The Gamble and the Grave (Veronica Barry Book 4)

by Sophia Martin

  “I don’t know,” Daniel said.

  ~~~

  “So how’s it going with the new partner?” Veronica asked the next morning, having resolved to put the nightmare behind her.

  Daniel was sitting at the table eating a piece of toast and drinking coffee. She hadn’t wanted toast, so she was waiting for a bowl of oatmeal that spun slowly in the microwave.

  “Okay,” Daniel said with a shrug.

  The microwave beeped and Veronica took the bowl out, finding spots on it that weren’t too hot to touch. She poured some honey in from a bear-shaped bottle and sat down with it next to Daniel. “You still wishing you’d reported Felsen?” she asked, though she already knew the answer.

  Lara Felsen, Daniel’s former partner, had planted evidence at a crime scene that implicated an innocent man back in February. Veronica first met Daniel when he was investigating the crime, ignorant of his partner’s interference. Veronica had a vision about Felsen’s actions. In the end, the innocent man was exonerated, and the internal affairs investigation of Felsen’s involvement closed without their finding enough evidence to corroborate the complaint against her. But Felsen didn’t forget Veronica’s role in her difficulties. She wanted to discredit Veronica above all else. That summer she managed to arrest Veronica and charge her with crimes Veronica hadn’t committed, and Felsen altered a surveillance tape in order to do so. When Veronica saved Felsen from getting shot, Felsen agreed to say she’d made a mistake, and to make the charges against Veronica go away. Ever since, however, Daniel had wanted to report Felsen for her dishonest actions.

  Daniel made a face. “I keep thinking I at least need to warn her new partner about her, but I can’t do that unless I’m willing to go the rest of the way with it, cause I know Frank Mendez. He’ll say, ‘You’re telling me she’s done these things but you haven’t reported her?’” He sighed. “He’s not the kind of guy to appreciate the gray areas.”

  “It’s not that it’s about gray areas,” Veronica said, knowing Daniel didn’t like gray areas much, either. “You’re not letting her get away with something. It’s that you don’t have enough proof that she did anything in the first place.”

  All they had against her was the altered tape, which could have been damaged accidentally. Since Felsen herself had admitted to making a mistake about Veronica, causing the case against her to be dropped, it would be hard to prove she’d tried to frame Veronica. Daniel knew he didn’t have enough on Felsen. What complicated things was that Felsen knew Daniel had broken the rules on several occasions, bringing Veronica, a civilian, into crime scenes, and letting her handle evidence, in order for her to use her gift. Daniel could face serious consequences, and the cases Veronica had secretly helped with might be reopened. The criminals she’d helped put in prison might go free.

  “It’s just a bad feeling, knowing she’s still working cases. Knowing she might be up to her old tricks.”

  Veronica ate her oatmeal without saying anything else about it. Daniel just wasn’t going to get any more comfortable with the whole situation. At least his unit commander had reassigned him and Felsen to new partners. Daniel now worked with an African American man in his forties named Terrence Holder. Felsen’s new partner was Frank Mendez. Veronica had met Holder a few times and he seemed nice enough. She hadn’t met Mendez, but Daniel seemed to respect his intelligence, so maybe he’d get wise to Felsen on his own.

  “You want to get lunch today?” Veronica asked as Daniel stood and took his plate and mug to the sink.

  “Sure.”

  “I’ll be there at about twelve.”

  ~~~

  Veronica taught two sections of French I on Mondays and Wednesdays. She taught French II and III on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Eleanor Roosevelt High was on a block schedule, which meant that they alternated days with 90 minute periods, except for Fridays, when they had all the periods for 50 minutes each. They had changed the schedule a bit this year, and she’d picked up the extra section of French I, and she still wasn’t used to it. It made Mondays that much harder to take.

  Still, one advantage of having more work to do was that the time went by faster. One minute she was having everyone conjugate the verb “to drink” in unison and the next the bell was ringing at the end of second period and she was done for the day.

  When she arrived at the police station and found Daniel’s desk, he gave her a funny look as she approached. It crossed her mind that maybe he’d heard something about the grave robbery but before she got close enough to ask, one of the administrative assistants ran up to Daniel, saying something Veronica couldn’t hear. Daniel shot her an apologetic look and followed the assistant as she left.

