I could not possibly have been prepared for what happened at the bank. Cindy and I made the forty-five minute trek from Reno to Lake Tahoe in thirty-five minutes thanks to my lead foot. I couldn’t wait to find out what was going on here and I probably broke a few speed limits. Cindy didn’t even demur. She knew this was important and saved her gripes about my speeding until we arrived at the Heritage Bank.
“Whew,” she breathed. Getting out of the car, Cindy stretched her arms and legs, felt her nose and cheeks. “So I am still in one piece. Good to know.”
“Oh, ha. I get it, Cindy, but I couldn’t wait to get here.”
“So I gathered.”
I collected my wits about me, took a deep breath and walked into the bank. Cindy stayed right with me. I’d given her custody of Louis’ key since I was afraid I’d forget it in my anxious state.
Inside, I stopped in my tracks. My bank didn’t look like this. I was used to a few young tellers behind a long counter, friendly and smiling. This bank looked as long as a football field with plush couches every so often, an expresso machine off to one side and dark wooden furniture with busy people talking on phones. Overhead lighting created a soft glow and I blinked trying to adjust my eyes after coming in from the bright sunshine. Cindy blinked too and stayed a step behind me.
“Where do I go?”
She pointed to a security guard seated at a desk across the room. He stared at us as we made our way to him. There weren’t a lot of people in the bank today so his concentrated focus seemed to be with us. Strangers. I swallowed and tried to look more confident than I felt.
“Excuse me.”
The beefy guard stood with his hand close to the gun on his hip. His gray uniform was creased in the front and meaty legs stretched the material of his pants. What did he think we were going to do? Ask for his permission to rob the place?
“Could you tell us where the safety deposit boxes are located?”
“Certainly, miss.” His hand never left the gun. “Go down this way to the lady in blue. She’ll assist you.”
We walked down a short corridor to a friendly woman in a bright blue dress. She smiled as we approached her.
“May I help you?” Her white teeth were outlined in an oval of pink.
“Yes, ma’am. I’d like access to a deposit box.”
We went through all the information she needed and Cindy was allowed to go back with me. Thank heavens for that. We followed Miss Brent, so her nameplate read, into a fortified room lined with safety deposit boxes on three walls. If I got claustrophobic, this would be the time. She placed her key in the box, as I did, to unlock it. Then she smiled benevolently and left the room giving us privacy. I looked at Cindy and about dropped to my knees in nervous anticipation.
“Breathe, Lucy, breathe,” she encouraged.
“What the heck am I doing here?” The room swam in my vision and Cindy grabbed my arm.
“No time to weaken. You’ve a job to do—a job for a man you didn’t know and will never know.”
“Thanks, Cindy,” I said sarcastically. “That makes me feel so much better.”
“You got yourself into this, Lucy. Get yourself out.” She took the key out of the keyhole and stepped aside. “Open it.”
It was one of the largest boxes in the vault. Truth be told, I was scared to death that there would be something creepy in here, like a severed head. Don’t ask me why the trip to Goth Land all of a sudden. I just felt cold and my lips were dry. With a sinking heart and chilled hands, I pulled out the box. Cindy had to help me because the box was long and heavy. We dragged it over to a small table in the corner.
I tentatively lifted the lid and peeked inside. A small gasp escaped.
A long white envelope sat on top of green, white and pink baubles sparkling in the fluorescent lighting. Gold chains, diamond bracelets, ruby rings met our astonished stares! I felt like I’d discovered a pirate’s buried treasure chest.
Looking at Cindy, I’m sure her stunned expression and open mouth mirrored mine. Her blue eyes widened to the max as they swung my way.
“Lucy! What…um…”
“…I have… no idea,” I managed to choke out.
Neither of us touched any part of what we’d found. Not the envelope, not the exotic jewelry. I nervously shifted my stance and bumped the table accidentally. A long rope of glistening white pearls fell out of the box. It seemed more like a coiled snake ready to bite me. I kept my distance.
Cindy pushed my hand forward. “Go on, Lucy. Pick up the envelope. See…see what it says.”
My fingers slowly picked up the envelope with trepidation. I thought I was scared before. That was only a preface to my frightened state of being now. I turned the envelope over and gently tore open the seal. My hand was shaking so hard that Cindy finally took the note out and handed it to me to read.
“Here.”
With fabulous jewels sparkling and Cindy’s encouragement, I began to read aloud.
“To Whom it may Concern.
When the war in Europe was nearly over, a friend named Alain LeBeau and I, both members of the French resistance, were chosen for a mission to save whatever valuables we could from several Jewish mansions on the outskirts of Paris. The plan was to take what we could find and bury it until we could come back for it later. The area was still German occupied and we knew we would be shot if caught. On, as it turned out, our last nightly mission, we found this jewelry hidden under the mattress in a bedroom. We got out just as a German patrol came in the front door. Unfortunately, our hideout had been compromised and Alain was shot in the leg by another German patrol. He threw me the bag containing this jewelry and told me to run. I did and managed to stow away on a cargo ship to Portugal where I lived for several years before immigrating to America. I never saw Alain again but prayed he made it alive.
It was up to me to return this jewelry to its rightful owner. The Nazis plundered much but many in the Resistance tried to save what they could. I am embarrassed and ashamed that I never returned the jewelry. I have no excuse; I locked it away, with that part of my life, and tried not think about it. Whoever is reading this note, I will have passed on so I am requesting you do what I did not: find the rightful owners and return this jewelry. I was never tempted to steal any of it, my conscience wouldn’t let me but for reasons that seem lame to me now, I never did what I was supposed to do. I never met Alain again but he would have been disappointed in me, I know. This bounty was worth a million dollars when I had it appraised in 1960, so I’m sure it’s worth much more now.
Be brave, my friend and do the right thing.
Best wishes, Louis Laparu
Dated June 14, 2015.”
Cindy’s hand was shaking in conjunction with mine. I turned to her in wide-eyed wonder. We grimly stared at one another and then down at the deposit box on the table. With a steadier hand, I reached in to take out a diamond broach. I held it up to watch the light sparkle in all the facets. Cindy took out a string of pearls stretching some three feet. Gently combing through, we found rings, bracelets, necklaces, and broaches studded with diamonds, rubies, emeralds and pearls. A golden locket had initials engraved on the front with a picture of a middle-aged couple inside. We glanced at one another again and breathed small breaths of relief. The locket could be the identification we would need.
“We need a bag,” Cindy announced. “I’m going back to the car for one of those cloth bags in the back seat.”
“Right,” I nodded.
After bundling the precious silver and gold jewelry, I handed the bag to Cindy and returned the safety deposit box back to its place in the vault. I stuffed the note in my purse and we made it back to the car on stiff legs.
“What will we do with this stuff now?” I asked her.
“We’ll need to get a deposit box in Reno while we look for the rightful owners. It could take some time and we can’t keep all this at home—too dangerous. World War II was over a long time ago and we will probably have to contact the heirs.”
“You’re right.”
We were just so excited on the drive home that we weren’t paying enough attention to the small, dark car following behind us. And we paid less attention as we bounded into the apartment, brought Napoleon and Baskerville over from Mrs. Murphy’s house and proceeded to cover the kitchen table with sparkling, twinkling jewels.
Our inattention caught up with us.
* * *