“What do you mean, Derrick hooked me?”
“He’s the one you met the first time at the pond.”
Derrick. Not Garrett. Had Garrett told Luke he had a twin? That that twin was likely the murderer?
I grabbed my phone and dialed Luke’s number. The call wouldn’t go through. No service.
“So upstairs that was—”
“Derrick, of course. It’s a shame you can’t tell them apart. Even Babbitt can.”
“I didn’t know I had to tell them apart.”
How had I not known I was practically dating two men?
I told Babbitt to stay and walked back up to the top of the stairs. The door was still locked. I tried to pull on the handle, but the double-sided deadbolt held the door in place.
Faint voices that sounded like Derrick and a woman—raven-hair—were arguing. I pressed my ear against the door.
“She’s my mother, you can’t kill her,” Derrick yelled.
“You let Boy Boy kill my sister, what’s the difference?” she said.
“I didn’t let him. Boy Boy did whatever he wanted. I didn’t know he was going to kill her until it was too late.”
“He gave you her head.” The woman’s voice cracked with emotion. “And you gave it to that bimbo park ranger.” Bimbo? Ouch.
“I thought it’d be our lifeline, you know?” Derrick pleaded. “Like we could frame her for the murder or something.”
“She’s in with the cops, you idiot. And you should leave the scheming to me. The only thing you got right was getting rid of Boy Boy.”
“He killed my best friend right in front of me,” Derrick said in a low growly voice. “He deserved to die for what he did to me. To you. To all of us.”
“Don’t get fresh.” The woman’s voice was indignant. “You’ve screwed everything up. And now I have to fix it.”
“Just leave my mother out of it, please.”
“She knows too much, Derrick. And so does that stupid park ranger,” the woman said. “This was supposed to be easy. We would get the money, take out Boy Boy, and move on with life.”
“We can still do that,” Derrick said. “My mom will keep her mouth shut. Your sister’s head is in Rylie’s car, and I know you can figure out a way to pin the murder on her.”
I sucked in a breath. What a douche.
“Where’s the money?” She asked.
“It’s . . . safe.”
There was a pause.
“No.” The woman sounded like she was about to murder Derrick. “You didn’t leave it down there.”
Did she mean in the basement?
“I can’t believe you,” her voice grew louder as she approached the door. “Now, I have to kill them.”
“I’ll go down there and get the money. We’ll leave them there. The cops will find them eventually. By then we’ll be long gone.” Derrick’s voice was pleading.
“We’re not running away. This is my turf, my city,” she said, and the sound of a gun slide loading a round into the chamber set my feet in motion.
“Where would you hide something down here?” I asked Helen.
Helen looked up from making the bed. “What do you mean?”
I scanned the room. “If you were Derrick, where would you hide something? Something important?”
“He always used to hide candy in the heat vents. One time he forgot and it got cold and the whole house smelled like burnt chocolate.”
My gaze came to rest on a heat vent in the ceiling above the bed. I jumped on top as Helen let out an angry groan. “I just made the bed.”
“Helen, your son and the woman who I assume was chasing us in the silver car are about to come down those stairs.” I yanked on the metal grate. “The head in the back of my car shows you exactly what they are capable of.” A small lie, since Boy Boy was the one who had killed the girl. “The woman wants us dead, and I’m not sure Derrick can prevent it.”
Helen was wide-eyed listening to my every word.
“When they come down, they’re going to be looking for money.” I yanked one more time, and the grate popped open. A plastic bag filled with bundles of cash tumbled to the bed. “This money.” I picked it up and replaced the metal grate, shoving it back into the ceiling.
“What are you going to do with it?” Helen asked.
“I don’t know yet,” I said.
At that moment the door popped open. Helen’s gaze shifted from me to our impending doom. While she was distracted, I shoved the bag of money under the bed kicking it as far back as possible with the toe of my Adidas.
“Get back against the wall, both of you,” raven-hair said coming into view down the stairs. She had the pistol pointed at our heads.
Helen let out a squeak. I grabbed her hand and pulled her over to the wall.
“We’re not going to hurt you,” Derrick said.
“He may not hurt you, but I make no promises. Get the money,” raven-hair said to Derrick.
He jumped on the bed making Helen cringe next to me, her perfect bed-making skills literally trampled on twice over. The grate popped out of the ceiling more easily than he had expected and he came tumbling down to the floor with the grate in hand.
“Get up, you idiot,” raven-hair said. “Get me my money.”
Derrick climbed back onto the bed and glanced over at me. I raised an eyebrow. I know he didn’t want his mom to die, but I was of no consequence to him.
“It’s not here,” he said under his breath. “It was just here.” His entire forearm was up the vent searching for the bag.
“They did something with it,” raven-hair said.
“We most certainly did not,” Helen said, her voice more confident than I could have produced. “I am very disappointed in you, Derrick.”
Derrick looked from raven-hair to his mother. “I-I’m sorry, Mom.”
“You and your brother need to quit jerking women around. This poor sweet girl doesn’t deserve it.”
“We didn’t mean it.” He looked at me apologetically. “At
