Chapter 29 #3
“After graduation last spring,” Vero continued, “when you and Bennett moved out of your frat house and into your shiny condominium, you realized you needed a new hiding place to stow all that cash. So you gave it to Theo to keep at his house, probably because his place was too much of a dump for Mia to ever step foot in and she was less likely to find it. I’m guessing good old reputable Bennett didn’t want his sweet, adoring fiancée to figure out that his friends were the ones who’d actually stolen it.
” Vero’s eyes were fuming when they landed on him.
“You were lying like a rug when you said you had no idea where Theo lived. You knew all along. As soon as I told you I was looking for him, you went to his house to move the cash, didn’t you? ”
Ben studied her as if she were a problem to solve. “Is that what you think? That I took it?”
“I think you murdered him. Because you knew it was only a matter of time before I found him, and you didn’t want him cutting a deal and blabbing to the cops about everything you all had done.
Well, guess what. We know Theo’s here, and we know exactly where you’re hiding his body.
And when the cops show up, we’re going to tell them everything you’ve—”
The shop door swung open. Theo nearly dropped the beer in his hand when he spotted Vero lying handcuffed on the floor. His wide eyes leaped to Bennett, then to Jackson. “You said no one knew I was here!”
Vero’s jaw dropped. “I don’t understand,” she sputtered. “If you’re out here, then who’s under there?”
“Under where?” Theo asked as if she’d completely lost her mind.
Vero jerked her chin toward the shelf. “Rolled up in that damn shower curtain!”
Bennett laughed darkly. He strode to the trash can and tossed the rest of his pizza into it.
“You seriously think we’d be foolish enough to roll a body in a shower curtain?
” He chuckled to himself as he brushed the crumbs off his hands.
He crossed the room and knelt beside the shelf.
The plastic crinkled as he grabbed the end of the rolled-up shower curtain and pulled it out from its hiding spot.
It slid out easily, as if it weighed little more than a few pounds.
He stood in the middle of the roll with a flourish.
The stiff plastic flattened under his shoes.
“I hate to disappoint you, but nobody’s dead, Veronica. ”
“If there isn’t a body in it, then why is it here?” I asked, incredulous.
“And why does it stink like bleach?” Vero added.
Theo looked down at us with disgust. “Because I only had one suitcase and ten minutes to pack all my shit and get the hell out of my house! I had no idea how long I’d be stuck hiding out here!
I grabbed the first sturdy waterproof thing I saw, threw everything I could fit on top of it, rolled the whole thing up, and brought it all here. ”
Bennett pressed his palms to his eyes as if he was losing his patience. “And it smells because Theo’s shower curtain was disgusting. It was making the entire storage room smell like mildew, so we made him bleach it. What would you have used to clean it?”
“I’m not buying it,” Vero said. “If there’s nothing fishy going on, why is Theo hiding out here?”
“Are you kidding?” Theo asked, not bothering to mask his disdain.
“You have the nerve to ask me that, after you sent all those people to harass me? Your attorney left so many messages on my phone I had to cancel my number! Your psycho boyfriend and your cousin have been lurking outside the bar where I work—which you clearly already know,” Theo said, pointing at me. “And then your crazy-ass mother—”
“Don’t you talk about my mother!” Vero warned him.
“She and her lunatic sister showed up at my house, insisting that I file some report saying I was with you the night the money went missing. I told them I couldn’t do that, so they threatened me.”
“Threatened you? How?” I asked.
“They said if I didn’t come forward as a witness, they would make sure I never witnessed anything ever again. The scary one threatened to brain me with a rolling pin.”
“That’s not good,” I muttered to Vero.
“I don’t know if I should be horrified or impressed,” she said.
“They told me they’d give me forty-eight hours to think about it.
The whole time, they were stalking me, showing up at my bar at night and my gym during the day, dressed all in black, watching me from their car like a couple of psychopaths.
They even put a freaking tracker on my bumper!
I had to throw the damn AirTag in the river just to keep them from following me.
” Vero and I exchanged a guilty glance. “There was no way I was going to sit at home waiting for those two nutjobs to come back. I needed a place to lie low, so Jackson offered to let me crash here while his boss is on vacation.” That explained the pillow and blanket on the couch.
Vero still looked skeptical. “If none of you stole the money, then how do you explain all the cash in that box we opened?”
Jackson set down his fire extinguisher. He grabbed a bound stack of bills from the box and tossed it onto the floor in front of Vero’s face, as if he couldn’t believe she was foolish enough to ask.
I picked it up for her, studying the stack under the dim lights of the storage room.
The front of the bills looked convincingly real, until I turned them over.
“They’re … coupons?” A surprised laugh slipped out of me as I fanned the edges.
The glossy paper they were printed on wasn’t even convincing, and a promotional offer was detailed on the back.
