Popped Off

by Allen, Jeffrey

  “Kane was ready to kick his ass,” Joel said. “But I walked him outside and told him that he owed that money to Chuck, and after he paid it, he was not welcome back. I didn’t threaten him, but I wasn’t nice about it, either. The guy was ruining what’s supposed to be a fun night.”

  “Wow,” I said, just shaking my head. “He ever pay Chuck?”

  Joel shook his head. “Nope. Not a penny. Just disappeared.”

  40

  I went home and found a voice mail on my cell.

  “Hey, big winner,” Amber’s voice said. “You did well today! Awesome! Let me know if you wanna play with some of that other money we talked about. Later!”

  I wondered if she called all her winners like that or if she called just the ones who had promised more money.

  I wondered that rhetorically, of course.

  After I showered and changed clothes, I grabbed a notepad and stretched out on the sofa, waiting for the girls to return.

  One trick Victor had showed me was to write down everything I knew about the case I was in the middle of, even if I had the details clear in my head. He maintained that putting them down on paper let you see them a little differently and sometimes led to finding things you couldn’t see in your head. I begrudgingly had to admit that it had worked on more than one occasion and I’d started doing it dutifully each time we worked a new case.

  Of course, I didn’t tell him that.

  It took me thirty minutes to get down everything I knew, which didn’t feel like much. The two things that stuck out to me were the mismatched amounts of money—the money the Huber cousins said was stolen versus the money they were accused of stealing—and the missing Viagra-filled trophies. Regardless of whether or not the money amounts were correct, if we could locate the trophies, I felt like we would at least have some leverage to get Moises back and see what he’d done with the money. I wasn’t exactly sure what that would mean for the soccer association and Elliott’s job, but I wasn’t sure that was my responsibility, either.

  The girls came home and we did dinner and I gave Carly a bath and she was falling asleep in the tub, she was so tired. I crawled into bed with her, but she was out before we even cracked a book. I lay with her in the dark until I heard her snoring, then snuck quietly out of the room.

  Julianne was stretched out on the bed in our room, in an A&M T-shirt and sweats with her laptop across her legs.

  I slid onto the bed next to her and kissed her neck. “Is tonight a green night?” I whispered.

  She smiled. “I have no idea. But it doesn’t need to be.”

  I pulled back. “Wait, I thought we were trying to have a baby.”

  “We are,” she said. “But I feel like just strictly going by the charts and graphs is creating too much . . . pressure.” She looked away from the screen at me. “For me. Not you.”

  “I don’t mind them.”

  “I know you don’t,” she said, kissing my forehead. “But we don’t need them. At least not all the time.”

  “If you say so.” I kissed her neck again. “As long as you aren’t rejecting me.”

  “Never,” she said. “Give me one minute.”

  I looked at the computer screen. It was some sort of contract. “What’s that?”

  “My partner agreement.”

  I blinked. “You’re looking at your options?”

  She nodded. “I’m going to talk to James this week.”

  “You mean quit?”

  “I’m gonna let him know it’s on the horizon.”

  “You’re not even pregnant yet.”

  She closed the laptop, set it on the nightstand, and curled up next to me. “I had fun with Carly today. Just me and her, running around, wasting time, just having fun. I don’t mean without you. I just mean . . .”

  “I know what you mean. Really. It’s good.”

  She nodded. “It was good. And I just decided that whether or not we have another baby, I don’t want to be working my ass off for the next ten years while she grows up. Baby or no baby, I’m done with the grind.”

  I put my arms around her. “Good.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Absolutely.”

  “I won’t drive you nuts if I’m around more?”

  “You might, but I’ll adjust.”

  She smiled and moved tighter against me. “Good. I don’t know why, Deuce, but I’m just feeling the mommy pull.”

  “Nothing wrong with that.”

  “It’s just weird. For me.”

  It probably was, and it was probably even weirder for her to say it out loud, to admit it. But I was glad she wasn’t pretending it wasn’t there. I was glad that she was being honest with herself and with me. I wanted her to do whatever made her happy.

  “There’s nothing weird about you,” I said. “I would know.”

  Her hands found the small of my back, and she pulled me close. Her lips attached to my neck, and goose bumps formed on my skin.

  “You know how much I like to be flattered,” she whispered to me.

  “Yes. I do.”

  “I think you’re gonna get lucky.”

  “I was hoping.”

  “Daddy?”

  We both froze at the sound of Carly’s voice.

  Julianne sat up. “What’s going on, kiddo?”

  “I had a bad dream.”

  I pushed myself up. She was standing in the doorway, sleepy eyed and disheveled, holding her stuffed white cat by the tail.

  “You want me to take you back to bed?” I offered.

  She shook her head. “No. Can I get in your bed?”

  I looked at Julianne, and she smiled at me, raising her eyebrows.

  I sighed. “Yep. Come on, babe.”

  Carly hopped up on the bed and crawled in between us. She burrowed under the covers and nestled between our bodies, hugging her kitty. Julianne looked at me over the top of our daughter’s head, and I looked at her, longingly.

  “Tomorrow,” she whispered.

