Killertrust (19 page)

Rhetta stared at the envelope
in her hands. She heard Ricky’s continued exclamations, but couldn’t understand
what she was saying. She had tuned everything out except the thumping of her
heart.

Her head swirled. Where was
her father? What was the story behind this car? Had he gone to collect on the
trust and then left the cash in the car in a storage unit? Had he robbed a
bank? He said he’d done some not-so-savory things in his past.
Good Lord, had
he killed someone and was this the blood money?
That thought made her drop the envelope as though it
had heated up and scorched her fingers. It fell to the floor in front of the
passenger seat just as Randolph opened that door and poked his head in. He
whistled.

“This car looks like it was
frozen in time. Like the day he bought it.” He shook his head in obvious
admiration.

“Look what else comes with
the car,” Rhetta said, reaching to the floor and gathering up the envelope. “A
bonus.” She handed it to him.

He took it and opened it, his
eyes growing large. “Good grief, I wonder what this is for?” He turned the
envelope over and studied it. He peered inside. “Was there any kind of note?’

Rhetta shook her head. She
ran her hands through her hair, then spied a snippet of paper on the floor
where the envelope had fallen. It was folded over. She reached down, retrieved
it, then opened it up. “Hold on, I think this fell out.”

She read aloud.
“
Rhetta, this
is for you. I couldn’t save any money in any bank. This is my savings. It’s
yours.
”
No signature.

She handed the scrap to
Randolph who studied it, then slid it inside the envelope.

“I’ll hang on to this,” he
said, clutching the envelope to his chest.” At least ’til we get back to the
truck and can put it in one of your suitcases.”

“Now aren’t you glad I
brought those two bags?” She grinned at him. She wasn’t sure why, but emotions
rolled over her in waves, and tears rolled down her cheeks. Must have been all
the memories of her mother, and everything she missed with her father. Randolph
reached in and kissed his wife, and thumbed the tears away. She snuffled then
smiled. “I love you, Sweets. I’m fine now.”

Ricky and Billy Dan were
oblivious to what had just transpired. They were still head to head studying
the motor. They were holding a discussion about the condition and appearance of
everything in the engine compartment. Ricky’s excited exclamations reached
Rhetta. She grinned.
Ricky
will be in Classic Car Heaven with this one!

After closing the hood
carefully, Ricky bounded over to Rhetta, who still sat behind the wheel,
staring out. “Oh my God, Rhetta, this is unbelievable! This car is totally
unmolested, and I think, barely driven. Your father must have parked it here
shortly after he bought it, and never drove it again. I don’t get it. I wish I
knew what had happened. Why would someone do this? It’s absolutely beautiful
and worth a small fortune. It’s…” She didn’t finish. “What’s wrong?” she asked
Rhetta.

Rhetta got out slowly, and
eased the door shut. “Nothing, nothing at all. Other than I found an envelope
stuffed with cash inside the glove box.”

Ricky spun toward Randolph.
“Cash? How much?”

Randolph said, “I don’t know
‘til we count it, but it looks like a heck of a lot.”

An hour and a half later, the Camaro was loaded securely
onto the trailer and covered with Ricky’s car cover.

They had been pushing the car
to the front of the Cave, when the manager had stopped them.

“Why don’t you just drive it?
Mr. Frank came regularly to start it up and drive it around the parking lot. He
took real good care of that little car, and did the maintenance on it as though
he drove it somewhere besides around our lots. It runs good.”

Ricky had shaken her head and
whispered to Rhetta. “Let’s not take any chances. We can load it on the
trailer, and I can check it out from top to bottom when I get it to the shop. I
want to make sure the oil is good and the fluids are right before we crank it
over.”

“You’re the boss on this,”
Rhetta said. “We’ll load it.”

After easily pushing the car
outside to the waiting trailer, Ricky and Billy Dan hooked up the winch.
Randolph hopped up on the trailer to monitor the winch, while Ricky and Billy
Dan guided the car up the ramps. Rhetta sat behind the wheel and steered. Once
the car was on the trailer, Ricky and Billy Dan secured it with tie-down straps
and tucked the cover over it. Once she was satisfied, Ricky announced they were
ready to leave.

As they eased down the long
winding driveway from the Cave Storage to the service road, Rhetta pulled out
her iPhone and started the maps application. “The Holiday Inn is just over here
a short ways. We don’t even have to get onto the Interstate.” She pointed
eastward.

The temperature had continued
to drop and they all shivered as the truck warmed up.

“I just checked the weather.
A winter storm is coming through,” Rhetta said.

“Sure am glad I brought a
jacket,” Billy Dan said.

“Are we supposed to get much
snow?” Ricky asked, as she steered into the motel parking lot.

“About six to ten inches,”
Rhetta said after checking her weather app. Everybody groaned.

“That’ll make our trip
tomorrow a very long one,” Ricky added.

“Let’s see what happens
tonight, and if we have to stay an extra day here, we will.” Randolph said. “I
sure don’t want anything to happen to that car. Besides, I want to call our
insurance agent and add this to the policy before we get very far.”

“I can call Mrs. Koblyk to
feed the cats,” Rhetta said. She glanced again at her phone. “We’re not
supposed to get anything but rain at home.”

“I’m glad we live in
southeast Missouri. We usually miss all the nasty winter weather the rest of
the state gets, especially like here in Kansas City,” Billy Dan said.

They pulled into the motel,
and Rhetta jumped out to go inside to register.

