Chapter 23: The Five

It took me three weeks to bring them back.

I wrote each man a letter by hand and sent Bianca with it.

None of them was told what was in the basement.

Theo came first, because he was the one who had never taken the money.

He limped down the stairs with his hand on the rail.

He stopped at the bottom when he saw the open door.

"Last time I came down here, they broke my knee," he said.

"I know."

"You're sure you want me in here?"

"Sit anywhere," I said.

He took the third row, the aisle seat, and I turned off the lights.

I showed him the green dress and the stranger's ring.

I showed him the dog, and the memo number, and the page of block capitals.

Then I showed him Danny's face on the wall.

When the lights came up, Theo had both fists against his mouth.

"I thought you laughed," he said.

"I never did."

"I thought I was a joke to you."

His voice cracked.

"I went to the hospital thinking it. I thought it for six years."

"I'm sorry."

"Where's the guy who ran it?"

"Gone."

"Good." He wiped his eyes. "When he comes back, I get one punch."

"One," I said. "In the stomach."

"I'll aim for the knee."

I laughed, and then I was crying.

He came down the row and put his arms around me, and I let him.

The third one was harder.

He was a lawyer now, in a navy suit, and he had married.

He had taken my father's envelope, and he had never told anyone.

He sat in the front row with his hands on his knees and watched without a word.

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