  I sighed again and nodded as I lay my head down on the pillow. “Tomorrow.”

  41

  Belinda was parked in front of my house when I returned from dropping Carly at VBS Monday. She pushed herself out of her truck as soon as she saw me walking up the block, and was standing in the drive by the time I got there, each of her massive legs planted on the concrete like tree roots.

  “Where do we stand, Deuce?” she asked, already sweating in the early morning sunlight.

  “We’re in my driveway, Belinda.”

  She frowned, finding no humor in my humor. “You know what I mean.”

  I gave her the short, cleaned-up version, leaving out the specific details about where we thought Moises was and what the trophies were housing.

  Her lips formed a flat line across her mouth. “Okay. That isn’t much.”

  “No, it’s really not. But that’s what we’ve got.”

  She chewed on her bottom lip for a moment. “We don’t have money to pay the officials this weekend, Deuce. Or pay for field usage, because that’s due on Friday, before the games.”

  “So what happens?”

  “I’m thinking we gotta cancel.”

  My stomach turned. I knew how disappointed Carly would be if there was no game on Saturday. She’d be confused, upset, but ultimately, we’d be able to pacify her and she’d be all right. Not all kids would react the same way. Some would be crushed.

  And that was in the short term. The long-term damage would have a greater effect. Even if the money was recovered and the league was reestablished as financially viable, the league’s reputation would be stained forever. They would forever be known as the soccer league that had to shut down because they had no money, and fair or not, the league would carry that around its neck forever.

  “What’s the time frame?” I asked.

  Her mouth twisted like she’d just bitten into a rotten lemon. “I think I have to start composing the e-mail today. Logistically, we have to let our coaches and families know
right away. We can’t wait until the last minute to drop that kind of mass cancellation on them.”

  “We do with weather.”

  “It’s different, and you know it,” she said. “If the weather is crappy, they know to call the weather line and check the Web site. Weather is gonna be fine this weekend.” Her features softened. “And, honestly, we owe them the truth. It’s their money we’ve lost. They should know.”

  Belinda was right. They had a right to know, as uncomfortable as it might be. Being that it was fee driven, it was essentially their league. If it was falling into insolvency, they deserved the right to get upset about it.

  I wiped the sweat off my forehead. “When’s the absolute last minute you feel comfortable sending out the e-mail to everyone?”

  She thought for a moment. “Some people won’t get the e-mail, so we’ll still need to make some phone calls. I’d say Wednesday night is my drop-dead date.”

  That gave me forty-eight hours. Not ideal, but maybe it was just time to push the envelope and see what happened.

  “Okay,” I said. “Wait until then. I’ll see what I can do. And then I’ll touch base with you on Wednesday afternoon. If I don’t have anything for you, you can send out the notice. Sound all right?”

  Belinda sighed, and her massive body sagged. “No. Not really. But if that’s all we got, that’s all we got.”

  “Even if I find Moe, you know there’s no guarantee the money’s still around, right?”

  She trudged slowly toward her truck. “I know. But at least if you find him, I’ll be able to beat his ass.”

  42

  I showered, ate some toast, finished the pot of coffee, and grabbed my cell phone.

  I punched in the number I wanted, left a voice mail, and waited.

  It rang three minutes later.

  “Hey!” Amber screeched through the phone. “How are you? You had such a great day on Saturday! So happy for you!”

  It was like having my own personal cheerleader.

  “Yeah, I did,” I said. “Thanks.”

  “You must have done this before!”

  “Can’t say that I have.”

  “Well, I certainly hope it’s not beginner’s luck!”

  Amber was either a great actress or really didn’t mind losing money.

  “Me, either, but I’m ready to find out,” I said.

  “Yay!”

  “I mentioned the other day that I might be interested in placing some bigger bets,” I said. “You told me that maybe I should wait. Are we at that point yet?”

  “I think we might be able to work that out now that you are a totally valued customer.”

  “Here’s the deal,” I said. “I’m not really comfortable putting this kind of money into an account. Because I worry about people finding it. Know what I mean?”

  “Not really,” she answered, sounding genuinely confused.

  “It’s a fairly large amount of money. I don’t want any record that the IRS might be able to track. Receipts, deposits, those kinds of things.”

  “Gotcha,” Amber said, catching up. “So what are we talking here?”

  “I’d prefer to just bring you the cash I’d like to put in play.”

  She was silent for a moment. “Hmmm. Hang on a second, all right?”

  “All right.”

  The line went quiet, and I was pretty sure she’d put me on mute. I wondered if Suzie was standing nearby, scowling and being surly.

  “Okay,” she said, her voice bursting back through the line. “How much are we talking about?”

  “Uh, six figures,” I said, saying the first thing that came to mind.

  “Hold on.”

  The line went quiet again. I needed to decide exactly what amount I’d give her if she came back and wanted the specifics. I wanted to make it sound realistic but still sizable. The problem was, I didn’t have any idea what kind of bets they saw on a regular basis.

  It ended up not mattering.

  “All right,” Amber’s voice shouted through the phone. “Since you’ve been so totally awesome so far, we feel totally comfortable doing this with you. Because we wanna help you out, ya know?”

