THREE

 

 

When the two brothers came into the home, Pilgrim was drinking from a water bottle and leaning against the counter near the sink.

He had had Donna go to the limo to get him a bottle of water and to also research where Mary Ellen had bought her wine and how much she had bought.

It turned out, she had been a major customer of three different wine shops in town, often buying wine by the case and having it delivered. And she loved vintage wines.

Expensive vintage wines.

Pilgrim looked at some of her purchases and felt a little twist of envy. Mary Ellen had purchased wines he had only hoped to find a bottle of some day.

Both brothers came into the kitchen followed by Donna. Both were in almost matching dark blue business suits and clearly had come quickly from their offices. Pilgrim knew that both worked in corporate jobs in the downtown area close to this section of town and both were very well off. They actually didn’t need their mother’s money. They just wanted to get the estate taxes done and for the estate to close.

“That was surprisingly fast,” Brad said.

“Very fast,” Benson said. “We looked for two months for the hidden money room and you found it in an hour.

Donna raised an eyebrow and gave Pilgrim a smile.

“An hour and twenty-seven minutes,” Pilgrim said.

The two brothers both laughed.

“There will be more than money in the room,” Pilgrim said. “So prepare yourself for that.”

“Have you opened it?” Brad asked.

“I have not,” Pilgrim said. “But your mother was a major wine collector.”

“She was?” Benson asked.

“She and dad used to enjoy going to vineyards,” Brad said. “But I never knew she collected.”

Pilgrim nodded. “She had, it seems, very good taste in her collection as well. So where she stashed the money was also where she kept her wine safe and dark and at the right temperature.”

Both brothers looked at each other, clearly feeling stunned.

“So head on down to the basement,” Pilgrim said, “and we all will see this mysterious room.”

“We checked that basement a hundred times,” Brad said, shaking his head.

“The room is very well hidden,” Pilgrim said.

Brad and Benson went down the stairs and into the basement, followed by Donna.

Pilgrim stayed at the top of the stairs until they were turned around and looking back up at him.

“What day and month was your mother’s birthday?”

“April 14th,” Benson said.

Pilgrim shook his head. That won’t work.

“Your birthday?”

“October 1st,” Brad said.

Pilgrim smiled. “You mother was very smart.”

Pilgrim looked at the four light switches at the top of the stairs. They just looked to be normal. The first one was already up, since the lights below were on. He left the second one down. Then he left the third switch down as well and flipped up the fourth switch.

There was a good seven-second delay, as he had expected so no one accidently would hit the combination by just flipping switches randomly. Then the entire landing wall swung inward with almost no sound and lights came up in the room beyond.

“Holy shit,” Brad said.

“How did you open that?” Benson asked as Pilgrim came down the stairs and the two twins started up from the basement.

“The four light switches at the top of the stairs. Your birthday. 1001. October 1st. First switch up, two down, last switch up.”

“How the hell did you figure that out?” Benson asked, shaking his head.

“This is what I do,” Pilgrim said.

Then he let the two brothers lead the four steps down into the large wine cellar. He and Donna followed.

Pilgrim had to admit, the sight was impressive. And at a glance he could tell there were some of the best wines from around the world stored here. He would love to have this wine collection in his wine room in his penthouse apartment.

He had far overbuilt his wine room when he took the penthouse, and had had little luck in filling it with the types of wines he hoped to find. This collection would go a long ways to filling that room.

The hidden room was at a perfect temperature to store wine in a dark and cool place. Mary Ellen had done this right in every detail. Of that, Pilgrim had no doubt.

“There has to be a couple thousand bottles of wine down here,” Brad said, his voice almost a whisper as if normal speech might hurt the wine.

Pilgrim pointed to the wall on the left. It was covered with metal cabinets. “Might want to check those out.”

Both Brad and Benson walked over to different metal cabinets and opened them. As Mary Ellen had told them, she had a stash of money, all hundreds, banded in five thousand dollar stacks.

There were ten double-door cabinets along the wall and the brothers opened them all, finding them all full of nothing but money.

By Pilgrim’s rough estimate, that was far, far more than a million dollars.

Both brothers just looked shocked.

They turned to him, smiles looking like they might twist their faces out of shape.

“How can we ever thank you?” Brad said. “We never would have found this and I doubt anyone else would have either.”

“I have a suggestion toward the thanking discussion,” Pilgrim said.

“And what might that be?” Brad asked, glancing back at the stacks of money.

“Get this wine appraised by an expert for the estate,” Pilgrim said, “and then sell it to me at a reasonable price.”

“You have room for all this?” Benson asked, glancing around at the thousands of bottles of top wines his mother had collected.

“I do,” Pilgrim said. “I am a collector of fine wines as your mother was and owning this collection would be a wonderful way to remember this case.”

Benson glanced at his brother who nodded.

“I think we can do that just fine,” Benson said.

“Considering that neither of us drink wine,” Brad said, laughing, “I am sure mother would want us to sell her collection to someone who would appreciate it.”

Pilgrim looked around at all the racks of perfectly stored expensive vintage wine. It was almost enough to get his mouth watering.

“She would find no who would appreciate it more,” Pilgrim said.

And that might have been the biggest understatement he had ever uttered.