Chapter 25
Thirty minutes later, Javi was still passed out in the recliner. Vero covered him with one of her mother’s knitted blankets, put a pillow under his cast, and made a phone call to Lenore, offering her a handsome reward to keep an eye on Javi for the next few hours.
He hadn’t so much as moved a muscle when Lenore showed up with the rest of the Fantastic Four in tow. With any luck, we’d make it to the party, get a confession out of Mia, and we’d deal with the consequences of Norma’s wrath when we returned home.
Vero’s elderly neighbors stood in the living room, Eugene leaning on his cane and Joan on her oxygen cart, listening to Vero rattle off her instructions.
“Javi’s had a lot of painkillers, and he’ll probably sleep for a while,” she told them.
“I left a glass of water and his pills on the side table in case he wakes up. All you have to do is keep him comfortable until my mom and Gloria get home. What are you going to tell him if he asks where I’ve gone?
” Vero asked, holding a twenty-dollar bill in the air in front of Lenore.
“That you went out to run an important errand with Finlay and you’ll be back in a few hours.” Lenore took the twenty and zipped it into her handbag.
Vero moved on to Wendell and held up another twenty. “What is your most important job?”
“Not to let Javi leave the house, no matter what.” Wendell took the twenty with a wide smile before tucking it into his pocket protector.
Vero moved down the line to Joan like a drill sergeant testing her soldiers. “And what will you tell Officer Oates if she calls or comes looking for me?”
“That you went to bed early with a headache and you don’t want to be disturbed.” Joan reached for the twenty, but Vero held it out of reach.
“And…?”
“And she’s not allowed inside without a warrant.” Satisfied, Vero handed over the twenty, and Joan stuffed it into her bra.
“I’m hungry,” Eugene said.
“There’s roast chicken and salad in the kitchen.”
“You promised us pizza,” he reminded her.
She shook her head at him and gave him the rest of her cash. “You can order a few pizzas. But lock the door after the delivery driver comes. And if you watch TV, keep the volume down. Remember, if Javi wakes up, don’t let him leave the house.”
The four of them settled onto the sofa and love seat in the living room, bickering over who should control the remote.
“Where’s Cam?” Vero asked me. She checked her watch and peered down the basement steps.
A light was still on in Ramón’s room. “If he doesn’t hurry up, I’m going to hot-wire his damn car and drive it to the party myself.
It’s roasting in here.” She plucked at the front of Gloria’s sweater.
The chunky cable-knit she’d found in her aunt’s closet was the only article of clothing baggy enough to cover the duct-taped battery packs around Vero’s waistline.
“I’m sure he’ll be out in a minute.”
“I don’t understand what’s taking him so long. He already shaved once today. And he used enough of Ramón’s eau de toilette this morning to leave chem trails behind the car. If he puts on any more of that stuff, we’ll need to tape a hazard warning to his forehead and keep him away from open flames.”
“Cut him some slack. He’s never been to a college party before, and he’s probably nervous.”
“Nervous about what? All he has to do is set my transmitter beacon, drive us to the party, and wait for us in the car!”
“I’m sure he’d also like to make a good impression on Zoey.”
Vero looked appalled. “He’s too young for her.”
“He’s eighteen, and she’s only a sophomore. She can’t be that much older than him.”
“She’s not interested.”
“Says who?”
“Says her Big, that’s who. Zoey’s got a bright future ahead of her, and I’m not going to let her do anything—or anyone—that stupid.”
“You sound like your mother.”
Vero gasped.
I held up my hands. “I’m just saying, I’m pretty sure Norma said the exact same thing when she was trying to keep Javi away from you.”
“That’s not the same thing, and you know it!”
“It’s not all that different either,” I pointed out. “Be nice. Here he comes.”
Cam emerged from the basement carrying Arnold under one arm and his backpack over the other. He twirled the keys to the Eggplant, tossing them and catching them as he walked. There was a spring in the step of his Doc Martens as they strode toward us.
“Took you long enough,” Vero muttered.
“I borrowed one of Ramón’s shirts,” he said, smoothing down his collar. “I wasn’t sure if I should go with the blue one or the black one.”
“You look very nice,” I assured him, elbowing Vero before she could say something snide.
“Let’s go,” Vero said. “We have a party to get to.”
“Okay, but first I have to stop at the sorority house to pick up Zoey.”
Vero frowned. “No one said anything about bringing Zoey.”
“She said she needed a ride.”
“When was that?”
“This afternoon, when we were texting.”
I threw Vero an I told you so look.
Vero bit her tongue. She jerked open the front door and froze.
