“Back off right now,” Paul said, “or we’re going to need that hole you just dug.”
Benny slowly raised his hands with hatred burning in his eyes, and we all stood in place, chests heaving, waiting for a pin to drop. Everyone except Punkin, who’d backed away but still barked. And Seb, who sighed deeply and crossed his arms over his chest.
“Come on, Paul,” he said. “You think that piece of plastic inyour hand is going to fool me? You taught me that trick, jackass. It’s not a real gun.”
Paul’s head slowly swiveled to look at Seb with curiosity. Then he smiled and aimed the gun at the open hole of the grave. A bullet ripped through the air and hit the dirt a few feet in front of me. A cloud of debris exploded. Punkin lurched away, finally cowering behind Seb.
“Jesus!”
“For fuck’s sake!”
“What the hell, Paul?”
Paul’s face stared back through the falling dust, eyes fixed on Seb. “Guess you don’t know everything, do you? Big Burg sent Lulu out to Kalamazoo for recon after that gold brick turned up in the sewer. Didn’t expect you’d just invite her to move into Morales Manor, Benito. Talk about a gift...”
“What the hell?” Benny mumbled, shock lining his face.
“Personally,” Paul said, “I told my daddy no way in hell a twenty-six-year-old barmaid could pass for a college student, but the girl is good.”
Lulu gritted her teeth and made an apologetic face. “Really sorry, Benny. I had fun. I truly did.”
Benny’s face crumbled. My heart hurt for him.
Paul tapped the side of the gun with his index finger several times. “Knew you weirdo Wags were really onto something when you wouldn’t invite Lulu to this grave-digging party. What’d you find? The pair of ring keys? Don’t act so surprised. It’s pretty easy to learn someone’s phone passcode when you’re sleeping with them. We’ve seen your texts, Benny.” He craned his neck toward me. “And yeah, I see you trying to hide what you just found, Malone. Go on, hand it over to Lu.”
He pressed the muzzle of the gun against Benny’s head to emphasize his command.
Punkin began barking again.
What could I do? I handed the antique tin to Lulu when she reached for it, and told her, “Please, don’t do this. These rings belong in my family. They’re part of history.”
“Sorry,” she said. “It’s not personal.”
How could it not be personal? She was living with Benny, hanging out with all of us. I’d been betrayed by so many people in my life—my own father, even Seb—but you never got used to the empty feeling.
“Check to see what’s in there,” Paul told Lulu.
She complied and held up the rings. “Bingo.”
“Beautiful. Big Burg will be happy,” he said, instructing Lulu to put them back in the tin for safekeeping. Then he shoved Benny in the chest, forcing him to back up with the rest of us before he trained his sights on Seb. “Now, if you’ll do me one last favor, old buddy of mine, old pal. We know there’s a lock these fit into near that old beach cottage. Wanna tell us where that is?”
“You could try sticking them up your asshole, see what that unlocks,” Seb said.
Paul sighed heavily and pointed the gun at me. “Lulu says you got a little thing going with your old flame here. Maybe you don’t want to see her head explode. I wouldn’t.”
I wouldn’t, either, but Seb’s face showed no worry. “We don’t know where the rings go, you prick. Haven’t figured that out yet. See, if you and Lulu had been a little smarter, you would’ve waited for us to suss that out before you charged in like a blind bull, stomping all over this pitiful spy operation you set up withLulu,” Seb said. “But you didn’t, and now all you’ve got are a couple of old wedding bands worth diddly shit.”
Paul squinted at Seb like he was trying to figure out if we were holding out on him. Then he lifted his head toward Jazmine. “Is he telling the truth?”
“Isthatwhat you want to ask me?” Jazmine said. “Think really hard before you answer, because the minute you walk out of these woods, you and I? We will never speak to each other again. Not as friends, not as enemies, not asanything.”
He blinked furiously and clicked his jaw to one side. “We’ll see.”
“We’ll see nothing,” she said. “You just declared war against us.”
“I couldn’t care less about this hidden treasure shit,” he said, defensive. “This is my dad’s deal. Like every idiot in this stupid town, he’s chased it since he was a kid. So if you want to fight a war, you’re going to have to go toe-to-toe with Big Burg. I’m just the messenger.”
“You are who you’re aligned with,” I said. “Can’t have it both ways.”
