The Gamble and the Grave (Veronica Barry Book 4)

by Sophia Martin

  She turned and stalked away, a part of her mind concentrating hard on not crying, another on not tripping over something and ruining her exit.

  ~~~

  She went directly to Melanie’s, and by the time she got there she decided to tell her friend the whole stupid story, in the hopes that at least one valuable thing might come out of it. It might entertain Melanie, who was getting more miserable on her couch with each passing day.

  “Oh, V,” Melanie said when the story was done, “I never understood what you saw in that guy in the first place.”

  Veronica sighed. She didn’t really want to cry anymore, but she still felt disappointed and sad. “I don’t know, Mellie. He’s like—like a piece of my youth—”

  Melanie snorted. Veronica raised her eyebrows at her.

  “Well, you’re hardly an old lady,” Melanie said.

  Veronica rolled her eyes. “Of course, but I’m not like, a kid anymore, you know? I mean, college was over twelve years ago and I’m a different person now. In good ways, I know, but also—well there’s just something so great about your early twenties. So many possibilities in front of you.”

  Melanie rested her head against her cushion. “It’s also a time when people do a lot of stupid things and a lot of people get their hearts broken. Or worse.”

  Veronica frowned. “Yeah. Why is that?”

  “I guess it’s because you’re on your own for the first time. And it’s like, when a lot of people really fall in love for the first time. So you’ve got all the freedom of being on your own, and a lot of people don’t handle that freedom very well. And then some twenty-year-olds are more mature and ready for a real relationship and others are really not mature at all and they break the hearts of the mature ones.”

  Veronica gave Melanie a nod. “Well stated.”

  “Thank you. I’m thinking of hanging up a shingle: Beached Whale Gives Out Wisdom, five bucks a pop.”

  Veronica grabbed Melanie’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “Anyway, Ms. You’re-a-Beautiful-Pregnant-Lady, to answer your question… although I guess it wasn’t really a question…”

  “You mean what you saw in Eric?”

  “Yeah.” Veronica raised her eyes to the ceiling. “I just… he was this funny, charming guy in Paris… and I think it’s partly just because he’s French, and you know what a Francophile I am, and… well his looks don’t hurt. And his accent.”

  Melanie gave Veronica a smirk. “And don’t forget his money.”

  Veronica groaned. “Okay, sure. I mean, sue me. It does sound nice to wear Manolo Blahnik shoes and Oscar de la Renta dresses any time I want, and have amazing vacations to places like Egypt… but I think I’d still have a thing for Eric even without all that. I mean, I totally did in Paris, and he wasn’t especially rich then. It just never really went away, you know? That crush.”

  Melanie nodded. “Everyone has a crush like that. Hell, I have more than one.” She gave Veronica a soft smile. “But then, I’m single. You have Daniel, sweetie.”

  “I know,” Veronica said, leaning back into the armchair. “I am very aware of how lucky I am.” She glanced at Melanie. “I mean, I did make a choice, you know. I could have ended it with Daniel and I’d probably be with Eric now, even after all that drama this summer. At least, if Eric could handle me being psychic.” She grimaced. “I should have just talked to him about it after he saw me speak to Ariana at Fourth of July.”

  Melanie stuck out her tongue and made a choking sound. “Please. This is so not your fault. This is partly Felsen’s fault, but mostly it’s Eric’s fault, for doing exactly what you told him off for doing. I mean, fine, he saw you talking to no one, and maybe it was weird, but instead of asking you about it or—I don’t know, maybe giving you the benefit of the doubt about it, he started dating your arch nemesis and listened to what she had to say? Please. You so don’t need that guy in your life.”

  Veronica grinned at her. “Thanks for validating me.”

  “No problem. Thanks for parking yourself in my living room and giving me something to think about other than what’s on next on LOGO.”

  “Really? I figured you’d maybe give TCM a try.”

  Melanie shook her head. “That’s you, hon. Me, I’ve now seen the episode where Jenny strips in The L Word like five times. Except they censor it for regular TV, so it’s like, totally worthless.”

  Veronica raised an eyebrow at her.

  “Don’t give me that look,” Melanie said. “I’m thinking of going gay and I have to start somewhere.”

  Veronica snorted.

  Melanie continued in a blissful tone, “Yep. Me, gonna embrace a lesbian lifestyle. I mean, can you blame me? After the luck I’ve had with men?”

  Veronica chuckled. “Well, I fully support you if you decide to try it out.”

  Melanie grinned at her. “Thank you.”

