She shrugged, trying to be casual and totally failing. “You and Ellie stole my brothers’ money. You have that money in your bank account already, don’t you?”
“No,” I said slowly. “It’s …” The money we laundered. The checks from the casinos. Ellie had them. Either they were still on her or they were in the car somewhere. With the trauma of the last day, I’d forgotten all about it.
“Well, where is it?” she shrieked. “You can’t hold out on me, Camden.”
I raised my hands. “Whoa, calm down, okay? There’s a lot going on. There are the checks that we got from the casinos. I think they’re on Ellie.”
“You’re lying to me,” she said, walking toward me. “They’re in the car somewhere, aren’t they?” She yelled the last bit. “You have them!”
“Maybe, I’ll look,” I said, trying to placate her.
“I’m coming with you,” she said. “And if they’re there, we’re depositing it in your account, today.”
“Oh, so now there’s a rush?”
She smiled quickly. “Now it’s legit. These kinds of transactions won’t make the bank suspicious. It’s just casino winnings, right? We can deposit the cash some other day. We’ll just be really careful with it.”
I frowned, feeling strange about everything. Was she really afraid that I’d hide money from her? Didn’t she understand I was doing and risking everything to protect them, to provide for them, to do the best I could?
Or maybe Sophia had a supremely fucked-up idea of what a family was all about.
“Alright,” I told her. “Grab Ben. We’ll search the car and if we’re lucky, I’ll go deposit what we find.”
She nodded quickly and grabbed her purse from the counter.
“And the briefcase?” I asked, blocking her.
She frowned. “It’s in my room. We’re not taking it with us.”
“I’d rather we did. It’s safer on us than here.”
I could tell she wanted to argue but maybe she figured it wouldn’t do any good. She gave me an agreeable sigh and then came back with the briefcase in hand. I let her hold onto both it and Ben, things I wasn’t allowed to touch.
It only took a few seconds for me to locate three of the checks. They were in a metal box in the trunk, the place where Ellie carried a “spare life.” Unfortunately, one check was made out to Ellie, two were made out to Connor Malloy, and one was made out to Camden McQueen. They were all worth about seven thousand dollars each, which meant Ellie must have the remaining checks on her. I wanted to think that was a good thing, that she’d have money, wherever she was. But I had a bad, bad feeling that she wouldn’t get to use them.
After I calmed Sophia down and told her that I could eventually deposit Connor Malloy’s check, once our new life was underway and I got some help from Gus, we headed off to the nearest bank branch that Camden McQueen belonged to. All I had to do was smile at the teller when she commented on my “lucky Vegas winnings” and that was it. The money was in the bank. It was a small amount in the grand scheme of things, but it was a start. And I hoped to god that was enough for Sophia to start showing a little faith in me.
Yet, as we drove back to her apartment, she became more quiet and nervous. She was pretty much ripping her hair out as we pulled up to the tiny complex.
I popped the GTO in park and stared at her earnestly. “Are you afraid that your brothers are back?”
She shook her head. “No. I’m just afraid.” Then she started to cry. Ben squirmed in the child seat we had outfitted in the back.
“Hey,” I said, putting my hand on her shoulder. “We’re going to be okay? This shit sucks and I know I’m the last person you want to be running away with, but maybe things will all work out for the best.”
“How can it?” she sobbed through wet, nasty tears. “How can you and I ever work?”
I sucked in my breath before saying, “Maybe it can work if there’s love. If not for each other, at least for Ben.”
This only made Sophia cry louder. I was never very good at being sappy. Good thing my job wasn’t writing greeting cards.
I sighed and sat back in the seat, ignoring the fact that it was feeling more and more like my car when it very much wasn’t. I rubbed her back, despite her flinching from my touch.
“I know you’re upset, but we’re almost packed. We’re about ready to go.”
She sniffed but didn’t look at me. “Why don’t you start bringing your stuff down? I don’t want to take Ben back in there if we’re only going to rip this life away from him.”
Fair enough. I nodded and left her in the car and took the car keys – the briefcase was in the trunk after all. I made my way up the stairs to the unit, the sun beating down on my back like a hot hand, and opened the door.
I was wondering how Sophia would adjust, if she would ever adjust, if maybe we’d part ways in a few months after our new lives got settled and if she’d take Ben away from me again, when I stepped into the apartment.