Busted

by Gina Ciocca

  “We should probably go in teams,” Nick added. “I don’t want Charlie sitting outside an abandoned house in the middle of the night all by herself.” He caught the indignant look on my face. “Or Marisa.”

  I shoved his arm. “Nice save.”

  “Nick and I can take the first shift,” Charlie piped up. “I’ll put up the money.” She held up her hand when the rest of us began to protest. “It’s the least I can do. You guys have gone out of your way for me, and you have no idea how much I appreciate it.”

  “You’d do the same for us,” Mindy said.

  “Of course I would. I owe all of you so big for this.”

  “All right, Charlie, so you and Nick will take the first shift,” TJ cut in, all business. “Say from nine to midnight? And then either Mindy and Marisa can take over, or I will. We’ll rotate until the envelope is gone.”

  “Wait a minute,” I said. “Why should you do a shift alone?”

  “Uneven teams,” he replied. “What else are we supposed to do?”

  At that moment, a knock on the passenger-side window made us all jump out of our skin. I turned, clutching my chest, to see Jason bent outside Charlie’s window, his face all but pressed up against the glass. Charlie jammed her finger down on the window button.

  “Ass!” she said the minute the glass rolled past his eyes. “You scared the shit out of us!”

  He stuck his head into the car. “Did you forget I’m in on this? I want to know what happened.”

  “We got the lowdown on one of the drop points. We were just saying that TJ needs a partner for his stakeout shift.”

  TJ’s face fell. “No we weren’t.”

  Charlie looked at him. “Yes we—” Her eyes widened as she realized TJ wanted to be alone in a car with Jason only slightly less than Nick did. “Um, I mean Mindy needs a partner. Or Marisa needs a partner.” She turned back to Jason. “Either way. Are you in?”

  He grinned. “You bet your ass I’m in.”

  39

  Charlie made her drop-off at 8:45 p.m. on Friday night. We’d hoped that if she went as close to the deadline as possible, our “perp” would be waiting in the wings and we’d have an instant-gratification gotcha moment.

  No such luck.

  Crabapple Road was a dark, narrow, sparsely populated street, and even though the abandoned house sat close to the road, the property was nestled into the woods, which made perfect cover for a stakeout. We’d decided Charlie’s car would be the official observation deck for the night. She and Nick drove it to the lookout point, and then the rest of us would meet TJ at his barn prior to our shifts, and he’d drive us over on his tractor. I told my parents I was sleeping at a friend’s house, and since Mindy and I catnapped on her couch until my shift started at midnight, it was sort of true.

  I’d finagled it—okay, begged, pleaded, and bribed Mindy—so TJ and I would take the midnight-to-three-in-the-morning shift together, and she’d be with Jason from three to six. It cost me an IOU for three Fudgie’s ice cream sundaes and a pair of handmade earrings, but it was well worth it to get some alone time with TJ.

  “Hey,” he said when he opened the barn door. “Ready for this?”

  I put my camera down on his worktable, where a half-sewn piece of cowhide lay open. He must’ve been working on it for a while, because the space heaters had kicked in enough that I needed to unwind my scarf. “Ready as I’ll ever be, I guess.”

  TJ closed the door, a contemplative look on his face. Like he was about to give me bad news. But then he stepped over and picked up the tasseled ends of my scarf, winding them around his hands. I went completely still.

  “Listen, I want to apologize for the other night. I didn’t mean to take it out on you when you told me about…you know.”

  “I—we talked about this. It’s fine.”

  “It wasn’t fine.” He let the tassels slide through his fingers, then wound them around again. This time, he pulled me closer. “Thanks. For doing all this. It may not change anything for me, but at least I’ll have answers.”

  There were a million ways I wanted to respond, but before I could execute even one, the barn door flew open, and our heads whipped toward it. Jason stood in the door frame, blinking like a doofus.

  “Do I have the wrong time?”

  “Yes,” I said, not bothering to hide my annoyance as TJ dropped my scarf and put his hands in his jeans pockets.

  Jason ambled inside and closed the door behind him. “That sucks. Now what?”

