Chapter 2 - Twenty-One Pennies
Ivy's rusted Honda refused to start.
She turned the key again.
Nothing.
Adrian stood beside one of the SUVs.
"Finished?"
"Don't."
He opened the rear door.
"I'm not getting in."
"Your car disagrees."
Ten minutes later, Ivy sat inside leather seats that probably cost more than her apartment.
Adrian sat opposite her.
"Where first?"
"Jefferson underpass."
The SUV moved.
Ivy watched snow bury the city.
"Why did your father leave?"
Adrian didn't answer.
"You expect me to tell you everything Elias said, but you won't answer one question?"
"My father and I disagreed."
"For eleven months?"
"Yes."
"Must've been one hell of an argument."
Adrian looked out the window.
"He wanted me to dismantle parts of the organization."
"Vale Maritime?"
"Parts of it."
That answer told her enough.
"And you refused."
"I told him the world doesn't become gentle because you decide to be."
Ivy studied him.
"What did he say?"
Adrian's mouth tightened.
"He said I had confused fear with respect."
The SUV stopped beneath Jefferson Bridge.
They searched.
No Elias.
At a church shelter, a volunteer recognized his photograph.
"He slept here twice," she said. "Wouldn't take a bed if someone younger needed it."
"When?" Adrian asked.
"Last month."
"Did he leave anything?"
"No."
She looked at Ivy.
"You're the diner girl."
Ivy frowned.
"Excuse me?"
"He talked about you."
Adrian turned.
"What did he say?"
The volunteer smiled faintly.
"That someone still remembered how to give without making the person receiving feel small."
Ivy looked down.
Adrian said nothing for the next five minutes.
They checked two warming centers.
Nothing.
At 4:10 a.m., Ivy finally took them to her apartment.
A pink eviction notice remained taped to the door.
Adrian read it.
Ivy ripped it down.
"Eyes to yourself."
Inside, she retrieved a glass jar from the kitchen cabinet.
Twenty-one pennies.
Adrian emptied them onto the table.
He arranged them by date.
Ivy stared.
"You recognize them?"
"My father collected pennies."
"Why?"
"He grew up poor. His first job paid him in cash. He found a penny outside the factory after his first shift and kept it."
Adrian picked up one coin.
"He said people reveal themselves when they believe something has no value."
Ivy leaned against the counter.
"That sounds like Elias."
Adrian turned one penny over.
Then another.
His eyes narrowed.
"What?"
"These aren't random."
He arranged six coins.
Different years.
1998.
1999.
2000.
2001.
2002.
2003.
Adrian pulled out his phone.
"Marco."
The bald man who had accompanied them answered immediately.
"Boss."
"Cross-reference these years with my father's properties."
A pause.
"All properties?"
"Everything."
Ten minutes later, Marco called back.
"Six matches. Each year corresponds to a property acquisition."
Adrian stood.
"Addresses."
The first five locations produced nothing.
The sixth was an abandoned automotive garage near the river.
Ivy recognized the neighborhood.
"Elias mentioned this place."
Adrian turned.
"When?"
"Last week. He said he used to fix engines somewhere he could smell the river."
Adrian's face changed.
"My grandfather owned a garage."
They drove there.
The building looked dead.
Snow covered the entrance.
Then Ivy noticed something.
"Stop."
She got out.
Footprints.
Faint.
Half-filled with snow.
They led around the side.
Adrian reached the door first.
Locked.
He knocked.
"Father?"
Nothing.
He hit it harder.
"Father!"
Ivy moved toward a dirty side window.
Inside, something shifted.
"Elias?"
A weak voice answered.
"Ivy?"
Adrian froze.
Ivy pressed closer to the glass.
"Elias!"
"Tell your terrible cook his soup needs salt."
Ivy laughed despite herself.
Adrian didn't.
He kicked the old side door open.
Elias sat inside the freezing garage beneath several blankets, pale and trembling but conscious.
His eyes found his son.
All warmth vanished from his expression.
"No."
Adrian stopped.
"Father."
"I said no."
"We've searched eleven months."
"And apparently not well enough."
Adrian's jaw clenched.
Ivy stepped between them.
"Can the dysfunctional-family reunion wait until you're somewhere heated?"
Elias looked at her.
"You brought him."
"I brought a vehicle with working heat."
Adrian removed his coat and placed it around his father.
Elias tried to push it away.
"Keep it."
"Father."
"I don't want anything from you."
Adrian crouched.
For once, the ruthless man had no command left in his voice.
"Then don't take it from me."
He looked at Ivy.
"Take it from her."
Elias studied his son's face.
May you like
Then he allowed Adrian to help him stand.
---
