The Gamble and the Grave (Veronica Barry Book 4)

by Sophia Martin

  “Yeah, I remember talking about it with some guy in Reno when Ryan and I went there for a weekend a million years ago. I couldn’t believe how much cash I was seeing. People were just peeling off twenties and fifties and the rest. The guy explained the whole laundering thing to me. I guess casinos have had to get pretty savvy.”

  “So it wouldn’t be so weird for someone to maybe win like ten thousand dollars and get it in cash.”

  Melanie grimaced.

  “It… would be weird?” Veronica said.

  “No. I mean yes. I mean—I was making a face because my little squatter here has decided to start his karate routine.”

  “Oh,” Veronica said, and smiled. “Can I feel?”

  “Sure,” Melanie said with a grunt. “Ugh. Right there.” She put Veronica’s hand on the side of her large belly. A series of sharp thumps ensued.

  “Geez,” Veronica said, giving Melanie an amused look. “He’s really going for it.”

  “Someone needs to explain to this kid that he’s not a bird, and he doesn’t need to break through an eggshell to get out.”

  Veronica laughed. “He feels really strong, Mellie. That’s a good thing, right?”

  Melanie smiled, but she looked weary. “It is good. I just might be too old for all this, V.”

  Veronica shook her head. “Older women than you are having babies. You’ll be okay. I know the bed rest sucks, and I’ve heard the first month with the baby is hard…”

  “Try the first four years, until they go to school, and then again when they hit age twelve or thirteen.” Melanie covered her face with her hands.

  “They’re pretty wonderful, too,” Veronica reminded her.

  Melanie lowered her hands and smiled at Veronica. “Just promise you won’t abandon me.”

  “Melanie, wild horses couldn’t tear me away.”

  Melanie sighed. “Okay. So what were we saying?”

  “Oh, the casino thing. It wouldn’t be weird if they paid a large sum out, like ten thousand dollars, in cash.”

  Melanie shifted into her cushions, rolling onto her back, which Veronica knew was a no-no. She wasn’t about to police Melanie’s bed rest positions, though. Maybe she’d shift again in a minute. “I think it might be a little weird. I mean, casinos don’t want their patrons to get mugged right as they leave the building or something.”

  “So you think they would issue a check?”

  “I’m not sure. We should google it.”

  Veronica nodded and grabbed Melanie’s laptop. By the time she’d got the internet up, Melanie had moved back to lying on her side. She did look uncomfortable. And she was going to have to do this for the next six weeks?

  Veronica typed in “casinos pay out in cash” into the search engine and found that several people had asked the same question on forums for gamblers. Many of the answers corroborated what Melanie had said about money laundering. But it also looked like the consensus was that while most casinos would pay out in any way the customer preferred, the majority of people posting who had had big paydays chose to be paid by check. There was a serious paperwork requirement, though.

  Veronica relayed this information to Melanie.

  “So why are you suddenly so interested in casinos and gambling?” Melanie asked. “Don’t tell me the spirits have decided to start giving you winning roulette numbers.”

  Shaking her head, Veronica answered, “That would be nice. No, I don’t think the spirits really care about my financial well-being, unfortunately.”

  “Does this have something to do with your work for Miguel?”

  Veronica filled her in on the grave robbery and the vision she’d gotten from Ariana.

  “That’s pretty wild,” Melanie said.

  “Yeah. So I assumed she didn’t get the wad of cash from a casino, because I thought they wouldn’t issue so much cash like that,” Veronica said. “But now I’m not so sure. I mean, a lot of people on these forums took checks, but that doesn’t mean you have to do it that way. It sounds to me like you could very well get a stack of hundreds.”

  Melanie nodded. “Do you think that’s where she got the money? From a casino?”

  Veronica sighed. “I’m not sure. And I’m not sure it’s even important. Something in that vision was important to Ariana, otherwise she wouldn’t have shown it to me. Miguel’s going to follow up about Wyatt Williams. I can’t think of any other details that stood out.”

  “She said she wanted a bath and a nap. It implies she was tired and dirty. Maybe she was hooking.”

