Will Ray's Arc

Chapter 6 of 6

Aj laid the old wallet on the kitchen table. Five hundred dollars stuck out from its worn folds. She had found it in a tiny black safe among her mother's things. Will lit a cigarette and stared at the cash. That money could buy new stock for the store. But Aj had told him the truth. Barbara stole it from an old customer two years ago. It was not theirs to keep. "Someone lost this," Aj said. Her large hazel eyes stayed on the bills. "If they come looking, we're worse off than before." Will knew she was right. Stolen money left a trail. He could not build the store on cash that might be ripped away. He crushed the cigarette in the sink. "Then we give it back," he said. "Today. Before anyone comes for it." Aj opened her mother's papers. She found a name and an address inside a folded receipt. The customer was an old woman. Aj's hands went still. "I know her," she said. "Mildred. She used to watch me when I was small." Will drove them to a small wooden house, its boards faded and softened by years of weather. The door opened before they knocked. A tiny old woman peered up through glasses far too big for her face. She squinted at Aj, then gasped. "Little Blackbird," Mildred said. She reached out and touched Aj's cheek like she could not believe it. "You've grown. Come in, come in." Aj set the wallet in Mildred's hands. "My mother took this from you," she said. "I'm giving it back." Mildred's fingers found the bills. Her face crumpled. "That woman," she whispered. "She cleaned my house once. I never touched a thing after. I always wondered." She looked at Will, then back at Aj. Her eyes were wet. "You didn't have to bring this. But you did." Will watched the money leave for good. Half a week of restock, gone from the table. His face stayed flat. But he felt the weight lift, too. No stranger would come knocking now. No debt hung over the store. Mildred pressed the wallet against her chest. Then she stopped. "Wait," she said. She shuffled to a drawer and pulled out a small tin. "I can't take back what you gave freely. Not all of it." She counted out two hundred dollars and pushed it into Aj's hands. "For bringing an old woman peace. I won't hear no." Will did not argue. Two hundred honest dollars. Not enough to fill the shelves. But clean money, with no owner but them. On the drive home he counted it against the wholesaler's price. He was still short. The store needed more than this. But the stolen cash was gone, and nothing chased them anymore. He had traded one problem for a smaller one. Now he had to find the rest before Monday.