The Cipher Read Online Free PDF Page A

were actually dotted. “You won’t have to sign like this for every check,” Mr. Hunt said. “Just the initial payment.”
    Smiles wasn’t getting the whole $7 million today. The trust paid out in little installments at first. They would increase in amount until he turned twenty-five, when he would get the balance in one big chunk. Those were the terms his dad had set when he established the trust, and from what Mr. Hunt had said it was all standard stuff. Whatever—Smiles wasn’t complaining.
    His first payment, the check he was getting today, was for something close to $50,000. Not too shabby.
    â€œYou should realize,” Mr. Hunt said, “that this will be your full inheritance. You know that your father has been . . . well, preparing, shall we say. Virtually all his holdings are going to his wildlife foundation, his educational charities, and the symphony.”
    Smiles knew that already—his dad was already famous for giving away basically his entire fortune. Mr. Hunt was acting like this was all extremely sensitive stuff, but Smiles had never been bothered by it. It was one of the reasons he admired his dad, even if it made him that much harder to live up to. “If I need more than seven million to get by, I’m in pretty serious trouble.”
    Mr. Hunt let out a roar of laughter. “Great attitude there. Okay, I just want you to be clear on that. You know that your father always wanted you to—”
    â€œFind my own thing. I got it, Mr. Hunt, but thanks.”
    Smiles slid the document back across the table.
    Mr. Hunt checked the pages and set them aside. For such a giant person, he could be very delicate.
    â€œOkay, now, start a file at home. You’ll get receipts in the mail after each payment. Save them for your records.” Smiles nodded, fully intending to do this but also knowing he’d get lazy and blow it off.
    Mr. Hunt then launched into a spiel about K-1 forms and tax stuff that Smiles nodded at but didn’t listen to. He was seized with a new anxiety about his mom’s message. He felt like he might suffocate if he didn’t hear her words soon.
    â€œI have to ask you . . .” Smiles blurted as Mr. Hunt bit into a hubcap-sized sugar cookie from the tray. “It’s something about my mom.”
    Mr. Hunt paused mid-chew, then gulped down a mouthful of cookie. “Sure, what is it?”
    â€œMy dad said you have a message from her. A letter or something, for when I turned eighteen.”
    Mr. Hunt nodded, but his face had suddenly turned haggard. He brushed a microscopic crumb from his lapel and sighed. “I was afraid that this would happen.”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œThat he would forget.”
    â€œForget what?” Smiles wasn’t getting this.
    Mr. Hunt held his palms out in a calming way. “There was a letter from your mom, yes. And she wrote it for you to read it when you turned eighteen. But Smiles . . . when your father was in the hospital after his first seizure, he asked me to destroy it. I shredded that letter months ago.”
    â€œBut she wrote that for me.” Smiles was trying not to blow his stack. He needed to hear his mom’s last words to him. Her
last words
. “What did it say?”
    Mr. Hunt just shook his head. “I didn’t read it. I assumed it was personal, obviously.”
    â€œBut he told me about the letter today.”
    â€œWell, that’s what I was afraid of. You know how it can be.”
    Yes, Smiles knew how it could be. His dad could have hour-long conversations and not remember them the next day. The lost spots in his memory, they happened more and more. He had forgotten about telling Mr. Hunt to destroy the letter.
    â€œThe letter was from my
mom
. Did he even have the right to do that?”
    â€œIt’s not really a question of having the right,” Mr. Hunt said. “There aren’t laws about this