  “Honestly, I think that’s the least likely scenario. That and stripping. I just don’t see getting a bunch of hundreds from either.”

  Melanie rocked her head to the side against its cushion. “Well, maybe if the hooking was higher level. You know, like, as a call-girl with rich clients who would throw hundreds around.”

  Veronica frowned. “I hadn’t thought of that.”

  “And that seems like it might open up some possibilities for enemies.”

  Veronica nodded, but furrowed her brow. “I just can’t figure out why anyone would rob Ariana’s grave. I mean, let’s just say, for the sake of argument, that it was a john. Some high-powered type who would pay with hundreds. Why would someone like that want to dig up Ariana’s remains?”

  They both pondered this quietly. A knock on the door interrupted their thoughts, and Veronica rose to get it. She saw Daniel through the carved glass and let him in.

  “I come bearing crab,” he said.

  “Come in, come in,” Melanie called. “Come in, you savior, you!”

  Daniel gave Veronica an amused look, but she’d filled him in on the mac and cheese situation, so he knew why Melanie was so enthusiastic. Veronica took one of the two tubs he carried and they brought them both in to the living room, setting them on the coffee table. Melanie sat up.

  Daniel frowned. “Hey, aren’t you supposed to stay lying down?”

  Melanie fixed him with a glare. “It’s modified bed rest, Doctor Seong. It means I’m allowed to get up to eat and pee. Are you going to give me a hard time about it?”

  Daniel held up his palms. “Good god, no.”

  “Never come between a pregnant lady and her crab,” Melanie growled.

  Veronica stifled a giggle and it came out as a snort.

  “V, make yourself useful and get us something to drink,” Melanie said with mock impatience.

  “Yes, your highnessness,” Veronica said, heading for the kitchen.

  “And will you please let Angie know that dinner is here? She’s probably about to invade the kitchen to make me more of her culinary delights.”

  Veronica turned from the doorway to the kitchen and instead jogged up the stairs. She knocked on Angie’s door.

  “Yeah,” the teenager called.

  “Dinner,” Veronica said through the door.

  There was a scuffling noise, and then Angie yanked the door open. “Did you guys order pizza?”

  Veronica shook her head. “Daniel got crab.”

  “Ah,” Angie said. “She told you her sob story about my macaroni and cheese, didn’t she.”

  Veronica grinned. “She’s a little tired of it, I think.”

  Angie rolled her eyes. “She’s such a baby. She won’t even let me make ramen. If my mac and cheese is so bad, why won’t she let me make ramen?”

  Veronica shrugged. “Maybe because your mac and cheese is so bad?”

  Angie swatted Veronica’s shoulder. “You’re as bad as she is. You’ve never even tried my mac and cheese. Maybe it’s delicious, okay?”

  “You’re absolutely right. I should not prejudge your mac and cheese. Still, tonight, we’re having crab.”

  “Hmpf,” Angie responded, and then skipped down the stairs. Veronica followed, with a stop into the kitchen for water glasses.

  Once everyone was settled, she turned to Daniel.

  “Why would anyone want to steal Ariana’s remains?” she asked.

  Daniel made a face an
d swallowed the crab he was eating before answering. “Nice dinner conversation, Ronnie.”

  Veronica rolled her eyes. “Like we never discuss your cases over dinner.”

  “Yeah, but I mean, we’re not just us, home alone. Angie and Melanie don’t need to hear this.”

  Angie shook her head vigorously. “It’s okay. This sounds interesting.”

  “And V and I have been talking about it for over an hour already,” Melanie added.

  Daniel looked at each of their eager faces and sighed. “Okay. Um. This is not my area of expertise. But… well, the other grave robberies I’ve heard about were mostly meth heads digging up random graves in the hopes of finding something worth selling to pay for their drugs.”

  “Ew,” Angie said, pausing as she ate. Veronica and Melanie both made disgusted faces in agreement.

  “But this doesn’t sound like that,” Daniel continued. “For one thing, from what Ronnie told me, the perp knew that Ariana was buried in a small container, not a coffin.”

  Melanie and Angie both gave Veronica surprised looks.

  “She was cremated,” Veronica explained. She told them why and about the jewelry box.

