Sugared

by Gina LaManna

  “To other members of The Violet Society?”

  “Yes. It saves time on paperwork when verifying employment.”

  “Why are you here tonight?”

  “It’s my place, and I’ll entertain who I want, when I want, where I want.”

  “I’m confused,” I said. “Did Beckett ever live here?”

  “Yes. I keep the apartment furnished, and Beckett asked to rent it out while he was in town.”

  “Do you know, by chance, if he was hiding something here?” Meg asked. “I’m thinking it might look like a fat sack of cash.”

  “No.”

  “Can I peek in your toilet bowl tank?” She tapped him on the shoulder. “I’ve seen people in movies hiding things there. Also, I have to use the restroom.”

  “No,” Eric said again. “Why?”

  “Why do I have to use the bathroom?” she started, “or why—”

  “If you want to look around, please feel free,” he said through gritted teeth. “I have nothing to hide.”

  “That’s a good point,” Meg said. “Don’t mind if I do take a look around.”

  I tried my best to stop my bachelorette posse, but the ladies swarmed into the apartment and began scanning the place for a location in which three million dollars might be hiding. Eric, to his credit, waited patiently in his towel.

  I stood next to him, trying my best not to make awkward eye contact. “Sorry about this,” I said. “It’s an odd night.”

  “Bachelorette party?”

  “Yep.”

  “I’ve seen worse,” he said. “Congratulations on your wedding.”

  “Thanks,” I said. “Hope we didn’t interrupt your date.”

  “I’ll manage,” he said, tersely.

  The apartment’s open layout led to a quick and easy search. There were simply no good places to hide three million in cash. Meg sat on the sofa and bounced up and down a few times.

  “Yep,” she said. “Nothing’s here.”

  Nora fiddled with the toilet tank and yelled from the bathroom. “Nothing in here either.”

  Alessandra, meanwhile, focused on the more intricate hiding places. When even she announced that there was no money in the apartment, I declared the search over.

  “Sorry for interrupting your night,” I said, flicking the keycard onto Eric’s dresser. “We’re just trying to figure out what happened to Beckett.”

  “Let sleeping dogs lie, Lacey,” Eric said. “Is it worth it to keep digging?”

  His words halted me at the door. If anything, it almost sounded like a threat. “A true friend would protect their own.”

  “Don’t trust me, then,” Eric said. “I’m just thinking about the safety of your family.”

  A hot flash of anger burned through me. I didn’t have the will to fight with him, not about this. Not when he was letting his friend’s murderer walk away unscathed. I knew The Violet Society worked alone, but still—I thought there would be an ounce of loyalty among the group.

  “He’s just trying to irk you,” Alessandra said, pushing the elevator button for the ground floor. “Don’t let him. He’s just annoyed we spoiled the mood.”

  “Maybe. But something doesn’t feel right.”

  “Which part?” Meg asked. “The part where he didn’t offer us any champagne, or the part where we didn’t find the three million bucks?”

  “All of it,” I said. “He must have seen the blood on the floor from when I got shot—he just cleaned it up and moved on? Don’t you think he’d want to talk to me about it, or make me pay for it, or...I don’t know. Not be entertaining guests in a dead man’s penthouse?”

  “Maybe Beckett didn’t stay there,” Meg said. “He could’ve just used it to keep the ring hidden.”

  “Maybe he’s right,” I said. “Maybe we should let it drop.”

  “If you hadn’t trusted your instincts in the first place, Beckett’s death would still be ruled a suicide,” Alessandra said. “The Zebra would be at large, and we wouldn’t have any closure.” Her hands absently played with the ring on her finger.

  “True. But for now, The Zebra is locked away. I’m getting married tomorrow. The rest can wait.”

  “Which is all well and good,” Meg said. “But where in the world is the three million bucks? That doesn’t just disappear.”

  “Beckett’s a magician,” I argued. “He’s great at making things disappear.”

  “I could do a lot of things with three million bucks,” Meg said. “If anyone has any ideas on where to find it, y’all just let me know.”

  “Wait a second. Beckett’s a magician.”

