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“I had to disappear,” he stammered, looking wholly terrified now. “I knew he’d come for me.”
“Who?”
“My partner. I’d kept it under wraps for a while that Roy had my gold, but then somehow he figured it out, and when Roy died… I had to get away.”
“So you moved to Colorado and gained a hundred pounds?”
“Well,” he kicked at the dirt, looking sheepish, “I started gainin’ the weight before I left, but it got a little worse once I moved. I think they call it eatin’ your feelings.”
I rubbed a hand over my face, trying to make sense of everything. “Okay, let me get this straight: you let Roy keep your treasure safe, but then your partner found out that he had it, and when Roy died, you bailed. Then, what, you just laid low for a while before hiring me to recover the gold?”
“That about sums it up, yeah.”
Finally, I unfolded the note and held it in front of his face. “Why did you send this to my girl?”
Syd’s eyes widened, darting to the paper in my hand. His face went pale as he read it, and he took a half-step back, like he was ready to run. “I—I didn’t?—”
“Cut the crap,” I snapped, my voice low but dangerous.
His hands went up in surrender, palms facing me. There was genuine fear there—more than I’d expected. “Look, man, it’s not what you think.”
“No? Because it looks like you’re trying to scare her out of Hope’s house so you can cut out the middleman and take your treasure back.”
Syd swallowed hard, glancing around like he was afraid someone was listening. “Uh, yeah. Well, maybe it’s pretty close to what it looks like. But I didn’t send that note to scare her. I sent it because... I just wanted to push things along. I’m tired, okay? I’m tired of running. I thought if I pushed, maybe you’d get in there and figure it out. Is it there? Is it hidden too well for us to ever find? Or… what if my old partner’s already gotten to it?”
I narrowed my eyes, my blood still pounding in my ears. “So you thought threatening her would light a fire under me? Real smart. It did. But maybe not in the way you wanted it to.”
He shook his head quickly, stepping back again, his hands trembling. “It wasn’t supposed to be like that. I just... I wanted answers. I figured if you kept digging, we’d find out the truth. But now—” His voice cracked, and his eyes darted toward the parking lot. “Now, I’m done. I’m walking away.”
I scoffed, taking a step closer and crowding him back. “Walking away? You’ve got 1.2 million reasons not to walk away. You’re just gonna give it all up?”
Syd looked up at me, and for the first time, I realized the source of his fear wasn’t quite what I thought it was. Not just of getting caught. Not just of losing the treasure. This was fear of something deeper. Something darker.
“My partner,” he whispered, his voice barely audible, “I thought I could get ahead of him, thought I could get the treasure back first. But now, I’m not so sure. Maybe he already found it.”
I clenched my jaw, trying to piece together his words. “You really don’t know where the treasure is? This whole time I’ve been looking for Syd—foryou—I’ve been hoping that would be the key to finding out where Roy hid it. I figured you’d know.”
“I told Roy not to tell me, just in case,” he said mournfully. “And now, you’ve already searched Hope’s house. You didn’t find anything in the safes, and you don’t have any other leads. So, maybe my partner got to it first. And if that’s the case, there’s nothing left for me here.”
I took a step back, frustration boiling in my veins. “So that’s it?”
He nodded, his eyes pleading. “I don’t have a choice. I’m out of money, Black. I took some of it before Roy hid it, but that’s gone now, so I can’t pay you to keep looking. If the treasure’s gone, it’s gone.”
I stood there, staring at him, my fists clenched at my sides. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. This wasn’t the resolutionI wanted. The idea of letting him walk away without answers to this mystery made my skin crawl.
But he was right. I’d searched every inch of that house. If the treasure was gone, what was the point?
And without a client, how could I justify dragging this out?
Syd seemed to sense my hesitation because he took another cautious step back. “Look, Black, I appreciate what you’ve done. I do. But this is the end of the road. I’m cutting my losses and leaving before it gets worse.”
I watched him for a long moment, my mind racing, trying to find some way to make sense of this. But the truth was, he was a liar, a moron, and worst of all—he was quitting on me, leaving me without a client.
And without a client, I had no case to work.
I let out a sharp breath. “Fine,” I said finally, my voice low. “But if I find out you’re holding out on me?—”
“I’m not,” he said quickly, shaking his head. “I swear.”
