Page 29 of Cornered

Cherry came out of the café, spotted Steph, and walked toward her. “Everything all right? You make your call?”

“I did and I’m not sure if everything’s all right or not.”

Her friend frowned. “Cryptic.” Then her attention focused on a spot over Steph’s shoulder and her eyes widened. “Benji? What are you doing? You’re supposed to be on the river.”

“Change of plans. Lila’s got it covered.”

Cherry groaned. “Are you kidding me?”

“Chill. She’s got the sat phone and she’s ready. It’ll be fine.”

A muscle jumped in Cherry’s jaw, and she pulled in a deep breath. “Benji, I’m so tired of cleaning up your messes. If something happens—”

“Nothing’s going to happen! Just let it go!”

“I’ve called Mom and Dad!”

Her brother stilled. “What?”

“They’ll know how to fix this.”

He called her an unflattering name, then stomped toward the office.

Steph turned raised brows to Cherry. “What messes are you having to clean up?”

Cherry ignored her and caught up with her brother, grabbing him by the arm and yanking him around to face her. “You can’t run away from this.”

“Watch me!”

TATE WALKEDto his car and climbed in. He sent a text to Cole and let him know he was heading back up the mountain to bring a stubborn woman down it. She still hadn’t texted him to let him know she was on her way home and she wasn’t answering her phone.

He called her number once more and it went to voicemail on the fourth ring. At least the phone was still on.

His phone rang. Cole. “Hey, don’t worry, I’m on the way to get her.”

“Yeah, I’m on the way too. I just got the rest of the decoded contents of Brenda’s book. She overheard part of a conversation between Benji and someone else. She said she had a hard time hearing the other person, but sounded like she was saying he needed to get his act together. In response, Benjisaid he had the money lined up, he just needed a couple more days to actually get it in his hands.”

“What money?”

“Bolin’s money. It’s all here on the pages from the little pink book. Forensics found two sets of books for the company. One legit set and one that was tracking money being stolen and other money being laundered. It seems like Benji has a nice little drug operation going. Brenda found some wonky transactions—deposits and withdrawals that weren’t actually made and other issues where the numbers didn’t add up. Purchases of equipment, returns that were made but the refund was never deposited, et cetera. She went to talk to Helen and Gage, but they were out of town. She left messages on their voicemails that weren’t returned. She finally said she was going to confront Benji and ask him to figure out a way to return the money so she didn’t have to report anything to the police.”

“Oh no,” Tate said, his voice soft. “And Steph’s up there with him.”

“Try to get her on the phone. I’ll meet you there.”

Tate voice dialed her number and pressed the gas.

TWELVE

STEPH HAD LEFTthe siblings alone for a few minutes, but now the argument had turned hushed. She was torn between leaving and trying to hear what they were saying. She drew closer to the locker room and hovered outside.

Silence.

Her phone buzzed, but she ignored it. It was probably Tate, Cole, or James, and they would be livid at her not answering, but right now she needed to figure out what was going on with her friend. She opened the door and found Cherry with her head bent, pulling in slow, deep breaths and letting them out through pursed lips.

“Cherry?” She placed a hand on the woman’s bicep, and Cherry finally looked up, her jaw tight. “What’s going on?” Steph asked. “What’s Benji gotten himself into? What messes are you cleaning up?” She swallowed. “Did Benji have something to do with what happened to Brenda?”

Cherry slammed a hand against the nearest locker and Steph flinched. Cherry spun to face her. “You’re the youngest of the kids in your family. You wouldn’t understand.”

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