  “You just said that,” Meg sighed. “It doesn’t help with the vanished money.”

  “Unless it does!” I held up a finger as I spun around to face her. “Beckett was brilliant. He loved showmanship, performing, having the attention on himself. So, if he had hidden the money, he would’ve done it in a flashy way.”

  “Well, I’m going to let you think on that,” Meg said. “Because I’m out of ideas. But I’m sort of waiting on pins and needles because—”

  “That’s it!” I turned to Meg, kissed her on the cheek. “You’re brilliant.”

  “I know,” she said. “What’d I say this time?”

  “I know where the money is!”

  “Where?” Nora asked. “I want to have an epiphany, too!”

  “Who’s up for a round of bowling?”

  Chapter 30

  “Oh, darn it,” Nora said. “This door was just hanging wide open. The Zebra shouldn’t be so careless.”

  After Meg parked Patty behind Zebra Lanes, the four of us had crept through the dark alley to the back entrance. I’d warned everyone that we wouldn’t be breaking inside anywhere, which was probably the reason Nora had gone ahead and finagled the lock open before I could tell her not to.

  “How?” I shook my head in amazement. The door was hanging, certainly. By threads. As if my grandmother had kicked it down.

  “I didn’t do anything,” she said, dusting off a purse which, now that I looked closer, appeared to hold several bricks. “I slipped, and the door fell open. Are you going to take a peek or not?”

  I sighed, but since I wasn’t getting anything but nods of approval, I took a step inside. Just one, a baby one. If anything looked off, I’d run the other way faster than Meg could say doughnut.

  I swept my tiny keychain flashlight across the path ahead of me, but the place was empty. Save for the lights illuminating the pins at the end of the lanes, the rest of the room sat in darkness.

  “So?” Meg kept close behind me as I crept forward. “Are you going to explain how I was so brilliant?”

  “Wait here.”

  “Where are you going?”

  I pointed down toward the end of the bowling lanes. There, illuminated like a neon sign, were ten bowling pins. “If they’re not hidden there, we’re leaving. I’m not staying around here any longer than needed.”

  Before I could stop her, Meg put one foot out on the lane, tested its slickness with her toe, and found that indeed, it was quite slippery. She lost her balance a second later, arms flailing, and went down in a heap accompanied by a hard thud. Then came the yowl of pain.

  “Meg!”

  “My tailbone!” she yelped. “That sucker hurts!”

  “Come on,” I grunted, trying to pull her to her feet. “Help me...help you. Let’s get you home. I knew this was a bad idea.”

  “No, Lace—wrong way. Give me a push.”

  “What?”

  “A push,” she said again. “I just need a bit of a running start. Like a slip and slide.”

  “Why don’t we just walk down the lane dividers like normal people?”

  “That’s a dud of an idea.”

  But it was an idea that worked. For me, at least.

  Meg went down like a slip and slide, hooting and hollering the entire way through. Meanwhile, I pretended not to be jealous while I carefully took to the divider and inched my way to the
opposite end.

  Nora and Alessandra waited behind at the ball racks, taking turns playing lookout and rating Meg’s performance on the bowling alley slip and slide.

  “Don’t you think if the money is down here,” Meg said, “it would’ve come out when you got your strike?”

  “Maybe he hid it well. Pins don’t normally just explode with money.”

  “I suppose,” she said, trying to get her feet back under her when she reached the end. “But what if—” Meg cut herself off with another wail as she slipped and went hurtling into the stack of pins.

  “Strike!” Nora yelled from the sidelines as bowling pins scattered everywhere.

  Something popped, then, and we all froze. The sound rang like a gunshot in the silence as we waited. Then Meg rolled over, and revealed a bowling pin beneath her. She’d landed on it, and the thing had cracked in half...bright green cash pouring from inside of it.

  “Meg! You did it!” I said. “You found the money.”

  She looked around her, processed the pool of hundred dollar bills underneath her. As if to test them, she extended a hand and swirled the money against the floor. “Well, look at that.”

  Nora cheered from the sidelines, while Alessandra watched in silence.

