She paused. “Well ...”
“Yes?”
Barbara hesitated again, looking wary. “I don’t know. Not long after I got in on it, Greg told me someone else took the money.”
“Huh?”
“He was probably lying. He said it was in some bank account and someone took it out. Now how can that be?”
I thought about the bank statements I’d seen at Aces High. I remembered the stricken look on Bruce’s face when I mentioned them.
“So he said he couldn’t pay me so much,” Barbara went on. “I made a big stink about it, but he said it was for real.”
“Someone stole the money that they stole?”
“Hey, I’m telling you what he said. I’m not saying I believe it. Greg kept paying me something. After he died, Bruce wouldn’t pay at first, but I got him to change his mind.”
“By threatening to go the cops? Were you arguing about that at the gym?”
Her face hardened into a resolute look. “They owed me.”
I sighed. “Well, it’s over now. Bruce is dead.”
Barbara slumped. “Great. Fucking great.”
“Yeah. I’ll let you mourn in peace.” I rose and started for the door, then stopped. “Oh, one more thing. How did you find out that Greg Knudsen was back?”
Barbara stared straight ahead. “Someone called and told me,” she said in a flat voice.
“Who?”
“I dunno. They didn’t give a name.”
“Man or woman?”
“Could’ve been either.”
“You have caller ID?”
Barbara shut her eyes and took a deep breath. “No-o-o.”
“Would you have a guess who it was?”
“No, and I couldn’t care less, in case you hadn’t noticed.”
“Actually, I did notice.”
I walked out, leaving Barbara with her bowl of ice cream soup and her problems.
Chapter TWENTY-EIGHT
––––––––
The hot afternoon sun had turned the sky to a gray haze stew. In a nearby park, trees undulated and bowed restlessly in the fitful breeze, the silky shoosh of their leaves sounding like distant applause from an outdoor amphitheater. As I waited at a red light, I could almost smell the rain on the verge of dropping from the clouds.
Who would have ratted Knudsen out? And why?
You can run from the past, but it always catches up with you. Had someone from Knudsen’s past caught up with him? Ryan Bledsoe might know, but he was in Ocean City by now.