Collateral

Rose drives back to the racing track. She parks her car and enters the building. To Rose’s surprise, Mrs. Smith is sitting behind the reception desk.

“Good morning, Mrs Smith. I am surprised to see you working so soon.”

“Hi, Rose.” She sighs “If you are here to pick up your last paycheck, I am afraid I have bad news.”

“Rose shrugs. I don’t care about the paycheck. How are you? And how is Stephany.”

Mrs Smith sighs, and a tear rolls down her cheek. “Stephanie has a broken eye socket and a concussion. But she is going to be ok.”

“Glad to hear that,” Rose says. “And how are you dealing with the situation?”

Mrs Smith sobs. “Nathan had locked down all our personal and company assets so I couldn’t access them. He even made sure that after his death, it would go into a trust that only Stephany can access the moment she becomes twenty-one.”

“So, you can’t access anything.”

“Exactly. Not our savings account. Our house is set to be sold. Nathan always made sure I couldn’t survive without him. Even death didn’t stop him from doing that.”

“If you need a place to stay, I am sure we can fit you and Stephany somewhere in my apartment.”

“I appreciate that Rose, I really do, but don’t worry. I have a friend I can stay with. Already arranged that before my husband’s death.”

“I hope your ‘friend’ isn’t a slumlord.”

“No, it’s not like that. It is a nice apartment looking over the water.”

“And your mystery friend lets you stay there for free? Must be a very good friend.”

Mrs Smith smiles. It is a beautiful smile that reaches her eyes. “He is.”

After a moment, the smile passed and she looks sad again. “I am afraid it isn’t good news for you. You and all the pilots will lose their jobs. I am really sorry. The bank will sell all the assets, including the building and the cars, and put them into a fund. I don’t even have any money. Your wage and all the pilots total around sixty thousand Eurodollars. And there is no way I can gather that amount of money by the end of the week.”

“That sucks. Your husband was a real asshole. But don’t worry. We will find a solution.”

“Tell me about it. Despite all the trouble I am in right now, I am glad he is dead. Can you believe the life support system randomly failed? God must have been watching over me.”

Rose walks out and strolls to the garages in the back. She thinks over to what Mrs Smith said. She is very annoyed that after all Rose has done for her, she thanks God instead. Should she go back and tell her. Tell her she killed her husband? That Rose is looking over her and not God.

But something else is nagging Rose. Something she can’t really put her finger on. The story still didn’t add up fully. Someone was keeping secrets.

Mr Smith was, apart from a racetrack owner and an abusive husband, still a bookie. And every bookie has cash lying around somewhere. It was probably in the garage. But where?

She looks around at all the different coloured cars. The blackbird, the bluebird, the Oriole, the Goldfinch, the Spoonbil. But then she spots the Redbird.

The Redbird is a special car. Many people have betted over the years on the Redbird. While it wouldn’t win more than other cars, every time someone betted on the red car crashing, he was laughed out of the office. People often called it the lucky car. Which was very ironic, cause there was no luck involved, at all.

The secret money stash must be hidden in there. Mr Smith never was sentimental, if he never let that car crash, there must have been a good reason. But Rose herself had probably replaced every single part of that car, and never found a single credstick. Unless …

She looks at the two fuzzy red dice hanging on the rearview mirror. Mr Smith always said they were a symbol of good luck. She never believed in luck. All the other cars had fuzzy die too, and the pilots still died very often. She grabs the dice and shakes them around. She hears something metal ringing.

Maybe these dice kept the pilots safe after all.

Rose grabs the dice from the car and takes them to a nearby workbench. She thinks for a moment. Maybe if the dice are really lucky, cutting them open is a bad omen. Rose laughs. There is no such thing.

She grabs a saw lying on the workbench and cuts the dice open. Inside are a bunch of small credsticks. Together, they might be around fifty thousand eurodollars on them in total. There is also an unmarked data stick.

After thinking for a while, Rose pockets the data stick. She reaches into her pocket. It still has two credsticks in there. She takes the fresh credstick she got from Mr Johnson yesterday and puts it in the pile.

She then walks back to the pub.

“Hi, Mr Smith. I found your husband’s secret stash of money. This should be enough to pay the pilots for the remaining week.”

“I didn’t know he had-” Mrs Smith blurted out. “Of course he had a secret stash.” Mrs Smith looks happy.

“Looks like we are all settled then.” She stands up and yells at the pilots waiting around in the pub. “Everyone, if you are waiting for your final payment, please come over. Those who have been paid can go home.”