Page 53 of Love and Loathing
He nodded. “Yeah, but after what Jacob did to my sister, and then the gambling ring at school, and they were almost expelled—”
“Wait, Daniel was part of the gambling ring too?” she asked.
“They started it together,” Alex said. “When they were almost expelled, their mom cut them off.”
Jessie’s jaw dropped. “Wait, you think they came back to Harvest Ranch and robbed all these people because their mommy wasn’t paying their allowance anymore?”
Alex chuckled and pushed a lock of her hair back. “Yep. Exactly that.”
She cursed. “Why, those egg-suckin’ dawgs!”
“Can you say that again? That was hilarious,” Alex said.
Clenching her fists, she turned to Alex. “So where did you think they were again?”
“I don’t know if I should tell you now; you have this murderous look in your eye.”
She narrowed her eyes at him.
“Okay, better them than me. Did I mention I like it when you get all feisty like this?”
“Alex.”
“Their family has a house in the Maldives.”
“The Maldives?” She pointed someplace behind her that could be the direction of the Maldives … maybe. “They were there! In February. The idiots took a picture together.” She left out that the picture was just of their feet. Not the point.
The back door flung open, and Diana stepped out. “You’d better get in here, Jessie. Deputies Roger and Ethan are here.” The screen slammed behind her.
Jessie glanced over at Alex, and the two of them jumped up.
“Close that door!” Ma yelled from the living room. “You’re letting the good air out.”
Alex pulled the door closed behind him, and they hurried to the front. The deputies sat on Ma’s couch, leaning forward so their bare arms in their uniforms wouldn’t stick to the back of the couch. Jessie knew that trial all too well. The air was on, but it was still hot. She pulled her phone from her pocket and looked at the time. A little after nine. She couldn’t believe the two of them had slept out on that swing all that time.
“What is it?” Dad asked. “You don’t make house calls for nothing.”
The deputies looked at one another. Ethan, the older of the two, spoke. “We have bad news.”
Everyone seemed to hold their breath collectively.
“What?” Diana snapped.
“Seems Cecilia had enough money on her card to bail Jacob and herself out of jail. We had to let them go,” Ethan said.
Ma started fanning her face with a magazine off the coffee table. “Well, where are they?”
The deputies looked down.
“Ma,” Caroline said, “they have jobs to do. They can’t be following people around who’ve been let out on bail.”
“When did you release them?” Alex asked. Jessie could feel the tension coming off him in waves.
“Deputy Danny released them about an hour ago,” Deputy Ethan said. “He told us as soon as we came in this morning, and we came straight here.”
“We know their flight,” Ma said. “Can we catch them?”
Alex’s contact had gotten a hold of him last night a little after the arrest. “Their flight was heading out at ten, headed to Chicago, and I’m sure on from there …” His eyes went wide.
