“Betty softly opened the huge, creaking door to the workshop, and dust whirled about, casting weird rays of light throughout the room. Betty heaved a sigh of relief as she realized it is Saturday morning. We need the workshop to be completely empty, with all of the things sold since her late spouse left her with no assets; she needs the money severely.
Betty was amazed when her son, Mike, helped her move the bench into the dust-free area on the ground. To her surprise, a trap door was revealed underneath it. She had no idea this was here. Mike opened it up, and the two of them peered in. There was a secret staircase that spiraled down into the darkness below. The staircase ended in a secret room. As they looked around, they were both filled with wonder. Betty was in disbelief at what she had found. Wilbert had been hiding what he was truly doing in the workshop and lying to her for years.
Betty was still very far from moving on. Two weeks after her husband’s death, their shared space reminded her of him, and she could feel his presence in every room. In addition, she hadn’t gotten around to getting rid of his belongings.
He was the only one who ever visited the workshop. In contrast to every other location she had ever worked on after retiring, Betty’s husband quickly became a fixture in the workshop, but he seemed happy, so Betty never bothered to find out his secret. Her curiosity about the shed and the workshop she hadn’t visited for 10 years was too strong to ignore. She spent the entire week pondering the mystery of why she had not gone inside in so long. She was determined to find out, so she called a local locksmith to help her get the door open.
Finally, the door opened, and she stepped inside the shed for the first time in 10 years. There was a bunch of tools, a workbench, and a large collection of documents and old photographs. She was amazed at how much she had been missing out on for so long. As she moved further into the workshop, she couldn’t help but notice that the place was dustier than it should have been.
Wilbert had died just 3 weeks ago, and the amount of dust in here was definitely not 3 weeks old. It was almost as if the workshop had not been used in years. She stood there for a moment, taking in the silence and the dust, and feeling the presence of Wilbert’s spirit in the room. She wiped away a tear and decided to keep the memory of the workshop to honor Wilbert’s memory and to keep his legacy alive.
It’s then something out of place caught her eye. It didn’t make sense to her because he was always in here for hours each day. So what had he been doing if he wasn’t working on the machines or with the tools? In a matter of hours, Mike excitedly moved the bench away from the spot to reveal something. It was the passageway to a secret room. Both mom and son were taken aback by the discovery of a secret trap door in the garage. Mike uncovered a set of stairs when he opened the unlocked trap door. The stairs led them to a narrow tunnel, which they followed. As her son, Mike, told her to watch her step as she ascended the second set of stairs, Betty couldn’t help but wonder how her husband had hidden this from her for all these years.
Finally getting up, they were stunned to find themselves in a garage that had just one classy-looking car. Betty and her son were baffled to find a path from her house that led to the garage. Who did this car belong to? Mike hopped into the car and started it.
Once he did, the built-in navigation and dashboard came on. Looking at them, he realized that there was a pre-loaded route programmed in it. The trip was a 30-minute drive, and right that second, Mike opened the garage door with the car’s remote. As Betty sat in the passenger seat, just as they were pulling out of the garage, Betty got a response to one of her many inquiries. The garage belonged to one of the houses in their neighborhood, which was up for sale.
The house had been on the market for so long without finding a buyer. At one point, she had been interested in buying the house, but when she couldn’t find a listing for it, she had given up on the house. And now here she was.
Betty surveyed the yard and outside of the home and found it to be in a sad state of disrepair. There was no mistaking the building’s plainly poor state. To look somewhat decent, it required extensive cleaning, repainting, and repair. She couldn’t fathom how someone could expect a property in such disrepair to fetch a fair price on the market.
Mike decided to ask around, so he went to a neighbor’s home up the street. He reasoned that, at least, the authorities would recognize the owner. Meanwhile, Betty made up her mind to look at the automobile and more. She found merely a single enormous black bag taking up the whole compartment. Upon reaching out to get it, she felt it hefted and realized it must have been something exceptional to have been left in a vehicle.
Betty nearly let out a loud yell as she ripped open the package. Discrete bundles of $100 banknotes were included. A lot of money was involved, maybe in the hundreds. As she shifted the cash out of the way, she saw that many sets of keys and several plastic cards were also tucked within. Mike was nearly back to the vehicle when she yelled for him to come over. They couldn’t believe their eyes. To answer the question, why would you need five phony identities? Betty got the dreadful thought that maybe she had never really known her late husband. Mike retrieved a number of key fobs from the black bag and began testing them on the front door knob. One of them finally did its job and opened the door.
In the end, he decided to wait to contact the authorities. He had a clearer picture of the situation, afraid of what they would find. He took Betty inside with him. Anyhow, the home was equally as dilapidated on the inside as it was on the exterior. There was no electricity, and just a sliver of light made its way through the drapes and shutters. Mike called down to her from a she could tell by his tone that he was overjoyed about his discovery.
As fast as she could, she made her way upstairs. Betty could hardly make out the artwork on the wall, but she could hear Mike in what turned out to be one of the bedrooms. When she walked in, he immediately pointed to a picture on the wall. She inched closer, straining her eyes to make out the painting subject. It was the most unexpected thing to turn up in the deserted home. This photograph of their family was very beautiful. Betty had no idea why it was there or whether Wilbert even wanted them to see it. In addition, there was something else present. The wall concealed a safe with an envelope taped to the outside.
Mike cautiously opened it and read it with both of their heads craning over it. The group was stunned. Wilbert had worked with shady characters and criminals in the past to make ends meet, and he was not proud of this. He located secure locations where criminals and lawbreakers could meet undisturbed. There had been an accidental beginning to it many years previously. Betty had a flashback to a previous discussion they had had about buildings like this one. Wilbert had stated an interest in purchasing a rental property, but Betty was concerned that doing so would be too high risk of an investment. Instead, he had secretly purchased a safety net because he disagreed and thought they should have won the home was disorganized and seemed deserted.
After arriving at the house one day, Wilbert discovered an unknown person hiding within. During a period when there was a widespread increase in crime in the city, the criminal in question had been doing business there to evade the authorities. He made Wilbert an offer of money in exchange for the use of the home in secret. It was an offer that couldn’t be refused.
He continued growing until the police came through and cleaned up the area, at which point the gangs left. However, it did not account for the safe. The code was located in the P’s footer. There was no way it wasn’t that specific mix. When Mike entered the correct code, the safe opened. More cash than anybody had anticipated was stuffed inside.
Betty was at a loss as to what to do with it. They almost called the cops but ultimately opted against it. Wilbert wished for them happiness and safety. They would respond just as you predicted.”
