Chapter 16 #2
Vero froze, a look of pure mortification etched on her face as Sophia emerged from the house directly behind her.
Sophia strutted across her front yard in an indecently short pair of cutoffs, the kind only a twenty-five-year-old ass could pull off.
I had no doubt that at twenty-two, Vero would have looked just as stunning in a pair of her own, if she hadn’t been stuck wearing several electronic devices and a sweatshirt that made her look like the Liberty Bell.
Sophia strolled toward Vero with a glossy smirk as Vero turned around. The two women stood facing each other, arms crossed and chests out as I ran to catch up to them.
“Wow, Veronica. How long has it been since we’ve run into each other? More than a year?”
“Not nearly long enough.”
“You’ve been gone so long, it’s like you were never here. Imagine my surprise when I spotted you on my Ring cam just now. I almost didn’t recognize you. You’ve really packed on the pounds.”
Vero’s eyes frosted over. “If it wasn’t for the sulfurous odor wafting from your side of the street, I might not have recognized you either.”
“Nice,” Sophia said with a snide curl of her lip.
“You know, your cousin came by yesterday morning to say hi to me. Then I bumped into Javier last night at a bar. It was so great catching up with him. Like one big, happy homecoming. Funny,” she said, tapping her chin, “the whole time Javi and I were talking, your name never once came up. But I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.
I heard the cops have been keeping you on a very tight leash. ”
“Takes a dog to know one.”
Sophia rolled her eyes. “There’s no reason to be petty. I get that you’re jealous, but you can’t blame Javi for having a little fun while you were gone. I mean, I know you think you’re hot shit, but you didn’t really expect him to wait for you, did you?”
Vero’s mouth fell open. Her eyes brimmed with rage.
“Oh my god. You totally did.” Sophia laughed and touched her heart. “That’s so sweet. And so completely naive of you.”
I touched Vero’s arm. “We should go,” I said in a low voice.
She held up a hand. “I’m not going anywhere until this ho tells me what she did with my boyfriend!”
“He wasn’t your boyfriend until you made him chase you all the way to Virginia. But now that he’s back, I’ll be happy to help him pass the time while you’re doing yours in the slammer.”
Vero’s hands curled into fists. Her ankle monitor flashed like a countdown to launch.
Footsteps pounded on the pavement behind me. I turned in time to see Javi and Ramón sprinting down the street toward us. They skidded to a stop when they reached Sophia’s driveway.
“What the hell, Veronica!” Ramón shouted. “You’re supposed to stay in the yard!”
I jumped to intercept him. “Everything is fine. I swear! I was here with her the whole time.” I wasn’t about to explain the belt in front of Sophia. I was afraid Vero might suddenly remember she was wearing something that could be used as a means of strangulation.
Sophia glanced over Vero’s shoulder at the three of us. She smiled seductively at Javi, playing with a lock of her long, dark hair. “Hey, Javier. The bruises are looking good.”
I thought Vero might go ballistic. Her eyes narrowed on Javi. “Sophia was just telling me all the fascinating things I missed after I left for college.”
Sophia winked at him. “Not all the things.”
Vero lunged for her. Javi grabbed her by the arms before she could swing.
“You’re such a bitch!” Sophia snapped. Ramón held her back as she tried for a sucker punch.
“I’ve got twenty on Vero!” Cam called out from the back of the van. Cam held up both thumbs, looking pleased with himself. “Don’t worry, Mrs. D. Her signal’s good, even with all that interference.”
“No one’s betting on anyone,” I shouted over the ruckus. “We’re leaving. Right now.”
Javi shot Sophia an admonishing look as he and Ramón towed Vero back to the house. She kicked and swore at them, dangling between them by her armpits. They didn’t let her feet touch the ground until they were safely out of Sophia’s sight.
Vero whirled on her cousin and punched him in the arm. “Sophia? Seriously? You let Javi sleep with that tramp?! You have so much explaining to do, Ramón!”
“Me?” he cried, shielding himself with his forearm. “How did you make it all the way to her house without your damn alarm going off?”