  ~~~

  Veronica got home before Daniel and decided to take Harry for a walk around the neighborhood. She could think of no better way to get the unpleasantness of calling Khalilah to apologize out of the way. She knew she had to do it—the way things were going, she couldn’t afford to lose another friend.

  Dialing Khalilah on her cell, Veronica wasn’t sure whether she was hoping Khalilah would pick up or screen her call. Harry, oblivious, trotted happily ahead of her, stopping to sniff car tires.

  After four rings, Khalilah answered, “Hello, Veronica.” She didn’t sound happy.

  “Before you say anything, please just let me say I’m really, really sorry.”

  There was a long pause.

  “What was that all about?” Khalilah asked at last.

  Veronica let out a heavy breath. “Oh, just my inner adolescent getting the better of me.”

  “Now I’m completely confused.”

  Veronica had to stop and unwind the leash from a tree around which Harry had found multiple sniffs to investigate. She tried to compose her thoughts in order to explain her crush on Eric as simply and with as little humiliation as possible. “Have you ever had a crush on someone who wasn’t very nice?” she settled on at last.

  Khalilah said nothing for a moment. “There was a boy in what you’d call middle school. He used to bully some of the other boys, but I thought he was delightful, for some reason. If I met him now I’d think him a right little toad, I imagine.”

  Veronica urged Harry on with a light nudge of her toe. “Okay. Well imagine you never got over him, maybe because you never got to date him, or something.”

  “That’s a bit hard to do.”

  “Work with me, here, please.”

  “Right. I’m going to have to switch to a young man from college. He was very nice, though. But he had a girlfriend at the time and I think if he walked into my life again now and was single, I’d have to ask him on a date.”

  “Fine.” Veronica gazed at the cars passing on the street as Harry did his business. “Eric is like that for me, only it’s like I lose all common sense when it comes to him. I know he’s a jerk, but he’s also so charming and—I don’t know. It doesn’t matter. He’s crossed a line now and I’m not going to have anything to do with him anymore.”

  “Crossed a line?” Khalilah said. “Because of me?”

  Veronica blew air out of her mouth. She wished she could honestly say that that was the reason. “Do you remember Felsen?”

  “Of course. Daniel’s partner. She hates you. She told me you were a fraud.”

  Veronica nodded, pursing her lips. She’d almost forgotten that. “She’s now Daniel’s former partner, but yes. Well, Eric is dating her. He started dating her after I told him all about how she was trying to frame me for something.”

  “Frame you? Veronica, you never told me about this.”

  So Veronica proceeded to give Khalilah the whole story about that summer and the altered video tape.

  “I never realized Felsen could be so nasty,” Khalilah said.

  “She’s pretty special in her own way,” Veronica said, cro
ssing the street with Harry prancing ahead—he had seen an elderly couple walking their two Westies and he was determined to catch up. “Anyway, none of that excuses what I did, trying to set you up with Eric.”

  “I still don’t understand what you were thinking.”

  “It was my stupid and creative way of trying to break him and Felsen up. I was operating on the belief that he’s charming, rich and handsome, by the way—not that he’s an insensitive French imperialist.”

  Khalilah snorted with laughter. “Oh, Veronica. Well, he is all those things, I gather. I’m sorry we didn’t hit it off, if only for your sake.”

  “No, don’t be. I’ve seen the error of my ways. Eric deserves Felsen. They deserve each other.”

