Take the Fall(63)

“Yo, I paid for this thing—gave the guy a twenty-dollar tip for waiting around on your ass. You can pay me back now.”

The air fills with the scent of cheese and pepperoni. I try not to gag. Aisha stoops, pulling a crumpled wad of cash from a pair of jeans I somehow missed. She smooths out several twenties, handing them over to her brother.

Tyrone takes them, his gaze shifting back and forth between us.

I wait for Aisha to say something, but she just stands there looking sick.

“Thanks, Tyrone, I’m starving.” I grab the box and usher him out the door. The scent of pepperoni wafts up at me. I open my mouth to breathe.

Aisha sinks onto the bed and stares at the closet. “Thanks.”

“He cared a lot about Gretchen.” I close my eyes.

“So did I.”

I don’t say anything.

“I was on my way home from the party . . .” Aisha exhales. “Derek had just gotten into Cornell—we’ll be there together in the fall. We were planning a big date Saturday to celebrate. I was thinking about what I wanted to wear, and when I walked by Gretchen’s car, the purse was just sitting there. I was going to ask if I could borrow it, I swear. I waited outside her house for a while, but she never came out . . . so I took it.”

I lean against the doorframe. “I’m just going to assume the sheriff doesn’t know about this.”

She shakes her head. “I didn’t realize it was full of cash until I got home. I couldn’t figure out how to bring it back, and when I heard what happened to Gretchen . . . I got scared.”

I tap my fingers against my lips, the glaring issue finally dawning on me. “Why would Gretchen have five thousand dollars in her purse?”

“I don’t know. The car was unlocked. If I hadn’t taken it, it could’ve been stolen.”

“It was stolen.” I swallow. Because I know Gretchen hadn’t left her purse in the car when she went inside the house. She must’ve left it there for some reason on her way out, before she went into the woods. Before she could get it to . . . whomever. “What time was this? Do you remember?”

“Maybe like eleven fifteen? We didn’t stay long at the party after you left.”

Every time I think back on that night, the details seem more scrambled. At the very least, what she’s saying makes sense based on when I left Gretchen and when her parents came home. “And you didn’t hear or see anything while you were stealing Gretchen’s purse?”

“I didn’t steal—” She sighs. “I might’ve heard some yelling, I don’t know. It just sounded like the typical stuff you hear in the park at night.”

I go to the closet, pull the purse out, and dump the contents on the bed. In addition to five thousand dollars, there are some cosmetics, a receipt for gas, a set of keys, and a couple of tampons.

“You have to take this to the sheriff.”

“I can’t.”

“You have to, Aisha.”

“They caught the guy who did it—this has nothing to do with anything.”

“They still have to prove he did it.” I hold up the cash. “What if this is tied to him somehow?”

“What if it isn’t?”

I grip her shoulders, speaking through my teeth. “Did you kill Gretchen?”

Her eyes get huge. “Of course not!”

I let go. “Then there’s no reason you shouldn’t turn it in.”

Her lip trembles. “I can’t get caught with this, Sonia.” She wipes at her face, choking on her words. “If my parents find out—and Cornell—”

I nod. “Your parents are going to be pissed. But Cornell might not have to know.”

She stares at me, sniffling.

“Look, I can’t promise anything, but I know Sheriff Wood. He’s going to be way more interested in solving Gretchen’s murder than prosecuting you for ‘borrowing’ her purse.”

“You’ll back me up? You won’t tell him I stole it?”

I pinch the bridge of my nose. “Doesn’t he already know about your previous record?”

“If I’m going to tell him what I did, I want to know whose side you’re on.”

I drop my hands into my lap. Aisha has done nothing but try to support me the last two weeks. I’m pissed that she took it, that she hid important evidence, but I can’t turn my back on her either. “Fine. You saw the purse in Gretchen’s car and you were just borrowing it. I would never doubt for a second you were going to give it back.”

“Okay.” Her shoulders seem to loosen. She looks down at the purse between us, running her thumb around the edge of the gold emblem. “What do you think the money was actually for?”

My lungs are so full I have to think to breathe. “I have no idea.”





TWENTY-NINE


SHERIFF WOOD SETS DOWN HIS phone and picks up the paper evidence bag that now contains Gretchen’s five thousand dollars. “All right, I have some questions for you girls, and I need you to be completely honest with your answers.”

Aisha shifts in her chair. “What kind of questions?”

“First, I want you to understand we’re talking about Gretchen here. Whatever you say to me about your own activities in relation to hers will not leave this room.” He sets the money down and looks right at me. “Was Gretchen ever involved with any kind of drugs?”