Buford, Georgia
"We must take this to the police." Thomas Ettinger's voice over the cell phone held a hint of panic to it. "Bill might be in real trouble. He's not answering his cell and I get nothing but voice mail at his home. God, he could even be dead."
Ya think? Conrad Gardner clenched his teeth, stifling his sarcastic retort as he restrained himself from throwing his cell phone in frustration. Instead, he stomped on the gas pedal-several times-but barely shot forward. With the sputtering AC on, his clunker was already at top speed.
It amazed him that Thomas even considered Bill might be alive. Posthumously would be the only way Conrad would reveal where he'd stashed five million.
Well, semi-revealed. According to the short and sweet letter that arrived less than two hours ago, Conrad had part of the puzzle.
Con,
You're receiving this because something has gone seriously wrong. I won't be making Forbes list but maybe my buds can. There's a million each waiting for you guys for nailing the man in the yellow hat for his international crimes. Bring him down for me. Lauren holds the keys to the evidence and the formula. But in case that blows up in your faces, I've written a clue to each of you on where cash is hidden. Con, yours is first, then Thomas, Edward, Ray and Bob's. Don't fail me.
There once lived a king…
Bill
Conrad's current dilemma was that Thomas didn't want to have any part of what might be shady dealings and dirty money. The idiot wanted to turn everything over to the police.
Conrad wasn't interested in nailing anyone, yellow hat or not, but he was damn well getting his hands on the money. And sometime this century would be nice. He'd been arguing with Thomas for over an hour now. The cities and exits skirting Georgia's Interstate 85 had passed in a blur as Conrad had made record time from his South Carolina home off Lake Hartwell to Thomas's Buford, Georgia estate north of Atlanta
When it came to the law, Thomas was as narrow minded as a needle eye and as unyielding as his extra-starched Armani dress shirts. By keeping the prig on the phone, Conrad was assuring himself that the man couldn't screw things up by singing his righteous song to the cops or any of their other so called friends. Last year in Vegas Bill, Edward, Ray and Bob had embarrassed the hell out of Conrad by making fun of him in front of a chick Conrad was well on his way to nailing. Friends didn't screw friends out of a great screw. They'd always razzed him about shit, a joke here or there that Conrad always let pass with a laugh just to be "in" with the rich crowd. But this time had been different, and his ass still burned every time he thought about it. The others didn't deserve the money. They didn't need the money and it pissed him off that Bill had included them.
"I'll be there in a few minutes and we'll work it out," Conrad told Thomas, putting as much assurance as he could muster into his voice. "Bill entrusted us. If he'd wanted this information in police hands, he would have sent it to them."
"Which is exactly my point," Thomas replied. "Because he didn't means the money is not on the up and up. I hate saying this, but he may have stolen it from the man in the yellow hat. Two wrongs don't make a right. If that man is a criminal then let the police handle it."
"Hold on." Conrad avoided hitting a semi then sharply cut across the lanes to make the right exit. Conrad argued with Thomas another ten minutes as he ate up the roads. The more he thought about the unfairness of it all, the more pissed he became.
His ass should be living on a multi-million dollar estate like the rest of the guys instead of in a rundown double-wide. The moment Conrad had shown up at Clemson on a football scholarship years ago, he'd realized he was destined to be rich. And it all would have been his too, if he hadn't blown his knee in his junior year. His name and the Heisman had been buzzing in the same sentence and the scouts had him pegged for the top NFL teams.
Now he sold security systems and repaired boat engines while all his college buds lived the high life. Every time they made their annual trip to Vegas over the past twelve years, he'd heard the stories of their luxurious lives. They threw cash about like Mardi Gras beads while his credit card debt mounted into the thousands. This was his chance to change all of that and Thomas's self-righteous bullshit wasn't going to screw him out of it. And the more he thought about it, the more determined he became to keep all of the money for himself. He deserved it.
"Open the gate for me. I'm coming up the drive now."
Thomas agreed and hung up the phone.
When Conrad arrived, they knocked knuckles as usual and went to the back deck of the three story mansion for a beer. Thomas's wife had left him a few years back. Ran off with her tennis instructor and reamed Thomas for half of everything, but the man was still rich. It boggled Conrad's mind. Both the wealth Thomas must have and the fact that he'd let the bitch take any of it.
If it had been Conrad, he would have figured out a way to keep what was his no matter what. Far below the deck, Lake Lanier's green waters rippled with boats and jet skies. Tree tops swayed in the pine-scented breeze and the late afternoon-evening sun bored holes in his head. His blood pressure rose with every word Thomas spoke until he thought he would explode as they argued more about Bill's letter and the waiting fortune.
Forty minutes and three beers later, Thomas had completely entrenched himself in doing the right thing. But before calling the police, Conrad had talked Thomas into calling the others-Ray, Edward and Bob-to get their opinion about it. The numerous calls were met by voice mail and completely dashed Conrad's hope of swaying Thomas to keep the cops out of it. The dirty-cop bastards would likely keep the money for themselves.
Head pounding, Conrad raged inside as the thought of five million escaping his grasp edged him closer toward desperation. He studied Thomas intently, wondering if the asshole was waiting for him to beg. Out of all of the men in their group, he'd always thought Thomas the most compassionate. The others often teased Thomas too, just not as often or as bad as they did Conrad.
"At least let me look at the letter Bill sent before we call the cops." Conrad wiped the sweat from his brow, his fist clenched with rage. "How do we know this isn't another one of Bill or the other guys' pranks? The shits are always making me or you the brunt of a joke."
Thomas's eyes widened as doubt hit and he pulled a folded letter from his back pocket. He went to hand the letter over, but then shook his head and jerked the note back. "No. This just goes too far for Bill or even the others. And if you read my part of the clue for the money then you'll take off and end up in trouble. Believe me, Con, I'm doing this for your good as well as my own."
"To hell with that. This is millions you're pissing away with your righteous dick." Conrad snatched the letter, moved back from Thomas, and held his friend at bay as he skimmed the letter. His six-two height made keeping it out of five-nine Thomas's reach doable. Still, Thomas kept jumping and yelling for the letter until he'd backed Conrad to the deck's rail. Conrad was in the middle of reading the clue for the hidden money when Thomas caught the bottom of the letter and ripped it.
Roaring in anger, Conrad lashed out and slammed his fist into Thomas's face then watched in disbelief as his friend pitched through the splintering rail to the rocky ground thirty feet below. Conrad quickly grabbed the rail post and regained his balance, keeping himself from the same fate. He had to take several deep breaths before he could look down. Thomas must have landed on his head because he lay unmoving with his neck at an odd angle. His eyes stared blankly up toward the sky as blood flowed from his nose and busted lip.
Conrad descended the steps in a surreal haze and found the torn part of Bill's letter lying on the ground.
After staring at Thomas's body for a long few minutes, Conrad realized the upside of the situation. He now had the clue and he didn't have to deal with Thomas's righteous shit ever again. The sense of relief flooding him was akin to escaping a death sentence. He finished reading the clue then tucked the pieces of the letter away before he erased evidence of his presence. The clues on where Bill had hidden the money didn't make sense yet.
There once lived a king. He died on a throne.
Hopefully with a third letter, Conrad could piece the whole of it together.
Selling security systems to his best friends turned out to be worth something after all because he knew exactly how to erase his tracks at Thomas's and getting into Bill Collins's house tonight would be a breeze. It shouldn't be too hard to find the letter Bill sent to Lauren and once he did, Conrad would already be halfway to five million dollars and never have to put up with the others' shit ever again.