  “Also, Ariana’s was the only disturbed grave,” Daniel said. “So that tells us that he or she was targeting Ariana’s grave specifically, and that he or she knew enough about the interment not to bother digging a hole big enough for a coffin.”

  “So who knew about Ariana being cremated?” Melanie asked.

  Daniel cracked a crab leg and gave Veronica a look. Veronica grimaced. “A lot of people.”

  “What do you mean?” asked Melanie.

  Veronica sighed and explained about the newspaper article.

  “Jeez,” Angie said. “It would be anyone. I mean, all they needed was to think there was something valuable in the keepsake box.”

  Veronica stared at Angie, her meal forgotten.

  Angie shifted uncomfortably. “Uh, did I say something?”

  Rolling her eyes, Veronica shook her head. “I can’t believe I didn’t think of that.”

  “The keepsake box?” Melanie said.

  “Yeah.”

  “I should have said something,” Daniel said. “It’s the first thing I thought of, but I assumed you would, too.”

  “I don’t know why, it just didn’t really hit me until Angie said that,” Veronica said. “I’ve been thinking about it like whoever did this wanted Ariana’s remains. But you’re right. The article even listed some of the things in the keepsake box.”

  “Like, specifically?” Daniel asked.

  “I don’t remember everything now,” Veronica said. “There was a book of poetry, some jewelry…”

  “Maybe they thought the jewelry would be valuable,” Angie said.

  Veronica nodded. “Maybe. Of course, that means whoever did it might not have known Ariana at all.”

  Daniel cracked another leg. “I doubt that. They were very specific about targeting Ariana. I think anyone out to just make a buck might have started with her grave, but they’d have moved on to others. I mean, you’ve got your tools, nobody’s around, maybe you’re hopped up on meth…”

  Melanie shuddered. “That is just nasty.”

  “I need to go back over that article with Miguel. Maybe one of the items was really valuable or something,” Veronica said. “And if the robber was after something specific, that means he did know Ariana personally, right?”

  “Or at least the member of the family who included the item he was looking for,” Daniel agreed.

  Veronica sighed. How this connected back to the vision she’d had of Ariana in the casino, she didn’t know. She wondered if she would ever find out.

  ~~~

  The first thing she noticed was the smell. It was awful. Then she looked around her and saw that she was in the same, dark house as before—the one with the hungry children. Simeon’s house. Something smelled really, really bad, and she could tell from the way Simeon was moving—for she was in Simeon’s body once more—that he didn’t know what it was, either. He crept along a carpeted, wood-paneled corridor toward a closed door. The smell was definitely coming from beyond that door. It was like very strong nail polish mixed with something sweet.

  He was a little taller than before. His fingers were a little longer, she noticed as he touched the wall a little bit ahead of him. So this was happening sometime after the vision with the trash can.

  Simeon rested his hand on the cold knob of the door and took a deep breath, his mouth and nose filling with the noxious odor. Pulling on the knob as he turned it—a trick Veronica knew would perhaps prevent the door making as much noise opening as it might have—Simeon carefully pushed. The door was locked.

  Veronica didn’t even see the blow coming. The next thing she knew she was sprawled on the floor, one ear ringing, the other filled with the diatribe of a woman standing over her.

  “You fucking little weasel! What did I tell you about that door! You fucking leave it alone!”

  Simeon grabbed his ear and turned, scrambling up to face the woman. Veronica was shocked: Liz had not aged well.

  “Mom, okay! I’m sorry!” His voice was clear and high-pitched—he was young, still, but he spoke without the difficulty of a small child. “I won’t touch it again!”

  Liz landed a hard kick into Simeon’s knee. He grunted and fell to his side, curling around the wound.

  “I’m sorry!” he said. “I’m sorry!”

  “Fucking piece of shit,” she hissed at him, her face close—she must have bent down. “I brought you into this world. I can take you out.”

  Veronica felt the tears behind Simeon’s eyes, but he didn’t let them through his lids. Liz moved away and he whispered, “Fuck you, bitch.”

  His voice was still so young.

