much. Just her and them dogs there. No one came to visit them or help her out in any way.”
I noticed the disrepair of the house. The eaves on the side of the home had begun to sag and the gutters bowed. The roof looked like it needed to be patched in places. The sidewalk and driveway were un-shoveled, except for a spot on the sidewalk where the snow had melted in an odd shape, a near rectangle, and refrozen in last night’s cold snap.
I nodded. “It’s a shame. No kids.”
He laughed. “She was unmarried and the mere thought of kids outside of wedlock would have scandalized her. She was a damned busybody when someone crossed her morality.”
My eyes widened. I’d actually gotten multiple full sentences out of the man. I was impressed with my questioning skills. I wondered what morality code she’d had and who had crossed it. This neighbor didn’t look like he did much in the way of sinning.
“Had she done that with you?” I asked.
He tossed his head back and laughed. “Hardly. Not too hard to be a good man when you watch TV and take care of your dogs. There have been a few incidents with her family that I remember. One about her niece. The girl got pregnant and before you knew it, Ruby had disinherited her. Wrote the girl out of her life completely.”
“How so?”
“Ruby had been a big one for storing away money. Every once in a while, she’d give some to those girls. She wasn’t a big believer in banks, so she kept most of her money here. She used to laugh and say that it was hidden so deep that no one would ever find it.”
I looked at the yard, frozen solid and under 18 inches of snow. She was certainly right about that. No one could dig that up until April when it finally thawed out. “So how would the family ever find it?” I asked, thinking that perhaps they never would if it was really hidden that well.
He shrugged. “She said that she’d tell someone some time, but I can’t say if she did or not. I wasn’t that close to her.”
“It just seems dangerous to not tell anyone where it is,” I said, mostly thinking out loud.
“Might be more dangerous to tell them,” he said simply, and I had to agree.
Before I could ask another question, the man walked back inside and took the two Beagles with him. I was left standing in the snow with cold toes and no real clues – just speculation and hearsay.
Just for kicks I went to the other side of the Jenkins house and knocked on the door. No answer. Damn these people and their jobs. How was I supposed to earn an easy dollar if everyone went to work like they were supposed to?
I walked across the street, which was only minimally better than running an obstacle course. The areas between the cars were covered with ice and packed snow. The road itself was clear enough, but we’d had another cold snap, and any melting had turned to ice again. I made it across the street in one piece and knocked on the door directly across from the Jenkins home.
A middle-aged woman, who wanted to be considered young, answered the door. I’m fairly realistic about my appearance. My coat and shirt were from the thrift store, if you keep track of those kinds of things. My chinos were ripped from years of use, not from a machine at the factory. My flannel shirt was red and green, though no one ever counts flannel as a real style.
Even so, I’m not a bad looking guy. I have dark hair, green eyes, and full lips that women do like to kiss. My hair was longer, just above the collar and I kept it down in the winter and pulled back into a ponytail in the summer. I knew that this woman, despite being a good twenty years older than me, had taken in all those details in the first fifteen seconds.
“Hi,” I said, trying my best to be flirty, but failing. I wasn’t really good with pretenses, which is likely why I’m better with animals than people. I don’t have to put on a show for a pet. They either like you, or they don’t. They don’t pretend to be something
I noticed the disrepair of the house. The eaves on the side of the home had begun to sag and the gutters bowed. The roof looked like it needed to be patched in places. The sidewalk and driveway were un-shoveled, except for a spot on the sidewalk where the snow had melted in an odd shape, a near rectangle, and refrozen in last night’s cold snap.
I nodded. “It’s a shame. No kids.”
He laughed. “She was unmarried and the mere thought of kids outside of wedlock would have scandalized her. She was a damned busybody when someone crossed her morality.”
My eyes widened. I’d actually gotten multiple full sentences out of the man. I was impressed with my questioning skills. I wondered what morality code she’d had and who had crossed it. This neighbor didn’t look like he did much in the way of sinning.
“Had she done that with you?” I asked.
He tossed his head back and laughed. “Hardly. Not too hard to be a good man when you watch TV and take care of your dogs. There have been a few incidents with her family that I remember. One about her niece. The girl got pregnant and before you knew it, Ruby had disinherited her. Wrote the girl out of her life completely.”
“How so?”
“Ruby had been a big one for storing away money. Every once in a while, she’d give some to those girls. She wasn’t a big believer in banks, so she kept most of her money here. She used to laugh and say that it was hidden so deep that no one would ever find it.”
I looked at the yard, frozen solid and under 18 inches of snow. She was certainly right about that. No one could dig that up until April when it finally thawed out. “So how would the family ever find it?” I asked, thinking that perhaps they never would if it was really hidden that well.
He shrugged. “She said that she’d tell someone some time, but I can’t say if she did or not. I wasn’t that close to her.”
“It just seems dangerous to not tell anyone where it is,” I said, mostly thinking out loud.
“Might be more dangerous to tell them,” he said simply, and I had to agree.
Before I could ask another question, the man walked back inside and took the two Beagles with him. I was left standing in the snow with cold toes and no real clues – just speculation and hearsay.
Just for kicks I went to the other side of the Jenkins house and knocked on the door. No answer. Damn these people and their jobs. How was I supposed to earn an easy dollar if everyone went to work like they were supposed to?
I walked across the street, which was only minimally better than running an obstacle course. The areas between the cars were covered with ice and packed snow. The road itself was clear enough, but we’d had another cold snap, and any melting had turned to ice again. I made it across the street in one piece and knocked on the door directly across from the Jenkins home.
A middle-aged woman, who wanted to be considered young, answered the door. I’m fairly realistic about my appearance. My coat and shirt were from the thrift store, if you keep track of those kinds of things. My chinos were ripped from years of use, not from a machine at the factory. My flannel shirt was red and green, though no one ever counts flannel as a real style.
Even so, I’m not a bad looking guy. I have dark hair, green eyes, and full lips that women do like to kiss. My hair was longer, just above the collar and I kept it down in the winter and pulled back into a ponytail in the summer. I knew that this woman, despite being a good twenty years older than me, had taken in all those details in the first fifteen seconds.
“Hi,” I said, trying my best to be flirty, but failing. I wasn’t really good with pretenses, which is likely why I’m better with animals than people. I don’t have to put on a show for a pet. They either like you, or they don’t. They don’t pretend to be something
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