Rules of Survival(76)

“She loved it?” I didn’t know much about Mom’s past. I’d always imagined she’d done what she had out of necessity, not enjoyment.

“Mel was a good person. Don’t you dare think anything otherwise. She had her faults. Same as anyone else.”

“But she liked being a criminal?”

“She liked the excitement. She never targeted anyone who didn’t have more than enough, and she never took much. It was more about the thrill for her than the cash.”

That didn’t make it any better in my mind, but he was right. Everyone had their faults. I didn’t think I’d ever agree with what she’d done, but I loved her just the same.

“As for what Mick said…” Patrick shifted uncomfortably. “With the way I reacted, I can’t blame Mel for not telling me the truth. I didn’t have faith in her, so why should she have faith in me? I’m ashamed of what I did—what I thought. Until a few days ago, I truly believed she’d killed Bengali’s kid and stolen the money. All these years, wasted.”

Wasted.

It was a good word to describe the way I was feeling at that moment. I’d done what I set out to do. I’d found the truth. But it didn’t change the fact that she was gone. Nothing would bring her back. Not the truth or all the money in the world.

Bad choices. That’s what had brought us here tonight. Bad choices had nearly destroyed us all. It was time to take a hard look at things and start making good decisions. Ones that might not always follow Mom’s rules.

“A song lyric,” he repeated, closing his eyes for a moment. “The kind of cue I’d understand. It all made sense.”

A song lyric. That made me smile—and brought tears to my eyes. Something told me Mick hadn’t known her that well, after all. “Before we came out here, Mick said she had a test done. He didn’t say he was the father, only that it confirmed what he’d thought. At the time, I just assumed it was him.” I swallowed. “But it had to be a lie, right? I mean, you can’t do those kinds of tests without, like, a genetic sample?”

“He could have been telling the truth,” Shaun said. He reached up and plucked a hair from his head. “All she would need was one of these.”

“And that wouldn’t have been too hard,” Patrick finished.

“But it was after I was born. You weren’t with her then, right? You’d gone your separate ways.”

“That’s true,” Patrick said. “But Mel was a smart cookie. She would have taken something. A hairbrush or something. She was always thinking ahead.”

“Not always,” I said to myself. If she’d always been thinking ahead, things would have turned out differently.

“We can find out, though, if you want. Do another test.”

My throat felt thick. “No need. I think I know where I can find out for sure.” There was one thing I’d seen when I’d skimmed the letter. I hadn’t told Shaun or Patrick about it. The word “father.”

“There’s still some red tape to hack through with the cops. They’re going to want that money back—or at least whatever’s left—but I think you’re safe now,” Patrick finished finally.

Mom had stolen the money from Mick. How could I give it back if I had no idea where it was? Only I did, didn’t I? The safe-deposit box Shaun and I had hit a few days ago. There’d been so much more cash than I’d expected.

“She split it all between her boxes,” I said, more to myself than to Patrick. “That’s how she was hiding it.”

“Safe-deposit boxes?” he asked with a smile. “I taught her that trick a long time ago. I should have known.”

He taught her that trick a long time ago. Back when they were friends. Back when they were more…

“There’s something I don’t get. If your love was as epic as Mick was making it out to be, why would you think she killed Bengali’s son? Why allow all that ‘wasted’ time?”

“She and Bengali’s kid didn’t get along. He’d pulled her on the side numerous times to tell her he saw through her. Knew she was out for his father’s money. Normally Mel would have ignored it—she’d encountered her fair share of threats from previous marks’ families—but the kid just rubbed her the wrong way. They were at each other’s throats all the time.” He looked away. “I just thought things had gotten out of hand.”

Patrick nodded and stood. He retrieved his jacket from the dock and draped it around my shoulders. “You two sit tight. I’m going to call the cops.”

I watched him leave, then took a deep breath before turning back to Shaun. I was happy he was alive, but there was still a problem. One I couldn’t ignore. I made a fist, the small piece of metal digging into my palm. “You had the key…”

He pushed himself up on his elbows and sighed. “I had the key.”

“I don’t understand,” I said, thinking back to everything that had happened over the last few days. All the close calls and life-or-death moments. “All that time—we could have been killed.”

“I did try to unlock us at one point…”

“In the woods behind Gerald’s.” He’d kept stopping. “That’s what you were trying to say.”