Page 65 of Taking What Was His

Beth inhaled. “Do you want me there?”

“Yes, if you can or even want to. If not, not a problem. I can call you when we’re done.”

“I’ll head that way.” She paused for a moment. “I’m afraid.”

“Don’t be, baby. We’ll get this taken care of.”

“I’ll be there in a bit.”

“Okay, drive safe.”

Roman got to the house just as the others pulled up. The guys met him in the driveway.

“What’s going on?” Conner, one of the cops, asked.

“Let’s go inside first.”

They walked into the backyard, and Roman unlocked the door to the kitchen with the key Beth had given him.

“Whose house is this?” Dylan asked.

Roman turned to look over his shoulder at Dylan. “My girlfriend’s. Do you guys remember Rick Williams?”

“Yeah, he died several years ago.”

“This is his widow’s house. His partner has been helping her since Rick died, but he comes over a few times a month to check the water heater.”

Roman caught the suspicious looks on their faces. “I know, I thought it was weird, too. A few weeks ago, I came here, and Beth was down in the basement. She told me Evan had been there again. She had asked him before to stop, and she’d call him if there were any problems, but he didn’t listen. We couldn’t find anything that looked out of place, and the water heater looked fine. That’s when I had Aiden here put in cameras. They went off about an hour ago, and I saw Evan messing with the wall and then putting something behind it. I wanted Aiden to tape us and you two to help me and be witnesses since you don’t know either party. I’m too involved with the situation.”

“Let’s go. I want to know what that guy was doing.”

Roman grinned at Dylan. “We all do.”

They got everything situated in the basement before Roman showed them the area he saw Evan messing with. The three of them took flashlights out and started tapping and pushing as Aiden taped them.

“Hey,” Conner cried out. “I think I’ve got something.”

Roman watched as Conner pushed the side of one of the blocks, making it tip out just like he’d seen Evan do earlier. They stared as Conner pulled out the tan canvas bag Roman had seen Evan holding. He crouched and watched Conner start to pull things out of the bag.

Roman’s stomach plummeted when Conner first pulled out a big stack of cash held together with rubber bands. The fact Evan was hiding it was not a good sign.

Next came a big Ziploc bag filled with little bags of white powder.

Roman wiped a hand down his face. “Fuck.”

“That’s it in this bag,” Conner said.

Dylan walked over to the hole and shined his flashlight in it. “There’s some more in here.” He reached down and pulled out another bag with a gun inside. He handed that over to Roman and then went back for more. He pulled another bag of cash from the cubby. He stuck his head in and shined the flashlight. “I think that’s it.”

Roman held up one of the piles of money. “How much do you think is in there?”

Dylan studied the other stack of money. “These are all one-hundred-dollar bills, so there’s got to be tens of thousands of dollars in this one alone.”

“Aiden, take several pictures of it and email it to me. Will you guys take it and count it and test the powder for me? The gun also needs to be tested, so that needs to go to the lab. We’ll see if that matches any crimes we’ve had.”

Roman rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t have to tell you to keep this quiet for now. I’ll take the pictures to the D.A. and see how he wants to proceed.”

The men froze as a door shut upstairs and then footsteps.