Still, it was the only explanation I could think of to explain how the U.S. Marshal’s office had become aware of Kim’s relation to Reyes. Like I’d said, thorough.
I thought I should warn Kim about Reyes’s attitude toward our friendship. “Kim, the last time I came to see you, Reyes was none too happy.”
Startled, she asked. “Did he … did he threaten you?”
“Oh, no. Well, maybe a little.” He’d actually threatened to slice me in two if I ever came to see her again, but I doubted he really meant it.
She rolled her eyes. “He won’t do anything. He’s all bark, that one.”
Her newfound boldness floored me. She was so excited and open. “You seem really happy.”
“I am.” Glancing down at the hands in her lap, she said, “Now he can go to Mexico or Canada. And he can live.” Her hopeful gaze landed on mine. “For the first time in his life, he can live. But I need to give you something.” She was glancing around again and went for the pencil. I braced myself, but she also went for paper. Thankfully. She scribbled a note, then handed it to me. “Can you get this to Reyes? This is the account number and the password. It’s all there. Every penny.”
“The account number?” I asked, studying the line of digits.
“It’s his money.” When my brows slid together in question, she said, “Well, my money. But he gave it to me. I just live off the interest. And I take only a little bit of that. It’s his. All of it. He could live like a king in Mexico with this.” She rethought her statement. “He could live like a king anywhere in the world with this.”
I folded the paper and held it in my hands. “Where on earth did it come from? How—?” Shaking my head, I realized I would never understand how Reyes did the things he did, so I switched gears. “I’m assuming this is a bank account?”
She nodded, a huge smile on her face.
“How much is in there?”
She looked up in thought, pursing her lips. “Last I checked, a little over fifty million.”
I stilled.
She giggled.
I slipped into a mild state of shock.
She patted my shoulder, said something about the account being in Switzerland.
I grew light-headed.
She waved a hand in front of my face, offered me a paper bag.
I knew Reyes was good at computers. He’d hacked into the NM Public Education Department’s database and given himself a high school diploma so he could take online classes while in prison, and with it, he’d gotten a master’s degree in computer information systems. And the first time I’d met Amador and Bianca Sanchez, Reyes’s aiders and abettors, they’d explained how he’d helped them get their house, how he’d studied the market, told them when to buy stocks and when to sell. But $50 million?
I pressed the paper back into her palm. “Kim, if he did this for you, then this is your money. I know him. He won’t take any of it from you. But more importantly, you can’t trust anyone with this information, even me.”
She pushed it back. “You’re the only one I’d trust with it. You’re the only other person on the planet he’d want to have it if anything should happen to me.”
I stuffed the paper in my pocket reluctantly. “What do you mean by that?”
“Nothing,” she said, a reassuring smile on her face. “Just in case. You know.”
My brows slid together in concern. She wasn’t lying so much as not telling me everything. “Hon, is everything okay?”
She blinked in surprise. “Absolutely, why?”
Okay, that wasn’t a lie. “No reason. I just wanted to make sure. You seem to be cooped up a lot.”
Glancing around her apartment, she said, “I get out. Probably not as much as I should. I go walking around the grounds every day. We have a pool.”
Part of me wanted to comment on how many pools she could have with 50 million dólares in her bathing suit, but she seemed comfortable here. Who was I to suggest a house on a beach in Hawaii?
She was feeling so good, so calm, I almost didn’t bring up the reason I’d come. But I needed to get her opinion on the matter. I just wasn’t sure if Reyes was seeing things clearly.
“Can I ask you something?” I said, pulling her attention back to me.
“Of course.” She’d pinned that smile back onto her pretty face.
I scooted closer and braced myself for any reaction she might have. “Do you think it’s possible that Earl Walker is still alive?”
The smile on her face didn’t waver. It didn’t falter or fade in the least. But the smile in her eyes, the genuine part of a smile, vanished. Then, like a geyser erupting from her core, panic rose in her and hit me full force, but she sat perfectly still. Motionless. Frozen in the throes of her own fear.
I put a hand over hers instantly and leaned forward. “Kim, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to frighten you.”
She blinked, appearing like a mannequin with the emotion that had been painted on her face a little too garish. “You didn’t frighten me,” she said, the lie hanging thick in the air. “What you asked is absolutely impossible.”
I backtracked as fast as I could. “You’re right,” I said, shaking my head. “I’m sorry I even brought it up. I just thought if Reyes was innocent.”
The smile faltered at last. “He’s innocent? Did he tell you that?”
“No!” I lied, literally jumping forward. “No, he didn’t. I—I just wondered why he would escape. I just thought—”
“But you were with him,” she said, putting the facts together. “When he first escaped. I saw it on the news. He carjacked you.”
“Yes, he did. But … that’s not what I meant. He never said—” The fragility that had been there on my first two visits, the crushing sadness, resurfaced, and I was afraid her bones would crumble to dust before my eyes.
She pulled back, her gaze wandering past me to another place and time. “He’s alive, isn’t he?”
“No, hon—”
“I should’ve known Reyes would do that.” Her eyes suddenly shimmered with unspent tears. “Of course he would do that. He’s always done that.”
My thoughts shot from How do I get out of this? to Come again? “What do you mean? Kim, what did he do?”