Deadly Row, A - By Casey Mayes Page 0,60

I shouldn’t have done would fill up a notebook the size of Texas. If I wronged you or your mother, I’m sorry, and that’s the truth.”

“You did the right thing. I just wish you would have told me about it sooner.”

“I’m truly sorry.”

“You’re forgiven,” I said. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got another box to open.”

“At least you won’t have to come back here and go to the bank.”

“I’ll call you tomorrow and tell you what I found.”

“You don’t have to do that,” he said. “I lost that right.”

“Not on your life.”

He sighed. “Then call me tonight.”

“No matter how late it is?”

“Not even if it takes an hour.”

I hung up and grabbed my car keys.

I was panting as I reached the car, and my hands shook as I retrieved the box. A part of me had worried that someone might have taken it since I’d arrived back in Charlotte, but it was still where my uncle had put it.

I thought about opening it right there, but though the parking garage was well lit, it still didn’t feel very secure. Tucking it under my arm, I headed back upstairs to see what was so important that my mother had locked it away from the world.

Back in my suite, my hands were shaking as I opened the box.

Inside were stacks of hundred-dollar bills.

My mouth fell open as I counted them, and I was shocked when I realized there were a hundred of them.

My mother had stuffed ten thousand dollars in a safety deposit box, and she’d asked me for her forgiveness when she dumped it into my lap.

Beneath the money was a brief handwritten note.

And as I read it, I was more shocked than I’d been when I’d found the cash.

Astrid,

I shouldn’t have left you, or the family. More importantly, I never should have taken the money.

I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive this fool.

Use this money to buy yourself a little happiness.

You deserve it.

J.B.

J.B. had to be my uncle. After all, the note said as much, didn’t it? But why hadn’t she spent the money? Had she held a grudge that long over my uncle’s desertion of her and their family?

I was more confused than ever, and I thought about calling Zach, but the man I really wanted to speak with was my uncle.

“Good, you’re still awake,” I said when Uncle Thomas answered his telephone.

“Are you kidding? I’ve been dying to find out what I’ve been holding onto the last two years.”

“Would you believe ten grand in hundred-dollar bills?”

“Not likely. What was inside?”

“Ten grand in hundred-dollar bills,” I said.

There was a pause, and then my uncle said, “You’re not kidding, are you? What was she doing with that kind of cash?”

“You didn’t get a packet of money yourself, did you?”

“Not hardly,” he said. “Why, should I have?”

“That’s not up to me to say. From what I can tell, your brother sent Mom that money and asked for her forgiveness.”

I hated to tell my uncle that his brother hadn’t cared all that much for him, but it was pretty clear he wasn’t surprised by the news.

“That makes sense,” he said. “They were always close.”

“What am I going to do with all of this money?”

“What did the note say?” he asked.

“It told her to spend it on something that would bring her some happiness.”

“Then that’s what you should do,” Uncle Thomas said.

“If she couldn’t bring herself to do it, why should I?”

“Savannah, I don’t have to tell you what a complicated woman your mother was. I’m sure she had her reasons. If you’re not comfortable spending it, maybe you could donate it to your favorite charity.”

“Maybe. I honestly don’t have a clue what I’m going to do with it.”

“Then put it in the hotel safe until you do,” he said. “You can’t just leave that kind of money lying around.”

“You’re right about that. I’m sorry I called you so late.”

“No, I wouldn’t have been able to sleep anyway.” He paused, then asked, “Did J.B. say anything else?”

“That’s strange. I always heard everyone refer to him as Jeffrey,” I said. “And yet the note was signed J.B.”

“My brother always was an odd bird. Sometimes he went by his first name, and sometimes he would only answer to his middle name, but most of the time, among the family, he was just plain J.B.” Uncle Thomas stifled a yawn, and then he said, “I’m going to be up in a few hours, so I should probably try to get a