Officer Oates stood on the stoop, her hand poised to knock.
She looked down her nose at Vero and her bulky sweater.
Her scrutinizing gaze slid past her to Cam, Arnold, and me, then to the Fantastic Four in the living room, and finally to Javi.
She frowned at the odd makeup of the gathering as the Fantastic Four argued over pizza toppings and who got to pick the TV show.
“Having a party?” Officer Oates asked.
“Are parties against the rules?” Vero’s tone was a little aggressive, and I poked her in the back. The last thing we needed was to piss this woman off.
“Not as long as they don’t get out of hand. What happened to him?” she asked, jutting her chin at Javi’s cast. His mouth was hanging open in his sleep, and his face was still covered in bruises from his fight.
“Climbing accident,” Vero said quickly. “He’s a friend of the family. All the neighbors came over to keep him company. It was a pretty nasty fall.”
Officer Oates looked suspicious. “Is that so?” she asked thoughtfully.
“As you can see, I’m home,” Vero said scornfully.
She swept an arm around her, gesturing to her neighbors.
“We were just about to order pizza and watch a really terrible movie. Maybe after that, we’ll get really rowdy and play a round of Go Fish.
If you came here to check up on me expecting booze, drugs, and strippers, I’m sorry to disappoint you. ”
Joan snapped to attention. “Did someone order strippers?”
Wendell perked up. “I’d like some, too.”
Vero heaved a sigh. “No strippers tonight. Go back to your TV show.”
“That sucks,” Eugene said.
Cam patted him on the back. “I get it. I’d be disappointed, too.”
“I didn’t come to check up on you,” Officer Oates said.
“I came to check on an acquaintance of yours … Theodore Sideris?” Officer Oates studied Vero’s blank face as if she were searching for a reaction.
“Mr. Sideris was reported missing by his employer yesterday. They say he hasn’t called in to work in a few days and he’s not answering his phone.
The number appears to have been disconnected, and no one’s answering at his home address.
His boss mentioned there was an altercation at the bar where he worked a few days ago, during his most recent shift.
The investigator from Missing Persons who was assigned to Mr. Sideris’s case pulled up his records, and lo and behold, his name was cross-referenced in a list of potential witnesses with yours.
That seemed like an awfully surprising connection to me, so I offered to come here and see if you might know anything about Mr. Sideris’s whereabouts. ”
“I haven’t seen or talked to Mr. Sideris since the night my charges were filed,” Vero said.
“He hasn’t bothered to show up for me, so if you came here to see if I care about the fact that he can’t be bothered to show up for his employer, I’m going to have to disappoint you again.
I have no idea where Theo is or how to get in touch with him.
If you find him, feel free to bring him here for a slice of pizza.
I have plenty of questions I’ve been dying to ask him. ”
Officer Oates and Vero stared at each other, neither one of them blinking.
After a long moment, Officer Oates looked around the room and gave a curt nod. “Enjoy your party. I’ll check in with you tomorrow.” She tipped an imaginary hat to Vero’s neighbors and walked back to her car.
Vero slammed the door and threw the dead bolt. She pressed her face to the peephole and stared outside. “That’s just great,” she said irritably. “She’s just sitting out there in her car.”
“There’s no way we’ll get out of here without her seeing us,” I said. “Maybe we should wait and come up with something else.”
Vero dragged me out of earshot of the others and whispered, “We can’t wait, Finn. You heard her, someone’s already filed a missing persons report. We need to figure out what happened to Theo and the money, and we need to do it tonight.”
Cam groaned. “Can I at least go to the party without you? Zoey hasn’t seen the Eggplant, and I was really hoping to show it off.”
Joan perked up again. “Who’s showing off their eggplant?”
Vero looked disgusted. “No one, Joan. Go back to your … Wait,” Vero said, as if she’d been struck by an idea. “The Eggplant. That’s the solution, Finn. That’s how we’ll make it to the party without Oates seeing us.”
I knew that look in Vero’s eyes, and I had a feeling I was going to regret asking. “How?”
Vero pulled Cam into our huddle. “Cam, you and Arnold are going to leave through the front door and drive the Eggplant to the bus stop at the entrance of the community. When you get there, use your spoofer to make it look like I’m in my bedroom,” she said, pointing to her belt.
“Wait for us at the bus stop. Finlay and I will meet you there in ten minutes.” Vero turned to me.
“You and I will sneak out through the back door, cut through the woods, and meet Cam at the bus stop. Oates will see your minivan parked in front of the house and assume we were here the whole damn time. She’ll probably get tired of watching and leave.
If everything goes according to plan, Officer Oates will never know we were gone. ”