“But you can’t!” Her voice shook.
“No, I can’t! But that will never change the way I feel about you! The way I havealwaysfelt about you, Veronica! I’ve loved you since we were kids. You’re the only woman I have ever wanted to be with. But I hadn’t seen you in nearly three years, and as far as I could tell, you wanted nothing to do with me! I convinced myself that if I slept with someone else, maybe I could forget about what you and I had. It was stupid, and I was wrong, and I will never forgive myself for giving up on us. But I’m not going to ask you to forgive me for something I did to myself. So you’re either going to have to be okay with what I did or you’re not. I can’t change it.”
Vero cast him a sidelong glance, as if the verdict were still out. “Was it good?”
“It was terrible.”
Vero’s frown softened. The hint of a smile touched her lips. “Liar.”
Javi smiled, too. He wrapped his arms around her and dropped his forehead to hers. “Every minute I’m away from you is terrible, V. That will never be a lie.”
I looked down at my phone, feeling guilty for watching as their makeup kiss grew steamy. A flutter of panic rippled through me as Iregistered the location of the AirTag; it was moving. Fast. “Um… I hate to spoil the moment, but I think Theo might be on his way back!”
Vero pulled out of Javi’s arms. “Where is he?”
“Headed in our direction.” I held my phone out for her to see. Theo’s blue dot was closing in, only a few miles away. Javi and Ramón hovered behind us, watching over our shoulders.
“We should get out of here,” Ramón said.
“Wait.” Javi squinted at the screen. “I think he’s turning.”
“He’s driving toward the campus,” Vero said as the dot changed direction. We watched Theo’s car make its way toward the distinctive arc of Frat Row.
“Figures,” Vero said, the tension leaving her shoulders. “Theo always hit the campus parties on game days; it’s where he picked up most of his bettors. If he found some action, he’ll probably be gone for another few hours. We might as well do a little snooping while we’re here.”
“For what?” I asked.
“Money,” Vero said, rifling through a stack of mail on the counter. “Or any evidence he ever had it. Bank statements, deposit slips, investment portfolios, real estate documents…” She tossed aside the pile of junk mail and began combing through the kitchen cabinets. “If we can find proof he took the money—or he knows who did—we can turn the evidence over to my attorney and maybe he can get my charges dismissed.”
“I don’t want to stay here any longer than we need to,” Javi said. “Let’s find what we need and get out of here.” He began searching through piles of clutter on the living room table.
“I’ll check the bedroom,” Ramón said.
“I’ll look for an office.” I followed his light down a short hallway. The sooner we found evidence of the money, the sooner we could get Vero back to her house. Ramón shined his light insidean open door. The drapes over the only window were thick, so he flipped on the wall switch. A small lamp on a nightstand illuminated an unmade bed on a metal frame and a cheap dresser that looked like it had been salvaged from a yard sale. Ramón passed me his flashlight and began searching Theo’s bedroom while I moved on to the room across the hall.
I aimed the beam inside, jumping at my own reflection in a toothpaste-spotted mirror. A toothbrush, toothpaste, and a razor had been left on the edge of a small pedestal sink. A washcloth had been draped over the shower rod to dry. I closed the door and took a moment to relieve my bladder, grateful to find that the toilet and sink at least were clean. There wasn’t much else to search in the compact bathroom. There certainly wasn’t anywhere to hide anything. No cabinets. No bath mat to lift. No shower curtain to peek behind. A set of plastic rings hung loose on the crooked curtain rod, framing mildew-stained tiles and mold-colored grout.
“There’s nothing here,” Javi called from the living room.
“Here either,” Vero said, slamming a kitchen drawer.
Ramón called out from across the hall, “I haven’t had any luck in the bedroom.”
“That’s nothing new,” Vero shot back.
“Hardy-har,” Ramón said as Javi chortled. “I saw some sheds in the yard out back. Javi and I will go check them out while you two finish up in here.” The kitchen door clicked shut as they let themselves out.
Vero met me in the hall. “Find anything?”
“Nothing unusual.” I walked to the last door and turned the knob. I was greeted by the cold, musty smell of a damp basement. I tugged the pull chain above my head. The single light bulb in the stairway flickered on, casting our shadows over the creaking wooden steps as we descended to the bottom. The concrete floorsand walls were darkened with water stains. The wooden joists over our heads had begun to mold. The eye-watering smell of bleach pinched the back of my throat, as if someone had been trying to mitigate the problem on their own.
I grabbed another pull chain. A second light bulb came on, illuminating a washer and dryer and a plastic utility sink. An iron had been left out on an ironing board, its cord plugged into a naked outlet attached to the wall. The set of metal shelves beside it contained a bottle of laundry detergent, some fabric softener, and several empty bleach jugs.
A nylon cord stretched from the top shelf to the far end of the room. It was dotted with clothespins. Some shirts had been left hanging, still damp to the touch. A few wrinkled dollar bills that must have found their way into the washing machine had been left on top of it to dry. A stack of cardboard boxes sat empty on the floor beside it. They bore the same black-and-white logo I’d seen on the box of happy-hour flyers behind Theo’s bar.
“Find anything over there?” I called out to Vero.
“Maybe,” she called back to me. “Looks like some kind of makeshift office.”
