Shane grabs Eddie by the shoulder, pushing him to the door. “We need to get that out of here. Like right now.”
Eddie has the sleep shorts and knife still gripped in his hand and moves it behind his back when he leaves my room. Shane is directlybehind him, shielding it from view. I’m right on their heels. No one at the party pays us any attention as we move across the yard to the garage, walking straight to the car the guys started working on after finishing with Ben’s Mustang. It’s elevated a couple of feet off the ground and all the tires are off to the side.
“Pull the oil pan off,” Eddie says. Shane drops down on the little roller board thing they use to slide under the car. In a minute or two he is sliding back out, the pan resting on his chest and stomach. Eddie drops the knife and my sleep shorts in the pan, which is partially filled with oil. It only takes a few seconds for them to sink out of sight.
“Okay, put it back.”
Oh my God.
Once Shane is out from under the car, Eddie hustles us all out of the garage.
“Sit,” Shane says.
I find an empty folding chair not far from the keg. Eddie fills up cups for all three of us while Shane pulls two more chairs closer, putting them on each side of me.
My blood is pounding and my hands are trembling so bad that beer is spilling over the edge of the cup. “I can’t sit out here. I need to find out who was in my room. Who would do this to me.”
I go to get up but Eddie puts a hand on my leg, holding me in my seat. “No, we’re waiting right here. There will be time for that later but not right now.”
Shane puts his arm on the back of my chair, his hand resting on my shoulder. “The only reason you plant something like that in a place where it would easily be discovered is so the cops find it. You’re not supposed tobe here. You should still be at work. So there’s a good chance the cops will arrive before you’re scheduled to be home.”
“You think the cops are going to show up here?” My voice is shrill.
Shane nods. “Yeah, I do.”
Eddie says, “And we’re going to be shocked when that happens since all we’re trying to do is enjoy our housemate’s boyfriend’s birthday party.”
The wait is excruciating. It’s only about an hour before my normal shift ends and I don’t know what we’re going to do if we pass that time and no one has shown up. But almost as soon as I start to think the guys have overreacted, the wail of sirens has us all turning around.
The driveway is only wide enough for one car, but the noise tells us there is definitely more than one out front.
Half a dozen cops flood the backyard. The music is turned off while we all stare at them.
One of the cops steps forward. “I need everyone to stay right where you are. We’re looking for Aubrey Price.”
The three of us stand and I raise my hand slowly. “I’m Aubrey Price.”
He moves toward me, a piece of paper extended. “We have a warrant to search your premises.”
There’s no need to fake being shocked, because even though the guys told me this was likely, I’m absolutely floored this is happening. I take the paper from him but don’t look at it. “I don’t understand. Why do you need to search my room?”
“It’s all listed on the warrant, but to summarize, we are searching for a hunting knife that matches the description of the one missing from the Bayliss home.”
“This is crazy! I don’t have anyone’s knife!”
Eddie puts a hand on my arm. “Aub, it’s best to just let them do what they need to do.”
Serenity moves closer. “I don’t know why y’all are here but this is bullshit.”
Shane shakes his head at her then whispers softly, “Don’t give them any reason to arrest you, okay?”
It looks like she’s about to go off on them, but Frank slides an arm around her and whispers something in her ear. Whatever he says seems to settle her down.
The cop looks at Eddie, Shane, and Serenity. “Are you the other residents?”
They nod and Serenity adds, “There’s another one but he works nights.”
Eddie asks, “Does the warrant cover the search of the entire house or just Aubrey’s space?”
