Found money

60

Ryan reached Denver long after dark. He’d been thinking about the meeting on the long drive up and was starting to feel vulnerable. He stopped at Norm’s house in Cherry Creek before heading out to the dam.

“What now?” asked Norm. He was standing at the back door, dressed in a T-shirt and shorts. He was wearing his eyeglasses, having removed his contact lenses for bed.

“I need a favor,” said Ryan. “Can I come in?”

He stepped aside. “Just be quiet about it. Kids are asleep.”

“It’s just me, not the prize patrol.” Ryan went to the kitchen, opened the refrigerator, and borrowed a Pepsi. Norm sat at the table.

Ryan sipped his soda. “I have a meeting tonight.”

“Who with?”

“Marilyn Gaslow.”

“You just have to ask her about that letter, don’t you.” Norm was practically groaning.

“Of course.”

“Isn’t it enough for you to have it in writing?”

Ryan came to the table. “The letter is no good until someone confirms it’s true. I want to hear it straight from her that my father never raped her.”

“Why wouldn’t it be true?”

Ryan sat across from his friend, his expression solemn. “Have you ever stopped to think what stake Amy Parkens’s mother might have had in this?”

“How do you mean?”

“I’m talking about motive. Why would she write that letter to my father?”

“Because Marilyn wouldn’t do it. And it was the right thing to do.”

“That’s one explanation. Another is that she and my dad were in this thing together.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Maybe that two hundred thousand dollars my father sent Amy Parkens wasn’t just an unsolicited expression of gratitude for the way Debby Parkens stepped up to the plate and did the right thing. It could have been part of their deal. My dad and Amy’s mother, co-conspirators.”

“You’re saying Debby Parkens betrayed her best friend Marilyn Gaslow?”

“For money.”

Norm shook his head. “That would be like me selling you out.”

“Or like Judas, who took his money and then hung himself from a tree. Betrayal always has consequences. Did you ever think maybe that’s why Amy’s mother killed herself?”

“Or why somebody killed her.”

Ryan paused, then said, “Somebody like Marilyn.”

They looked cautiously at one another, each waiting for the other to say they were talking crazy. Neither said a word.

“What’s your plan?” asked Norm.

Ryan smiled with his eyes. “I knew you’d see it my way. I told her to meet me at Cheesman Dam. I figured if I was going to get an honest answer — or at least an honest reaction — from her, it made sense to get her back on the spot where the rape either happened or didn’t happen.”

“And if she says what you want her to say… then what?”

“I want my father’s name cleared forever. I want Marilyn’s voice on tape. I need to be wired.”

“You can record it, but I want you to understand that it’s not something you could ever use in court against her. The only way to do this legally would be to work with law enforcement.”

“I’m not looking for something I can use in a courtroom. This is for me and my family. I want my mother to hear it.”

“So do I,” said Norm. “Let me call my investigator. He’ll fit you up, no problem.” He rose and stepped toward the telephone on the kitchen counter.

“I want a bulletproof vest, too. Just in case. And I need to borrow your gun.”

Norm held the phone, poised to dial. “Marilyn Gaslow is not going to shoot you.”

“No. But I’ve invited someone else to the meeting besides Marilyn. Someone a little less predictable. Someone who says she can return my father’s gun to me.”

Norm hung up the phone and returned to the table. “Let’s talk about this.”

“Yeah,” said Ryan, “let’s talk.”