Chapter 20
The next morning, I offered to chaperone Vero on her essential errands.
Ramón had left before dawn for his shop in Virginia.
Norma and Gloria had already left for work.
And Javi had agreed to let Vero out of his sight only when Vero suggested he join us for eyebrow waxes and manicures.
Satisfied to stay home and guard his masculinity and the house, he hadn’t posed an objection when Vero, Cam, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and I piled into my minivan for our errand run.
Cam reclined on the third-row bench seat with his laptop open on his thighs. He had his feet propped on the armrest in front of him, and Arnold was curled at his side. Vero strapped on the transmitter belt and buckled herself into the passenger seat.
“Where to?” Cam called up to us.
“Make it look like I’m in Costco,” Vero answered. “That place is huge. If Oates decides to check up on me, it’ll be easy to explain why she couldn’t find me.”
“I can’t just drop you in the middle of a Costco and leave you there. It’ll look suspicious.”
“So, make it look like I’m actually shopping.
Start in meats and produce, then frozen foods, canned goods, the pharmacy, and don’t forget all the weird random stuff they put in the middle.
And I always stop at the bakery,” she added.
“It’s right next to the liquor and wine.
Oops! I forgot. You’re not old enough to be familiar with that department. ”
Cam flipped her off.
He noticeably perked up when I pulled into the drive-through at the Taco Bell. Even Arnold stirred from his nap to sniff the air.
We picked up Vero’s order and continued on to Frat Row. Instead of parking without a permit, I idled along the curb. Vero passed the fast-food bag into the back seat to Cam. He brightened as he reached for it, but she promptly pulled it back.
“This is not for you. You’re going to take the bag to that sorority house and tell whoever answers the door it’s an order for Zoey Kline. Then you’re going to bring your ass right back here before anyone asks you any questions.”
Cam laughed, indignant. “I’m not your freaking DoorDash driver! I’m a highly skilled professional. I didn’t come all this way just to be your manservant.”
“I don’t recall asking you to volunteer.”
“What do I get out of it?”
“Food service experience. I hear that’s a promising career track for retired juvenile felons.”
“Enough,” I said before they could start throwing Zoey’s food at each other. “We’ll stop on the way home and I’ll get you a cheeseburger,” I promised him.
“Make it three cheeseburgers and an order of fries,” he said, temporarily mollified.
“But no onions. They give Arnold gas.” Cam shut his laptop and snatched the bag from Vero.
“I fucking hate sorority girls,” he grumbled.
“Just a bunch of spoiled, stuck-up, obnoxious brats.” He got out of the minivan and slammed the door behind him.
Cam lumbered up the front steps, hunching in his oversized graphic T, the loose laces of his Doc Martens dragging on the ground, as if he could imagine about a million other places he would rather be. He looked like most DoorDash drivers, assuming no one noticed that he’d arrived in a mom-mobile.
Cam rang the buzzer. Vero sank low in her seat as the door to the sorority house swung open. A young woman answered. Cam handed her the bag, presumably letting her know the food was for Zoey before he turned and jogged back to the minivan.
The side door slid open, and Cam climbed back inside.
“This is a dumb idea. Why couldn’t you have just called her on the phone and let me and Arnold have the gorditas?”
“Because we didn’t get her number last time we were here.”
Vero sat up when the door to the sorority house opened again.
Zoey came out, holding her take-out bag.
She wore a brightly colored cardigan over a vintage graphic tee.
It bore the name of an old punk band whose members were probably now part of the AARP, performing afternoon concerts for senior-citizen communities somewhere in Florida.
The click of Cam’s keyboard paused as Zoey spotted us and made a beeline toward my van.
She hauled open the sliding door and climbed into the back seat. Vero lifted her armrest and moved to sit with Zoey as she opened her meal.
“Thanks for the food,” she said as she squirted pizza sauce on her gordita and deftly reassembled it.
“I was up late playing Monster Hunter. The game developers released an amazing update last night, and I slept through breakfast.” Her eyes rolled up in bliss as she stuffed her gordita into her mouth.
Cam stared at her, dumbstruck. Arnold let out a yip.
Zoey turned in her seat. She dropped her gordita and blinked at Cam. “Who’s this?” she asked, wiping pizza sauce from her lips.
He rushed to answer before Vero had a chance.
“I’m Cam. I’m Vero’s friend. And this is my buddy Arnold.
” Cam threw Vero a pleading look as Zoey cooed and swooned over his dog.
