Read Online The Missing Dough by Chris Cavender - Free Book Online

probably took it with them,” Maddy said. “Is his address book anywhere in sight?”
    “I didn’t know he had one. If it’s here, I haven’t come across it yet. What does it look like?”
    “If you can believe it, it’s actually one of those little black books. He keeps everything in it, not just telephone numbers, so if we can track it down, it’s going to be a big help.”
    “I’ll keep digging,” I said.
    “So will I,” she said.
    Three minutes later Maddy said, “Bingo!”
    I left the desk and hurried to the closet. “What did you find? Did the little black book turn up?”
    “No, I wasn’t that lucky, but I did find five hundred dollars in an envelope tucked in the pocket of his best suit.”
    “We aren’t here scavenging for cash, Maddy.”
    She shook her head. “I’m just saying, this must mean something. Grant was notorious for putting everything on his credit card. Why would he be carrying around a wad of cash like this?”
    “I don’t have a clue, but you should put it back where you found it.”
    “Eleanor, I know that we can’t keep it, but couldn’t we use it for expenses while we’re digging into his murder?”
    “I suppose that’s one way to look at it,” I said. “But I still don’t think that I could feel right about doing it. As far as I’m concerned, it should go into the estate. Who knows? Maybe you’ll get a bit of it for yourself.”
    “I’m not counting on it,” she said with a wry smile as she laid the envelope on top of the desk. “I’ll be amazed if I get anything better than Sharon’s slides, and maybe that teacup collection we saw on the way in.”
    “You never know,” I said.
    I tried to pull out the last and biggest lower drawer in the desk, and when it wouldn’t budge, I saw that it was locked. There were more fresh scratch marks on the wood, and after fiddling with it a little, I was able to open it.
    Whatever had been there when the police had started their search was now gone. I stared at the bottom of the drawer for a minute, though. Something was wrong. It took a little time, but then I got it. The bottom of the drawer should have been deeper than it was. Not by much, but enough to allow a few things to be hidden there. Once I pulled it all the way out, I searched the back of the drawer with my fingers and felt a small wire button hidden there. As I pressed it, the wooden bottom shifted upward, releasing some kind of catch inside the drawer. Lifting the false bottom out, I eagerly looked inside the drawer to see what had been hidden away. I had a hunch that the police had missed this in their search.
    Inside, there were two stacks of hundred-dollar bills, and I quickly counted them as I removed them. One stack had five thousand dollars in it, and the other was five hundred short of that total. It appeared that I’d found a secret money stash, but that wasn’t what interested me the most. The drawer also had a handful of letters in it, carefully banded together, as well.
    I was about to pick them up when I heard someone fumbling with a key in the lock upstairs.
    Someone was trying to get in!
    It was clear by the false starts that they were having trouble finding the right key, but I suspected it was just a matter of seconds before we had company.
    “Maddy, we need to get out of here. Is there a back way out of here?”
    “There’s a door to the outside, but why should we leave?”
    She’d had her head buried in the closet, so she must not have heard the first few keys in the lock. At that moment, there was another false start, and she scooped up her pile of finds, along with a few other things, and headed for the door. “Come on. Let’s go. There’s a basement access door over this way,” she said.
    I considered taking the money for one brief second, but on second thought, I grabbed the letters instead, as well as the documents I’d gathered myself. Taking more time than I really had, I jammed the cash, including the five hundred bucks