Follow the money trail
Lying awake
He sipped the last of his drink. Closed his eyes momentarily to try and absorb the pleasure of the final taste slipping down his tongue and holding there for a few seconds. The first and last sips are always the best. Eyes open, he turns to his left, clicks the light off and in the darkness steps to the spiral staircase a room away. It is a trip he has made hundreds of times over the years. His hand reaches out before him and like a mid-air refueling the railing and his hand become one. In a controlled heave, his hand pulls him up onto the first step and the ascent begins, creaking and crackling as it did the first night he called it home. It doesn’t matter how many times he climbs the steps, they will still creek under his weight. The day will come when one day, he can make it up as quiet as a cat maneuvering in the night with its’ owners sleeping. Tonight is not that night. He reaches the landing, looks out the big window overlooking his driveway and yard.