked.

“
Charlie helped Pete move
it for me,” Sandy said to Aden. “When he lived at the
salon.”

“
We carried it for Uncle
Seth. They’re really heavy,” Charlie said. “He took it.”

“
Detective O’Malley had
the gold evaluated,” Agent Angie said. “We were hoping we could get
fingerprints off the coins but the gold is clean. Someone buffed
every coin.”

“
Someone really loved on
that gold,” Agent Tony said. “It was cleaned, polished and placed
in those jars. Would you mind telling us how you got the gold,
Sandy?”

“
My father gave me one of
those two gallon jars every Christmas,” Sandy said. “He said it was
my college fund. I buried them in his backyard and dug them up the
day they were rebuilding the house.”

“
That’s what Detective
O’Malley said,” Agent Angie smiled at Sandy. “Thank you for
repeating it.”

“
We found cash, but not
gold among your father’s possessions,” Agent Tony said. “I know
you’ve worked with Detective O’Malley, Sandy. But can you think of
a place where your father might have hid another supply of
gold?”

Sandy shook her head.

“
You mean Mom had the
gold?” Panicked, Charlie’s voice came out loud and high.

“
Why does that freak you
out?” Aden asked.

“
I just… I mean…” Charlie
licked his lips. “I just know it’s true. That’s all.”

“
What’s true?” Aden
asked.

“
Mom was involved in this
crap,” Charlie said.

“
Why does that freak you
out?” Sandy asked.

“
I…” Charlie shook his
head.

“
What is it Charlie?”
Sissy asked.

“
She tried to get me to…”
Charlie cleared his throat.

“
Me too,” Sissy
said.

“
You know what?” Aden
stood up. “We don’t know anything about this and I’m not willing to
have the kids bear their horrors here.”

Sandy got out of her seat and walked out the
door. Sissy and Charlie started to stand.

“
Please wait,” Agent Angie
said. “We want to hear about your experiences. Of course we do. We
need your help today. But we don’t need to hear this
today.”

She met them at the door.

“
Please,” Agent Angie
touched Sandy’s shoulder.

“
I’ll sit down,” Sandy
said. “But there’s no way I’m putting Sissy and Charlie through any
more than they’ve been through. These kids have been through hell.
We’ll will talk about this as a family and decide together what’s
best for us. First.”

Agent Angie stepped back from Sandy.

“
You have me,” Sandy said.
“You have my testimony and almost a decade of films and stills.
That’s enough for a hundred criminal cases.”

Sandy went back to her chair and sat down.
Sissy and Charlie followed her lead. Agent Angie went back to her
chair. For a moment, the room was silent.

“
We really need something
that links your mother to this case,” Agent Tony said. “Without
evidence, she will leave here tonight and disappear. We need your
help. We have to find something solid that links her to the
business.”

“
Like what?” Aden
asked.

“
Ideally?” Agent Angie
asked. “Even one gold Krugerrand would do.”

“
That’s a gold coin,”
Sandy said. “It’s a little bigger than a quarter and a lot
heavier.”

“
Did you look in Mom’s
storage locker?” Sissy asked.

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED and SIXTY-ONE

The key

Everyone in the room turned to look at
Sissy. She blushed at the attention and retreated into herself.
Sandy put her arm around Sissy.

“
What storage locker,
Sissy?” Sandy asked.

“
The one she keeps. It
isn’t far from the house. She’d go there sometimes after work
before coming home.”

“
How do you know about the
storage locker?” Agent Tony asked.

“
She and Dad had a big
fight about it,” Sissy said. “She’s had it… forever. Before I was
born for sure and before Dad died.”

“
Do you know where it is?”
Sandy asked.

“
Sure,” Sissy said. “Dad
and I went there just before he died. I think he knew he was
dying.”

“
Sissy, you were only four
when he died,” Sandy said.

“
I know,” Sissy said. “I
didn’t remember until I was on the bus after ballet and I saw Mom
go into this place. I got off the bus and went to see where she was
going. Charlie was gone and I was afraid she was going
to…”

Sissy swallowed hard and looked from Agent
Angie to Agent Tony.

“
Going to do what?” Aden
asked. “These Agents are here to help us.”

“
I was afraid she was
going to hurt Charlie,” Sissy said. “She was really mad at him. She
and Charlie had a big fight a couple days before and she kicked him
out.”

“
I remember that. We were
barely making it,” Charlie said. “And I kept breaking my glasses.
We weren’t supposed let anyone know how poor we were.”

“
I had to stop ballet
right after that.”

Grimacing, Sandy glanced at Aden. Sandy had
paid for every pair of Charlie’s glasses, all of his basketball
shoes, and every single one of Sissy’s ballet lessons. Their
mother’s refusal to let them play their sports or buy Charlie’s
glasses hadn’t stopped Sandy from continuing to pay for them. Aden
gave her a soft, understanding smile.

“
Can you tell us about the
storage unit, Sis?” Sandy asked.

“
Are you sure?” Sissy
asked.

“
Go ahead, Sis,” Charlie
said.

“
I saw Mom going into this
place,” Sissy said. “I was kind of mad. She wouldn’t buy Charlie
what he needed and Charlie had to
leave
! She’s was going into this
expensive place. I got off the bus to yell at her or…”

“
Make sure I was all
right,” Charlie said. “Sissy did that a lot. She’s
amazing.”

Smiling at Charlie, Sissy blushed.

“
What happened that day?”
Agent Angie said.

“
By the time I got to the
storage unit, Mom was coming out,” Sissy said. “She was so mad I
was there that she went all red and scary. She grabbed my arm and
dragged me to the car. She wouldn’t speak to me the whole way home.
When we got home, she sent me to my room. She came in before bed
and told me she couldn’t
tolerate
me prying into her private things. How did I
expect her to…?”

