“In my pocket.”
“Let’s get this over with. What’s the plan?” I asked.
“I’m going to sneak around the back of her house and unlock the back door to the garage.”
“It should probably bother me more that you know how to do that.”
“Then we’re going to steal a move from Penny’s own playbook. I’m going to call her house and tell her I was having an affair with her late husband. I’ll tell her I was the one who made the anonymous call to the podcasters. I’ll say I have information about what really happened to Gilford and I want to go public. Then I’ll tell her to meet me at the playground down the street so we can talk.”
“What if she doesn’t fall for it?”
“She’ll come anyway. Her curiosity will get the best of her. And when she does, she’s sure to trip up and say something to incriminate herself. As soon as she leaves her house, you sneak inside and start snooping.” Vero adjusted her wireless earbuds, making sure they were concealed under the wig scarf she had tied around her head. She tapped the screen of her cell phone. My phone vibrated in my pocket, and I connected the call. Vero’s voice came through my earbuds in stereo as she fidgeted with her settings. “Am I loud enough?”
“Painfully.”
“Great, let’s do this.” She grabbed a set of lockpicks from her purse that probably belonged to Javi. “Get in there fast, look for anything that proves she was lying about Steven, and get out. Let me worry about getting a confession.”
Vero got out of the van and crept off into the shadows. Her breaths were quick in my ears as she disappeared around the side of Penny’s house. “I’m here,” she whispered. “Penny’s watching TV in the living room.”
“Don’t let her see you,” I whispered. Why was I whispering? I was the one sitting in the van.
I heard a soft scrape and some quiet swearing through my earbuds. Then a soft click. “The back door is unlocked,” Vero said. “I’m heading to the park. I’ll make the call to Penny as soon as I get there. Tell me when she’s on her way.”
I tucked my phone into the pocket of my hoodie and slipped out of the van. A cold breeze sliced through my black yoga pants as I followed Vero’s path between the houses. I could just make out the flash of a blond wig as Vero crossed briskly under a streetlight on her way toward the park. Lamplight filtered through the sheer curtains covering the back windows of Penny’s house. I knelt under them, listening. The light of a huge television flickered on the far wall as the deep voice of an anchorman reported the local news.
A cell phone rang somewhere inside. The television went silent, the images still moving on the screen as a figure passed in front of it.
“Hello?” Penny’s voice was muffled, barely audible through the windows. “I’m sorry. Do I know you?” Vero had placed a block on her number so it wouldn’t show up on Penny’s caller ID. I could just make out her uneasy response. “Who is this?” The curtain lifted above me, the light from inside spilling across the lawn. I pressedmyself flat against the siding, breath held until the window covering fell closed again.
“Give me one good reason I shouldn’t call the cops,” Penny demanded.
Vero and I had planned for this possibility. An innocent person would be smart to report the call to the police. But Penny was definitely hiding something.
There was a prolonged pause before Penny spoke again. “Where?… I’ll meet you there in five minutes.”
I rose up on my knees and risked another peek through the curtains. The TV screen went dark. I nearly jumped out of my skin as Penny smacked the remote down on the coffee table and stormed to the foyer. She yanked on her boots and wrestled on a long coat, tying the sash tightly around her. The whole house shuddered as she slammed the front door.
I peered around the corner of the house as Penny’s boots ate huge bites of her driveway then headed toward the park.
I dialed Vero. “She’s on her way. I’m going in.”
I opened the back door and crept into Penny’s cavernous garage. My knee smashed into the bumper of her car as I groped around me, afraid to turn on a light. I felt along the wall, searching for the service door. When I finally found it, the doorknob wouldn’t budge. “The interior door is locked.”
“Look for a screwdriver. You can disassemble the knob and just take the whole damn thing off.”
“I can’t do that! What if she comes back and catches me?” Slivers of light leaked around the edges of a small rectangular opening at the bottom of the door. I knelt down and traced the pet door with my hand. It swished open when I pushed against it, and I had a sudden rush of panic as I listened for a dog.
The house was silent.
The faint smell of ammonia wafted somewhere close. I got down on all fours, cat litter pressing into my knees as I put my arm inside the pet door and reached above me for the lock. With a painful twist, I flipped the latch, nearly falling into the house when the door swung open. “I’m in.”
A light was on over the sink in the kitchen. Another in the living room just beyond.
“I think I see Penny,” Vero said in a low voice. “And she does not look happy. Better hurry. I’m not sure how long I can keep her distracted.”
I flapped my hands like a frantic chicken as I tried to figure out where to start. What the hell was I supposed to be looking for?
Penny’s voice was faint through my earbuds. “Who are you and what do you want?”
