Cam held up his fast-food bag. “Can I get the guy’s number? Sounds like he got Arnold Schwarzenegger’s—” Zoey clamped a hand over his mouth.
Officer Oates turned and frowned at him. “Do I know you?”
Cam shrugged, a deer caught in headlights.
“You sure I haven’t arrested you before?”
He shook his head.
Reluctantly, Officer Oates turned her attention to Bennett. “You live here?”
“No, ma’am.”
“You can wait in the hall,” she said, dismissing him.
Bennett nodded and followed the campus police officer out the door.
“I’ll go with you,” Cam said, slinking out after them.
When they had both left the room, Officer Oates zeroed in on me and Vero. “You two have some explaining to do.” She pulled a pair of handcuffs from her belt and started toward me.
“This really is just a big misunderstanding,” I said, backing into the wall.
“We’ll discuss it at the station.” Officer Oates turned me around and snapped the cuffs onto my wrists. I was going to have one hell of a time explaining all this to Nick and my sister. But at least Vero would be off the hook, I reminded myself as Officer Oates nudged us toward the door.
Zoey, Mia, and Ava all scurried to block the exit.
“Wait!” Zoey pleaded.
Celeste attempted to shoo them out of the way. “Ladies, step aside and let the officer do her job.”
“No,” Zoey said, lifting her chin. “There’s something I need to say to you, and I’m going to say it now.” The room hushed. Mia gave Zoey an encouraging nod. Ava held Zoey’s hand as she swallowed and said, “Veronica wasn’t the one who took the money. I was.”
“Zoey,” Celeste said in an indulgent tone. “I know you’re upset and you want to help Veronica, but making up stories right now isn’t going to—”
Zoey dragged her chair out from her desk and stood on top of it. She stepped onto her desk, balancing precariously as she reached above her head to push a ceiling tile aside. She snaked an arm into the hole and pulled a backpack from it. With shaking hands, she unzipped it, holding it out for everyone to see.
It was full of stacks of crinkled bills, wrapped in rubber bands.
“I took it from Veronica’s closet the morning you called the meeting,” she told Celeste. “I was worried that if you found the money in her room, she’d get in trouble for having it. Veronica was telling the truth all along. The money was in her closet when she left for the party, and she never knew I was the one who took it because I never told her.”
“Oh, Zoey,” Celeste said, her face crumpling. “Why would you do such a foolish thing?”
Zoey’s voice cracked as a tear sprang free. “Veronica was my Big! I was afraid she’d get kicked out of the house, or worse, out of school! I panicked. I thought if there wasn’t any money to find, everything would be okay. I didn’t stop to think she might be accused of stealing it! Not until everyone started blaming her when it was gone. I was going to tell everyone, I swear. I just got scared. The money’s been here in my room the whole time. It’s all there. Every penny.” Zoey handed the backpack to Celeste.
“Veronica’s innocent,” Mia said. “She didn’t steal the money. And, technically, the money never left the house. It was in the possession of the sorority all along—”
“And an acting board member,” Ava added.
“—so it wasn’t really even stolen, per se. More like it was misplaced,” Vero chimed in on Zoey’s behalf.
“We’ll pay everyone back and do whatever we have to do,” Ava said.
“I’ll step down from the board. I’ll talk to anyone I have to talk to,” Zoey promised.
Mia turned to Officer Oates. “See? It was all a misunderstanding. Just like we said. You can take the handcuffs off of Veronica and let her go.”
Officer Oates shook her head. “I wish it was that simple, ladies. But these two have more serious charges to worry about now.”
