“After graduation last spring,” Vero continued, “when you and Bennett moved out of your frat house and into your shiny condominium, you realized you needed a new hiding place to stow all that cash. So you gave it to Theo to keep at his house, probably because his place was too much of a dump for Mia to ever step foot in and she was less likely to find it. I’m guessing good old reputable Bennett didn’t want his sweet, adoring fiancée to figure out that hisfriendswere the ones who’d actually stolen it.” Vero’s eyes were fuming when they landed on him. “You were lying like a rug when you said you had no idea where Theo lived. You knew all along. As soon as I told you I was looking for him, you went to his house to move the cash, didn’t you?”
Ben studied her as if she were a problem to solve. “Is that what you think? That I took it?”
“I think you murdered him. Because you knew it was only a matter of time before I found him, and you didn’t want him cutting a deal and blabbing to the cops about everything you all had done. Well, guess what. We know Theo’s here, and we knowexactlywhere you’re hiding his body. And when the cops show up, we’re going to tell them everything you’ve—”
The shop door swung open. Theo nearly dropped the beer in his hand when he spotted Vero lying handcuffed on the floor. His wide eyes leaped to Bennett, then to Jackson. “You said no one knew I was here!”
Vero’s jaw dropped. “I don’t understand,” she sputtered. “If you’re out here, then who’s under there?”
“Under where?” Theo asked as if she’d completely lost her mind.
Vero jerked her chin toward the shelf. “Rolled up in that damn shower curtain!”
Bennett laughed darkly. He strode to the trash can and tossed the rest of his pizza into it. “You seriously think we’d be foolish enough to roll a body in a shower curtain?” He chuckled to himself as he brushed the crumbs off his hands. He crossed the room and knelt beside the shelf. The plastic crinkled as he grabbed the end of the rolled-up shower curtain and pulled it out from its hiding spot. It slid out easily, as if it weighed little more than a few pounds. He stood in the middle of the roll with a flourish. The stiff plastic flattened under his shoes. “I hate to disappoint you, but nobody’s dead, Veronica.”
“If there isn’t a body in it, then why is it here?” I asked, incredulous.
“And why does it stink like bleach?” Vero added.
Theo looked down at us with disgust. “Because I only had one suitcase and ten minutes to pack all my shit and get the hell out of my house! I had no idea how long I’d be stuck hiding out here! I grabbed the first sturdy waterproof thing I saw, threw everything I could fit on top of it, rolled the whole thing up, and brought it all here.”
Bennett pressed his palms to his eyes as if he was losing his patience. “And it smells because Theo’s shower curtain was disgusting. It was making the entire storage room smell like mildew, so we made him bleach it. What wouldyouhave used to clean it?”
“I’m not buying it,” Vero said. “If there’s nothing fishy going on, why is Theo hiding out here?”
“Are you kidding?” Theo asked, not bothering to mask his disdain. “You have the nerve to ask me that, after you sent all thosepeople to harass me? Your attorney left so many messages on my phone I had to cancel my number! Your psycho boyfriend and your cousin have been lurking outside the bar where I work—whichyouclearly already know,” Theo said, pointing at me. “And then your crazy-ass mother—”
“Don’t you talk about my mother!” Vero warned him.
“She and her lunatic sister showed up at my house, insisting that I file some report saying I was with you the night the money went missing. I told them I couldn’t do that, so they threatened me.”
“Threatened you? How?” I asked.
“They said if I didn’t come forward as a witness, they would make sure I neverwitnessedanything ever again. The scary one threatened to brain me with a rolling pin.”
“That’s not good,” I muttered to Vero.
“I don’t know if I should be horrified or impressed,” she said.
“They told me they’d give me forty-eight hours to think about it. The whole time, they were stalking me, showing up at my bar at night and my gym during the day, dressed all in black, watching me from their car like a couple of psychopaths. They even put a freaking tracker on my bumper! I had to throw the damn AirTag in the river just to keep them from following me.” Vero and I exchanged a guilty glance. “There was no way I was going to sit at home waiting for those two nutjobs to come back. I needed a place to lie low, so Jackson offered to let me crash here while his boss is on vacation.” That explained the pillow and blanket on the couch.
Vero still looked skeptical. “If none of you stole the money, then how do you explain all the cash in that box we opened?”
Jackson set down his fire extinguisher. He grabbed a bound stack of bills from the box and tossed it onto the floor in front of Vero’s face, as if he couldn’t believe she was foolish enough to ask. Ipicked it up for her, studying the stack under the dim lights of the storage room. The front of the bills looked convincingly real, until I turned them over.
“They’re… coupons?” A surprised laugh slipped out of me as I fanned the edges. The glossy paper they were printed on wasn’t even convincing, and a promotional offer was detailed on the back. They were just a sales gimmick, all the usual disclaimers laid out in fine print:New customer? Get a free one-hour image consultation—valued at one hundred dollars—if you cash in the coupon before it expires.
Bennett snatched the coupons from my hand and tossed them back into the box, his cheeks flushing with embarrassment. “I’m new at the PR firm and I’m trying to build my clientele. My boss agreed to donate the paper if I pay for printing, but printing isn’t cheap. Jackson offered to do them for me while his boss is out of town. All I have to pay for is the ink. Are you happy now?” Ben glared at both of us.
“So… you didn’t take the money?” I asked for clarification. It seemed a legitimate question since he hadn’t technically denied it.
“No,” he said snidely, “we didn’t take the money.”
I looked to Theo and Jackson. They crossed their arms over their chests.
“And you have no idea who did?” I asked.
Their gazes slid to Vero. Which explained why they weren’t panicking and running for their cars. They had no reason to be afraid of the police showing up here because none of them had done anything wrong. We, on the other hand…
