Free miss fortune mystery (ff) - bloodshed in the bayou by Leslie Langtry

silent to protect two little girls. But some wouldn’t. We weren’t different than other towns. There’s always someone who takes pleasure in others’pain.
    “Because he was extradited. He didn’t steal the money here. He’d stolen it in Paraguay.” Ida said.
    “Paraguay? Who the hell steals money from Paraguay?” I was getting a little hysterical, but Peggy Sue’s breakdown would be epic if she were here – complete with fainting couch and a Xanax martini.
    So, Ida Belle told me the story. Turns out, Hugo did some construction work for a company in Texas, that sent him to Paraguay to work on a military complex. During that time, Hugo came across a government stash of money and for reasons unknown, absconded with it. He’d had help from someone – but the authorities never found out who.
    At any rate, he was tracked down here and though they didn’t find the money, he was quietly extradited to Paraguay to serve out a lifetime prison sentence. He’d escaped a year ago, living who knows where until he came back here a week ago.
    “They never found the money? What happened to it?” I asked.
    Fortune held up the key we’d found this morning. “So that’s why Ida gave me this and sent me on that errand.”
    “What? Where did you go?” I asked. The key was a clue? And all these years it sat in that box in my childhood cubbyhole in my closet.
    “It’s not one of Big and Little’s storage sheds.” Fortune said. “They’ve never seen one like it before.”
    “Do we actually think that where ever it is, five million dollars are just sitting there?” I asked. “All this time, there’s been all that money, just waiting?”
    Gertie nodded. “It has to be. My guess is your mother knew about it. She hid the key in the box with the letters.”
    I sat up. “What do the letters say?”
    Ida shook her head. “We thought you should be the one to see them. It isn’t our place to intrude.”
    I gave a snort of laughter. They’d been intruding so far – but with my complete approval.
    I picked up the three letters, removed them from the ribbon and envelope and started reading. My father’s handwriting was new to me, but I managed to get the gist. Swallowing every word was difficult and I wasn’t sure I’d believed much. One thing I discovered was that the annual, summer portrait of Peggy Sue and me had been for him. Hugo was the reason Mom put us through that ritual each year. To keep him updated on what we looked like.
    “There’s nothing here.” I said as I put the last letter down. “Just how much he misses us.” My voice squeaked a little on the last word. Wow. Hugo said missed us. He claimed he hadn’t wanted to leave us. It felt like my heart was being strangled. I’d hated him for so long and it hadn’t been his fault.
    But it had been his fault. He didn’t have to steal that money. He could’ve been with us all these years if it hadn’t been for his greed. I wasn’t going to let him off the hook just yet.
    “May I?” Gertie asked. I nodded and she began scanning the letters.
    “So now what?” I asked. “We don’t know where that money is.” I told them how upset Mom had gotten earlier trying to tell me. “And there’s no guarantee she’ll ever remember it again.”
    “We have the key,” Fortune said. “And we know someone – probably the accomplice all those years, is looking for it. And we know they won’t stop until they get it. That’s something.”
    “I just want this over.” I said numbly. “I’ll put an ad in the papers offering up the key to whoever it is who wants it just so they’ll leave my family alone.”
    By now, Ida was reading the letters. She didn’t look like she was getting any further with them.
    The door opened and Ally came in, her arms laden with paper bags. I could smell the chicken fried steak and potatoes. My mixed up and mangled thoughts faded as my stomach growled in complaint.
    “Dinner!” Ally announced as she headed for the dining room