  Veronica got to Daniel’s desk and stood by it, feeling a little weird. After a moment, Terrence Holder appeared, plunking himself down in the desk beside Daniel’s. “Hey, Veronica. How’re things?” he asked. He was holding a microwave meal in one hand and a plastic fork in the other. “Taking Seong out for lunch again? Lucky bastard.”

  Veronica smiled. “If I don’t take him out, I end up going home and eating peanut butter and jelly.”

  “Tell him to bring back a doggy bag for me,” Holder said, poking at the pasta in the dish without enthusiasm. “Where are you all going to eat, anyway?”

  “I don’t know yet,” Veronica said.

  “Mais c’est Vero!” came a familiar voice that seemed so out of place in the police station that for a moment Veronica didn’t know who had spoken. She turned, disbelieving, and sure enough, there stood Eric Huette, her one-time crush, who had recently moved to Sacramento from France.

  “Eric? What are you doing here?”

  Eric was strikingly handsome, with hazel eyes and short brown hair. He wore an expensive navy suit, white shirt, and yellow silk tie.

  “I suppose it should not surprise me to encounter you here,” Eric said with his charming accent, leaning in to do the double-kiss greeting that was so normal in France, but made Holder raise his eyebrows when he saw it.

  Veronica smiled and felt her cheeks warming. “What are you doing here?” she asked again.

  “I am meeting someone for lunch,” Eric said. He leaned toward Holder with his hand out. “Eric Huette. I am a childhood friend of Veronica’s.” Which wasn’t really true—they’d met in Veronica’s semester abroad in Paris. Holder shook Eric’s hand.

  “Terrence Holder. I’m Daniel’s new partner. You know Daniel, I’m sure.”

  “But of course,” Eric said easily. He turned back to Veronica. “We really must have a coffee soon. We must, comme on dit, ‘catch up.’”

  “Yes, of course,” Veronica said, still feeling bewildered. Eric gave Holder a nod and strode off. Veronica watched him go and then her eyes widened as he stopped at another desk not far away. He grinned at the red-haired woman who stood and returned his smile.

  “Felsen?” Veronica breathed.

  Holder followed her eyes. “Didn’t know they were dating, I take it?”

  Veronica glanced at him. His gaze as altogether too sharp. She shook her head. “I’m just not a fan of hers,” Veronica said. “I don’t like the idea of any friend of mine getting involved with her.”

  Holder raised his eyebrows and speared some pasta. “Sure,” he said.

  Daniel reappeared then and took in Veronica’s face, Holder’s practiced nonchalance, and then with a glance in Felsen’s direction, he saw Eric and Felsen chatting. “Yeah. I was going to warn you about that,” he said to Veronica. “I just found out about it today.”

  “How long has this been going on?” Veronica asked as they made their way out of the station.

  “I don’t know. But I don’t think it’s that new, to be honest,” Daniel replied.

  “Do you think it’s been since this summer?”

  “Maybe,” Daniel said. They came to a stop by Veronica’s car. “Does it really bother you?”

  Veronica crossed her arms. “Yes. I mean, not because it’s Eric. Because it’s Felsen. You know? I me
an, I don’t care if Eric’s dating people. He should date people. But Felsen?”

  Daniel sighed. “Where did you want to go?” he asked.

  Veronica was still ruminating about Eric and Felsen, and she couldn’t think about restaurants. “Wherever you want.”

  Daniel gave her a look. “Okay. The diner it is.”

  They got into the car and Veronica drove without talking. She couldn’t believe it. How could this have happened?

  When Eric first arrived in Sacramento he’d seemed interested in Veronica. It had caused some problems between her and Daniel, in fact, because she’d never really gotten over her own feelings for Eric. He’d charmed her and taken her out a few times, but nothing really happened. Except that he bought her a very expensive dress. And he kissed her. But that was all, and she was with Daniel, and Eric knew that. So of course it made sense for him to move on, to date other people. She didn’t have a problem with that. Not really. Of course, it was always a little hard to see an old crush get over you. But that wasn’t the problem. She could handle Eric seeing other people. But Felsen?