  Meg thumbed a few bills into her pocket. “Now that we found the money, what are we going to do? If you’re curious, I have a few ideas. Thirty-nine, actually. I have a list of what I’d do with a million bucks.”

  “We’re not spending it.”

  “Bummer. I knew you’d say that.”

  I grabbed another bowling pin and ran my hands along the outside. I slammed it once against the ground, but I didn’t so much as make a dent. No matter what I tried—twisting, pulling, smacking—nothing helped.

  “Watch and learn,” Meg said. Taking the bowling pin, she placed it on the alley, lined it up, and then sat down with all of her weight.

  At first, nothing happened.

  “Doesn’t that hurt?” I asked.

  “Sacrifice.”

  A second later, a crack like lightning shot through the room, and another flood of money burst from the end.

  “You’ve just gotta put a little elbow to it,” she said, standing and opening her arms as money swirled around her. “That’s called making it rain.”

  “Come on, we found the money. Let’s get out of here.”

  Grumbling, Meg scooped up a few pins in her arms, and together, we tightrope walked our way back off the lanes.

  “I hope you’re not planning on taking those with us,” I said to Meg, my eyebrow raised. “We’re not spending the money.”

  “I just want to feel rich for a few more minutes,” Meg said. “You think they’d mind if I took a bath in the money first? I always wanted to say I bathed in cash.”

  “I vote we don’t move anything,” Alessandra said. “Let’s leave a tip for the police.”

  “The police?” I turned to Alessandra. “I’m surprised.”

  “We don’t know who the money belongs to. It’s probably all illegal anyway. It’s for the best.”

  She sounded tired, resigned. As if this were the last piece of Beckett for her to unravel. Then again, maybe it was.

  We’d proven that Beckett was murdered, and we’d found his killer. We’d found the ring, and now, we’d found the money. We’d followed Beckett’s treasure trail to the end of the road. We had nowhere left to turn now, except away.

  “Let’s go, okay?” She cleared her throat. “We’re done here.”

  Turning, she strode toward the crack of light at the doorway, easing it open and slipping into the night. Nora followed behind, leaving Meg and I in the quiet darkness.

  “One pin?” she asked. “Come on, just one.”

  “No.”

  “Turn your head so you can plead ignorant.”

  “No.”

  “But—”

  “Leave it,” I said. “We’re notifying the police, and I don’t want to have to explain why there’s only two million, nine hundred thousand and two dollars.”

  “How’d you do that math so quickly?”

  “I’m guess-timating.”

  Meg gave a sad glance at the bowling pin one more time, followed by a low whistle. “Goodbye, Benjamins. It’s been fun.”

  I began to smile, but then my eyes were drawn toward the doorway where two shadowy figures stood in a tender embrace. Alessandra’s head rested on Nora’s shoulder, despite Alessandra being the taller of the two. Her shoulders shook, and Nora’s hand ran in circles on her back.

  Meg caught my gaze and shook her head. “I thought we won this whole thing, this treasure hunt.”

  “I’m not so sure there are any winners today.”

  Chapter 31

  My phone rang, startling me from a deep sleep. I scrambled about, searching for it, elbowing one or two bodies out of the way. One of the bodies yelped, the other groaned, and I apologized all around as my fingers finally latched onto the elusive device.

  “Hello?” I hissed. “Who is this?”

  “Good morning, Miss Luzzi.” Detective Rocha chirped pleasantly. Underneath the pleasant, however, was a formality to his words that had me on edge. “How was your evening last night?”

  “Um, good? I’m getting married today, as you know, so I stayed at my grandmother’s place.”

  “Are you giving me an alibi?”

  “If that’s what you’re asking for,” I said. It wasn’t a lie, per say. She could vouch for my whereabouts, it just so happened that my actual whereabouts weren’t ideal. “Why? What’s wrong?”

  “Oh, nothing’s wrong,” the detective said. “But we got an anonymous tip about stolen cash—a lot of it—hidden at Zebra Lanes. Just wondering if you knew anything about it.”

  “Why would I know anything about it?”

  “Just a hunch.”