They were just a sales gimmick, all the usual disclaimers laid out in fine print: New customer?
Get a free one-hour image consultation—valued at one hundred dollars—if you cash in the coupon before it expires.
Bennett snatched the coupons from my hand and tossed them back into the box, his cheeks flushing with embarrassment.
“I’m new at the PR firm and I’m trying to build my clientele.
My boss agreed to donate the paper if I pay for printing, but printing isn’t cheap.
Jackson offered to do them for me while his boss is out of town.
All I have to pay for is the ink. Are you happy now? ” Ben glared at both of us.
“So … you didn’t take the money?” I asked for clarification. It seemed a legitimate question since he hadn’t technically denied it.
“No,” he said snidely, “we didn’t take the money.”
I looked to Theo and Jackson. They crossed their arms over their chests.
“And you have no idea who did?” I asked.
Their gazes slid to Vero. Which explained why they weren’t panicking and running for their cars. They had no reason to be afraid of the police showing up here because none of them had done anything wrong. We, on the other hand …
I stood and brushed dirt and cobwebs from my knees. “This has obviously been a big misunderstanding. We should go.”
“Don’t let us stop you,” Theo muttered.
Vero twisted sideways to flip him off as I helped her to her feet.
We all paused to stare at her coat. A blank sheet of paper was stuck to the front of it, the same size and shape as a dollar bill.
Bennett and Jackson exchanged an anxious look as I reached for it.
The paper was slightly damp and smelled strongly of bleach.
Bennett shook his head at me, as if he knew what I was thinking. “That has nothing to do with you,” he said in a cold voice. He reached for the bleached bill as he started toward me.
I dove for the box cutter. Shielding Vero behind my body, I held the blade out in front of me. Bennett stopped in his tracks.
I walked sideways to the shower curtain. Keeping one eye trained on Bennett, I unrolled the shower curtain slowly with my foot. Vero sucked in a breath. I glanced down. Dozens of bleached bills had been spread over the vinyl, where they had been rolled up and quietly tucked away, presumably to dry.
“We were right,” I said, stalling as I considered my next move. “I wasn’t imagining the clues. You’re using Jackson’s print shop to make counterfeit bills.” I held up the one in my hand as I put a few feet of distance between us. “I thought you said you didn’t steal the money!”
“We didn’t,” Bennett said, eyeing the box cutter warily. “That money you’re holding belongs to Theo.”
“Bullshit!” Vero shouted over my shoulder.
“If it’s Theo’s money, then where did he get it?” I asked.
Theo opened his mouth to answer, but Bennett held up his hand. “He takes a few cash bets at some of the campus parties, just a couple of small bills,” he added, as if that absolved them of any crime. “He gives the bettors reasonable odds on the games, and everyone comes away happy.”
Vero choked out a laugh. “And we’re just supposed to believe you?”
Theo cut in. “If we had the money you stole from the sorority house, I wouldn’t be bleaching my tips from the bar just to make my monthly car payment!” Ben shot him a warning look.
I had no reason to believe Bennett after all the lies he’d fed us—he was clearly the spin doctor and the mouthpiece of their group—but everything Theo blurted had felt raw and true. That’s probably why Ben had been so reluctant to let him speak.
Vero must have sensed that, too.
“If you three didn’t take the money, and I didn’t take the money, then who did?” she asked.
And, more important, what was going to happen to us now?
Bennett took another step toward us. Jackson and Theo followed.
I backed slowly toward the exit, keeping Vero behind me. There were three of them and two of us, and Vero was in handcuffs. This was not a fight we would win.
Jackson paused when a siren wailed somewhere in the distance. His gaze dropped to Vero’s ankle and the color drained from his cheeks. He nudged Bennett. “You hear that? What if they’re coming for her?” he asked, hooking his thumb toward Vero.
Bennett swore as the siren grew louder. If nothing else, Vero’s bluff had rattled him.
He raked a hand through his hair as if he was working through the problem.
“Look,” he said in a saccharine-smooth voice.
“If those cops are looking for you, you probably don’t want them showing up here anymore than we do. I’m willing to make a deal if you are.”
“What kind of deal?” Vero asked sharply.
“You give me that blank piece of paper in your hand, and you walk out of here right now. Neither of you tell a soul what you think you saw in this shop tonight, and we won’t tell the cops you were ever here.”
“We know what we saw tonight,” Vero said.
“Maybe you do,” Ben replied with a shrug. “But if the police do catch you here, it’ll be your word against ours, and you’re the one with the trial date.” He held out his hand for the bleached bill.
As much as I hated to admit it, Bennett was right. Even if we did tell the police what we saw here tonight, by the time they got a warrant to search the place, there’d be nothing left to find. Bennett would make it all disappear. That was his job. I had no doubts he was good at it.
I handed over the bill and steered Vero out the door.