Max screwed up her face and twisted away. “I’m not giving you the code to my phone.”
Riley screamed, “It’s 0–9–1–1! Please don’t murder us!”
Vero secured the tote back over Max’s head. She typed in the code, flashing me a thumbs-up as the home screen opened. She worked fast, skimming through apps and messages on both of their devices.
“I swear on Max’s life, we didn’t tell anyone we were coming!” Riley said.
“Shut up, Riley!”
“There’s a noose in the ceiling, Max! And I’m still a virgin!”
“I think I know why,” Vero said, momentarily forgetting her Batman voice. She squinted at his phone with a look of disgust. I jabbed her in the ribs. She cleared her throat and rasped, “You sentallof these dick pics to these women?”
Riley sniffled. “Too many?”
“One would have been too many. But twenty?”
“I thought it would increase my odds.”
“So would a few inches.”
“Would you please just tell us what you know about Ike Grindley?” Max snapped. “You said you had an anonymous tip!”
Vero pulled me outside the barn as Riley and Max began to argue. “I checked both their phones,” Vero whispered. “There’s nothing here. We’ll have to try something else.”
“We can’t ask them for the name of their source. They might figure out who we are. We’ll have to make them think it was their idea to give it to us.”
“How are we going to do that?”
“Follow my lead,” I said, heading back into the barn.
Riley and Max were still bickering through their totes when we came inside.
I cleared my throat and lowered my voice to the deepest registerI could manage. “Okay, you two. Listen up.” I kicked their feet to get their attention. “I’ve conferred with my associate. We had planned to give you the tip about the Grindley case, but you broke our trust when you brought your phones, so you’ll have to earn it back or we’ll take our information somewhere else.”
“How?” Max asked bluntly.
“Quid pro quo,” I said. “You trust us with your secrets, and we’ll trust you with ours.”
“My penis wasn’t enough?” Riley cried.
“You really want me to answer that?” Vero rasped.
“Those pictures are hardly secrets after you texted them to all those women,” I pointed out. “Tell us something youhaven’trevealed to anyone.”
“Like what?” Max asked.
“How about one of your sources? Give us the name of the anonymous caller who told you about the Dupree affair.”
“And a donut,” Vero added. I shot her a death glare. “What? You can have one, too.”
“We’re not giving up our source,” Max said firmly. “If we reveal their identity and people find out, no one will take us seriously. Riley and I will get canceled.”
“Would you rather get dead?” Vero asked.
“No!” Riley shouted. “We definitely don’t want that!”
“They’re not going to kill us,” Max scoffed. “Batman’s bluffing.”