  Eric had met Felsen at the Fourth of July celebration. Veronica had told him Felsen was dangerous, and that Felsen had it in for her. She’d even told him about Felsen’s attempt to put her in prison. Eric knew Felsen hated Veronica. And now he was dating her?

  Veronica ground her teeth.

  “Earth to Ronnie,” Daniel said.

  She blinked at him.

  “You’ve passed two perfectly acceptable parking spaces. I only get a half an hour for lunch, you know.”

  “Sorry,” she said and focused on parking. They hurried out, and Veronica took his hand as they entered the diner. “I really am. I shouldn’t care that he’s dating her.”

  Daniel shrugged as they sat down at the lunch counter. “I get it. It’s one thing if he was dating Elizabeth or something.”

  “Who’s Elizabeth?”

  “The new admin assistant. You saw her today.”

  “Oh, right.”

  “And I bet you wouldn’t much like it if he did—”

  “Daniel, that’s not true, I wouldn’t care—”

  He held up a hand, smirking. “Whatever you say. But I get why him dating Felsen is messed up.”

  “He knows what she tried to do to me,” Veronica said.

  “I’m guessing she put a different spin on it for him.”

  The male server behind the counter handed them menus, but Veronica couldn’t focus on hers. “You think she made me out to be lying?”

  “I’m sure if Felsen could convince someone—I mean anyone, really—that you’re a liar, she’d do it in a heartbeat.”

  Veronica made an unhappy noise.

  “But Eric knows you,” Daniel said. “He wouldn’t buy that.”

  Wouldn’t he? Veronica wondered. How well did he know her? They hadn’t had much contact, aside from maybe looking at each other’s Facebook updates, in the thirteen years since she’d studied abroad in Paris. And even then, it wasn’t like they’d been close… just mutually attracted to each other despite Eric’s unavailable status at the time.

  “I’ll have the Reuben,” Daniel said to the server. “And I’ll have an iced tea.”

  Veronica blinked. “A tea for me too, and a Caesar salad with chicken,” she said, choosing an old favorite to cover for the fact she hadn’t taken a glance at the menu. She didn’t want Daniel to think she was obsessing over this. “Anyway. Tell me how your day is going.”

  “Nothing very exciting,” Daniel said.

  What had Felsen said that convinced Eric she wasn’t as bad as Veronica made her out to be? Eric had witnessed Veronica talking to Ariana’s spirit at the Fourth of July celebration. Had Felsen made him think Veronica was crazy, perhaps?

  “Holder thinks we’re going to have to go to Elk Grove later to talk to a witness and I’m not looking forward to it.”

  “Oh?” Veronica managed. Eric hadn’t seemed weird with her earlier. He hadn’t tried to avoid her or acted stand-offish. He even said he wanted to catch up sometime.

  “It’s the second time we’ll be talking to this guy, and the first time wasn’t much fun, you know. Not a fan of the SPD, this guy.”

  “Uh-huh,” Veronica responded. If Felsen made Veronica out to be a nutcase or a liar, surely Eric would have chosen to avoid her rather than come over and greet her. Then again, when she asked why he was there he said he was meeting someone for lunch—but he hadn’t said who. He must realize how she’d feel about him dating Felsen.

  “Yeah, he even let his pet tiger tear off Holder’s leg. Can you believe that?”

  “Hmm… what?” Veronica said. “Pet tiger?”

  “Hey, I’m impressed,” Daniel said. “I thought you weren’t listening to me at all.”

  Veronica sighed and let her face drop into her hands. “I’m sorry, Daniel,” she said, her voice muffled.

  “Let’s just hash it out. At least then I’ll be talking to Ronnie, not her evil puppet Shazelle.”

  “What?” Veronica said, raising her face and giving him a bewildered look.

  “Ask Sunny about it, Shazelle was her invention.”

  “Hey, I forgot to ask if you’re still going to be working weekends? Sunny wants to do a Christmas movie marathon. I need to order the DVDs.”

  “Miracle on 54th Street,” Daniel said fondly. “Oh, and It’s a Wonderful Life.”

  “Uh-uh,” Veronica said. “Sunny’s taking a break from Jimmy Stewart.”