  “Well, I guess you can go home. Your shift doesn’t start for another three hours.”

  His face fell. “I can’t go home now! I’m all hopped up on coffee! I’m ready to bust some ass!”

  TJ and I exchanged looks. Looks of dear God, are we really stuck with this overcaffeinated goon for the next three hours?

  “If you stay with us, you still have to do your shift with Mindy,” TJ warned. “You’re not leaving her in the woods by herself.”

  Jason rubbed his hands together and looked back and forth from TJ to me, grinning like a Cheshire cat. “Let’s do this!”

  Yes, we were stuck with him. We really were.

  TJ drove us through the winding dirt paths that separated acres of pines from firs as leftover snow crunched beneath the tires and evergreen-scented air chilled our lungs. He must’ve known the farm like the back of his hand, because the headlights barely illuminated two feet in front of us but he maneuvered through the trails without missing a trick. Or maybe my night vision had suffered on account of hiding behind my glasses so often lately.

  He cut the engine a good fifty feet from the road and hopped off the tractor. “Come on,” he said. “We’ll walk from here in case anyone’s coming.”

  I held my camera with one hand and TJ grabbed the other to help me down. He didn’t let go right away when my feet hit the ground, and I wished like anything I could make Jason disappear.

  “This place looks like a fucking bomb went off!” Jason said, effectively reminding me that he wasn’t going anywhere. TJ dropped my hand.

  “Yikes,” I said as we approached the overgrown property. “That house is scary.”

  A dilapidated roof had come into view as we reached the last hill belonging to Maple Acres before it descended into Crabapple Road. The moon glowed full and bright above the house, and while it cast some much-needed light, it also lent it an eerie, horror-movie quality to the scene that made goose bumps rise on my skin. Broken shingles with chipped, peeling paint comprised the rest of the house. Black shutters hung at odd angles around the windows, some of which were broken. The front porch sagged under its own weight. Right near the street stood the black mailbox, looking like it had been on the receiving end of more than a few drunken swats from the baseball bats of bored, moronic teenagers.

  “Shit,” Jason said. “At least they didn’t ask us to bring the envelope inside.”

  We were crossing the street when Nick and a rumpled-looking Charlie emerged from the woods. I had to wonder how much time they’d actually spent watching the house.

  “Nada,” Nick announced. “I think three cars have driven by the entire time we’ve been here.”

  “Could you see the car in the woods?” Charlie asked. When we all agreed we couldn’t, she squinted at Jason. “What are you doing here?”

  “Don’t worry. He’ll be here for Mindy too,” TJ replied. “Let me give you guys a ride back to the barn and we’ll take it from here.”

  Charlie and Nick wished us luck, then disappeared across the street with TJ.

  “Ugh, it’s freezing in here!” I said as I slid into the passenger seat of the car and Jason hopped into the back. “I hope TJ brings back some hot chocolate.”

  He poked his head between the seats. “Wanna do some exploring? I bet there’s all kinds of neat shit in that house.”

  “Neat shit like rats
and cockroaches. I’ll pass.”

  “Come on! We can’t just sit here for three hours!”

  “Um, you’re sitting here for six. So why don’t you stretch out back there and go to sleep, that way you’re not totally useless by the time Mindy gets here?”

  We continued like that until TJ came back. At one point Jason even got out of the car and tiptoed toward the house, looking back at me and smiling every so often as I furiously hissed his name and demanded he get back inside the car. Apparently caffeine turned him into a damn two-year-old. TJ at least wrangled him into the car with the steaming cups of hot cocoa he’d brought, legitimately having read my mind, but once he did, we both wished he hadn’t.

  “So,” Jason said. “You two…?”

  “No,” we said in unison.

  “Bullshit. I saw the promposal video. That was badass, T. You’re a pimp.”

  TJ leaned against the headrest and closed his eyes, looking like he had a massive headache. “I’m not a pimp.”

  “So are you two in love? Gonna get married and make babies and shit?”

