“No,” Devin said, almost surprised to realize it was the truth.
“No? I would be.”
“I hang with the FBI,” Devin reminded her.
“You’d better hang with them all the time. Whoever this guy is—”
“He’ll get sloppy,” Rocky said, coming back into the kitchen. “Plates, Devin?” he asked.
“Over there,” she said, pointing.
There was another knock at the door. Jack went to answer it, greeting Renee and introducing her to Devin’s friends as Devin and Beth went back to join the group.
Devin watched Rocky but she couldn’t fathom what was in his mind. He walked toward the door, and she followed him. Behind them, things seemed to be going well. Beth was talking with Haley. Theo, Gayle, Renee and Vince were debating animatedly about tarot cards—real or pure bull?—but they all seemed to be getting along well enough.
Suddenly there was another knock at the door.
Rocky looked at her with a grim smile and nodded. She walked to the door and opened it.
Brent Corbin had come, after all.
From the safety of his cage, Poe let out a long, mournful caw.
15
“I told you, I didn’t do it,” Brent said, accepting a beer from Devin. He turned and looked at Jack and Rocky. “And I should be pissed at the two of you bastards, but this beer tastes so damned good, I’m just going to bask in the fact that I’m here, I’m out and you two are assholes.”
Beth slipped an arm around his shoulders. “They didn’t really have a choice. They had to do what they did.”
“Hold me in some scummy little room like a criminal? Tear up my store and my house? Yeah, no choice.” Brent lifted his beer to Rocky and Jack. “Nice friends you have, Devin.” Then he sighed heavily. “Just kidding. I understand. I guess. Wow, that sounds bitter. I really do understand. Of course, you cost me a couple of days’ income and my neighbors are all looking at me like they think I’m about to attack them. But I’m cool, honest.”
Beth laughed. “Oh, poor Brent! You sound like you’re not sure yourself if you’re really all right or not.”
“I’m not,” Brent admitted. He took a deep breath and then a long swallow of beer. “It was awful.” He looked pleadingly at Rocky and Jack. “You guys have to find out the truth. I can’t keep going like this, with everyone looking at me like...like...” He shook his head and gave up trying to explain.
“Why were they questioning you in the first place?” Beth asked.
He explained about the cell phone—“I swear, someone must have put it there!”—then said, “Look, I’m out, and even if I’m here with the inquisitors from hell, I’m ready to have a good time.”
Devin smiled and gestured for him to go get some food, but as she did she noticed that Rocky had his cell phone out, and she wondered why.
He saw her looking at him and smiled.
She suddenly realized he’d been nursing the same beer all night. He was acting like a normal party guest, but “acting” was the operative word. In reality he was watching. Watching closely.
“The thing is, Brent,” Rocky said as they all moved toward the food, “if the phone was slipped into your pock—”
“There’s no if!” Brent protested. “It was slipped into my pocket.”
“Then whoever did it had to be at the bar, too,” Rocky said.
“I... Let’s see...”
“You were in the bar,” Rocky said, turning to Beth. “Did you see anything?”
“What?” Beth asked, startled. “What bar?”
“The bar the other night, remember?” Gayle said. She smiled and shook her head. “We were there—you, me and Theo.” She looked at Rocky. “I didn’t see Brent there, but the place was such a zoo, that’s not surprising.”
“Oh! You mean the night we were doing inventory,” Beth said.
“Night before last,” Theo said. “We didn’t stay. It was too crowded.”
“That’s what we hear,” Jack said.
“Well, I, for one, wasn’t there,” Haley said. “This is my big night out.”
“I wasn’t there, either,” Renee said.
“Because you were with me,” Haley said.
Renee smiled. “Haley and Jack are letting me stay with them, because I was worried about living on my own.”
“That’s safe and smart,” Beth said.
“Definitely—with everything going on, women should stay together,” Gayle said, nodding.
“You can come stay with me if you want,” Beth told Gayle.
“I have the big house—you could come stay with me,” Gayle said.
“Maybe I will,” Beth agreed.
“Hey, this is a party, right?” Vince said. “Maybe we could talk about something a little more cheerful?”
“Absolutely!” Jack said. “You asked for it. Here come the pictures of Jackie.”