Page 69 of Pure Silence

Again.

Goldie scrolled through to see what Florence wanted—asking him to reconsider selling his gear, what a surprise—and he dropped his phone on the coffee table to ignore it. He wanted to enjoy the last of his meal without his mood being soured by his friend’s pushiness.

“Detective Alvarez contacted you?” Day asked warily.

“Saw that, huh?”

“Yes.”

Goldie snorted. “It was nothing. He wanted to grill me again about Michael. Didn’t believe you were the one to, ahem, make him leave. He thought it was you covering for me.”

Day tensed. “What did you tell him?”

“The truth. I was handcuffed. I couldn’t do a damn thing.”

Day actually laughed. “Really?”

“Yeah!” Goldie grinned. “He didn’t wanna hear anything else after that. I think the gayness scared him. Oh, he did ask about an envelope though. Said Michael was supposed to make some sort of drop-off for his gang, and whatever it was that he was gonna drop is missing. It wasn’t on his body and his gang is apparently looking for it. He asked if I’d seen an envelope or a small package or something.” He paused. “Did you happen to see anything like that when you…”

“Were disposing of his body?”

“Yes.” Goldie cringed.

“No.” Day frowned. “I can check the balcony if you’d like.”

“The balcony…?” Goldie grimaced. “God, that’s how you did it?”

“Don’t worry. I fixed it.” Day beamed.

Goldie tried to take another bite of steak, but then he remembered Mr. Lass versus the truck. He suddenly wasn’t hungry. He didn’t want Day to know, so he said instead, “Well, if you don’t mind, I’m gonna go take a peek. Purrcy is pretty particular about her cat palace.”

“As you wish, my angel.” Day shrugged and continued to eat, watching the flashing lasers from the latest battle in theStaraxmovie.

Goldie stepped outside, wincing as he was immediately hit with a gust of icy air. He turned on the light so he could see, and nothing appeared out of place. There were a few patches of snow from what had managed to work its way through the screen, and Goldie wondered how Day had managed to get a body through the mesh without disturbing it.

Maybe it was better that he didn’t know.

Purrcy meowed from behind him, and he kept his body wedged in the open doorway to prevent her from running out. He pushed her back with his foot, but she continued to try and slither through. He was about to go back inside to stop her from getting out, but a bit of white that was a little too clean caught his eye.

There beneath his chair, half-buried in snow, was a large envelope.

Well,fuck.

Goldie tiptoed the minimum distance required to bend down and grab it, quickly retreating back inside. He shooed Purrcy back away from the door so he could close it, and then he was left standing there with a very thick and slightly damp envelope.

“Oh!” Day blinked in surprise. “You found it?”

“I guess so.” Goldie turned the envelope over. “It was under my chair in the snow.”

“Well, are you going to open it?”

“I should probably let Detective Alvarez know that I found it. He can just come get it, and… holy shit.” Part of the envelope had opened, the glue no match for the moisture from the snow, and Goldie could see what was inside. “It’s money.”

“Money?” Day munched on a potato. “Like, a lot?”

“This is…Wow. I don’t even know how much money this is. A lot.” Goldie still didn’t want to open it, but what little he could see through the opening made for a very impressive stack of cash.

“We should keep it!” Day gasped.