“You had a burner phone on you,” the other detective said.
“What’s that?”
“An untraceable phone.”
“Is it? Oh, I don’t know, I don’t understand technology. I just go to the store and buy whatever is the cheapest. You can get some really good deals if you watch the sales at Walmart.”
The detective sighed. He sounded just like an exasperatedAaron sounded at times. The bubbles of laughter grew bigger, and before Frances could stop herself, she burst and began to laugh. She laughed so hard that tears spring from her eyes. She laughed so hard that her ribs ached.
She could not stop laughing like a crazy old woman.
Thirty-nine
Edie and Marcy arrived home in Hunterville three days later. They were exhausted and in desperate need of a good shower, and both, Edie suspected, a little thinner than when they’d set out.
Simon was waiting for them when they pulled in. He walked out to the car, and when Edie got out, he wrapped her in a big bear hug. “I’m so glad you are home,” he said. “I promise, I will never do it again.”
Edie was too tired to even roll her eyes.
Their haul had netted them twenty-two million dollars. After they cut everyone in—Skinner and Todd, Trojan, Trixie, the chop shop guys—they were left with four million each. Marcy’s share would come out of Edie’s cut. Edie said she would keep Frances’s share until they figured out what to do with it. Marcy asked Edie to keep her cut, too. “How am I going to explain that to Mom and Dad?” she asked. It was a good question. So for now, Edie had the cash tucked away in her personal safe deposit box at the bank.
Edie and Marcy had not talked much on the way home. They were too spent and lost in their own thoughts about what had happened. But somewhere between Little Rock and Memphis, Edie finally asked Marcy about Rocco. “So,” she said. “The night of the heist.”
“What about it?”
“You were pretty upset with Rocco.”
Marcy sighed wearily and turned her face to the passenger window.
“Did something happen between you two?” Edie asked carefully.
“You mean, did I fall for the mark?” Marcy returned with a bit of sass.
“Sort of,” Edie admitted.
“No, Nana,” Marcy said, and folded her arms across her middle and looked forward again. “I’m not you.”
“Okay, ouch,” Edie said.
“It was more like … how dare he.”
Edie certainly understood that emotion.
“He’d been so nice to me, and I was really starting to think he wasn’t such a bad guy after all, you know? Like, maybe, I’d misunderstood him during the crypto investment thing.” She turned to Edie. “Like maybe it really had been a genuine mistake with the money.”
“Oh, Mar—”
“Because he was trying so hard to turn the casino into something that would make his family proud, and he was so kind, and he really liked me,” she said before Edie could speak. “But when I saw him with that bimbo, I knew he was full of shit. He always had been and he always will be. The only difference is that his game has gotten better. That, or I’m so lame I’ll believe anything. Probably both.” She glanced down at her lap. “I should have just let it go. But I’ve never been able to let stuff like that go. I was just somad.”
Oh goodness, the apples really did not fall far from the tree, did they? Edie reached across the console and patted Marcy’s knee. “I understand, love. Better than you will ever know.”
“Yeah, so I heard,” Marcy said, and smiled at Edie. “I’m really glad I got to know you, Nana.”
Edie’s heart swelled with love. “Me, too. But it’s our secret, kid.”
Marcy snorted. “Are you kidding? Dad would kill me.”
Yes, he would, because Edie had raised upstanding citizens.
