Abby blinked, soaking in his words like a lifeline. Maybe he was right. On the chance he was, she’d keep them, stored away in her heart until she was ready and able to accept them.
With a small wave, she turned, preparing herself to go home and wait for them to come.
“Oh, I almost forgot.” Mr. Levine stepped in front of her. “You do realize once we move on this, all his funds, any money tied to him will be frozen, including your trust fund.”
Abby nodded. “I don’t want the money.” Especially now. “It was never about that. I wanted to do this for my grandmother. Maybe somewhere along the line, I started doing it for myself, too.”
“Well, you’ll have the reward money.” Mr. Levine shoved his hands in his pants. “If you don’t plan on telling your parents this was your discovery, how do you want us to handle it?”
Abby frowned, not understanding. “Reward money?”
Levine narrowed his eyes. “Yeah. The reward for information leading to Mentz’s arrest. I mean, assuming this all checks out. But it’s solid—”
“There was a reward?”
“Five hundred thousand dollars.”
Abby stilled. Her eyes widened, and her head spun with the revelation.
She stumbled, grasping at the chair in front of her for balance.
Lawson. It all clicked into place. This was his big break. Not just because of the notoriety it would get him but because of the reward money.
Abby brought her hand to her forehead and closed her eyes. It made so much sense. Once he found out who her grandfather was and accessed the storage unit, finding his proof, he called GG and let her know he found something. Then, he found Levine’s information. But it was late, so the DOJ’s office would’ve been empty. There would’ve been no one there to speak with him before he was murdered.
Opening her eyes, Abby chewed the inside of her cheek, staring at Levine, unsure of what to tell him. The last thing she wanted was the reward money. But maybe...
She reached out and gripped Levine’s arm, a thrill of excitement penetrating her melancholy for the first time in the past week.
Here was her bright side.
“Can you give the money to someone else?”
“It’s your reward money, so—”
“Good.” She stepped away from him, the blood tingling in her veins as she scribbled Mr. Oliver’s information on a scrap of paper, then thrust it into Levine’s hands.
“Here! He doesn’t really know it, but this officer helped me. His son was with me when we found the chest. If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t have figured everything out. He deserves the reward more than me. I could never take it,” Abby said, backing up as she spoke, already heading for the exit.
She had one more place to stop before home, and she needed to get there fast, before Levine got his warrants.
“And you may want to reopen a murder case for Greg Lawson. Mr. Oliver will have the files. Look into the belladonna and my grandfather.”
“Okay,” Mr. Levine said, frowning, but Abby didn’t have time to explain.
She smiled for the first time since discovering the truth.
She may not have control over her grandfather, and she might be responsible for the destruction of her parents’ lives as they knew it, but at least she could make a difference with someone. At least she could use her grandmother’s secret for some good.
She turned and ran out of the office, outside to her car, hoping Mr. Klein’s office had reopened since the break-in.
It was time for a consult.
MR. KLEIN’S OFFICE gleamed with freshly polished glass. A couple of workers milled about, installing a new high-tech security system along with new locks on the doors.
Abby watched them work from her seat in front of Klein’s desk as she waited, thinking of the very first time she sat in the same chair. It was after the first letter. After the journal. She had been so thirsty for answers, needing to displace her grief and the loss of GG into something she could control. Something tangible.
But now the search was over, and the full force of her loss came full circle, combining with the betrayal and shock of her grandfather’s secret past.