Page 33 of Max's Mission

“I’m not sure. He came out of our bedroom once as I was coming out of the girls’ room, looking… just… nervous? Jumpy? I didn’t think too much of it.” She huffed and waved a hand. “But nothing’s missing that I can tell.”

“Maybe he switched out the stones for fakes. When we get back, we’ll find a jeweler and have your stuff checked.”

She let out a soft growl. “He better not have. He knew what that stuff was for.”

“Maybe to him it was a rainy day.”

Her gaze shot to his, fire blazing in her eyes.

He held up his hands. “I’m not making excuses for him. Just giving another perspective.”

Some of the starch left her shoulders, and she dug into the box again. “I know. I just wish I knew what he was thinking. What his reasons were for—” She stopped abruptly, her hands stilling. “What in the world?” She pulled a pocket journal from beneath a tray of coins.

“What’s that?”

“I don’t know.”

“It’s not supposed to be in there?”

“No. I’ve never seen it before.” She opened the cover.

Max peered over her shoulder. “It’s a ledger.”

“Of what?”

“Looks like business transactions.” A thought hit him, and he uttered a soft curse. “It could be bets. Money owed, and to whom.”

With round eyes, she glanced at the pages, turning a few. “This isn’t Tad’s handwriting.”

“You’re sure?”

“One hundred percent.” Margot looked up. “I went through medical school with the man and lived with him for almost seven years.”

“Okay. Put it down. It could belong to his bookie or even another gambler.”

She set it on the table. “What do we do with it?”

“I’m going to run to the drugstore I saw on the corner and get some disposable gloves. Then we’re going to photograph every page before we call Agent Gallagher. Asher can feed it all into an algorithm similar to what he built for Sam and Audra. Maybe we’ll get lucky and get some info. While I’m gone, check the rest of the box. See if there’s anything else in there that shouldn’t be. Maybe call Annabeth and have her get the content list?”

Margot sent a discomfited look his way, then scooted closer to the table. “You should probably alter our travel plans for the day too. I don’t think we’re going home.”

Fourteen

Margot blinked back tears as Max left. She desperately needed to see her girls, but it looked like it would be at least another day. Probably two. What they’d found—they needed to get it to the authorities in North Dakota.

Swiping at her face, she steeled herself. These tears wouldn’t help her do what needed to be done.

Instead of just pushing things around inside the box, Margot began removing items, spreading them out on the table. Bracelets, necklaces, heavy rings—it all went on the table. She laid out the trays of coins side-by-side. Under the last tray was another key. It looked like the safe deposit box key in Tad’s belongings. But this one had a keychain.

For a bank.

And not the one she was sitting in.

Heart beating a tattoo in her chest, she left it where it was, not wanting to touch it until Max brought gloves. What had Tad put in that box, and why would he leave her the key?

She let out a soft groan and raked her hands into her hair, briefly grasping the golden strands. What was going on?

Heaving a sigh, she turned her gaze away from the key to focus on the items strewn over the table. Nothing looked amiss, but it had been a decade since she’d looked at any of it.

---