The Talking House Made Me Rich

My chest went tight.

The aged voice piled on, gloating. "That mongrel's got a sharp nose. Don't tell me he's already guessed there's gold in the wall..."

I stepped forward and pointed at the old carved bed in the bedroom.

"Fine, I won't hide it from you. I've had my eye on this bed."

"It's an antique," I said, patting the frame like I knew what I was talking about. "If it's the real thing, it's worth more than the house."

Jackson's mouth twitched. "You sure about that, man?"

"The contract says everything in the house comes with it, right? So the bed's mine too. Nobody gets to take it."

William's eyes flickered a couple of times. He moved closer, sizing the bed up, then reached out and rubbed the carving on the headboard. His brow furrowed, and he glanced back at me.

I didn't give him the chance to keep digging. I shoved him and Jackson toward the door. "All right, I'm out of here. We'll handle the paperwork first thing tomorrow."

I rode my scooter two streets over, pulled to the curb, and called Sarah.

Seven calls in, she finally picked up. "Did you sign it?"

"Yeah."

Three seconds of silence. Then she laughed. "Kevin Perry, we're done."

"Sarah, just listen to me! Last night I had a dream. I dreamed about my grandpa, and he told me there's something inside the walls of this house—"

Before I could finish, she hung up.

I sighed.

If she didn't believe me, fine. Once I dug the gold out and dropped the cash right in front of her, she'd believe me soon enough.

Eleven that night, I couldn't sleep. I climbed over the balcony and slipped into the dark of that old dump.

I clicked on my flashlight and pulled the metal detector out of my bag.

I crouched in front of that wall and pressed the sensor against it.

Beep, beep, beep. The detector went off.

My hand jerked. I moved it to a few different spots and tried again.

The upper half of the wall gave nothing. Around the middle, a faint response started, and the lower I went, the sharper the sound got.

I sank down onto the floor, my back soaked with sweat, the corners of my mouth climbing no matter how I tried to hold them still.

There really was something in that wall.

My head spun, and I sat there alone in the pitch-black living room, grinning like an idiot.

With this kind of money, I could just kick back for the rest of my life.

Whatever breakup Sarah wanted, it was nothing. When the time came, I'd lay the cash out in front of her. Enough to buy ten big luxury units.

But pretty soon I stopped smiling.

I'd bid the house up to a million to sign the contract, and I had three days to pay it off.

I had five hundred thousand in my account. I was short another five hundred thousand.

The gold was in the wall, the cash was in the ceiling, and without the keys I couldn't touch the wall.

Where was I going to scrape together five hundred thousand?

I stared at the contacts on my phone, my mind blank.

I scrolled to Fred Lawrence, an old high school classmate. The guy ran small-time loans now.

When the call connected, Fred went quiet for a few seconds. "Bro, did somebody scam you? That dump in Brookside Court is worth over a million?"

"Just do me this favor. You name the interest."

Normally I'd never have gone anywhere near it. But this was different.

In three days I'd have the keys, and that same night I'd break open the wall.

Eighty-some million in hand. What was a loan shark next to that?

The day the money landed, my dad called. "Kevin, have you lost your mind? Fred says you took out a predatory loan to buy a house? Playing house-flipper like everybody else?" "Your mother was so scared she didn't sleep all night! Our family's lived honest, down-to-earth lives for generations. I think some agent talked you stupid! You give that money back, don't buy that house, you hear me?"

I gripped the phone and said nothing.

My dad cursed at me a few more times, then hung up.

The three-day deadline arrived.

I wired the full million I'd pulled together to Jackson, got the deed and the keys, and changed the locks the first chance I had.

I shut the door, drew the curtains. Tonight, I'd break the wall open.