Beast and Brantley went into a stare down. Finally Beast said, “Your cell phone. Call them now. I’m not counting on your ass to call me later or some shit to tell me what they said.”
“Why do you care about this?” Brantley asked.
Beast widened his eyes. “Because I care about Alexandra and it looks more and more like someone’s trying to put her in the middle of this shit.”
A cell phone sat on the coffee table. I picked it up and took it to Brantley.
We listened to him awkwardly explain about the bank card.
There was a long pause. Then his eyes went wide. “It’s there? In her wallet?”
Pause.
Brantley shook his head. “No, no. I’m just relieved it’s still there.” His words came out in such a rush, it made his relief believable. “Would you mind sending it to me? Or can I pick it up at her funeral?”
My head tipped back at his stupidity since that question blew a hole through the lie.
“Oh, yeah. I can try going to the bank, but I haven’t wanted to tell them Ines is dead yet. They might want a, um, form like a…”
“Death certificate,” Beast whispered.
Brantley nodded. “Death certificate, and I just—”
He stopped short. His eyes closed and he swallowed. “Yeah. That’d be good. I appreciate it, Mr. Tallow. I’ll text you my address, and I’m sorry to bother you.”
Pause.
“Right. I’ll send you half the money that’s there. No problem.”
Beast and I shared a look that said, there wasn’t a chance of that happening.
Brantley ended the call and sighed.
Tundra edged away from the kitchen. “Now that we know the ATM card is good, how are you gonna get the money? Do you know her PIN?”
He shook his head. “No, but I figured I could guess it.”
Beast shook his head. “Okay, I’m pretty sure we’re done here.”
“What about the drugs? You said you found them. I need to sell it so I can pay my rent, man.”
A mischievous glimmer hit Tundra’s eyes. “Work with your boy Toby, sell that other half of the kilo.”
“It got stolen,” Brantley clipped out.
Tundra threw his hands out and shook his head. “What can you do? There’s no honor among thieves or drug dealers. Another reason not to do drugs, man.”
At Tundra’s words, Beast stopped. He glanced at Brantley. “You know, I didn’t pressure your buddy last night about the stolen coke…but I find it strange that you hid cocaine in your girlfriend’s apartment, and then your buddy suddenly can’t find half of the stolen kilo.”
“What’s your point?” Brantley asked.
“Maybe good ol’ Toby’s just lying about the product being stolen. Like he said, there’s no honor among thieves. Just a thought.”
I drove us back to Alexandra’s, and cut the engine. “Before we go up there, do you think Ines was stashing the cash in Alexandra’s room and just hadn’t told her?”
Beast ran his hand down the side of his face. “Maybe. That would be the best case scenario, but my gut says someone wants to set her up for a fall.”
I shook my head. “But why? It doesn’t make sense.”
