Jamie Brodie 02 - Hoarded to Death

“I have a surprise for everyone. Be right back.” He trotted up the stairs. Kevin gave me a quizzical look. I shrugged.
    Pete came back with an envelope. “Okay. As you all know, Trinity College authenticated the manuscript page last week.” True; Gillian Murray called me in breathless delight to tell me that the experts found the page to be consistent with the Book of Kells. It briefly made the news, and Jennifer had given a couple of local interviews. “What you don’t know is that Trinity paid She Who Shall Not Be Named…” He paused for effect and we all had a chuckle at that. “…$750,000 for the intact page.”
    Abby gasped. Kevin looked pained. I said, “How did you find that out?”
    “From your special collections guy. Dr. Huffstetler. After Gillian called you, I invited Dr. Huffstetler to visit me at work. I told him what I was planning to do, and he was glad to tell me the total amount of the sale.”
    Kevin narrowed his eyes at Pete. “What were you planning to do?”
    Pete looked inordinately pleased with himself. “See that justice was done.” He handed Kevin the envelope.
    Kevin opened it, and pulled out a check. I’d have guessed that there wasn’t much that could shock Kevin any more, but apparently Pete had managed it. Kevin’s mouth dropped open, and he stared at Pete. “This is…”
    “It’s the amount you still owe on the credit cards you had with The Nameless One. That’s why I asked you yesterday.”
    Kevin and Abby were speechless. I reached over and took the check from Kevin. It was for $19,000, signed by Jennifer Graham. “Holy shit .”
    Pete was grinning. I hadn’t seen him this happy since before Christmas. Kevin found his voice. “How did you talk her into this?”
    “I told her that she had a chance to start over with her life, but she needed to wipe the slate clean. I also reminded her that karma can be a real bitch.”
    Kevin jumped up, practically dragged Pete out of his chair, and hugged him fiercely. “Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you.” Abby got to her feet and joined in.
    I stayed at the table, staring at the check. It occurred to me that Pete had given me two gifts. He’d not only given me someone to share the burden of knowing about his abuse, but he’d found a way to pay off my big brother’s debt.
    He hadn’t forgotten Valentine’s Day at all.

Acknowledgements
    Many thanks to the usual suspects in my writing group: Dustin, Becca, Michelle, the two Michael F.’s, Bryan, Maggie, Trey, and Doug. Many thanks as well to my dedicated beta-reader, Cheryl.
    Many, many thanks to Stephanie at October Design Co. for the cover.
    And many, many, MANY thanks to Chris, who knows Jamie and Pete as well as I do now.