  TJ and I looked at each other. A hint of a smile pulled at his lips. I felt his hand creep closer to mine until our pinkies touched. I hooked my fingers around his and smiled back. He snorted and his face split into a grin. Within seconds, our shoulders shook with uncontrollable snickers.

  “Aw, I knew it!” Jason clapped TJ on the shoulder, jostling his hand away from mine. “You guys can’t fool me.”

  Laughing had lightened the mood, and some of the tension eased out of my bones. I shifted to face him. “So what’s Kelly doing tonight?”

  He leaned back and put his hands behind his head. “Whatever it is, I’m sure she wishes it was me.”

  I rolled my eyes and laughed again. Jason was something else, and this was going to be a hell of a three hours.

  Or ten minutes, as luck would have it. All three of us went still as the rumbling of an approaching car grew louder. We leaned forward in our seats, straining to see through the surrounding overgrowth. Headlights illuminated the clearing around the house for a few breathless seconds. Then they dimmed. I readied my camera.

  Through the trees, I saw a car pull up next to the mailbox, the headlights on low. I snapped pictures as fast as my fingers would allow. The driver’s side door opened and the interior light went on. Inside our car, TJ gripped the steering wheel. His whole body tensed.

  “Can’t be,” he said under his breath.

  “What the…?” Jason shouldered his way between us until he was practically in my lap.

  Then I saw it. The hunched, hooded figure that emerged from the car. The familiar slouch of the tall, slim frame.

  The silver heart pendant hanging from a chain around the rearview mirror.

  I lowered my camera.

  Jason squeezed his eyes shut and opened them again, like he wanted to make sure they weren’t playing tricks on him. I snapped another picture as proof of the same. It wasn’t a trick.

  “Shit,” he breathed. “It’s fucking Eli.”

  40

  Before I knew what had happened, TJ threw open the car door and bolted.

  Jason and I exchanged the briefest look before we did the same. Eli barely had five seconds to react by the time he heard TJ’s footsteps pounding toward him. His face still registered surprise and he hadn’t yet removed his hand from inside the mailbox when TJ pounced on him.

  Eli’s hood slipped from his head as TJ grabbed fistfuls of his sweatshirt and shoved him against the car.

  “You’re the one behind this? All this time it was you? You fucking let me blame Kendall?” With each question, he rammed Eli into the car.

  “It’s not what it looks like, man!” Eli tried to duck away from TJ’s grip. TJ slammed him so hard that his head ricocheted off the car.

  “It looks to me like you’re taking money for stolen information while someone else gets the blame. Sound familiar, Eli?”

  In a flash, Jason stood between them, his forearms the only thing preventing TJ from beating Eli to a pulp. “Calm down, T. It’s not worth it.” He locked an arm against Eli’s neck and, with a menacing expression I never would’ve imagined him capable of, got right in his face. “I always knew you were a fucking weasel,” Jason spat.

  “Marisa, call the cops,” TJ said. I’d been standing there, frozen, terrified, almost like I was watching the scene from someone else’s body. When TJ spoke to me, I startled. I was actually here, watching this happen. I snapped one last picture before dropping my camera on its strap around my neck and fumbling for my phone.

  “No!” Eli called. “I-I’ll go the school board and testify. I’ll make them take it off your record. Don’t get the cops involved!”

  I looked at TJ, phone in hand, waiting for him to tell me what to do.

  “All this time you’ve been letting me think you were trying to help me,” TJ seethed. “Making me meet you all over Monroe to give me bogus information and tell me you hit another dead end and making it sound like we couldn’t get Jason involved because he hates you.”

  Jason’s glare remained unyielding. “That part is true.”

  “I’m sorry, man.” Eli grimaced against the weight of Jason’s arm. “My mother paid good money to make those charges go away. I couldn’t let you find out anything else about what happened.”

  “What?” TJ strained and bucked against Jason’s arm. “You were accused too?” He shook his head and corrected his error. “You were caught?”

