The Bandit

“He what?!?”, Shelly could not believe what she was hearing. This could not be happening. Her brother was a bit of a mischief-maker, sure, but he had never caused real trouble.

“I mean it Shel, he’s lost his mind, I honestly do not know how else to explain it.” The voice at the other end of the phone was calm, but Justin had to be wrong. Her brother could not have possibly done this.

“OK,” Shelly took a deep breath and spoke into the phone, “tell me once more what you heard.”

“It wasn’t what I heard Shel, it’s what I saw.” Justin clarified.

“Fine, what you saw then,” she said becoming frustrated.

“You know how Sam and I were supposed to go fishing this weekend?”

“Yes,” she replied.

Justin continued, “Well, I drove over to Sam’s place to see if he had finally bought a new rod or if he would need to borrow one of mine, but I didn’t call first and that’s when I saw it.”

“Saw what, exactly?” she asked trying to be patient.

“The money, Shel. I saw the money. There were a whole lot of bills in stacks on the table. I have no idea how much was there, but it was a lot.” He sounded certain.

“Did you ask him about it?” She wanted to know how Sam explained it.

“I didn’t get the chance, once he heard me knock, he swept it all away. I don’t know what he did with it from there, I couldn’t see through the blinds and I didn’t want to tip him off that I had seen it.” Justin explained.

“Wait. You saw this through a window? How do you know it was money, let alone that it was real?” she asked both a bit annoyed and relieved.

Justin’s voice became more animated. “Shel, I may not have a lot of it, but I know what money looks like. Sam had a bag full of cash, and there is no way he earned that much. Not to mention, who keeps piles of cash in a bag around the house? That’s what banks are for after all. It HAS to be him.”

It was true that Sam didn’t make a lot of money, and why would someone have stacks of cash hidden in their home? Assuming that’s what it was. Shelly picked up the newspaper and re-read the headline, “Bandit Strikes Again”. This time he had hit a small credit union and made off with about $50,000. A stack of cash to be sure, but could she be sure there wasn’t another explanation?

She just could not grasp the idea that her brother would stoop to stealing. And why would he? What did he want so badly that he couldn’t earn it? Absolutely nothing. And if he needed help in the short term, he knew she would help him. Hadn’t she done so before?

“No!” she said emphatically, “No, I just cannot believe it. You have never been a big fan of Sam’s no matter how much you may try to get along for my sake. You always think the worst of him. He’s a joker and a bit out there, but he is no thief.”

“Shel,” Justin tried coaxing her into his reality.

“No Justin, I cannot believe it. I am going to go over there right now and find out what you really saw. I am not going to make any kind of assumptions when you didn’t even ask to see what he would say.” Shelly hung up on Justin as she walked out her front door.

Shelly hit every greed light on the way and found herself standing on Sam’s doorstep far more quickly than she had planned. The ‘how to approach this conversation’ she was having with herself on the way wasn’t quite complete when the door sprung open and Sam walked directly into her.

“Umpf, oh, Hi sis!” Sam sputtered after the collision. “What are you doing here? I saw Justin earlier and thought the two of you were going out tonight.”

“Um, yes, yes we are but…” darn those stoplights she thought, “Uh, I needed to talk to you for a few.” She finally stammered

“Oh, well, can it wait? I have run an errand right now and the timing is critical. Can I swing by your place around 4?” he asked.

“Sure, of course. I don’t have anything life-changing to talk about or anything.” She tried to smile but it must have come out wrong because he grabbed her by the shoulders.

“Look me in the eye Shel. What’s up? Are you? Pregnant?” He was staring into her eyes with such a worried intensity that she couldn’t help but laugh.

“What? Oh, heavens no! Honestly, it’s nothing.” she said more convincingly. “Come by later, it’s fine.”

Relaxing, he let go of her shoulders and flashed her a smile that always lit her heart. Shelly loved her brother more than anything. In her head she realized, if he was the Bandit, she would do her best to help him get away, Justin or no Justin.

A couple of hours later Shelly was trying to stay calm while she waited for Sam. She turned on the television to distract herself only to see something that turned her cold. The so-called Bandit had struck again, this time robbing one of those money collecting trucks while they were on route.

What had Sam told her earlier? The timing of his errand was critical? “Holy Crap!” she said out loud. “No. No. No, it can’t be.”

A quick knock on the door and Sam came strolling through wearing that smile. He was carrying a satchel. Since when did Same carry a satchel? No, she thought, this cannot be happening.

He sat the bag down by the door and came over to the sofa where he sprawled in his usual manner and said, “Ok, what is this non-life changing topic we need to talk about?”

