I was a free man at last, for the first time in decades.

They’d watched me from afar for so long, then one day they just stopped, they’d given up, I’ve won! I didn’t notice, of course, until a friend told me who knew about these sorts of things. He didn’t tell me for free, though. I had to give him a case of beer and lend him my ear and listen to all his grief and guilt that he couldn’t share to anyone else but me. He knew I could keep my mouth shut. He was not a good person, I can tell you that much, but then again, neither was I.

He didn’t know what I did and he didn’t bother asking; it’s always smarter to keep your nose where it belonged unless you were asking for trouble. It hadn’t been an easy decade. They hold grudges for a long time around here, but luckily there is law, at least the honor code kept me safe. They got nothing to pin me on, my work was clean. But they knew it was me, of course it was me. I’ve worked for them for so long… How could I not know about the thing? I hid it in a very good place and they were waiting for me to check up on it. I never did. I got more patience than they but I was damn near sick of pretending at one point, so much so that I had to live the lie, believe it was real. That’s what good liars and scoundrels do. The only problem was that I pretended so well that I forgot what I stole. The thing is all I remember. I know where I put it: in the western edge of town between two fields on the 7th tree… But those directions were useless now, so much had changed.

It would take a while to pinpoint exactly where I put it and farmers are very watchful of their property so I couldn’t just start digging without causing suspicion. I know Alisson would’ve loved to see what I hid, but she’s dead now. I don’t even care anymore, frankly. It’s not all that valuable, I think, at least not to the amount of effort that it took to take it. Maybe if I could sell it without digging it up? If I could somehow prove what I have… if I could keep my identity a secret… Ah, what a headache.

But at least it was exciting for a little while and I did get away with it. So that must count for something, right?