  ~~~

  Veronica didn’t wake in a panic this time, but slowly, with sickening dread. She lay still and opened her eyes. Staring at the ceiling, she willed the terrible feeling to pass.

  After a few moments of telling herself she did not need to wake Daniel, she gave in and shook his shoulder.

  “Wha—?” he managed as he cracked open an eyelid.

  “I had another Simeon dream,” she said softly.

  Binky jumped up onto the bed beside her. Gratefully, she began to stroke him. The cat, taking his job as post-nightmare comforter very seriously, began to purr as he curled his tail around his feet. Veronica felt a little bad about waking Daniel now. Petting Binky might be enough to help her feel better.

  It was too late for Daniel, though. He sat up, rubbing his eyes. He plumped the pillow behind him and blinked at her. “What happened?” he asked.

  Veronica sighed. She told him what she’d seen. “That smell, of nail polish and something else, something sweet…?”

  “Probably they were cooking meth,” Daniel said.

  She nodded. That was what she’d suspected, as well.

  “I still don’t know what I can do about it,” she said despondently. She scratched Binky behind the ears and he flopped against her, exposing his tummy.

  Running her fingers into the ultra-soft tummy fur, Veronica chewed on her lower lip.

  “If it helps, there’s a team of detectives working a meth case right now. I could tell them to keep their eyes open for these people. Liz what?”

  “I still don’t know,” Veronica said miserably. “Unless she married Gerry Wallace and took his name.”

  “Well, I’ll tell them to keep an eye out for Gerry Wallace and a pregnant woman named Liz.”

  Veronica gave him a small smile. “Thanks,” she said. Although she didn’t see how that would help. If she was right, and the dream showed the future, Liz wasn’t involved in cooking meth yet. Simeon wasn’t even born yet. How could she help someone who wasn’t even born?

  ~~~

  The next day at school she was distracted. She kept hearing Liz hissing in her ear. She kept feeling the kick in her knee. There was nothing supernatural going on, however.
She was just that bothered by it.

  “Why even have a kid?” she asked no one in particular once her students had all filed out of fifth period.

  Maybe Liz couldn’t foresee where she’d be in eight or nine years. Veronica was convinced that’s how old Simeon was, or close to it, in the last nightmare. Maybe today Liz believed that Gerry would be there for her—well, maybe he was still there for her in nine years, but Liz hadn’t reckoned on their future means of earning income. They would have at least three kids together, going on hope that they were somehow making a better life for themselves. Veronica recalled the conversation the two of them had had on the beach. What Liz wanted more than anything was a family.

  Though that would change over time, it seemed. You didn’t kick your firstborn son in the knee and talk about “taking him out” if your top priority was building a happy family.

  What desperate pass occurred for Liz in the future, to bring her to cooking meth in her own home?

  Maybe that was it.

  Maybe that was why Veronica was getting these nightmares.

  If she could figure out what wrong turn Liz was going to take, maybe she could somehow prevent it.

  But how could she find that out?

  Chapter 7

  Miguel called Veronica at lunch and asked for her to come to his studio. She agreed, although what she really wanted to do was figure out how she might track down Liz to get some sort of a read on her. Maybe all she had to do was touch the woman again, and she’s have a vision of what she was supposed to prevent.

  It would have to wait. Miguel was paying her, after all, even if she hadn’t decided on a fee yet. Plus, she had to admit she was curious about the vision Ariana had sent her. Veronica wanted to help Ariana anyway. She owed Ariana for the way she’d helped Veronica at the Fourth of July celebration.

  Veronica parked her car against the curb outside Miguel’s art studio and walked inside. She stopped a few steps from the threshold, however. Miguel had changed several of the paintings he was showing from the ones Veronica had seen that summer. She gazed at the new paintings, taking in their colors, their lines… There was a child chasing a cat, and the blues he’d used to accent some of the shadows conveyed such a deep sadness that Veronica knew the girl must be Ariana. In another, a woman with her back to the viewer sat tensely at a table with an elderly man. Her face was turned away from him but her right hand extended toward him. Though the old man didn’t really look like Hector, Veronica thought the painting must be telling the story of how Dolores was pulling away from him.