“We were good together, Sadie,” said Myer in a low voice. “You know we were, baby.”
“I’m not your baby, and we were never good together, Davis. We were lonely, and I am fortunate that I will never be that desperate again.” She closed her eyes and then continued. “You won’t get out of the country, Davis. Everyone knows what you’ve done. The President, the FBI, the U.N. They’ll all come for you.”
There was a long stretch of silence, then Sadie stood straighter, staring at Thomas and May. Her eyes were wide, then she remembered.
“Why did you keep it?” The entire room looked at her, and only May smiled, nodding her head. “It means nothing. It has no real value other than to the people of the islands. Why did you keep the crown?”
“See, always smarter than the rest of them,” he scoffed. “It has value. It has tremendous value. Apparently, no one told you its history. According to those ignorant island people, the dragon god created it to bring prosperity to his people. When the great king used it to obtain wealth and riches for himself, the dragon god was angry and forced him to give it up or give up his life.
“Now, the great king, he was my kind of ruler. He said, ‘fuck you, dragon god,’ and he tried to leave the island with the crown. For ten days, his ship was forced back because of storms. Ten fucking days he tried to leave with that crown. I did it in one. See, sweet Sadie, he was richer than Midas. He took that crown and had more wealth than anyone in all of Southeast Asia. He went on to form the Mali empire.”
“Yes, and he was killed because of his greed,” said Sadie.
“I’m a little smarter,” said Myer.
“No, you’re not. The crown won’t bring you riches, Davis. It will only bring your death. I’ll tell you what. It means a great deal to the people of those islands. Bring it to me, and I’ll give you five million dollars for it. Five million of my own money.”
“Your money? Well, well, well, I guess I should have looked into your background more closely. Held that pussy and the purse strings tight, didn’t you? You’ve got five million, then you’ve got more. Ten million,” he said emphatically.
Sadie smiled at the group, every man and woman grinning at her. Myer’s greed would bring him down and destroy him.
“I’ll need some time to get that together. I’ll come alone with the money. You pick the place.”
“Alright, Sadie. Ten million for a stupid fucking crown. Alright. I’ll call you back in two days. Have the money for me, Sadie, or I’ll disappear forever, and you’ll be watching your back for the rest of your life.”
The line went dead, and Sadie fell into Ham’s arms.
“I’m so sorry you had to hear that,” she sniffed.
“Baby, he said nothing that would change my mind about you. You’re my girl, Sadie. My one and only girl, and nothing will change my mind about that.”
“I love you, Ham,” she said, kissing him.
“Nice job, sis,” smiled Patrick.
“Where is he?” she asked Pigsty.
“He’s in Dinosaur, Colorado, outside Dinosaur National Park.”
“What the hell?” muttered Christopher.
“No tellin’, brother,” smirked Ham. “I used to go there a lot when I was a kid. My parents lived in Grand Junction. I’m pretty familiar with that area. It’s gonna be cold as a bitch this time of year.”
“Get your cold weather gear together and start making plans to head in that direction,” said Eric. “It’s possible that he could move to another location, but I’m guessing he’s just scared enough to sit tight. He’ll be expecting us to sweep in and take him over the next forty-eight hours, so it will be fun to let him sit and sweat it out.”
“Remember,” said Luke, “it’s almost Christmas. We finish this case, and we’re not working through the holidays. Dylan, Sara, and Grandma have been working on an amazing feast for everyone, but tonight, it’s hot gumbo and all our favorites. Let’s enjoy!”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
In spite of the stress of the call, Sadie was feeling better than she had in weeks. She knew now that her relationship with Ham was strong, and nothing would be able to tear them apart. Although they still hadn’t had intercourse, what they were doing in bed was about the sexiest thing she’d ever done in her life.
Ham’s body was definitely something she’d need to get used to, but she was looking forward to it more than she wanted to admit. A fleeting thought about children flashed through her mind, and she closed her eyes.
“They’ll come, child,” said Martha, pressing a cold breeze from her hand to her cheek. “You’ll have more children than you can possibly imagine.”
“Really, Martha?”
“Really,” she smiled.