  Daniel widened his eyes. “I never thought this day would come.”

  Veronica smiled. “Yeah, I guess she OD’ed on a Jimmy Stewart marathon or something. Anyway, do you have work?”

  “‘Fraid so.”

  “I need to see if Melanie wants to go.”

  “See, that wasn’t so hard.”

  “What wasn’t?”

  “Moving on from the great Eric-Felsen debacle.”

  “And yet, you bring it up again.”

  The server set plates down in front of them. Veronica stole one of Daniel’s French fries with a grin. He was right—just talking about doing the movie marathon had made her feel better. So what if Eric thought she was a nutcase? But thinking that made the irritation come back. Felsen had twisted reality to suit herself again.

  “Hey, there’s Holiday Inn, too. Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire,” Daniel said, no doubt seeing her mood shift again.

  “I’m sorry, Daniel. I just can’t get my mind off it.”

  “Are you aware that you’ve apologized four times now?”

  Veronica picked at her salad.

  “Look, you can’t let what Felsen does get to you. Believe me, I know what it’s like to want to wring her neck and not be able to do it,” Daniel said.

  Veronica nodded.

  “And if Eric believes something bad about you then he’s shallower than I thought,” Daniel added.

  “I’ll get over it,” Veronica promised. “Eat your sandwich before we run out of time. Let’s talk movies. I’ll stop thinking about Eric and Felsen, I swear.”

  She did manage to remain engaged in the conversation, but she didn’t keep thoughts of Eric and Felsen altogether out of her mind. If Daniel noticed, he didn’t say anything, for which Veronica was grateful.

  But no matter which way she tried to think about it, she always came back to the same conclusion. She had to find a way to break Eric and Felsen up.

  ~~~

  “Hey, Khalilah,” Veronica said into her cell phone as she unhooked Harry’s leash. The Aussie shepherd barreled into the dog park as if a starting gun had gone off. “How are you?”

  “Well, and yourself?” Khalilah responded with a note of surprise. Veronica didn’t call her very often, it was true.

  “Oh, fine. It was nice running into you at Penny’s the other day.”

  “Yes, of course,” Khalilah said. “Did you take the psychic job? Can you tell me the details?”

  “Uh, yes, I did,” Veronica said, suddenly unsure
of what she could or couldn’t say. Were there rules when it came to psychics? Was there something like doctor-patient confidentiality? Psychic-client confidentiality? “I, uh… well, I don’t know if I should say much about it. He needs my help to find a document. Nothing that exciting.”

  “Well, except maybe for the client himself. You could spread him on toast,” Khalilah said with uncharacteristic enthusiasm.

  A giggle erupted from Veronica’s mouth, but part of her felt strangely protective of Miguel. He was hers, in a way. Oh brother, she thought. Are we collecting men now, V?

  No. She wasn’t going to try to hoard all the men she’d ever found attractive, and that wasn’t what this was about. She’d called Khalilah for the exact opposite reason, actually. It was about finding someone else for Eric. This was, in fact, proof that she wasn’t a man-hoarder. She was going to set Eric up. With Khalilah.

  “Miguel’s… he’s got a lot on his plate right now,” Veronica said.

  “Ah,” Khalilah said.

  “I was just wondering if you wanted to get coffee later this week. We wouldn’t have to cut it short this time.”

  “That would be nice,” Khalilah said. “Tomorrow I have a parent conference after school. How’s Wednesday? At four?”

  “Perfect,” Veronica said. “Wednesday at four. I’ll meet you at Penny’s.”

  “See you then.”

  As soon as she ended the call, Veronica scrolled through her contacts to find Eric. She hit send as she cast her gaze over the dog park. Harry was playing tuggy with a white pit, yanking on a sock or a rag of some sort.

  “Allo, Vero,” Eric answered his phone.

  “Eric, ça va?” Veronica asked.

  “Comme toujours.”

  “So, I saw who you were going to lunch with. Looks like we really do have some catching up to do.”

  Eric chuckled. “I suppose it must have been a surprise.”

  “You could say that. So, how about we get that coffee?” Veronica said. She watched Harry as he gave up the tug-of-war and began striking puppy poses as he greeted a German shepherd.