  “I knew something funny was going on!” Jason said. “You’re running a fucking underground cheating ring, and you went running to Mommy about the stupid graffiti prank?” He shoved Eli against the car and pinned him with his elbow. “This kid’s mother is like Mommie Dearest meets Norma Bates dipped in Judge Judy. Such loving fucking additions to our household.”

  “I didn’t get caught,” Eli said, as if Jason hadn’t spoken at all. “Someone ratted me out. Someone who still hasn’t admitted to it.” He threw Jason’s elbow off his chest. “I thought I could help myself while I helped you.”

  TJ rammed his hands through his hair. “Except that you were never helping me. I had my ass handed to me at a hearing, and you were in the clear because your mother shopped you a deal?” Before Eli could get a word out, TJ exploded. “You destroyed my relationship with Kendall, you know that?” As he spoke, a flash of headlights came into view down the road. “You made me think I couldn’t trust her and the whole time I shouldn’t have trusted you.”

  A sharp twinge pierced my chest. The pained look on TJ’s face as he talked about his relationship with Kendall being destroyed stung worse than the winter cold. After all, if his relationship had stayed intact, he never would’ve met me. I’d never stopped to think he’d been happy with Kendall and wanted to stay that way. Tears pricked my eyes. Maybe he wasn’t over her. Maybe I’d stumbled upon the real reason he kept hesitating with me.

  Jason loosened his grip as headlights approached, still keeping a hand on the shoulder of each boy but in a less threatening way. He was probably thinking the same thing I was: if the passerby saw them fighting, we might end up with cops on the scene regardless.

  Eli straightened his sweatshirt and flipped the hood back over his head. A snakelike smile spread across his face as the car slowed to a stop on the other side of the street. The fact that he looked so smug when the rest of us were so confused made my stomach writhe.

  “You give Kendall way more credit than she deserves, man,” he said.

  The timing couldn’t have been more perfect. Because the person who stepped out of the car was none other than Kendall Keene.

  • • •

  She emerged slowly and stood by the door, holding on to it like she thought she might need to use it for protection.

  “What’s going on here?” she asked, her eyes darting from me to the boys.

/>   “You tell us,” I said.

  Eli strutted over to Kendall. “She’s here to collect her half of the money.” He tried to wrap an arm around her shoulders, but she promptly shoved it away, causing the smug smile to drop off his face. “Because God forbid if she’s seen talking to me in school,” he added bitterly.

  “You—you two are in this together?” TJ stammered. In the moonlight, he looked pale.

  Eli made a sweeping gesture toward Kendall. “Ladies and gentlemen, meet my lovely partner.”

  Kendall shut the car door with a weak, defeated click.

  “Partner?” TJ spit the word out like a mouthful of blood. He threw his hands up. “Does someone want to tell me what the hell is going on here?”

  “TJ,” Kendall whimpered as she crossed the street. “I never meant for you to get involved in this. I swear.”

  “And what about Charlie?” I asked.

  “She deserved it,” Kendall snapped.

  “She what?”

  Kendall looked at me and then back at TJ. “You know how hard it was for me when I transferred to Templeton.”

  TJ jerked his shoulder away from Jason’s hand. “No kidding. I was the one who had your back every time someone made you cry, remember?”

  “I know. You were so good to me, but everyone else was awful. Horrible. There were mornings where I made myself sick crying because I didn’t want to go to school and face whatever those jerks were planning to put me through.” Her voice cracked and she turned to me. “And your perfect, know-it-all Charlie was one of them.”

  I clenched my teeth. “I don’t believe you.”

  “Oh, believe it. Ask her about the time her bitch squad took my bathing suit top and my clothes while I was getting changed for swim class. Or the time they stole a dissected cricket from the bio room and left it in my notebook. Or maybe she’d like to tell you about the rotten little present they left in the trunk of my car.” Her bottom lip trembled and she took a jagged breath, but I still couldn’t believe a word out of her mouth. Wouldn’t believe it. “I know she was jealous. My test scores were better than hers for the honors program, but the school still wasn’t going to let me in for senior year. They insisted all the spots were full, but I knew they were playing a bullshit game of favorites. Everyone at Templeton was determined to see me fail.”