Finding a convenient place to
park the truck where they could see it from their first floor rooms as well as
from the adjacent restaurant took a few minutes. Ricky parked it lengthways at
the edge of the parking lot where no one could park alongside them. They walked
around the trailer to check everything before trooping in to enjoy a relaxing
supper. Rhetta and Randolph faced the window to keep an eye on the trailer.
They had secured adjoining rooms down from the dining room that also faced the
parking lot.

After settling in at the
table and giving the waitress their orders, Ricky said, “I doubt if I’ll get
any sleep at all, as wound up as I am about this car. But boy, am I hungry!”
She stabbed a chunk of salad with her fork.

“I think we should take turns
watching,” Billy Dan said. “That way all four of us won’t have to stay up all
night.”

“That’s a great idea,” Rhetta
said, finishing the last of her salad just as the waitress returned with their
steaks. She carried all the meals on a round tray. Oval metal plates sizzled
with hot steaks. “We should check in with each other as we change shifts.”

The waitress set the tray
down on an adjacent table and placed everyone’s steak dinners in front of them.

“These smell delicious,”
Randolph said. “I can’t believe I’m so hungry again after eating that huge
breakfast at Mabel’s.”

Rhetta glanced at her watch.
“Sweets, that was ten hours ago, and we didn’t have lunch. Except for the
Snickers bars we had in Columbia when we stopped for gas.”

Ricky sliced her steak. “I’ll
take the first shift.” She signaled the waitress. “Can you bring me some
extra-caffeine coffee?”

“Sure thing,” she said.
“Coming right up.” She turned over the white cups and began pouring from a
silver carafe.

“How did you know I wanted
extra-caffeine coffee?” Ricky asked. She pointed to the carafe. “You had it at
the ready.”

The waitress grinned, then
leaned in. “All our coffee is extra caffeine. Unless you want decaffeinated.”
She smiled and winked at Billy Dan, then sashayed over to the next table with
four men in business suits. Ricky threw Billy Dan a look, at which he just
shrugged.

Billy Dan glanced at his
watch. “All right, here’s my suggestion: Ricky and I will take the first shift
together. We’ll watch until midnight. Then Rhetta and Randolph can take the
second and call us around four.” Nodding at Rhetta and Randolph, he added, “You
can get a couple more hours of sleep before we get on the road. After a good
breakfast, of course.”

“After this giant steak, I
doubt if I’ll be hungry.” Rhetta trimmed all the fat off her meat before
slicing it. She popped a forkful into her mouth.

“I’m sure I’ll be hungry by
morning. Marsha said they serve a mean stack of blueberry pancakes,” Billy Dan
said.

“Who’s Marsha?” Ricky asked,
dabbing her chin with her napkin.

“Our waitress.” Billy Dan
tilted his head toward the silver-haired server, and smiled. The waitress
smoothed her black skirt and smiled back.

“Are you flirting with her?”
Ricky swiveled around to give the woman another look. “She’s old enough to be
your mother.”

Rhetta interrupted, hoping to
head Ricky off and distract her from Marsha. “That’s fine with me, but I doubt
if I can fall asleep very quickly, either. I’m pretty keyed up.”

They had all finished their
meals and coffee when Randolph checked his watch. “I guess we should call it a
night and try to get as much rest as we can.” He glanced outside, where snow
was falling in large flakes. “If we get a lot of snow, we may want to
reconsider leaving tomorrow. I’d hate to slide off the road with that car on
the trailer.”

They all murmured their
agreement.

Rhetta followed Ricky outside
to inspect the trailer and check the car’s protective cover, making sure all
was still snug while Randolph settled the tab. Billy Dan ducked outside the
door to wait for Randolph, capitalizing on the opportunity to light up a
cigarette.

Ricky and Rhetta jogged
carefully across the parking lot to the trailer where over an inch of snow had
already accumulated. Fat snowflakes were still falling. The orange glow from
the parking lot lamps made the snow appear to be coming down diagonally.

Rhetta pulled her jacket around
her. It didn’t offer much protection from the cold. The wind had picked up and
carried the cold through her denim jeans to her skin. Ricky wore only a hooded
sweatshirt over her coveralls. Both shivered.

Ricky walked along the far
side of the trailer, which because of where they had parked it, was away from
their line of vision from the restaurant. They could only see along the
driver’s side. Ricky stopped and tugged at the cords holding the cover in
place. “These are a little loose.” She pulled the cords tighter. She
re-inspected the trailer.

Rhetta pointed to the ground.
“Ricky, look at this. Are these footprints?”

The evidence of someone’s
recent visit was not yet completely covered with snow. Rhetta gazed around the
parking lot. No one but the four of them was out in the worsening weather.
Rhetta showed Randolph the footprints. “Sweets, look at these. Somebody must
have been checking out the car.”

Ricky said, “Probably
somebody wanting to peek at it. It’s almost obvious what it is by the shape. Anyone
who knows old cars could identify the silhouette right away.”

Rhetta’s stomach tightened.
“Sure, you’re probably right. I’m glad I locked the doors. I guess I’m just
nervous about the car.”

Ricky nodded. “As well you
should be. This car is worth a fortune.”

Randolph and Billy Dan
stooped to inspect the tracks. They stood, then scoped out the whole parking
lot. “I don’t see anyone,” Randolph said.

“Me neither,” said Billy Dan.

“On that encouraging word,
let’s all hit the rooms, and start our lookout,” Ricky said.

They turned and stomped their
way across the parking lot. The snowflakes got heavier and the wind began
whistling. A full-out snowstorm had begun.