She didn’t know about the heavy steel lockbox buried under the loose floorboards in the back garage bay.

She didn’t know I had twenty-two thousand dollars in dry hundred-dollar bills from my old collection days that no court order could get at.

I reached into my pocket and touched the little brass key lying against my pocketknife.

I unbuttoned my cuffs and rolled my sleeves up to the elbow.

The sound of heavy highway traffic echoed through the thin drywall behind the headboard.

I lifted my left hand and gripped the heavy gold signet ring on my ring finger.