In Her Eyes Sarah Alderson (e book free reading txt) 📖

a month ago. All his cash vanished, conveniently just before he was meant to pay us. Told him I didn’t give a shit, he still owed us the money. That’s when your husband showed up with the thirty Gs.’ He scoffs. ‘Like that was gonna do it.’

‘Bought him some time, that’s all,’ says James.

I absorb this new information and muse on what he just said. Something about it didn’t track but I’ve forgotten what it was. Gene must have gone to Robert and told him. And Robert, instead of telling me, or telling his criminal son to go to hell, pawned my jewelry to help Gene get these men off his back, only it wasn’t enough money to clear the debt. Not even close. Is that why Robert adjusted the insurance? Was he planning on filing an insurance claim for the jewelry he pawned, so he could use the payout from the insurance company to pay off Raul and James? It looks that way. I think about Nate and his hypothesis about Robert. If he actually knew the real story he’d use it as even more evidence against him. But then I realize something else – Robert wasn’t meeting them down some dark alley to arrange a hit, as Nate would have it. He was trying to help his son.

James leans close, elbows on the bar, and I notice the incongruous Virgin Mary tattoo on his arm. ‘We told your husband he and Gene had three more weeks to find the money or . . .’ He tails off, leaving the threat to hang nebulous in the air.

‘Three weeks?’ Laurie asks, doing the math. ‘So that makes the deadline a week ago. The exact date that the break-in happened. Seems like strange timing.’

‘What are you saying?’ James asks.

‘What if you didn’t get the money, so this was your way of threatening Gene and Robert? Maybe you thought you could rob the house and steal enough to make up for it.’

‘She didn’t ID us in the line-up,’ Raul says, jerking his head at me.

‘Maybe you paid some associates to break in,’ Laurie presses.

‘Look, it wasn’t us, lady,’ Raul growls, his eyes sparking with fury at the suggestion. ‘I already told you.’ He glares at me and I study him. I think he’s telling the truth, but if it wasn’t them who broke in, who was it?

‘You said you owed money to other people,’ I interrupt.

James glances at me. ‘Yeah, and they’re not the kinds of people you want to owe money to. They’re tired of waiting for it.’

‘Who are they?’ Laurie asks.

James shakes his head and gives Raul a warning look. He’s not telling.

‘Could it have been them who broke into the house?’ I ask.

Raul shrugs, giving nothing away. Goddamn it, the suspects keep multiplying. I stare around the bar, dazed, as though I’ll find the truth sitting at a table sipping a beer. ‘You need to tell me who they are,’ I say, my voice rising. ‘These men you owe – what if it was them? What if they come back? I need to know so I can protect my children.’

Raul shrugs. ‘The best thing you can do is pay up, then you won’t have to worry.’

I press my lips together. Why should I have to pay up? This is Gene’s debt not mine. That’s probably why he’s fucked off, isn’t it? Goddamn him. If I ever see him again I’m going to kill him myself. I’ll tear him limb from limb.

‘Where are we meant to find eighty thousand dollars?’ I hiss, my throat hoarse. ‘I can’t. I don’t have that kind of money.’

Another shrug. ‘I’m sorry you got problems, but this one ain’t mine.’

I’m starting to feel like I’m in a pressure cooker and my skull is about to implode. There has to be a solution to this. But what? Unless . . . what if . . . an idea starts to form in my head.

Raul laughs under his breath. ‘I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking you could just go to the police. Maybe Gene could provide testimony, cut some kind of deal with the DA’s office. He’s a rich white boy after all. The system’s already rigged in his favor.’ He lowers his voice, draws nearer so his face is level with mine and I can see the glint of gold in the depths of his mouth. ‘But you do that,’ he says, ‘and I promise you and your family you’re going to be looking over your shoulders the rest of your lives.’

My lungs scream for air but I can’t breathe.

He leans forwards and whispers. ‘The cops aren’t going to help you.’

‘And your husband,’ James adds. ‘I can tell you this, he opens his mouth about Gene or about any of this, he’s a dead man.’

A cold shudder runs up my spine. They must have friends in prison, friends who could reach Robert and threaten him or hurt him. Is that why Robert has been so silent? Did they threaten him already?

Guilt eats at me as I realize everything Robert has done has been to protect us, his family. How could I ever have doubted him? It makes my anger at his financial mismanagement dissipate, not completely, but somewhat.

Raul and James slip off their stools and Raul pulls out a wallet stuffed with bills. He selects one – a hundred – and throws it down onto the bar. ‘We got this,’ he says to me with a slight smirk. ‘But you better find Gene and that money. Clock’s ticking.’

I watch the two of them turn and saunter out of the bar.

Chapter 31

Laurie’s hands are white-knuckled on the steering wheel. All the blood has drained from her face. ‘What are we going to do?’ she whispers.

I shake my head, staring at the glowing Corona sign in the window of the bar.

‘You need to go to the police.’

I shake my head again, this time harder. ‘You heard them! I can’t.’ The truth is I would happily hand Gene over – he’s the reason June’s in the hospital