  “Of course.”

  “Know which games you’re interested in yet?”

  “No. I haven’t checked the lines yet. But I will today, and I’ll let you know. Then maybe we can set something up?”

  “Totes!” Amber squealed. “Call me! Later!”

  43

  I hung up, and my phone chirped immediately.

  “I got info, Stilts,” Victor barked at me.

  “On what?”

  “Alpha Gamma Tau.”

  “Excuse you?”

  “Alpha Gamma Tau.”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  “Your sorority girl bookies, you big dope!” he yelled. “The sorority is Alpha Gamma Tau.”

  “At SMU?”

  “Yep.”

  “How do you know?”

  He made a sound like he wanted to vomit. “Really? After all this time, you’re still questioning me?”

  He had a point. “Sorry. Okay. Alpha Gamma Tau. They’re running the betting?”

  “Yeah. Been doing it for a while, apparently. It’s out there. People know.”

  “So it’s overt?”

  “I wouldn’t say overt, but it’s not a tight secret. Took me about two hours to run them down.”

  “That long?”

  “Ha.”

  “You wanna go with me to meet them?” I asked.

  “Why are you going to meet them?”

  I explained my idea and my urgency.

  “I think that’s a terrible plan,” he said.

  “Why?”

  “Because it’s not even a plan.”

  “I think if I put them on the spot, I can get them to give up Huber.”

  “But maybe not the money, and isn’t that what you really need?”

  Smart midgets were the worst.

  “I’ll worry about that part when I get to it,” I said.

  “Again. Horrible plan.”

  “Do you want to go or not?”

  “I probably should, in case the sorority girls are too tough for you,” he said, and I could tell he was grinning. “And they probably need someone handsome to look at after looking at your horrific mug.”

  “Who are you gonna bring?”

  “I don’t need anybody but me, baby,” he said. “One look at this face and they’ll be in love.”

  “Or cardiac arrest.”

  “When are we going?”

  “Today.”

  “Today?”

  “Did I stutter?”

  “When?”

  “Sooner rather than later.”

  “So I should head your way now?”

  “As much as I hate to say yes . . . yes.”

  “Fine. But I’m driving.”

  “We can argue about that when you get here.”

  “I’m not riding in your stinking van, because I always end up on the floor in that thing,” he barked.

  “We’ll figure it out when you get here.”

  “There ain’t nothing to figure out, Stilts. You can get in my car or not.”

  “Whatever. Just get here.”

  “Keep your giant pants on. I’ll be there soon.”

  “Great. I won’t look forward to it.”

  He cackled before he hung up.

  44

  I arranged with my mom to pick up Carly at camp in case I was gone for the better part of the afternoon. I didn’t want to get stuck in the middle of anything and then not be able to get to her. My mom was more than happy to meet her at VBS, and I knew Carly would love the surprise of having her grandmother pick her up.

  I was going to call Amber back but then realized that made no sense. I didn’t want her to have any warning, and I didn’t want her to know I knew where she was. I didn’t need to scare them off. I hated to admit it, but there were times where I felt completely at a
loss as to what I was doing as an investigator, and I had to rely on Victor to save my rear end.

  An engine roared into my driveway, and a horn blasted longer than necessary.

  Victor.

  I walked outside. The top was down on his convertible, and heavy metal blared from the speakers. He saw me and turned it up.

  “Let me drive,” I yelled over the music, coming up to the side of the car.

  He cupped his hand around his ear like he couldn’t hear me.

  “Let me drive!”

  He frowned at me. “I’m leaving in five seconds, with or without you.”

  Against my better judgment, I opened the door and slid into the passenger seat of his Miata. Blocks were attached to the pedals, and he pressed on the accelerator, revving the engine, grinning like a shark.

  “Just drive,” I said.

  He cackled and threw it into reverse, roaring out of the driveway.

  He hit the button on his door panel, and the windows pushed up, buffeting the wind noise.

  “You know where you’re going?” I asked.

  He turned down the stereo and nodded. “Greek Row. It’s right near the campus. All the little rich kids living in mini-mansions, drinking and doin’ who knows what.”

  In all the years I had lived in the Dallas area, I had never been to SMU’s Greek Row. I had heard about it but had never had a reason to go. Going to college down at A&M, it would’ve been heresy to have visited the campus when I was home. And once I’d graduated, there was no reason to go check out the antics on their row.

  We hit the highway, and Victor maneuvered us into the fast lane. “You still stuck on your plan that’s not a plan?”

  “Yeah. I don’t have anything better. And they’re gonna have to cancel soccer if we don’t find some way to get the money back.”

  He made a face. “It’s just soccer.”

  I laughed. “Just you wait until your son is old enough to play. Your entire life is going to revolve around whatever activities he’s in. And they will seem more important than anything else going on in your life.”

  “Not a chance.”

  I shook my head and chuckled. Everyone thought that. But then it happened over night. No more movies, no more dates, no more happy hours. Everything was about game times and snack schedules and birthday parties and playdates. Your needs and wants became completely subordinate to those of your child.