She nodded. "Right. And it's not just the payments either. There was the money for taxes and repairs—"
"Repairs?" I said. "You're joking, right?"
"Well, yeah," she said. "I mean, no. I'm not joking. And yes, Idorealize that Jason didn't actually make them." Under her breath, she added, "Now, anyway."
"And you never checked?"
"At the time?" With obvious reluctance, she replied, "No, actually."
I didn't get it.Arden was no slacker. And she sure as hell wasn't stupid. I asked, "Why not?"
"Because I was always so busy, and it's not like I had any family in the area – well, not anymore. I mean, yeah, there was Jason, but he's pretty anti-social. And whenever I talked about visiting, he got all funny."
I didn't like where this was going. Cousin or not, she should've known the guy was up to no good. Working hard to keep my cool, I said, "Oh yeah?"
She nodded. "Yeah. It was like he thought I was just trying to check on the house or something."
No shit."Yeah, because you should've."
Her mouth tightened. "Thank you, Captain Obvious."
"Hey, I'm just saying."
"Well, don't." She sighed. "I mean…you don't need to, okay? IknowI should've checked. In fact, that's why I was at the house when you caught me in the shower. I was checking on my so-called investment."
I gave her a look. "And how'dthatgo?"
"Youknowhow it went," she said."Terrible."
I wouldn't have called it terrible. But yeah, it hadn't gone terrific – unless I counted the sight of Arden with no clothes on.Thathadn't been so terrible.
In my mind, I could still see her bare silhouette. She'd looked good.Too good.Through the shower's frosted glass, I hadn't seen much, but what Ihadseen had been more than enough to get me thinking.
I wasstillthinking.
But now, the thought of Arden naked was a distraction I didn't need. Already, my body was responding, which only served to piss me off. As I shifted my stance, I told her, "Hey, I was there. Remember?"
"Iknowyou were there," she said. "But you just asked how it went. What, you didn't want an answer?"
"That's not what I'm saying."
"Then whatareyou saying?"
I was still putting the pieces together. "I'm saying, tell me something Idon'tknow."
"Like what?" she asked.
"Like what happened before I got there."
"Nothing happened," she said. "Jason's supposed to be living there, right? But when I show up, the house is empty, and Jason's nowhere in sight, which makes no sense whatsoever, because I called him beforehand to let him know I was coming. He even promised to meet me." Her shoulders slumped. "But he never showed."
What an asshole.
On that same night, I hadn't shown up until well past midnight, which meant that Arden had been alone in a vacant house for longer than was safe.
When I considered what might've happened to her, I felt my jaw clench. "And then?"
"And then I start texting him.Andcalling him. And emailing him, too."
