Found Money - James Grippando [148]
She smiled with her eyes, recalling their first meeting and how she had wanted to say yes when he’d asked if he might see her again. Instead, she had said something coy like You never know. This time she wanted to do better. “I’d like that,” she said. “I’d like that a lot. In fact, I know a place not too far from here.”
“I can follow.”
“Okay,” she said happily.
“Lead on.”
They started down the sidewalk together, Ryan on the left, Amy and her daughter on the right. They had to retrace their steps past the bench where Ryan had left the money. The paper sack, however, was already gone. Two young graduates were engaged in heated conversation. The short guy was holding the bag. The other was trying to take it from him.
“We have to turn it in,” said the taller one. “It doesn’t belong to us.”
“It’s cash,” snapped the other. “Found money. Finders keepers.”
Their voices rose as the argument intensified. People were starting to gather round them and gawk, as if anticipating a fistfight.
Amy and Ryan exchanged knowing glances as they passed the commotion, but neither said a word. She struggled not to burst out laughing. He grinned and shook his head.
Their smiles only widened as they kept right on walking.
Acknowledgments
Thank you…
Tiffany, I love your honesty and everything about you.
Carolyn Marino and Robin Stamm truly took the book to another level, with a helpful assist from Jessica Lichtenstein. An author couldn’t have better friends than Richard and Artie Pine; you take better care of me than I do. Joan Sanger, as always, left her very welcome mark. And the critics at large are getting better with each book: Eleanor Rayner, Carlos Sires, Jennifer Stearns, Dr. Gloria M. Grippando, Judy Russell.
A few friends lent their special expertise. James W. Hall, deputy sheriff, Yakima County Sheriff’s Department. F. Clay Craig, probate attorney extraordinaire and lover of béisbol. Gerald J. Houlihan and Ron Hanes, two most talented criminal defense lawyers.
Some of the Colorado in this novel is real, some is made up (don’t go looking for the Green Parrot or Half-way Café). My thanks to the Colorado Travel and Tourism Authority; City of Boulder Housing Authority; the Boulder School District; the Lamar Chamber of Commerce; Jane Earle, manager of community relations, Denver Water (a/k/a “the water goddess”); the Denver Public Library, especially Gwendolyn Crenshaw, senior librarian, and Don Dilley, Department of Western History/Genealogy; and the Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences, the Fiske Planetarium and Sommers-Bausch Observatory, University of Colorado, Boulder. Keith Gleason deserves special mention for his entertaining and informativee crash course on dying stars and the life of an astronomer. (I hope I didn’t let you down.)
About the Author
James Grippando is the bestselling author of seven novels—Beyond Suspicion, A King’s Ransom, Under Cover of Darkness, Found Money, The Abduction, The Informant, and The Pardon—which are enjoyed worldwide in fourteen languages. He lives in Florida, where he was a trial lawyer for twelve years. Visit his website at www.jamesgrippando.com.
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Acclaim for
FOUND MONEY
"Grippando writes in nail-biting style."
—Larry King, USA Today
"Readers will want to applaud…. Number this intelligent, cleverly constructed thriller among the best."
—Booklist
"Thrilling…filled with terrifying images of money's dark side. Grippando has done it again."
—Library Journal
"Filled with twists and turns…. A good yarn about two honest people whose main problem is that their parents kept too many secrets."
—Orlando Sentinel
"A wild ride…. The final revelation is a kicker."
—Publishers Weekly
"Grippando writes with authority and panache."
—Poisoned Pen
"Grippando shows flashes of storytelling brilliance."
—San Diego Union-Tribune
"The story twists and turns…. You will never suspect the outcome."
—Lancaster Sunday News (PA)
"A breathless tale of suspense