Page 19 of A Breath of Life
On the street, I removed the leather pouch from Tallus’s hand with intentional nonchalance, not wanting to draw attention. I tucked it into the same pocket containing my wallet, ensuring it was secure. Something told me it wasn’t wise to leave such a valuable item in Tallus’s care. Money made him stupid, and according to Joshua Stroud, the card was worth a lot of it.
Tallus didn’t seem to have the capacity to stop me, his gaze far away, likely imagining all he could buy with that sum of money. Not bothering to snap him out of his fantasy world, I dragged him toward the Jeep as I pondered what this meant.
The card was worth a decent amount. Nothing life-changing, but as a price tag on an item that a man had requested we toss in the garbage, it raised a lot of questions. Even Jeweler Joshua seemed taken aback by its magnificence.
In the Jeep and more coherent, Tallus faced me and announced, “We need to find a buyer.”
“No.”
“No?”
“It’s not ours.”
“Itisours. Hello? Finders keepers, losers weepers. Did you learn nothing in kindergarten? That man in the alley didn’t want it. He insisted we take it and get rid of it. Ownership has officially transferred hands. To ours. It’s inourhands.Weown that card, and we need to find a buyer because baby needs a new pair of shoes. And pants. Christ, I could get a whole new wardrobe with that kind of cash.”
“Tallus, think about it. Why did that man want us to get rid of it?”
“Don’t care. Doesn’t matter. None of our business.”
I growled under my breath. “It is our business. That card is likely stolen. He didn’t want to be caught with it, so he thrust his problem onto us. We were supposed to dispose of it. We had a plan coming here, and we will follow the plan and see if someone has reported it missing.”
Tallus pressed his lips together, indignation on the surface. “Or…” he held up a finger before I could cut him off, “we sell it.”
“For fuck’s sake. No! The police can trace sales, and if it’s listed in the system as stolen, it will take no time for it to ping on their radar. The next thing we know, we’ve got the cops pounding down our door, and we’re arrested for fencing stolen goods. That’s over ten years in prison, Tallus. Do you want to spend ten years sharing a cell with a sex-deprived pervert? Because I promise you, your perky little ass won’t survive one day behind bars without being violated.”
He crossed his arms and sulked, but I didn’t care. Tallus didn’t always see the consequences of his spontaneous actions and required me to paint vivid pictures before he understood. Even then, when it involved large sums of money, he struggled to see beyond the dollar signs.
Tallus wasn’t finished arguing. “What if we sold it anonymously on the black market?”
“What the fuck do you know about the black market?”
“Absolutely nothing, but my cousin—”
“Works for the police department. No.”
“He might take a cut to keep his mouth shut.”
“Tallus, we’re not selling it. We’re not diverting from the plan.”
“It was a stupid plan.”
“We got the card appraised. It’s not a hunk of junk. It’s worth something, so—”
“It’s worth fifteengrand!”
“I heard him.”
“Or more.”
I squeezed the steering wheel, and Echo whimpered from the back seat, licking my ear. I gave her a pat and told her I was okay. Regulating my temper, I continued. “This is what we’re going to do. We’re going to go home and do research to see if someone has reported it stolen. If it happened recently, it might take a couple of days to show up in the system. It’s not a ring or a necklace. Those are dime-a-dozen finds. This is unique. It stands out. I guarantee the guy in the alley pilfered it from whatever fancy fucking event he was attending while wearing those stupid clothes. If we’re lucky, the owner rewards our good deed. If he doesn’t, oh well. We keep our asses out of prison and go on with our merry fucking lives.”
Still pouting, Tallus asked, “What if no one ever reports it missing or stolen?”
I washed a hand over my face. “I don’t know, Tallus. Maybe we can locate the guy from the alley and return it to him.”
“But he didn’t want it. He gave it to us.”
“He was delirious and dying. He didn’t know what he was talking about.”
