Page 37 of Coup De Grâce
“I think you’re going to have to explain this one.”
He rolled his eyes dramatically, but grinned at the excitement of it all. Jumping up on the table, he walked around his pile of Funyuns, making sure each of us could hear him, loud and clear.
“For starters, in a spiritual context, the number forty-nine symbolizes a significant turning point, particularly the end of a cycle or the—” he held up his fingers in air quotes— “‘time of the end.’ Which totally makes sense because the time for Cash to be on the run is over. So, you see, that alone should be enough to let you know this is from Cash. But if you’re not convinced, I have another example for you. In Judaism, there are forty-nine days between Passover and Shavuot, which is a period of spiritual preparation.”
“And…that means?” Lock asked.
Fox jumped over his Funyuns and rushed over to Lock, bending over to get in his face. “It’s a time of spiritual growth and reflection! What more do you need?”
“A hell of a lot,” Lock muttered.
Fox held up his hands placatingly. “Alright, alright. I can see you need more. So, what if I told you that the square root of forty-nine is seven?”
He waggled his eyebrows at all of us, turning in a circle. When no one answered, he threw up his hands. “Oh, come on! Seven! Seven is the exact number of times that Cash has thrown up in his life!”
“Why do you even know that?” I asked before I could think better of it.
“Because Cash means something to me. So, I take an interest in his life. Something the rest of you clearly need to do.”
Lock scratched the back of his head, clearly trying to connect the dots the same way Fox had. “Look, all of this is very interesting?—”
“Forty-nine is also the country calling code for Germany,” he continued. “Does anyone know the significance of that?”
“Does it mean it’ll take forty-nine years to find out how this all fits?” Scottie asked.
“Germany is where Hitler ruled. And…And! Hitler wasn’t from Germany. He was from Austria, whereThe Sound Of Musictakes place, which happens to be Cash’s seventh favorite musical, which is…”
He spun in a slow circle, waiting for someone to answer. Scottie rolled his eyes. “Which is the square root of forty-nine.”
“Exactly!” Fox laughed. “Do you see how it all fits?”
“Fox—”
He interrupted me and continued. “And the 49ers…Which are in San Francisco, which is in the same state where Anna fell in love with me. Come on. That can’t be a coincidence.”
No one was convinced, but there was no stopping Fox when he was on a roll. I wasn’t sure how to change his mind.
“Alright, my final example, and this one will prove it all to you. Are you ready?”
“We’re waiting with bated breath,” Thumper said drolly.
Fox winked at him and eyed everyone one last time. “Alright. Forty-nine is an odd number and is not divisible by two.”
He flashed out his hands in some sort of dance move, waiting for the big applause that never came.
“Oh, come on! Not divisible by two? It’s Cash! He’s not divisible by two, yet he has a twin who looks exactly like him,which actually makes him divisible by two! It’s right there in front of our faces!”
I bit my lip, my eyes closing in disbelief. I had nothing else to say to him. I didn’t know where to go with this. Clearly, Fox believed this, and there was no telling him different.
“You guys—” Fox started, but was interrupted by Rae rushing into the room, turning on the TV.
“You guys, Cash has just been implicated in the murder of President Codi. They found his prints on the rifle left behind at the scene,” she said, turning up the volume.
“See!” Fox grinned. “He needs us!”
I glanced at Lock and sighed. We were never going to live that down.
It was no longer a secret.Cash was alive, and now everyone knew it. Setting the device down on the table, I opened it up and showed everyone where the tracker placed Cash.
