Teddy slid the tote out of the closet, lifted the lid, moved the clothes aside, and stared at the cash. He wanted to make sure it was safe.
“Whatcha doing, brother?”
“Worrying.”
“About what?”
Teddy pointed his chin at the tote. “About that money. We have several hundred thousand dollars here that’s lying unprotected in a twenty-dollar plastic bin.”
Chase laughed. “Would you feel better if I placed a gun inside?” He took a seat at the foot of the bed and stared into the tote. “Man, if that isn’t a kickass sight, then I don’t know what is.” He grinned at Teddy. “Lighten up, bro. Nobody knows that there’s money under our dirty clothes, and besides that, nobody knows what we’re doing.”
“What if someone broke in?”
“I’d be here even if you were at work. Speaking of that, when are you going to quit that shitty job?”
“As soon as I know we’ve gotten away with this. If we ever piss off your contacts, they may rat us out.”
“And then we’ll rat them out too. That’s the beauty of everyone having something to lose. Nobody wants to lose the free-flowing money, so they keep their mouths shut. No bragging to friends, no pillow talk with women, no drunken diarrhea of the mouth. Not a word to anyone and we’ll be golden. Hear me?”
“Yeah, but I still think the money should be in a safe deposit box.”
“I’ll think about it, but all that does is leave a paper trail. Not the smartest idea, Teddy.”
“Then something else. How about a safe in the house? A big one that can’t be carried out. We’ll bolt it to the floor. That would work.”
Chase agreed. He needed to keep his brother cool-headed. “Yeah, that would work just fine, and we can afford it. We’ll buy one. I promise.”
“Okay, but let’s do it now. I’m working later, and I’d like to have that safe in the house and set up before I go to work.”
“No sweat.”
The brothers headed to the nearest gun supply store. Nobody would question them for buying a large, heavy gun safe. But theirs wouldn’t contain more than two pistols, guns that were passed down from their grandfather and that they’d had for years.
It was nearly six o’clock by the time they found a safe that would fit into the master bedroom walk-in closet, a safe they could actually maneuver into the house without additional help. The safe had a digital pad and backup key entry. It was perfect.
Once the brothers had moved the hanging clothes to the opposite side of the closet and manhandled the safe into place, they decided on a four-digit code, and each had his own key as a backup to open it. They stacked the banded cash onto the shelves, stood back, and stared in admiration.
“Now that’s a pretty sight,” Teddy said, “and a safe one.” He laughed at his own way with words. “I feel better already.”
Chase patted his brother’s shoulder. “Sometimes you come up with really good ideas, bro, and this was one of them.” He joined in on the word play. “Better safe than sorry. Now let’s hang those clothes back where they were. Nobody will ever know the safe is there.”
Minutes later, Teddy looked at his watch. “We finished just in time. Now I’ve got to get to work. Want to drop me off or just hang out here?”
Chase swatted the air. “I’m good. Go ahead, and don’t work too hard.”