  “Maybe so,” Khalilah said. “Honestly I’d think you’d be glad to steer clear of both of them.”

  ~~~

  That night at about nine-thirty, as Veronica was trying to muster the energy to leave the couch and start getting ready for bed, her cell went off. When she checked the screen, her eyebrows went up.

  “Who is it?” Daniel asked. He was standing by his fish tanks with a tube of their food.

  “It’s Miguel,” Veronica said.

  Daniel made a scoffing noise. “You don’t have to answer that, you know.”

  “Yeah,” Veronica said, looking at the display.

  Daniel watched her and waited to see what she would decide to do.

  Taking a deep breath, she answered the phone. “Hello?”

  “Veronica,” Miguel said. “Thank you for picking up. I—I was afraid you wouldn’t. I couldn’t blame you if you didn’t. I have to apologize for my behavior.”

  The parallel to her earlier call to Khalilah struck a nerve, and Veronica felt a bit more charitable than she might have otherwise. “It’s okay, Miguel. You were upset.”

  “I was unforgivably rude. I couldn’t bear to accept what you’d told me. I’ve given it a great deal of thought, though, and I realize you wouldn’t make something like that up.” He sighed. “It’s very hard to accept.”

  “I’m sure,” Veronica said, feeling her hackles rise a bit—was he trying to get her to take it back?

  “Anyway, I’ve got some information, and I was wondering if you might be willing to keep going with the investigation a while longer.”

  “Which one?”

  “The situation with Ariana,” he said, his voice tense.

  “Miguel…” Veronica said, letting her voice trail off. It’s not like she’d decided to let the whole thing go. She felt compelled to help Ariana. But talking to Miguel now just underscored how complicated and painful everything going on with him was—not just Ariana’s situation, but the conflict over his father and the deed, as well. Did she really want to put herself back in the middle of all that?

  “I know which casino Wyatt Williams works in,” Miguel said. “And I know what those people were after in Ariana’s grave. At least, I think so. I need to check to make sure, and I was hoping you’d come with me.”

  “Where?”

  “To Reno.”

  “Reno?” Veronica echoed, locking Daniel’s gaze. He frowned at her and mouthed something she couldn’t make out.

  Miguel continued, “Yes. I want to drive there, tomorrow. We could leave early.”

  Veronica closed her eyes and pressed her thumb into the spot where her eyebrow met the bridge of her nose. “That’s a two and a half hour drive, each way.”

  “Yes, but it shouldn’t take us very long once we’re there. Maybe only an hour. We could leave by eight or so, get there by ten, take care of business, and be back just after lunch.”

  “Just a sec,” Veronica sighed and cupped her hand over the phone. “He wants to go to Reno to follow up a lead,” she told Daniel.

  “No way,” Daniel said.

  “I don’t know what to do. I want to help Ariana.”

  Daniel’s face went blank as he thought about it. “When?” he asked.

  Veronica relayed Miguel’s idea.

  Daniel shook his head. “No way,” he said again. “You don’t know how this might play out. What if you start getting lots of visions? It could take a lot longer to sort through everything. And are you really willing to take a day off work for this guy?”

  Veronica frowned. “Aren’t you off tomorrow?” she asked Daniel.

  “Yeah, but I’m not a psychic-for-hire.”

  She smirked at him. “Very funny. I was just thinking… how about I say we’ll both go, after I’m out of school?”

  Daniel cocked his head to the side, thinking it over. “Okay. I like that better than you driving off to Reno with some good-looking artist, anyway.”

  Veronica rolled her eyes. She uncupped the phone and told Miguel the alternate plan.

  “Okay. What time?” he asked.

  “Daniel and I will be at your studio at one,” Veronica said.

  “See you then.”

  Chapter 10

  When Veronica climbed into the passenger seat of Daniel’s silver Camry, she noticed that there was an overnight bag in the back. She raised an eyebrow at Daniel, who grinned at her.

  “You never know. We might even decide to get hitched, spur of the moment-like.”

  That was the last thing she expected him to say, and she blinked, stunned. Forcing a grin, she buckled her seatbelt. Daniel had turned his attention to the road, anyway.

  Hitched? As in married? How serious was he? Probably not serious at all. She was being silly, letting his off-hand joke trouble her. Then again. Why was getting married a joke to him?

