Found Money (34 page)

“Robert Oppenheimer,” the voice boomed over the loudspeaker. A beaming young man wearing a flowing black gown hurried toward the dais. It wasn’t the usual rowdy crowd that filled Folsom Stadium on fall football Saturdays, but even in the silence of a sunny spring morning the excitement was palpable as each member of the class of 2000 had a personal moment of glory. For the big May class, no place but the stadium could accommodate the University of Colorado’s combined ceremonies for all degrees, bachelors through doctorate. The doctoral candidates went first. Amy would be the fifth person across the stage. Right after Oppenheimer.

She felt goose bumps. Her friend and faculty advisor, Maria Perez, squeezed her hand as they climbed the steps to the left of the stage. The dean of the department of astrophysical and planetary sciences stood center stage, waiting. The field level was packed with students in full graduation regalia.

“Amy Parkens.”

She stepped forward, smiling widely.

“Way to go, Mommy!”

Taylor was on her feet, standing on her seat cushion in the tiered seating section. Maria’s husband was seated right beside her, trying to get her down, but she was too proud to be controlled.

Amy gave a wink from afar, then shook hands with the dean, who presented her diploma. The traditional doctoral hood went over her shoulders. The tassel flipped as she crossed to the other side. She’d made it. She and Taylor, alone, had made it. Though not without a few bumps in the road.

Amy had told no one about her grandmother. She’d decided she never would. Her mother’s death would forever be a suicide. Officially. Amy’s silence was as much about mercy as it was about moving on with her own life. A sensational trial with Amy as witness against her own grandmother was no way to find closure. It seemed like punishment enough for Gram to know that Amy had uncovered the truth.

Over the following ten months, Amy had built a new life. Leaving the law firm had been easy. Forgiving Marilyn Gaslow had not been so easy. A brave night at Cheesman Dam couldn’t overcome twenty years of deceit. After Marilyn had withdrawn her name from consideration for the Federal Reserve appointment, the two of them had simply seemed to pull away from each other.

The hardest part had been trying to explain to Taylor why they couldn’t live with Gram anymore. The return to astronomy had helped the transition. She and Taylor had moved closer to the Meyer-Womble Observatory on Mt. Evans, where Amy could complete her doctoral research. Gram stayed behind in Boulder. They hadn’t spoken since that night last summer, though her grandmother did write once. The letter was returned unopened. In her own controlling way, she undoubtedly hoped Amy would move back to Boulder after graduation. Amy wouldn’t. Not ever. At least not as long as Gram was alive.

After the ceremony, the graduates gathered outside the stadium with their families. Amy filed out with Maria and waited for Taylor and Maria’s husband. All around her, loving couples were locked in hugs and congratulatory kisses. Amy tried to hide the funny look on her face, but her tell-all expressions were not to be contained. Maria gave her an awkward hug that, in this setting, seemed a bit like a consolation prize.

Taylor came running through the crowd, brightening Amy’s face. “Can I wear your funny hat, Mommy?”

“You betcha,” she said as she lifted her from the sidewalk. She put her down and pulled the cap over her eyes. Just then, someone caught her eye through the crowd. He was standing near the stadium exit. Amy’s smile faded. It was Ryan Duffy.

“It’s too big!” shouted Taylor.

Amy was still looking at Ryan. He took a tentative step forward, then stopped.

“Maria, could you watch Taylor for a second?”

“Sure.” She knelt on one knee and adjusted Taylor’s mortarboard.

Amy weaved her way through the noisy crowd. Ryan slowly came forward, as if to meet her halfway. They had parted on decent terms last summer. The fact that Ryan’s father was no rapist had taken away the bitterness. Amy had thought about him from time to time over the past eleven months, during many a lonely night at the observatory on Mt. Evans. Neither one had called the other, however. Circumstances had pushed them so far apart, only a lunatic would have picked up the phone. Or so she had thought.

Amy stopped right before him. “What brings you here?”

He gave a half-smile. “I felt like we had some unfinished business.”

“Really?”

He rocked on his heels, as if he had something to say and wasn’t quite sure how to say it. “It’s been a strange year for me.”

“Me too.”

“Not all bad. I’m a new uncle. My sister Sarah had a little girl. Fortunately she doesn’t seem to be taking after her mother or her father. That’s a good thing.”

“Congratulations.”

“Yeah. It’s nice.”

“Somehow, I get the feeling you didn’t come all this way just to tell me that.”

“You’re right.” He looked away, then back, as if words were difficult. “I’ve been meaning to talk to you. I was just waiting for the divorce to finally come through before I did.”

“Why?”

“Just wanted to see how everything shook out with the money. Now that all the legal stuff is over, my share has finally been decided.”

“Oh,” she said, disappointed. “Still talking about the money.”

“I never felt entitled to any of it, honestly. I’ve always thought that if there was an innocent victim, it was you.” He pulled a paper sack from his pocket and offered it to her. “I want you to have it.”

She backed away, surprised. “I can’t take your money.”

“It’s not much. Like I said, the government took a big cut. The FBI, the IRS. Do you have any idea what the penalties are for taxes that should have been paid over twenty years ago? Turns out my dad had quite a few other debts, too. Off-track
gambling was apparently quite a weakness for him. Me, my sister, and my ex-wife split what was left three ways. Out of the original five million, I’m left with exactly six hundred and forty-two bucks.”