Shelly was so taken aback by the bag, the timing, the smile, she simply blurted, “Where did you get the money?”

Sam went completely still.

“What money, Shel?” He asked quietly with what sounded like a note of worry in his voice.

“Don’t Sam, just don’t. If you’re in trouble tell me. I will help you. But you must TELL ME,” she stressed the last two words to make sure he understood.

Sam forced himself to relax. He took in his sister’s appearance, she was really upset, but how could she know? Why would it upset her? And why in the world did she think he was in trouble?

“Shel? What do you think you know?” Sam asked, truly relaxed and totally curious.

Shelly involuntarily responded to his relaxed tone and felt a little better too. “The money Sam. How did you get it?”

“Wow”, he said. “I have no idea how you even know about that. It was supposed to be a surprise.”

Shelly lost it. “A surprise?! Oh, it’s a surprise all right! I would never have thought my brother was the Bandit in a million years!”

“The WHAT?” Sam stated in shock. “You think I am a thief?”

“How else would you get the money? And why Sam? Why do you even need it?” Shelly said through the tears that were starting to fall. Sam could see that his overprotective but loving sister was truly upset.

“Shel,” Sam whispered as he reached to comfort her, “I didn’t steal anything. I promise.”

She sniffed into his favorite shirt and he barely heard her ask, “Really? But how…” only to be drowned out by fabric.

Sam pushed her back so he could look her in the eye.

“Shelly, dear sweet Shelly. Do you remember how we both took those ancestry tests last year?”

Shelly nodded with moist eyes.

“Well, I was always more into that you were. So, once we learned a bit more about our DNA, I went about finding relatives we didn’t know we had. You remember, I told you about some cousins in California?”

Feeling cautiously optimistic, Shelly nodded more vigorously this time.

“I went back farther into our family past and learned something truly interesting. Do you remember that movie about the holy grail? The one where a person was the grail and not a cup?”

Again, she nodded, and then she added, “But what…”

“Give me a minute more to explain,” he said as he cut her off. “This gets wild.”

“So, it turns out we are related to William Sinclair, the actual guy who built that Chapel at the end of the movie. Cool hunh?”

“Sam,” she said starting to lose her patience, “the money.”

“Right! The money. When grandpa Henry died, he left a few things to me. Do you remember? He gave me his ring, an old toolbox, and some pictures?” Not waiting for her reaction this time Sam kept going “I didn’t know who was in the pictures, some of them were really old, and I am not the Mr. Fix-it type so I wasn’t planning to keep the toolbox. All I really wanted to keep was the ring.”

He continued, “I was taking pictures of the toolbox to list on one of those marketplace sites when I dropped it and it broke, only it didn’t really break, it opened up some compartment I hadn’t noticed. There were letters in there, not many, but what really caught my eye was this dusty little black book with writing that looked English but not quite English somehow. It was close to falling apart.”

He had hooked her; Shelly was into the story now and nodding at every new revelation.

“I was curious, so I took it to the University History department to see if they could tell me what it was. I mean, it was old, so they would know, right? The professor practically squealed when she got a close look at it. As it turns out, it belonged to our, get this, 16 times great grandfather, the one who built the Chapel in Scotland. And the English was English but Old English or some such. And it was a list. A list of men who belonged to the Knights Templar! The University was so excited about it, they wanted to add it to a collection for people to see once they finished reviewing it. So, I sold it to them.”

Shelly was in shock. “But why Sam? If it belonged to our family, if it was so precious, why? And why did you have a stack of cash? That makes no sense.”

He smiled. “Because Shel, you and Justin are getting married and I wanted to give you something special. I know you love your condo but it’s not going to work for a growing family. I sold the book so that I could give you a down payment on a house. And I have $20,000 in cash because I want to see Justin’s face when I hand it to you. I know if I give you a check, he will just make some kind of joke about it bouncing.”

Shelly was crying now but they were joyful tears. “So, you’re not a bandit?” she sobbed.

“No sis. I’m just your brother. And,” he said as he walked over to the door and grabbed the satchel, “I was going to wait for Justin, but here’s $20,000 to help you and your husband buy that house you’ve had your eye on.”

“Oh, Sam!” The words were full of glee and they filled his heart to hear. “You will be my first dinner guest to celebrate the house.” She paused a moment and then grabbed Sam’s arm, “Wait! Tell me there is more money. You didn’t sell an important piece of history like that for $20,000, did you?!?”

He smiled that smile of his. “Of course, there’s more, I wasn’t going to let them rob me.” He said with a wink.