Zoey tore it open and unwrapped her gordita. Vero looked on, utterly revolted, as Zoey poured pizza sauce all over her meal. She took a huge bite and talked around her food. “Where did you disappear to anyway?”
“Virginia, mostly,” Vero said. “I lived with my cousin Ramón for a few weeks while I was working at a bank. That didn’t work out so well, but then I met Finlay,” she said, gesturing to me. “She offered me a job as a nanny and invited me to move in with her and her kids. Delia and Zach are hilarious and really sweet—you’d love them, Zo.”
Zoey’s mouth turned down. “I thought you always dreamed of working in finance.”
Vero shrugged. “I will someday. I’ve been taking classes at the local community college so I can finish my degree. And I’ve been helping Finlay with her accounting, which has been a lot more exciting than I expected it to be.” Vero smirked at me in my rearview mirror. “I even patched things up with my old boyfriend. Javi and I started seeing each other a few months ago. I think I told you about him.”
Zoey laughed. “Are you kidding? You talked about him constantly. I always knew you were still madly in love with him. I’m so happy for you, Veronica!” She beamed. “I was so worried when you disappeared. I kept telling myself that you were smart and tough and you could handle anything. I thought about you every day and hoped that you were somewhere really great.”
“Iwassomewhere really great until the police found me.” Vero pulled up her pant leg, revealing her ankle monitor. Zoey’s face fell. “I’m on house arrest at my mom’s until my trial. I’ll be stuck there for a few more weeks.”
Zoey set down the remains of her lunch as if she’d suddenly lost her appetite. “You’re going to trial?”
“I figured you already knew. I thought Ava and Mia would have told everyone that I’d been taken into custody by now.”
Zoey shook her head. “Mia graduated last spring, and Ava doesn’t tell me much. She knew you and I were pretty close.”
“You didn’t tell her I was here?” Vero asked.
Zoey shook her head. “Are you kidding? If she knew you were here, she’d completely freak out. She was so pissed off when you left.” Zoey’s eyes widened, and she ducked down fast. “Get down! There’s Celeste!”
Vero turned to peer through the tinted glass at the middle-aged woman who had just come out of the building. She didn’t look much older than I was, but she was far too old to fit in here.
Vero seemed surprised. “Celeste is still here?”
“Who’s Celeste?” I asked.
“She’s the KG house mom,” Vero said. “I thought the administration would have made her resign after our entire exec board got busted for gambling.”
Zoey shook her head. “Celeste told the Office of Student Conduct she hadn’t known anything about the poker nightsorthe money in your room. The Department of Fraternity & Sorority Life said as long as she cooperated fully with the investigation and submitted our financial records for a forensic audit, she could stay. They made her clean house though. Celeste has exclusive control over the chapter bank account and the books now. We never elected a new treasurer after you left. And Ava lost her position as VP. She still lives in the house, but she’s not allowed to hold any more leadership positions. Mia was forced to step down as chapter president. That’s the only reason I got elected… because we didn’t have enough people left who were qualified to step up.”
“Congratulations. I’m proud of you, Zo.” Vero’s compliment was sincere.
“Don’t be,” Zoey said ruefully. “I didn’t really want the job. I only did it as a favor for Celeste. She was a mess when you disappeared. We both were.”
Vero looked skeptical. “Really? I thought Celeste was mad at me.”
“Are you kidding? She was pissed!” Zoey said with a dry chuckle. “But I think she was just as angry at herself for not knowing what you, Ava, and Mia had been up to. She was terrified when you ran away.”
Celeste had stopped at the foot of the stairs to talk with a group of groundskeepers. Vero watched her, looking a little wistful.
“I would offer to sneak you in, but too many people might recognize you,” Zoey said. “I’ve never been so glad to see anyone in my whole life, but I’m worried. You probably shouldn’t have come back here.”
“I didn’t have much of a choice, Zo. I need your help,” Vero said, taking Zoey’s hands.
Zoey’s mouth pulled down. “Anything.”
“Remember that guy Theo I used to date? I really need to talk to him, but he graduated last spring and I have no idea where he lives now. He’s the only person who can give me an alibi for that night, but he won’t answer his phone. I really need to find him. Do you have any idea where he moved after he graduated?”
“I haven’t seen him since that night you two left to go to that party together. But one of them would probably know.” Zoey inclined her head toward the window as two young men crossed the street to the sorority house. If they hadn’t been engaged in conversation, I wouldn’t have guessed they were together. One of them wore baggy jeans and carried a cardboard box under his arm. The other was in a neatly pressed business suit. Vero turned and peeped out the window.
“That’s Bennett and Jackson,” she said, confirming her earlier suspicion about the subjects of Mia’s message. I guessed who was whom right away, not because I had ever seen Bennett or Jackson before, but because of what Vero had mentioned abouttheir relationships to Mia and Ava. Jackson had a shaggy mop of russet-brown hair, the same color as his cousin’s. His shoelaces flopped around the tops of his loose sneakers, and he looked like he’d just rolled out of bed. But Bennett could have stopped here on his way to a job in a fancy corner office. He had the tailored good looks the right money could buy, the kind a woman like Mia could sling around her arm and show off like a designer handbag.
Bennett and Jackson strode up the front steps as a group of girls in KG sweatshirts came bustling out of the sorority house. Bennett lunged to catch the door. Celeste intercepted them before they could slip inside. Her face was stern as she gestured to the key-card panel. She seemed to be turning them away when Ava burst outside to claim them.
Celeste hovered, eyeing the cardboard box in Jackson’s arms as the two men followed Ava to the door.
“What was all that about?” Vero asked Zoey.