Amy almost giggled, then brought a hand to her mouth in embarrassment. “I’m sorry. I don’t know why I think that’s so funny.”

“Because you can finally look back and laugh at all this. I was hoping that would be the case.”

Their eyes met and held. It could have been an awkward moment, but it wasn’t. Finally, Amy said, “So, you’re really divorced now?”

“Yeah, thank God. Looking back on it, it’s amazing we lasted as long as we did. Not sure what we had in common. Guess it’s like they say, opposites attract.”

“Only if you’re a magnet.”

“Yeah.” He chuckled.

“Of course, if you want a more instructive scientific analogy, the true opposites in our universe are called matter and anti-matter. Whenever they come into contact, they shoot off deadly gamma rays and instantly annihilate each other.”

“Now you’re showing off, Dr. Parkens.”

“I guess I am.” She glanced over her shoulder toward Taylor. She was doing the five-year-old version of tapping her foot, waiting. “I should get back to my daughter.”

“Sorry. Didn’t mean to hold you up.”

“Not at all.” She clutched the paper bag, then looked at Ryan with soulful eyes. “This was…a nice gesture. But please, keep your money. I don’t think I’m any more entitled to it than you are.”

“Just take it. After going back to school, you can use it, I’m sure.”

“Believe me, I’d still need the life expectancy of a redwood to pay off those debts.”

Gently, she pushed it back toward him, touching his hand lightly. “Thanks for coming all the way up here. And you take care of yourself.” She turned away slowly.

“Hey.”

She glanced back one last time.

Ryan shrugged, as if he didn’t know what to say.

“Good luck to you, Amy.”

She smiled sadly, feeling chills as she walked away. She was too confused to say whether she was glad he had come. But it didn’t warm her heart to pull herself away.

“Can I put on your robe, too?” Taylor was tugging on her sleeve.

“After we take some pictures.”

“Okay!” said Taylor, almost squealing.

Amy took her daughter’s hand and started toward the lawn. She didn’t want to be obvious, but as they passed the last stadium exit she checked to see if Ryan was still around. She glanced left, then right. He was gone.

“Mommy, why don’t you look happy-faced like everybody else?”

“I’m very happy, sweetheart. Let’s take pictures.”

They flowed with the crowd toward a picturesque spot with the mountains in the background. On a bench near the stadium, she noticed the paper sack just sitting there. It was definitely Ryan’s, but she didn’t dare touch it. She turned and, through the crowd, saw the back of his head. He was walking the other way. She hurried to catch up, pulling Taylor by the hand. “Ryan!” she called. “Dr. Duffy!”

He stopped and turned.

Amy said, “I think you forgot something, didn’t you?” With her eyes, she pointed back to the paper bag resting on the bench. But Ryan’s eyes remained fixed on her.

“Actually, I did forget something. I forgot to remind you. We never did get that second cup of coffee at the Green Parrot.”

Her mouth opened, but there was a few seconds’ delay. “That’s, uh, true.”

“You think maybe we could fix that?”

She smiled with her eyes, recalling their first meeting and how she had wanted to say yes when he’d asked if he might see her again. Instead, she had said something coy like
You never know
. This time she wanted to do better. “I’d like that,” she said. “I’d like that a lot. In fact, I know a place not too far from here.”

“I can follow.”

“Okay,” she said happily.

“Lead on.”

They started down the sidewalk together, Ryan on the left, Amy and her daughter on the right. They had to retrace their steps past the bench where Ryan had left the money. The paper sack, however, was already gone. Two young graduates were engaged in heated conversation. The short guy was holding the bag. The other was trying to take it from him.

“We have to turn it in,” said the taller one. “It doesn’t belong to us.”

“It’s cash,” snapped the other. “Found money. Finders keepers.”

Their voices rose as the argument intensified. People were starting to gather round them and gawk, as if anticipating a fistfight.

Amy and Ryan exchanged knowing glances as they passed the commotion, but neither said a word. She struggled not to burst out laughing. He grinned and shook his head.

Their smiles only widened as they kept right on walking.

Thank you…

Tiffany, I love your honesty and everything about you.

Carolyn Marino and Robin Stamm truly took the book to another level, with a helpful assist from Jessica Lichtenstein. An author couldn’t have better friends than Richard and Artie Pine; you take better care of me than I do. Joan Sanger, as always, left her very welcome mark. And the critics at large are getting better with each book: Eleanor Rayner, Carlos Sires, Jennifer Stearns, Dr. Gloria M. Grippando, Judy Russell.

A few friends lent their special expertise. James W. Hall, deputy sheriff, Yakima County Sheriff’s Department. F. Clay Craig, probate attorney
extraordinaire
and lover of
béisbol
. Gerald J. Houlihan and Ron Hanes, two most talented criminal defense lawyers.

Some of the Colorado in this novel is real, some is made up (don’t go looking for the Green Parrot or Half-way Café). My thanks to the Colorado Travel and Tourism Authority; City of Boulder Housing Authority; the Boulder School District; the Lamar Chamber of Commerce; Jane Earle, manager of community relations, Denver Water (a/k/a “the water goddess”); the Denver Public
Library, especially Gwendolyn Crenshaw, senior librarian, and Don Dilley, Department of Western History/Genealogy; and the Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences, the Fiske Planetarium and Sommers-Bausch Observatory, University of Colorado, Boulder. Keith Gleason deserves special mention for his entertaining and informativee crash course on dying stars and the life of an astronomer. (I hope I didn’t let you down.)