“
Survive when she was
invaded by you leaches every moment of every day?” Charlie and
Sissy finished together.

“
You’ll suck on my bones
when I’m gone,” Sandy added.

“
Yea that too,” Sissy
said. “She said that a lot. But I never. I mean…”

“
I stole money and stuff
from her,” Charlie said. “But I never went through her
things.”

“
Could you find the
storage unit again?” Agent Tony asked.

“
Sure. It’s just off
Federal,” Sissy said. “I used to see it every day on the bus. It
always made me mad because I knew Mom kept that place. It looked
really fancy.”

“
Would you be willing to
take us there?” Agent Tony said.

“
I wonder if she could
find it on the computer,” Aden said. “You’d find the place and
Sissy wouldn’t have to go there.”

“
We’d really like to keep
Sissy and Charlie away from this,” Sandy said.

“
As much as possible,”
Aden said. “We’re happy to help with information, but they’ve been
through enough. They shouldn’t have to be involved in this case at
all.”

“
Of course,” Agent Angie
said.

“
We use Google Maps a lot
at Lipson to review work bids,” Aden said. “I bet Sissy would
recognize the storage facility from the satellite
images.”

“
It’s certainly worth a
try,” Agent Angie said. “Why don’t you get your laptop Agent
Tony?”

“
Sure,” Agent Tony said.
“Can I get you anything?”

“
We’d like to get out of
here,” Aden said.

“
Nash and Noelle are
waiting for us,” Sandy said. “We have one more day of fun things
planned.”

“
Then it’s four weeks of
work and back to school,” Sissy said.

“
I’ll hurry,” Agent Tony
said.

They waited just a few moments before the
agent returned. Sandy moved aside so that he, Aden and Sissy could
look at the map. With Aden’s support and guidance, Sissy easily
found the storage facility. She pointed to the end of a row on the
north edge of the facility.

“
Right there,” she
said.

“
She wears a key around
her neck,” Charlie said.

“
That’s right,” Sandy
said. “It’s under her cross. She used to call it the key to her
heart.”

“
Wouldn’t she have to
remove everything for treatment?” Charlie asked. “I
did.”

“
I did too,” Sissy pulled
on the tiny gold cross she wore around her neck.

“
Good thinking,” Agent
Tony smiled like they’d given him the golden goose.

“
I’ll tell you what,”
Agent Angie stood. “Why don’t you go back to the resort? Agent Tony
and I will keep Sandy and Aden updated on what we find.”

Aden hopped to his feet. Charlie stood and
Sissy followed. At the door, Sandy turned back to the agents.

“
Thank you for your
sensitivity,” Sandy said. “I know this could have been a lot
worse.”

“
We don’t want to harm
them,” Agent Tony said.

“
I know,” Sandy said.
“Thanks.”

She waved a hand and trotted to catch up
with her family.

“
Well?” Agent Angie
asked.

“
She’s better than I could
have ever imagined,” Agent Tony said. “I can see why O’Malley is so
protective of her.”

“
They’re all amazing. Did
you know Aden’s a Gilmore?” Agent Angie asked.

“
Of Gary Gilmore?” Agent
Tony asked.

“
His nephew,” Agent Angie
said.

“
Wow,” Agent Tony
said.

“
They’re all pretty wow,”
Agent Angie said. “Come on, let’s go close this case.”

~~~~~~~~

Sunday mid-day – 11:45 A.M.
Denver, CO

Seth clicked the wireless headset off to end
another phone call with another FBI agent. Much to Maresol’s
disapproval, the phone had been ringing off the hook. In fact, Seth
had been on that ‘stupid phone’ for so long she had to set up a
charging station for the seconds in-between calls.

“
If you take one more
call,” Maresol had said an hour and four phone calls ago. “I’m
going to call Bumpy and ask him for something stronger!”

Maresol was a woman of her word.

Bumpy was suddenly standing in the doorway.
His eyes flicked to the side as if to say that Maresol was standing
behind him. She gave the big man a little shove and he entered the
room. Maresol followed.

“
This man is very sick,”
Maresol was so rattled she was speaking rapid Spanish. “He’s on
leave from that stupid job that he doesn’t need to keep and I can’t
keep him off the damned phone!”

Bumpy put his hand on Maresol’s shoulder
causing her to look up into his eyes. Seth watched the two old
friends assess each other. Maresol gave a slight nod and looked
away.

“
You want to tell me why
you’re worrying my dear friend Maresol,” Bumpy raised an eyebrow at
Seth.

Seth opened his mouth and the phone rang
again.

“
I’m going to throw that
stupid thing out,” Maresol grabbed his Blackberry and turned it
off.

Seth gave Bumpy a kind of ‘look what I have
to deal with’ look and Bumpy’s brow furrowed. As if he was
wondering who to treat first, he looked from Seth to Maresol and
then back to Seth. Seth raised his eyebrows in anticipation of the
question

“
Whacha doin’ Seth?” Bumpy
asked.

“
Lying here,” Seth
said.

“
Yes, you
are
acting like a
thirteen year old child,” Bumpy said.

Seth laughed and groaned.

“
From what I understand
you’ve generally been a pain in this nice woman’s ass,” Bumpy
said.

“
How’s that different from
any other day?” Seth asked.

“
He does have a point,”
Bumpy looked at Maresol. She crossed her arms and looked
stern.

“
Sandy’s pornography case
is coming together,” Seth said. “It’s the case of the
century
and
it’s
about Sandy. I’ve failed her in so many ways. How can I not be
involved?”