“And why do you look like you ate twelve boxes of Krispy Kremes?” Javi asked, frowning at her sweatshirt. She turned on him and started hitting him, too. The Fantastic Four began shambling out of their houses, the commotion drawing them into the street like a horde of the Walking Dead.
“Everybody into the van!” I opened the back door and directed everyone inside until we were packed like sardines in a big white can. I slammed the door, locking us in.
“What the hell is all this?” Ramón asked, careful to avoid sitting on scraps of duct tape and wires. “And what’s Cam doing here?”
Vero lifted her sweatshirt. Javi and Ramón nearly tripped over themselves as they scrambled away from her, both of them falling backward against the side of the van. Vero dropped her sweatshirt. “Relax, you idiots, it’s not a bomb.”
“Then what the hell is it?” Javi asked.
“It’s a GPS spoofer,” Cam answered.
Javi’s terror morphed into surprise. “It actually works?”
“Of course it works.” Cam looked offended. “She could drive this van across twelve state lines, and the cops would think she’s still in her bedroom.”
Vero’s eyes lit up as if she was imagining the possibilities. I got a little nervous when Javi’s did, too.
“What if I wanted them to think I was somewhere else?” Vero asked. “Like the grocery store. Or in church?”
Cam shrugged. “All I need is the GPS coordinates and I can put you there.”
Ramón looked at the three of them as if they were all crazy.
“The only place Veronica’s going is inside that house!
” He lifted the hem of her sweatshirt and reached for the belt.
She smacked his hands, hollering at him in Spanish as he unfastened it and removed it from her waist. He shook it in Cam’s face. “Was this your idea?”
Arnold’s whole body trembled as he lifted his leg over Cam’s laptop. Cam scooped up the device, whisking it out of the way just as Arnold let out a stream of urine. “Could you maybe stop yelling? You’re upsetting my dog!” Cam picked Arnold up, whispering soothing words in his ear.
Ramón shoved a grease-stained rag at Cam, clearly expecting him to clean up his dog’s mess.
“Go easy on the kid,” Javi said. “He was only trying to help.”
“Help her with what? He’s going to get her sent to prison!”
Javi’s expression turned hard. “Vero’s not going to prison! I won’t let that happen.”
“None of us will let that happen,” I reminded them both sharply.
“We’re going to stick to the plan and talk to Theo, but we’re not going to solve anything if we’re all fighting.
” I lowered my voice when nobody argued.
“It’s getting late. Gloria and Norma will probably be home soon, so I suggest we all go inside and pull ourselves together before they get here. ”
Javi got out of the van. Vero folded her arms over her chest and glared daggers at the floor.
Ramón tipped her chin up, forcing her to meet his gaze.
“Javi and I will get you out of this mess, Vero, but you have to stay out of trouble. If Cam wants to help so bad, he can tell us where Theo lives. You got the guy’s license plate, right? ”
She threw a quick sideways glance at me as she shook her head, warning me not to say a word.
“Then we’ll go back to the bar tonight and follow Theo home if we have to. We’ll make him listen to reason. Let me and Javi handle this. No more sneaking around.”
Javi reached for Vero’s hand to help her out of the van, but she smacked it away.
I suspected her rebuff had as much to do with her encounter with Sophia as with her agitation over the confiscation of her transmitter belt.
She stormed out of the van and into the house, then slammed the door behind her.
There was nothing I could say to Javi that he didn’t already know about her.
She was angry and frustrated and probably a little scared, and she needed some time alone to cool off.
There was no sense talking to her—or Ramón—about any of this now.
“Hey,” Cam said as he climbed out, too. His shoulders were hunched under the weight of his backpack and the traumatized Chihuahua under his arm. “You think me and Arnold could use the bathroom and get some food? It was a long drive up here, and we haven’t eaten since breakfast.”
“Yes,” I interjected before Ramón could say no. Cam reached for the transmitter belt. Ramón glared at him, practically daring him to take it. Cam put up his hand and backed away, giving Ramón a wide berth as he carried the belt with him into the house.
“Come inside,” I said to Cam. “I’ll fix you and Arnold something to eat.”