Jared nodded, pulling out the wrinkled piece of paper from his inside jacket pocket. He read the code aloud and then looked up at me.

“Does that make sense to you?” he asked, holding out the paper for me to take.

825 2R2TL223TR05

“The eight twenty-five is the box number, and the rest is the key to the combination. But, combinations are just three numbers, one or two digits, right?” I didn’t look up, and Jared didn’t speak, so I wasn’t sure if he was in agreement with me or not. “So we need to figure out which of these numbers are the numbers of the combination. And the others are…what? Red herrings?” I shook my head. “No. Jack didn’t play games, these are all important.”

I concentrated on the dial of the combination lock, looking at the numbers and thinking about turning the dial to each number in the different ways they appeared in the code. I burst into laughter and looked at Jared with excitement.

“I’ve got it!” I smiled.

Jared masked an emotion, which in turn curbed my enthusiasm. It seemed we were back to square one of our relationship.

“You’ve got what?” he asked, his voice flat.

“The letters, the R T L letters, they mean right turn and left turn. Turn it twice to the right, stopping on two. Turn left twice, stopping on twenty-two. Three turns right, stopping on five.”

Jared shrugged. “Try it.”

My first inclination was to wad up the paper, throw it at him, and tell him to try it. My temper cooled as reason crept into my mind. I wanted to see what was in the safe, and he would catch the paper, anyway, even if I did manage to aim well enough to hit him.

I kneeled down and twisted the combination. I followed the directions, but when I stopped on the last number, it didn’t catch the way combination locks should.

My anger at Jared coupled with my frustration with the lock made my eyes water. When I tried to inconspicuously wipe my cheek with my shoulder, he sighed.

“Are you crying?” Jared asked.

I sniffed. “No. Leave me alone.”

“Try it again,” he said, indifferent.

I cleared the dial and paid close attention to each turn and stop, but when I reached the five, I passed by it once more. I had only passed it twice instead of three times. The lock caught and I gasped.

“It worked,” I whispered, staring in shock at the safe.

Jared pulled me off the floor and kneeled down to open the safe. He slumped over and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Damn it, Jack. What have you done?”

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Thirteen

Guilty

“What is it?” I asked, leaning over his shoulder.

He turned to face me holding a brown, leather-bound book. It surpassed antique in appearance; well-worn on the edges, with a strange branded seal on the front cover.