Betrayed (Rosato & DiNunzio, #2)(25)
Iris, You are already a better gardener than this guy! Happy Birthday, from B!
Touched, Judy replaced the card, closed the book, and was about to put it back when she noticed a large white envelope sticking out from underneath the old newspapers. She picked up the envelope, which was heavy and bulky but unsealed. She lifted up the flap, looked inside, and couldn’t believe what she was seeing. It must’ve been the flashlight, playing tricks on her eyes.
She knelt on the garage floor, set her flashlight on the edge of the chest so that it cast light on the envelope, and slid out its contents.
In her hand was a thick stack of cash, bound with a rubber band.
Chapter Twelve
Judy entered her aunt’s house with a cardboard box of the rose cutting and an old needlepoint bag she’d found in the garage, which contained the cash from Iris’s gardening chest. The living room was empty, for which she was grateful, because she needed a moment to compose herself. She estimated the cash to be about $10,000, though she hadn’t taken the time to count it.
She set the box, bag, and her purse down, her thoughts racing. She didn’t know if the cash belonged to Iris, or if her aunt knew about it, or why it was in the garage. She reasoned that it probably belonged to Iris because it had been in her gardening chest, and also that her aunt didn’t know about it, because Aunt Barb wouldn’t have kept cash in the garage. Judy remembered what her aunt had said, about Iris wanting to keep the garage locked. Evidently, she wasn’t worried about somebody’s stealing the new lawnmower.
“Judy?” her mother asked, coming downstairs in Aunt Barb’s pink chenille bathrobe, covered with whimsical flowers. “What took you so long?”
“Sorry.” Judy moved the needlepoint bag behind the couch, with her foot. Nobody needed more drama before the mastectomy Monday morning. “The light went off in the garage and I couldn’t find the box Aunt Barb wanted me to bring in. It was on the other side of the car.”
“No, I mean tonight. What took you so long tonight? You two were out for hours.” Her mother reached the bottom of the stairs, with a frown. She’d washed off her makeup but her hair was still up in its topknot, though it was slipping. “Your aunt said you went for a drive, but she didn’t say where and she just fell asleep in her clothes, exhausted. You couldn’t have gone for an ice cream because nothing around here is open late.”
Judy decided to tell the truth because the only lies she told her mother was that she was eating healthy, getting enough sleep, and not working too hard. “We made two stops, one to Iris’s job to find out if she’d gone in today, which she hadn’t, and the other to her apartment, to talk to her roommates and get some clothes to bury her in.”
Her mother’s frown took up permanent residence. “Why didn’t you call me?”
“We texted,” Judy said, but even she knew it sounded weak.
“You couldn’t pick up the phone and talk to me? Why did you leave me hanging?”
“Sorry, we should have called. Hold on, let me get something to eat.” Judy felt starved all of a sudden, so she walked into the darkened kitchen and flicked on the light. It had been too long a day, capped off with the discovery of the hidden money. It got her thinking that Iris might not be the saint that she’d seemed to be. “Is there any leftover chicken?”
“Please don’t make a mess in the kitchen.” Her mother followed her inside, leaning on the archway, her arms still folded. “It’s eleven o’clock. The kitchen’s closed for the night.”
“I’m not going to make a mess.” Judy had forgotten her mother had a kitchen-closed rule, a necessity with four kids, but less so tonight. Even so, to keep the peace, she bypassed the refrigerator, went into the cabinet, grabbed a glass, and filled it with water.
“You didn’t answer my question.”
“What question?”
“Why didn’t you call me?”
“Mom, we should have, and I apologized.” Judy sipped the water, but it did nothing to satisfy her hunger, which only made her cranky.
“I’ll tell you why you didn’t call. You didn’t call because you knew I would tell you not to do it. Your aunt needs to rest and take care of herself. She isn’t a well woman, don’t you know that?”
“Yes, but she wanted to get it done before her operation on Monday.”
“You shouldn’t have listened.”
“Mom, what was I supposed to do? She’s a big girl, and Iris was her best friend.”
Her mother scoffed. “Iris wasn’t her best friend. She was a paid companion. They didn’t know each other that well.”
Judy realized her mother might be right, if the secret money meant anything. “Still, Aunt Barb says she was her best friend. She told me in the car, at the scene.”
“That’s ridiculous! I would have known if she was her best friend!”
“She didn’t want to tell us because we might not approve.” Judy didn’t need to add, And she was right.
“How can they be best friends? They don’t even speak the same language.”
“They find a way to talk to each other, it’s not impossible.” Judy couldn’t resist adding, “You’re the linguist, right? People can learn a new language.”