“He’ll escalate.”
Sky stared down at the bench.
“That’s what Renata does.”
A pause.
“She’s not…”
Sky searched for the words.
“She doesn’t want me because she loves me.”
Her face tightened.
“She wants the legal position. She wants the estate.”
Sky picked up her brush.
Then put it down again.
“Luther left more than Gregory told me yesterday, didn’t he?”
The question landed heavily.
Gregory and Jimmy exchanged a fast glance.
Sky caught it.
“How much more?”
“Come sit down,” Gregory said.
“I’d rather stand.”
“Sky…”
“I’ve been managing hard information standing up for fourteen months.”
She folded her arms.
“Tell me.”
Gregory sat down himself.
Both hands on the table.
Then he looked at her.
“Luther had a storage unit outside town.”
Sky said nothing.
“We knew about it.”
Gregory continued.
“We’ve been paying the rent since he disappeared because it was Luther’s and we weren’t going to let everything go to auction.”
He paused.
“Last night, after talking to you, I went there.”
Sky remained perfectly still.
“There’s a motorcycle.”
Gregory watched her.
“His personal bike. A ’94 Dyna he spent four years building from parts.”
Sky’s lips parted slightly.
“It’s in perfect condition. We’ve been starting it periodically to keep it maintained.”
Another pause.
“And there are paintings.”
Sky blinked.
“Canvases. Rolled and cased. Maybe forty.”
“We didn’t know he painted on canvas. He never talked about that here.”
Sky looked toward the floor.
“And there’s a box.”
Her eyes returned to Gregory.
“A sealed box.”
He swallowed.
“With your name written on it.”
The garage became so silent that traffic outside was audible.
“Just Sky. Nothing else.”
“He sealed a box with my name on it?”
“Yes.”
“And nobody opened it?”
Gregory looked almost offended by the question.
“It had your name on it.”
Sky pressed her lips together.
Then nodded.
“I want to go today.”
“I know.”
“I want to go now.”
“Briggs is across the street,” Jimmy said.
“I know Briggs is across the street.”
Sky’s voice cracked slightly.
“I know.”
She looked at Jimmy.
“But there’s a box with my name on it that my brother sealed before he died.”
Her hands clenched.
“And I have been moving from town to town for fourteen months carrying his jacket and three paintbrushes.”
She swallowed.
“I would like to go get my box, Jimmy.”
Nobody spoke.
Gregory was already standing.
Jimmy looked toward Strand.
“Take your truck. Pull it around back.”
Then toward Gregory.
“You and Gregory take her out the rear.”
Jimmy turned toward Devlin.
“You start your bike and pull out front nice and slow.”
Devlin smiled.
The particular smile of someone who enjoyed this type of plan slightly more than was necessary.
“How long?”
“Ten minutes,” Gregory said.