But when I opened the suitcase and saw what was inside, my hands started shaking.

PART 2

The first thing I saw was money.

That is the truth, and I have never pretended otherwise.

The suitcase was old enough that one of its brass clasps had turned green.

I had carried it through the front door with both hands, imagining letters, photographs, perhaps Arthur’s old fishing tackle.

Instead, beneath a folded blue handkerchief lay paper-banded bundles of hundred-dollar bills.

I stood in our hallway unable to breathe properly.