  A feeling of unease wound its way up her spine. Was he against getting married? They’d never talked about it. Veronica had spent the last weeks of June convinced Daniel was going to propose to her, based on a vision that she misinterpreted. In the end, he asked her to move in with him, which had seemed like a better idea to her at the time. But it had been five months since then. They’d been dating since last February. Almost a year. Was he really still that flippant about the possibility of marrying her?

  Veronica glanced at Daniel, who was humming quietly along to the radio. She hadn’t even noticed the radio until that moment. It was playing an eighties song she’d heard before but couldn’t identify. Trust Daniel to have the classic rock station going.

  All of a sudden she felt a wave of irritation toward Daniel wash over her, and she curled her fingers into her palms. Was it so unreasonable to expect your boyfriend to be thinking about marriage after living with him for five months? The fact he just made light of the possibility was really—really—

  Veronica sucked in her bottom lip and chewed on it. Well. Could she blame him? She wasn’t exactly… low maintenance. How many boyfriends got woken up three or four nights out of the week to deconstruct their girlfriends’ psychic nightmares? How many boyfriends had to drive their girlfriends to Reno so their girlfriends wouldn’t be alone as they investigated a grave-robbery-slash-child-abuse incident? Daniel was nowhere near ready to think about actually marrying her, and Veronica had to admit, she could see why. She thought she’d like to marry him, though, one day. She hoped he’d feel the same, eventually.

  Sadness replaced irritation and she slumped in the passenger seat, staring out of the side window. It was an overcast day, as gloomy as she felt. Perfect, she thought. This is just the sort of mood I need to get this job done. Of course, Daniel picked that moment to start chatting.

  “It’s convenient Miguel’s studio is in Roseville,” he said. “We’ll just pick him up and get right back on 80.”

  Veronica mustered the energy to hide her funk. “Yeah, and you’ll get to see his paintings. I really like them.”

  “Do they make you want to paint again?” he asked.

  Thanks for reminding me about that, Daniel, she thought. I wasn’t feeling rotten enough already.

  “Uh, maybe,” she said.

  Daniel cut his eyes to her. “Are you okay?”

  Veronica frowned and nodded. “Oh yeah. It’s just not
something I feel good about. The not-painting, I mean.”

  “Sorry,” Daniel said. “I shouldn’t have asked that.”

  “No, it’s fine. It’s not like I never think about it.”

  But after that they drove without speaking, and to Veronica the silence felt heavy and awkward.

  It only took about twenty minutes to reach Miguel’s studio, and Veronica was relieved. With Miguel in the car she’d have someone else to talk to and she could focus on the case. Maybe by the time they got to Reno the weirdness would have lifted.

  She led the way into the studio and pointed out some of her favorite paintings to Daniel as they entered. As she did, the painting of the track runner caught her eye again. Something about that painting pulled at her.

  “Veronica,” Miguel called from the back of the studio. “And you must be Daniel.”

  “I am. Miguel, I take it?” Daniel said, walking forward and extending a hand.

  Veronica glanced at them as they shook hands but took a step toward the painting.

  “Veronica, I’m so grateful you agreed to come,” Miguel said, and Veronica had to turn away from the track runner and give him a smile.

  “I want to see this through,” she said. “You mentioned on the phone that you think you know what the grave robbers were after?”

  Miguel held up a small key.

  “Ariana used to wear this on the charm bracelet we put in the keepsake box,” Miguel said. “I took it off the bracelet before the burial, though—I could tell it wasn’t a charm. I just didn’t think I’d ever figure out what it was for—I didn’t count on your talent, Veronica, and I didn’t think of it when we first met about the deed.”

  Daniel frowned and leaned in to look at the little key. “It’s for a safe deposit box, I’d guess.”

  Veronica raised her fingers to take it, but hesitated. She might get a vision and that was a daunting prospect, considering the things Ariana had already shared. Miguel was looking at her expectantly, though, so she breathed in deep, caught Daniel’s gaze, and grasped the key.