Arnold’s tiny tail wagged frantically. I thought hearts would burst from Cam’s eyes when Zoey reached between the seats and offered Arnold a small corner of her tortilla.
“Did you have any luck finding Theo?” Zoey asked us as she ate.
Vero glanced up at me in the rearview mirror as if trying to decide how much to say. We had agreed before coming that mentioning our trip to Theo’s house to anyone—even Cam—wouldn’t be wise. “Not exactly,” Vero said. “He was acting really suspicious, and then he sort of disappeared.”
“We’re beginning to think Theo might have been the person who took the money from Vero’s closet the night it went missing,” I explained, “but we don’t know how he would have gotten into the building so late at night.
If we can figure that out, we might be able to cast doubt on the veracity of the charges against Vero.
We need to know if Theo was involved with any of the other girls in KG.
Did you ever notice him hanging out with anyone other than Vero? Maybe visiting someone else’s room?”
Zoey looked confused.
Cam listened, rapt, as Vero filled in the gaps. “Jackson saw Theo leave the frat house the night the money went missing. He drove off after the party with a girl.”
“But … that can’t be right. You said you spent the night in his room.
” Zoey’s brows pulled down. They shot up suddenly as she finally understood.
“Oh my god! Theo ditched you and left with someone else? Who?” Her expression was appalled, like she was ready to storm the house in defense of Vero’s honor.
Vero shook her head. “We don’t know. Jackson said it was too dark to see who it was, but we suspect she may be the same person who let him into our sorority house that night.”
“That could explain why there were no strange names on the entry log,” Zoey said thoughtfully.
Vero’s eyes caught mine in the mirror. “What entry log?” she asked Zoey.
“The police wanted copies of all the security logs from the night of the party. They asked Celeste for a list of every person who used their key card to get into the house that night. She made everyone in the building come to a mandatory house meeting. She asked if anyone had opened the door that night for someone who wasn’t a resident of KG.
No one remembered giving anyone access who wasn’t supposed to be there. ”
“No one remembered? Or no one was willing to fess up?” Vero asked.
“I don’t know.” Zoey stuffed her empty wrapper back into the bag and crumpled it up.
“All I know is that Celeste made a copy of the key-card log and emailed it to the investigators. She said we should all be prepared to cooperate with the police if any of them came to talk to us about where we went or what we saw that night.”
“We need that list,” Vero said to me quietly.
“If that security log was submitted as evidence in the case, maybe your attorney can get you a copy of it,” I suggested.
“If my name wasn’t on those security logs—and it definitely wasn’t—then the prosecutor wouldn’t have had a reason to submit them as evidence. It wouldn’t do anything to support their case. And we don’t have time to wait for Don to wade through all the red tape to—”
“I can get it.” Cam sat forward in his seat. He’d been so quiet, I’d almost forgotten he was there. “If this Celeste lady emailed a copy of that log to the police, there’s probably a copy of it on her hard drive. Wouldn’t be hard to find.”
“I thought you didn’t want to be anyone’s manservant,” Vero said, parroting his words back at him. “I seem to recall something about how you didn’t want to help because you fucking hate sorority girls and they’re just a bunch of spoiled, stuck-up, obnoxious—”
“I never said that!” Cam’s wide gray eyes darted quickly to Zoey. “Quit putting words in my mouth, Ruiz! What I said is that I’m a professional. Do you want the freaking security logs or not?”
They stared at each other over the back seat.
“What would you have to do to get them?” I asked.
I didn’t like the idea of involving Cam any more than we already had, but if it was something he could handle remotely without getting caught, it would give Vero and me a huge advantage.
We would have the list of everyone who entered the building that night, so at least we’d know where to start looking for Theo’s accomplice … and his probable murderer.
“I’d need access to the computer Celeste emailed it from.”
“That’s it?” As long as I’d known him, he’d never willingly offered his services without demanding payment in food or cash.
“That’s it.” He risked a shy glance at Zoey. If I didn’t know Cam better, I’d think he was trying to impress her. “I can be in and out in five minutes.”
Vero laughed. “You’re not gonna win her over with that.”
Cam’s face heated. “Laugh it up, Costco! Next time you ask me for a favor, I’ll drop your ass at the police station!”
“I can get you into Celeste’s office,” Zoey offered.
Cam and Vero both turned to look at her.
“Celeste is coming to the house for a meeting tomorrow,” Zoey said. “I know because I scheduled it for her. Her meeting is in the library, so her office will be empty. It’ll probably be unlocked. I can sneak you in, if that would help.”
Cam looked a little too eager to accept. “Heck yeah. What time should we come back?”