“Drugs.”
“Lender told us it wasn’t drugs.”
“And you believe that psycho?”
“He hasn’t lied to us. Not . . . not really. He’s always been clear about what he wanted. Even if he didn’t tell us why he wanted it, we knew what his goals were. He didn’t get upset when we started looking into Cal’s death. He got upset when we messed with one of his dealers.”
“So you do believe him.”
“I think, as far as it matters, we should assume he was telling the truth. Honestly, if it was drugs, I don’t even know where to start. The White Rabbit? Jesus. Let’s leave that to one side for a moment.”
“Ok.” Theo drummed on the table. “The most common motive is money. Or jealousy.”
“Jealousy?”
“I didn’t want to say anything, but I guess we should talk about it. Hasn’t Orlando’s behavior seemed strange to you?”
Auggie dropped the coffee stirrer. His gaze came up, and he locked eyes with Theo. “Orlando did not do this.”
Theo put both hands flat on the table. He studied the particleboard between his fingers.
“He didn’t.” Auggie’s voice rose. “He did not, Theo.”
“This is why I didn’t want to talk about it.”
“You’re damn right we’re not going to talk about it.” He raked fingers through his hair. “Money. Fine, let’s think about money. Who might have wanted money from Cal?”
“Ignoring the problem won’t make it go away.”
“Don’t you dare do that. Don’t you dare talk to me like I’m a fucking kid.”
Theo let out a slow breath, but he couldn’t stop himself from balling his fists.
“That’s your strategy whenever you don’t like what I think.” Auggie was breathing rapidly, and the only color in his face came from red blotches. “You throw that in my face because you can’t find a way to argue with me legitimately.”
“When you act like a kid,” Theo said deliberately, “I’m not going to pretend otherwise. But that’s not what I was trying to say.” He gritted his teeth, but the next part escaped him, and he looked up. “And you’ve got your own strategy too, Auggie. Whenever I say something you don’t like, whenever my opinion is different from yours, whenever I skate within a mile of sounding like I’m passing judgement, you scream your head off about how I treat you like a kid. How the hell is that fair? It’s not my fault we’re different ages. It’s not my fault I have different ways of thinking about things. Some of that’s just personality, but some of it’s the fact that I’m ten years older than you, and I’ve grown out of—”
“Fuck you.” Auggie wiped his eyes. “And I’m not crying; my eyes are watering because my head hurts.”
The girl was playing with the sound system, the music skipping from track to track. What was the right style of music for a public argument with a much younger man you had dirty dreams about? Probably a country-western cover of Bowie, Theo thought.
“Ok, I’m sorry,” Theo said. “If you want to talk about immature, I think I just gave you a prime example. Also, I thought we talked about this. I thought we agreed crying is ok.”
Auggie kept wiping his cheeks.
“If you don’t want to talk about Orlando—”
“He’s a good guy. He’s my friend. And what would Orlando even be jealous of?”
“Cal sexually assaulted his girlfriend, and as a result, she broke up with him. It’s not classic jealousy, but he might blame Cal for ending his relationship. And let’s face it: Orlando isn’t exactly stable.”
“He’s a lot better. He’s getting therapy. He’s on the right medication.”
“He says.”
“Stop it!”
The shout drowned out the cheery bubblegum pop that the barista had settled on. Auggie’s voice echoed back from the high ceilings.
“Ok,” Theo said. “Let’s both try to act like adults—I’m including myself in that statement. Talking about Orlando isn’t productive. You seemed like you thought money might be the issue; let’s see where we can get with that.”
The set of Auggie’s jaw announced that he wanted to keep arguing, but after a moment, he managed to say, “If Nia was right and Cal and Wayne have been getting kickbacks, where’s the money?”
“We saw Cal’s car. The police have it now. Or his parents. Or somebody.”
“I’m not talking about the car. I’m talking about the rest of it. If they were getting paid by check, it would have shown up in those bank statements. That’s obviously a no because a major team or a university isn’t going to leave a paper trail. We didn’t see direct deposits from other employers, and I don’t think Cal and Wayne would be stupid enough to use their company finances to launder the blackmail money. That’s an easy way for the IRS to get interested fast. We’ve been to the apartment, Theo. We went through their finances. They weren’t depositing extra money in any of the accounts we saw. So if they’re getting kickbacks, where are they?”
Theo frowned. “They could be intangible. I mean—”
“I know what intangible means.”
This time, Theo waited until the song changed. A guy with an impossibly deep voice came on.
Flushing, Auggie said, “Sorry.”
“Maybe they’ve got some sort of honorary position. Maybe they’re plugged into the old boys’ network now. I could see something like that going a long way.”
“But would Cal and Wayne have kept it a secret? No way; being able to brag about something like that is the whole point. And can you imagine Daddy Reese failing to mention that his boys are special coach’s assistants at Missouri Douche State?”
“No, I can’t. And please never say Daddy Reese again.”
To Theo’s surprise, Auggie grinned. “If Nia’s right, and if they’re getting some sort of kickback, then I think they’re receiving tangible items.”
“The car.”
“Right. The coach goes to a major donor, explains the situation, and suddenly Cal Reese buys a muscle car with a high-end trim for pennies. Or maybe it’s even simpler: maybe someone just shows up with an envelope full of cash.”
“The old ones are the best.” Over the speakers, the guy with the deep voice was singing about sex. He wasn’t calling it that, but there was a lot of you and me, a lot of playground and party and give you what you need. Songs, Theo thought, unable to keep himself from tracing with his eyes the hollow of Auggie’s throat, the cut of his jaw, that expressive mouth. Songs usually missed the whole point. He cleared his throat and said, “But we’ve been through that apartment, and we searched it pretty thoroughly.”
“I thought about that,” Auggie said. “I think there are two places Cal and Wayne might have been stashing their goods. Well, Wayne, anyway. Cal probably blew most of his on drugs.”