“Neither did I!”
“Then you should have stuck around to prove it!”
“You should have helped me!” Vero’s voice grew louder the more Bennett tried to hush her. “You could have stood up for me with Mia and Ava! Youknewwhere I was the night the money went missing. You knew I spent the night with Theo! The party was at your house! You saw me there!”
Bennett rubbed his eyes, as if this was all well-traversed ground and he was tired of rehashing it. “I saw youduringthe party, Veronica. I didn’t see you after.”
“Because I was with Theo in his room. That’s why I need to talk to him, Ben. He’s the only one who can testify that I never went back to my own house that night.”
“He can’t testify to that.”
“Why not?” she fired back.
“Youmight have spent the night in Theo’s room, but Theo didn’t.”
Vero stared at Bennett, dumbstruck. “No,” she said, struggling to reconcile his version of the events. “Theo and I left the party early together, just after midnight. We went upstairs to his room and we…” She cast a guilty glance at Javi. “We fell asleep,” she finished.
Bennett heaved a sigh. “I don’t know what you want me to say. Theo came back to the party alone around one o’clock. He stuck around for a few beers, then he left with some girl.”
“What girl?” Vero asked.
“I don’t know. I didn’t see them. Jackson said he went outside to smoke and he saw Theo getting into his car with a girl. When I asked Jackson who it was, he said it was dark and he didn’t get a good look at her.”
Vero looked stung. “Why didn’t either of you tell me this before?”
Bennett shrugged. “We didn’t think it was our place to get involved.”
“You mean you didn’t think it was your place to rat out your frat brother for being a two-timing creep.”
“Even if I had said something, it wouldn’t change anything now. It’s not like any one of us could have accounted for the fact that you were in Theo’s room all night.”
“Butallof you could have accounted for the fact that Theo left the party, and not one of you knew where he was going or who he was going there with! Theo knew about that damn money, and he knew exactly where it was hidden, Bennett. Which makes every one of you complicit in concealing evidence from a police investigation.”
Bennett stiffened. “Are you threatening me? Do you have any idea what I do here?” he asked, gesturing around the conference room. “I’m animageconsultant, Veronica. My job is to make problems disappear.”
“You’re anassistant,” Vero clapped back. “And the only way you’re getting rid of me is by telling me where Theo lives.”
Ben’s jaw hardened. “I don’t know.”
“Then where does he work?”
“I don’t know that either.”
“Quit trying to protect him!”
“I’m not trying to protect him, Veronica! I haven’t talked to Theo in a while. He moved out of the house a few weeks after the money went missing.” Vero didn’t look like she was buying a word of it. “It’s true. Things got really ugly after you left. Some of the guys in the frat lost a lot of money in those poker games. They saw a chance to get it back after that pledge blew the whistle, and they blamed Theo when they thought you were the one who took off with the cash. Everyone on Frat Row knew you two were screwing. A lot of people suspected he was covering for you.”
Vero barked out a laugh. “Covering for me? He wouldn’t even pick up the damn phone when I called him!”
Bennett’s face twisted with disgust. “Can you blame him? Someone ransacked his room looking for that money. When they couldn’t find it, they slashed his tires and smashed all the windows in his car. He finally moved out when he started getting death threats. Hell, most of the guys in our own house weren’t evenspeaking to him when he left. He didn’t exactly broadcast his forwarding address.”
Vero studied Bennett. He looked away. “Butyouknow where to find him, don’t you?” she said without a hint of doubt.
“I already told you, I can’t help you, Veronica. Please take your friends and—”
Javi slung a tattooed arm over Bennett’s shoulder and whispered, “I’ve been standing here listening to your bullshit because Veronica asked me to keep my hands to myself. But I’m losing my patience,Bennett. You’re not the only person in this room who knows how to make a problem disappear.”
Bennett paled as he took a moment to reconsider his response. He shook out of Javi’s grip. “Fine. I might have heard he’s slinging drinks at a sports bar.”
