Joey had never made any promises to her. Sure, he didn’t come out and say he wasn’t the robber, but he had also never given her a reason to believe he was interested in anything but himself. He had either been pretending to look for the robber, knowing full well he was the one, or he was peripherally involved. No matter what, he was honest about his plan to get as much cash as he could for a plane and then fly off.
She knew who he was, robber or not. He was exactly who he’d presented himself to be: a guy who had no plans to stick around.
“Excuse me,” she said, escaping into the bathroom.
She flicked on the light and shut herself inside. Thankfully, none of their British customers had yet complained about Granny’s attempt at a themed bathroom. The red walls, the black and white picture of Big Ben, the random British flag above the toilet – none of it was comforting in her current state, and she couldn’t imagine anyone genuinely liked it.
Eliza went to the sink and turned on the cold water, splashing it on her face. It eased some of the hot feeling rushing to her cheeks. She stood, savoring it for a moment, before turning to get a paper towel.
She bumped into something with her foot and squatted down. It was a small black duffel bag. Without thinking, she unzipped it and her eyes fell onto a hint of green at the bottom of the bag. She pushed aside the darker items to uncover a stack of one hundred dollar bills.
She gasped. “Mackenzie! Cora!”
“What’s wrong?” Mackenzie called back.
“Come here! Now!”
Their footsteps rushed to the bathroom Eliza flung the door open. “What is this doing in here?”
“Oh, money!” Cora said, reaching forward.
Mackenzie slapped her hand. “Stop! You can’t just grab piles of random money.”
She leaned forward and carefully picked every item out of the bag: a blue surgical mask, a ladies cowboy hat with a colorful leather band, a brick of wrapped hundred dollar bills.
“Is this what I think it is?” Mackenzie asked.
Eliza nodded. “That’s the hat from the robbery. And the money…”
Mackenzie stood and backed away. “I’m not going to touch it in case there are ink packs in there or something.”
Eliza’s head was tingling. She reminded herself to take a breath. “How did this get here?”
“I have no idea!” Cora said. “It was busy today. A lot of people were going in and out.”
“It had to be Joey.” Mackenzie shook her head. “He came here and dropped this bag off.”
Eliza leaned down and stared at the hat. It was just as she remembered it. “Maybe it’s his confession? Maybe he wanted me to have it, and to have some of the money?”
“Oh no!” Cora groaned. “That’s why he wanted to see you so badly. He wanted to say goodbye.”
Tears stung her eyes. She sucked in a breath. “That might be it.”
“What do we do with this?” Mackenzie squatted down next to her. “Do we turn it in?”
At least now she knew the truth. That was better than nothing, she supposed.
“I don’t know,” she said, her voice shaking.
“Oh, don’t cry,” Cora stooped down, wrapping them both in a hug. “I’m sure there’s an explanation.”
“Yeah,” Eliza said, wiping a tear. “I’m sure there is.”
That explanation beingleave before you’re left.
Twenty-three
A new shipment of teacups arrived from Japan, and Patty was the one who got to unpack them.
