I stood and brushed dirt and cobwebs from my knees. “This has obviously been a big misunderstanding. We should go.”
“Don’t let us stop you,” Theo muttered.
Vero twisted sideways to flip him off as I helped her to her feet.We all paused to stare at her coat. A blank sheet of paper was stuck to the front of it, the same size and shape as a dollar bill. Bennett and Jackson exchanged an anxious look as I reached for it. The paper was slightly damp and smelled strongly of bleach.
Bennett shook his head at me, as if he knew what I was thinking. “That has nothing to do with you,” he said in a cold voice. He reached for the bleached bill as he started toward me.
I dove for the box cutter. Shielding Vero behind my body, I held the blade out in front of me. Bennett stopped in his tracks.
I walked sideways to the shower curtain. Keeping one eye trained on Bennett, I unrolled the shower curtain slowly with my foot. Vero sucked in a breath. I glanced down. Dozens of bleached bills had been spread over the vinyl, where they had been rolled up and quietly tucked away, presumably to dry.
“We were right,” I said, stalling as I considered my next move. “I wasn’t imagining the clues. You’re using Jackson’s print shop to make counterfeit bills.” I held up the one in my hand as I put a few feet of distance between us. “I thought you said you didn’t steal the money!”
“We didn’t,” Bennett said, eyeing the box cutter warily. “That money you’re holding belongs to Theo.”
“Bullshit!” Vero shouted over my shoulder.
“If it’s Theo’s money, then where did he get it?” I asked.
Theo opened his mouth to answer, but Bennett held up his hand. “He takes a few cash bets at some of the campus parties, just a couple of small bills,” he added, as if that absolved them of any crime. “He gives the bettors reasonable odds on the games, and everyone comes away happy.”
Vero choked out a laugh. “And we’re just supposed to believe you?”
Theo cut in. “If we had the money you stole from the sororityhouse, I wouldn’t be bleaching my tips from the bar just to make my monthly car payment!” Ben shot him a warning look.
I had no reason to believe Bennett after all the lies he’d fed us—he was clearly the spin doctor and the mouthpiece of their group—but everything Theo blurted had felt raw and true. That’s probably why Ben had been so reluctant to let him speak.
Vero must have sensed that, too.
“If you three didn’t take the money, and I didn’t take the money, then who did?” she asked.
And, more important, what was going to happen to us now?
Bennett took another step toward us. Jackson and Theo followed.
I backed slowly toward the exit, keeping Vero behind me. There were three of them and two of us, and Vero was in handcuffs. This was not a fight we would win.
Jackson paused when a siren wailed somewhere in the distance. His gaze dropped to Vero’s ankle and the color drained from his cheeks. He nudged Bennett. “You hear that? What if they’re coming for her?” he asked, hooking his thumb toward Vero.
Bennett swore as the siren grew louder. If nothing else, Vero’s bluff had rattled him. He raked a hand through his hair as if he was working through the problem. “Look,” he said in a saccharine-smooth voice. “If those cops are looking for you, you probably don’t want them showing up here anymore than we do. I’m willing to make a deal if you are.”
“What kind of deal?” Vero asked sharply.
“You give me that blank piece of paper in your hand, and you walk out of here right now. Neither of you tell a soul what you think you saw in this shop tonight, and we won’t tell the cops you were ever here.”
“Weknowwhat we saw tonight,” Vero said.
“Maybe you do,” Ben replied with a shrug. “But if the police do catch you here, it’ll be your word against ours, and you’re the one with the trial date.” He held out his hand for the bleached bill.
As much as I hated to admit it, Bennett was right. Even if we did tell the police what we saw here tonight, by the time they got a warrant to search the place, there’d be nothing left to find. Bennett would make it all disappear. That was his job. I had no doubts he was good at it.
I handed over the bill and steered Vero out the door.
CHAPTER 30
Vero’s handcuffs rattled as I hustled her to Officer Oates’s car. “We can’t just leave, Finlay!”
“You have a better option? You got caught at a frat party and I stole a police car, Vero. Bennett made us a reasonable deal. Just be thankful those sirens they heard weren’t for us.”
