The Jealous Kind (Holland Family Saga 2)

“You think I made this up?”

“How’d you get out of it?” he asked.

“I didn’t. Loren Nichols showed up.”

“Who were the guys?”

“I never saw two of them. The third one was Bud Winslow, the football player. Remember him?” Saber had been chewing gum. I heard him stop and the line go quiet. “Saber?”

“Yeah, I remember him. In ninth grade, he held me down on a wrestling mat and parked his package in my face.”

“Well, he’s a hump for Grady now.”

Saber started chewing again. “Grady’s convertible was leaking money.”

“It was what?” I said.

“A hundred-dollar bill was sticking out of the panel on the driver’s door. We pulled off the panel. The door was loaded. So was every other panel. The same under the floor. Not just cash. Small gold bars were pushed inside the padding in the backseat. Grady was driving Fort Knox on wheels.”

“How much money are you talking about?”

“Nine hundred thousand and change. I don’t know what the gold is worth.”

“Park the car on the street and make an anonymous call to the cops.”

“I don’t have it.”

“What happened to it?”

“We took it to a chop shop that Manny’s uncle runs. Except Manny’s uncle doesn’t know about the money. Manny put everything back and drove off with the convertible before the uncle got wise.”

“You don’t know where it is?”

“No. Neither does Cholo. Why is Grady driving around with all that money in his car?”

“His father probably had it stashed. He owed it to the Mob. There’s probably more stashed somewhere else.”

“I don’t know what to do,” Saber said.

“We have to brass it out.”

“I’m sorry I pulled you into this, Aaron. You were my best friend. I’ve been a real shit.”

“Blame it on the jellyfish,” I said.

“What do jellyfish have to do with it?”

“Everything. Where are you now?”

“At a pay phone.”

“Are you living at home?”

“The old man threw me out.”

“Stay away from Manny and Cholo,” I said.

“They used me, didn’t they.”