Finders Keepers
Published: 2, June 2015
Genre: American, Crime, Fiction, Horror, Literary, Literature, Literature, Mystery, Police Procedurals, Suspense, Thriller
Book 2 of 3: The Bill Hodges Trilogy
Check out the review of this book here:
Summary
Morris Bellamy, a small crook, breaks into the home of John Rothstein, a retired novelist famed for his Jimmy Gold Runner series, who had been living a secluded existence but continued to write in secret with two of his friends, in 1978.
They assaulted him and demanded to know where he kept his money. Despite Rothstein's best efforts to deceive them by claiming that he only stores tiny sums of cash at his home, they discover his safe and compel him to provide the combination, which shows a modest fortune in cash and a significant number of notebooks.
Morris encourages the others to grab everything while Rothstein appeals to them and assures them they may keep the cash as long as they leave the notebooks.
Rothstein proceeds to taunt Morris, and then murders him, much to the chagrin of the others. As they drive away, they come to a secluded rest stop, and Morris instructs them to pull over. Morris murders both of them and drives to his estranged mother's house, who is now gone for the semester, instructing history.
Morris goes to meet an old friend Andrew "Andy" Halliday the next morning to show him the journals, and Andy instantly confronts him about what he has done.
When Morris asks how long he should wait until they can start selling the notebooks to private collectors, Andy instructs him to wait till the turn of the century, conceal the notebooks, and keep away from him in the interim, or he would contact the cops.
Morris buries the cash and notebooks in a trunk behind a tree adjacent to a creek behind the home that night, then goes to a pub. He awakens in a detention cell with no recollection of what occurred and wonders whether he was jailed for the killings of Rothstein and his friends, but subsequently learns that he viciously attacked and raped a lady while intoxicated.
Morris pleads guilty in the hopes of receiving a lesser term but is sentenced to life in prison. His parole hearings are always denied because she shows up and tells the board how she is still suffering from what occurred, until in 2014, when she writes to the board indicating she has terminal cancer and no longer has any objections to his parole.
In 2010, Pete Saubers, who is now living in Morris Bellamy's family house, is struggling at home with his parents always bickering over money because his father is no longer working and has continuous physiotherapy treatments owing to being injured in the Mercedes Massacre two years ago.
Pete left the home and went down the back way towards the stream while his parents were shouting. He notices the trunk hidden beneath the tree's roots while sitting on a log beside the creek.
Pete then pretends to be unwell in order to gain a day off school and returns to the tree with a spade to dig into the trunk, where he discovers the cash and notebooks.
Over the following few years, he begins discreetly delivering envelopes to his parents with $500 in them every month, and their lives improve dramatically, and his father is eventually able to find a position in a real estate business.
He also begins reading the journals and develops an interest in the Jimmy Gold figure.
When he investigates the author of the journals, he discovers that he was killed and that the crime was never solved, but he believes that because it has been so long since it occurred, the perpetrator is probably surely dead or in prison for life.
After a few years, the money Pete has been sending to his parents runs out, and he considers selling some of the journals. He approaches his favorite instructor, Mr. Ricker, and informs him that he has the first edition of a Rothstein book that he wishes to sell.
Pete gives him a list of booksellers, including Andrew Halliday, and asks him which one would be best, and Mr. Ricker tells him to avoid Halliday since he has a reputation for selling stolen goods.
Pete travels to Halliday's store under a false name, presenting him scanned images of several of Rothstein's notebook pages.
Halliday, who is badly in debt, quickly recognizes them and asks him to bring them the next time he arrives, knowing they are worth a fortune.
Halliday discovers Pete's true name, and the next time Pete sees him, he blackmails him, threatening to expose him to the police unless he gives him the journals. Pete then returns home and conceals the journals in the basement of a property his father is presently selling that was previously a leisure center.
Pete's sister Tina, who has long doubted Pete of sending the money, senses Pete's recent discomfort and goes to her friend Barbara, Jerome's younger sister and Brady Hartsfield survivor, who sends her to Bill Hodges and Holly Gibney.
She informs them that she believes her brother took the money to assist their parents. Hodges and Holly, on the other hand, are more certain that he discovered it and got himself into trouble as a result.
Unknown to Halliday, Morris had lately been paroled and discovered the empty trunk; he accuses Halliday of taking the notebooks because he was the only one who knew about them.
Morris comes to Halliday's business with an axe and threatens to murder him if he doesn't tell him where the notebooks are, but he kills him anyway after learning about Pete.
Hodges waits outside the school for Pete and interrogates him, but he refuses to answer any of his inquiries. They pursue him, but he manages to elude them.
He rushes to Halliday's shop to inform him that he will not be delivering him notebooks but instead finds Morris waiting for him and narrowly escapes.
Pete eventually phones Hodges for assistance, and they begin driving towards his house.
Morris then shoots Linda, Pete's mother, and kidnaps Tina. He drives her to the leisure center, unaware that the notebooks are stashed there, and contacts Pete, instructing him to call him once he gets the notebooks.
Pete rushes to the leisure center to get them, but when he sees Morris there with Tina, he tosses the notebooks on the floor, pours lighter fluid on them, and threatens to drop his lighter on them if Tina doesn't leave.
When Hodges, Holly, and Jerome get to Pete's residence, they find his critically injured mother, who informs them of Pete's whereabouts. Hodges and Jerome head to the leisure center, while Holly remains with Linda.
When Hodges arrives at the leisure center and discovers Morris at the basement steps, he throws a pair of shoes to distract him before tackling him, causing Pete to jerk and drop the lighter, igniting the notebooks.
Morris hurries to the notebooks to attempt to preserve them, but he perishes in the fire. Tina, Pete, and Hodges escape via the basement window with the assistance of Jerome.
The story concludes with Hodges visiting Brady Hartsfield in the hospital, where a photograph of Hartsfield and his mother suddenly falls down while he is there.
After Hodges has left, the tap turns on and then off, and the image collapses once more.
Useful Search Related Words & Keywords
Another Great Book, Bill Hodges, Hodges Trilogy, Holly And Jerome, In The Trilogy, Jimmy Gold, John Rothstein, Looking Forward, Morris Bellamy, Read Mr Mercedes, Third Book
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