  “Don’t you have The Zebra in prison? Ask him about it. It’s his property.”

  “The Zebra claims your friend, Beckett, stole the money and hid it in the pins.”

  “Well, now, that just sounds silly, doesn’t it?” I murmured, playing with the comforter on Nora’s bed. “Why would Beckett steal the money and then leave it in enemy territory?”

  “That’s why I called you,” he said. “You knew Beckett—maybe you’d have insights.”

  “Nope, sorry,” I said, surveying the devastation from the previous night.

  A few empty champagne bottles, a fizzy grape juice bottle, and a tiara for Nora littered the floor while the end credits to Miss Congeniality played in the background. After the bowling alley, we’d managed to recover the evening and proceed in full force with the slumber party in the ballroom.

  “Interesting.”

  “Look, Detective, I’m done here,” I said. “My friend was murdered, and we have a confession now. All I ever wanted was the truth. Now that we have it, I’m moving on—we all are.”

  Alessandra slept peacefully, her face devoid of emotion, save for the slightest frown. Her recovery would be the hardest, her grief the deepest, her heart most broken.

  “I understand. Where were your friends last night?”

  “Detective Rocha, I’m getting married today, and then I’m taking three weeks off with my new husband for our honeymoon. We’re done here.”

  “I understand, loud and clear,” Detective Rocha said. “Which is why I’m thrilled to accept your invitation.”

  “Invitation to what?”

  “Your wedding,” the detective said. “I’ll see you there.”

  “You can’t—”

  “It’s at the cathedral, it’s a public church, and I merely want to express my support for the happy couple.”

  “Fine,” I said, gritting my teeth. “We will see you there.”

  “Who was that?” Nora peeked out from underneath her sleep mask. She had her head on Meg’s back and her leg’s over Alessandra’s waist. “You don’t sound happy.”

  “Nobody,” I said. “In fact, he’s so much of a nobody th
at I’ve already forgotten about it.”

  “Great,” Nora said, sliding her feet gently off Alessandra’s midsection and climbing out of bed. “Then it’s time to make you the largest sugar bomb of all because today is the day you get married! You’ll need lots of energy, my dear!”

  “Well, we’d better get started now because it’s going to take a lot of work to make this look decent.” I pointed to my hair. Then I gestured to my face. “Not to mention this whole thing.”

  “Not to mention this.” Meg pointed to her stomach. “This is growling. When’s breakfast, and where?”

  “Downstairs,” Nora trilled. “Catered here, should be ready now. Let’s eat something, and by that time, the hair and makeup artists will be here! Lizabeth Harriet Morgan the Third offered to let us use Bartholomew, and I just can’t wait to see his handiwork. I hear he’s magic.”

  “He is,” Meg said. “He’s as good of a magician as Beckett.”

  Alessandra sat up, rubbed sleep out of her eyes. “Who?”

  “Never mind,” Meg said quickly. “Sorry.”

  “Come on, come on then,” Nora said. “I’ve been waiting for this day my entire life. Or at least most of it. Some of it,” she amended. “I don’t plan to waste a second of it.”

  “I’m with you, girlfriend,” Meg said, hooking her arm through Nora’s. “Coming ladies?”

  “I’ll meet you in a second,” I said. “I’m going to...”

  They were gone before I finished my sentence.

  Alessandra, however, sat still on the bed, her eyes glassy, staring into space. I moved toward her, my feet creaking against the floorboards.

  At this, she began moving lethargically, gathering up some of her scattered clothing from the floor. Her suitcase was in the corner, brought here last night as we’d tried on one fabulous outfit after another from her travel bag. That’d happened after the third glass of champagne for them, and my fourth glass of fizzy grape juice.

  “Nora loved this.” I picked up a shimmering silver scarf as light as a cloud and handed it over to Alessandra. “Why’d you bring your suitcase in here anyway? Besides the fashion show.”

  “I think I’m going to take off after the ceremony.” Alessandra knelt on the floor, gently folding the scarf and placing it on top of an array of colorful dresses, tops, and pants. “Just to get a breath of fresh air.”