You Can't Catch Me(67)

“You think we can get her to talk?” JJ says. “Tell us where the money is?”

“I think so.”

I walk to Jessie. I crouch down so I’m closer to her. She’s stopped struggling, but she’s still rubbing at her throat like she swallowed a pill down the wrong tube. The gash on her forehead is oozing and looks like the kind of thing that could get easily infected.

“Where is it?”

She coughs. Tries to speak. Coughs again. “Where’s what?” she finally gets out in a scratchy voice.

“The money, moron. Our money.”

“I’ve spent it.”

“Come on. All of it?”

“Most, anyway.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Well, I have.”

“Living in the middle of nowhere, working in an elementary school? Nope, I’m not buying it. You, JJ?”

“Not a fucking chance.”

I shove the rock I’m still holding into the large pocket of my board shorts and reach out my hand. “Give me your phone.”

“Why?”

“Just do it.”

She takes it out of her pocket and gives it to me. It’s encased in one of those waterproof housing units, which is why I assume she was willing to bring it out on the water. While the cell reception on the other side of the lake is spotty, here her phone has four bars of service, something I’d noticed when JJ and I came over here two days ago. I hit the home button, and the lock screen appears.

“What’s the password?”

“123456.”

JJ’s next to her in an instant. “You think this is funny?” She grabs one of Jessie’s arms and twists it behind her back. “Some kind of joke?”

“Ow, no, no.”

“Then what’s the fucking password?”

“071090.”

I shake my head as I enter my birthday. “You have no fucking respect, do you?”

The screen clears. I flip through several screens till I come to a folder called “Bank.” I open it. There are several banking apps inside.

“Which bank?”

“Guess,” she says.

JJ pulls her arm tighter. “Don’t think I won’t break it.”

“Okay, okay, it’s the Wells Fargo one.”

I open the app and enter in the same passcode. Nothing happens.

“It’s not working. Is there a different password?”

“No.”

JJ tugs again.

“I swear, it’s the same password.”

I try it again and get the same error message.

“Hand me the phone,” JJ says.

I put it in her outstretched hand. She untwists Jessie’s arm and puts the phone in Jessie’s hand, then moves her thumb over the home button.

“Two-factor ID,” she explains, then hands it back to me.

The app is open. I check her account. She’s got less than $5,000 in it.

“Is this all of it?”

“Yes, I swear.”

“What about these other bank apps?”

“I just use those to . . . you know . . .”

“Take other people’s money?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s what you were trying to do today in the airport with Five, right? Trying to get her to play the game, right in front of me. How fucking stupid do you think I am?”

“I wasn’t, I swear, I—”

“Enough! God, you’re such a liar.”

JJ looks at me. “What are you thinking?”

“She wired the money from my account to some account offshore. But these are domestic banks. I bet she did the same with your money. And the others.”

“Right.” JJ turns back to Jessie. “Where’s the fucking money? And don’t even try to tell me that you’ve spent it. You only took Jess’s money a couple of months ago, right, Jess?”

“That’s right. Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.”

“So, there’s no way that’s gone.”

Jessie tries a different angle. “It’s not that simple. I can’t transfer it by phone. I have to make some calls and answer security questions and—”

“Then you’re going to tell us how to get it.”

“And if I do? What happens to me?”

“We’re not killers,” I say.

She looks at me. “You might not be. I’m not so sure about her.”

JJ tilts her head as if she’s proud. “If we say we’ll let you go, we’ll let you go.”

“What assurance do I have?”

“You’re going to have to trust us,” I say. “You have no other choice.”

“At least let go of my arm. It hurts.”

JJ looks to me for my opinion.

“Do it,” I say.

She lets go. Jessie moves a foot away and pulls her arm to her chest, rubbing it.

“Tell us how to get the money,” I say.

“Not here, okay? When we get back to camp. We can go to the lodge where there’s good Wi-Fi, and I’ll walk you through the whole process.”

“No, tell us now.”

“Or what?”