He frowned but dropped the packet back into the bag.
'Is it real?' Jacob asked.
'Of course it's real,' Lou said. 'Don't be stupid.'
Jacob ignored him. 'You think it's drug money?' he asked me.
I shrugged. 'It's from a bank.' I gestured toward the bag. 'That's how they sort money. A hundred bills to a packet.'
Mary Beth appeared suddenly on the opposite rim of the orchard, working his way down through the snow toward the plane. He looked dejected, as if we'd let him down by not joining in on his pursuit of the fox. We all watched him approach, but no one commented on his return. One of the crows cawed at him, a warning cry, and it hung for a second, sharp and clear in the crisp air, like a note from a bugle.
'This is crazy,' I said. 'That guy must've robbed a bank.'
Jacob shook his head in disbelief. 'Three million dollars.'
Mary Beth came around the front of the plane, wagging his tail. He gave us a sad, tired look. Jacob crouched down and patted absentmindedly at the dog's head.
'I suppose you're going to want to turn it in,' Lou said.
I looked at him, shocked. Up till that point I hadn't even considered that we had an option. 'You want to keep it?'
He glanced toward Jacob for support, then back at me. 'Why not each keep a packet? Ten thousand dollars apiece, and turn the rest in?'
'For starters, it's stealing.'
Lou gave a quick snort of disgust. 'Stealing from who? From him?' He waved toward the plane. 'He won't mind.'
'It's a lot of money,' I said. 'Somebody knows it's missing, and they're looking for it. I guarantee that.'
'You're saying you'd turn me in, if I took a packet?' He picked one of the packets out of the bag, held it out toward me.
'I wouldn't have to. Whoever's looking for it knows how much is missing. If we hand it in a little short and you start spending hundred-dollar bills around town, it won't take them long to figure out what happened.'
Lou waved this aside. 'I'm willing to take the risk,' he said, flashing a smile from me to Jacob. Jacob smiled back.
I frowned at them both. 'Don't be stupid, Lou.'
Lou continued to grin. He slipped the packet into his coat, then picked a second one out of the bag and handed it to Jacob. Jacob took it but couldn't seem to decide what to do with it. He crouched there, his rifle in one gloved hand, the money in the other, looking expectantly at me. Mary Beth rolled in the snow at his feet.
'I don't think you'd turn me in,' Lou said. 'And I know you wouldn't turn your brother in.'
'Get me near a phone, Lou, and you'll see.'
'You'd turn me in?' he asked.
I tried to snap my fingers, but with gloves on they didn't make any sound. 'Like that.'
'But why? It's not like it'd harm anyone.'
Jacob was still crouched there, the money in his hand. 'Put it back, Jacob,' I said. He didn't move.
'It's different for you,' Lou said. 'You've got your job at the feedstore. Jacob and I don't have that. This money'd matter to us.'
His voice had edged itself toward a whine, and, hearing it, I felt a revelatory flash of power. The dynamic of our relationship had shifted, I realized. I was in control now; I was the spoiler, the one who would decide what happened to the money. I smiled at Lou.
'I'd still get in trouble if you took it. You'd fuck up, and I'd be considered an accomplice.'
Jacob started to stand up, then crouched back down again. 'Why not take all of it?' he asked, looking from Lou to me.
'All of it?' I said. The idea seemed preposterous, and I started to laugh, but it made my forehead ache. I winced, probing at the bump with my fingers. It was still bleeding a little.
'Just take the bag,' he said, 'leave the dead guy in there, pretend we were never here.'
Lou nodded eagerly, pouncing on the idea. 'Split it three ways.'
'We'd get caught as soon as we started spending it,' I said. 'Imagine the three of us suddenly throwing hundred-dollar bills around at the stores in town.'
Jacob shook his head. 'We could wait awhile, then leave town, start up new lives.'
'A million apiece,' Lou said. 'Think about it.'
'You just don't get away with something like that.' I sighed. 'You end up doing something stupid, and you get caught.'
'Don't you see, Hank?' Jacob asked, his voice rising with impatience. 'It's like this money doesn't even exist. No one knows about it but us.'
'It's three million dollars, Jacob. It's missing from somewhere. You can't tell me no one's searching for it.'
'If people were searching for it, we would've heard by now. There would've been something on the news.'
'It's drug money,' Lou said. 'It's all under the table. The government doesn't know about any of it.'
'You don't--' I started, but Lou cut me off.
'Jesus, Hank. All this money staring you right in the face. It's the American dream, and you just want to walk away from it.'
'You work for the American dream, Lou. You don't steal it.'
'Then this is even better than the American dream.'
'What reason would you have for turning it in?' Jacob asked. 'No one's going to get hurt by our taking it. No one's going to know.'
'It's stealing, Jacob. Isn't that enough?'
'It's not stealing,' he said firmly. 'It's like lost treasure, like a chest full of gold.'
There was some sense in what he was saying, I could see that, yet at the same time it seemed like we were overlooking something. Mary Beth made a whimpering sound in the snow, and Jacob, without taking his eyes off my face, began to pet him. The crows sat quietly in the surrounding trees, hunch shouldered against the cold, like miniature vultures. Darkness was falling quickly all around us.
'Come on, Hank,' Lou said. 'Don't fuck this up.'
I still didn't say anything -- I was hesitating, wavering. As much as I delighted in my power over Lou and Jacob, I didn't want to do something I'd later regret merely to contradict them. Without even realizing it, without even intending to do it, I began searching for a way to take the packets. And it was like magic, too, like a gift from the gods, the ease with which a solution came to me, a simple plan, a way to keep the money without fear of getting caught. I could just sit on it, hiding it away until the plane was discovered. If someone found the wreck and there was no mention of a missing three million dollars, I'd split it up with Lou and Jacob and we could go our separate ways. But if, on the other hand, it seemed like someone knew the money was missing, I'd burn it. The duffel bag and the packets themselves would be the only evidence that could be held against me. Up until the very instant I gave Lou and Jacob their shares, I'd be in complete control. I could erase my crime at a moment's notice.
Looking back on it now, after all that's happened, it seems insane with what little fear I picked this path. It took me perhaps twenty seconds, a third of a minute's worth of debate. For a brief instant I was in complete control, not only of the money's destiny but also of my own, and Jacob's, and Lou's, yet I was utterly unconscious of this, had no feel for the weight of my decision, could not sense how, within the next few seconds, I was going to set into motion a series of events that would radically transform each of our lives. In my ignorance, my choice seemed straightforward, unambiguous: if I were to give up the duffel bag now, it'd be an irrevocable step -- I'd hand it over to the sheriff, and it'd be gone forever. My plan, on the other hand, would allow me to postpone a decision until we had more information. I'd be taking a step, but not one that I couldn't undo.
'All right,' I said. 'Put the money back.'
Neither of them moved.
'We're keeping it?' Lou asked.
