terrible. No respect for anything. And then Charlie Shine showed up. I never liked him. All those gaudy pinkie rings. And everyone knew he abused women.”
“It looks like we missed all the good stuff,” Lula said. “And I see Gabriela standing over there all by herself. What’s she doing here?”
“She followed me,” I said. “And she helped with the rescue.”
“She shot someone,” my mom said to Lula. “And she flew through the air and wiped out one of the bad guys like you see on television. And then Stephanie smashed her gun into another bad guy’s face.”
“And you kicked one of them,” I said. “It was a good kick, too. Right in the kidney.”
“I got carried away,” my mom said. She looked around. “There are a lot of people here.”
“I called Joe Morelli and Ranger,” Potts said. “They were already on their way. Ranger was right behind us. I think Morelli must have notified the local police.” He looked at me. “Lula and your Grandma were waiting in Egg Harbor and I told them to come here. I hope that was okay.”
He had my messenger bag hung cross-body. I took the bag from him and told him he did great.
“It’s like I’m in a video game,” he said, grinning. “Freaking awesome… now that it’s over.”
Ranger walked over, raised the flap on my messenger bag, and dropped the two safe keys into the bag. “I found these on Shine when we went inside ahead of the police. Don’t let them get away from you. I need to send some of my men back to Trenton. I’ll catch up with you later.”
A police transport truck and a third ambulance parked in the front yard. Morelli drove in and went to the transport truck. He turned midway, stopped, and looked at me for a long moment. I gave him a thumbs-up, he nodded acknowledgment and continued on to the truck.
“It’s almost here,” Grandma said. “Treasure time. We just need to go get it.”
CHAPTER THIRTY
It was close to four o’clock when we assembled at the storage facility. Grandma, Lula, Potts, my mom, Morelli, Ranger, and Ramone, Ranger’s safecracking specialist. Gabriela was there as well, keeping to herself.
Ranger unlocked the door to the storage unit, rolled the door up, and we all peeked inside. The unit was the size of a single-car garage. It was concrete block on the inside just like it was concrete block on the outside. It was lit by two fluorescent ceiling fixtures. The unit contained a brown leather, slightly used La-Z-Boy recliner, and a large safe. The garage door was the only exit.
Ramone stepped forward with a backpack. “I know this style safe,” he said. “This should not be a problem.”
“Did you tell him about Hiroshima?” I asked Ranger.
“Yes,” Ranger said. “He knows about Hiroshima.”
I gave the two keys and the two wedding bands to Ramone, he walked to the safe, and set his backpack on the floor. Everyone moved away from the unit.
“How long will this take?” I asked Ranger.
“Not long,” he said. “One way or the other.”
“Do you think we’re far enough away?” Lula asked. “Hiroshima is big.”
Potts moved behind Lula, as if that would protect him from nuclear disaster. Morelli wasn’t saying anything. He was looking on with his cop face in place. Gabriela was silent. Grandma was leaning forward in anticipation, her eyes focused like lasers on the safe.
I was a half step behind Grandma. We’d been through a lot to reach this point, and now that the nightmare of worrying about everyone’s safety was over, I was getting excited about the treasure. My excitement had less to do with how I was going to spend it, as what exactly was this treasure? Bars of gold? A priceless relic? What had we been chasing?
The minutes ticked on. It seemed like a lifetime, but it was only four minutes on my watch when Ramone finally stepped away from the safe. The door was open, and there was a collective sigh of relief that we hadn’t all been blown to bits.
We rushed into the storage unit and stared at the inside of the safe. It was as if all of the air had been sucked out of the room and no one moved. Everyone was frozen in stunned silence.
“It’s empty,” Grandma finally said. “There’s nothing in it but some comic books. It looks to me like Jimmy used to come here to sit in his La-Z-Boy and read comics. How could this be? Where’s the treasure?”
“Superman and Uncle