ten until after noon, I was across campus at the faculty club dining room.”
“Brunch by yourself. That’s not much of an alibi,” Finn said. “Do you have a receipt?”
Landry’s face fell, but almost as quickly, a grin spread across his face. “No, no receipt. But I used my i-Cash. There should be a record of my initial order, and my dessert order, in the university’s computer system.”
Finn stood, and I followed suit. “Like I said, we’ll let the police sort this out.”
“I’m begging you,” Landry said. “You don’t have any reason to care about me, but I know you care about this town and this school. Another scandal will destroy the whole community.”
Finn stepped aside to allow me to leave ahead of him, but I stopped in the doorway and stared down Landry. “You’re underestimating the strength of this town,” I said. “Ain’t nothing you can throw at us that will destroy us.”
I left then, with Finn hot on my heels.
When we reached the parking lot, I spun around to face Finn.
“You’re not going to let him skate on this, are you?”
“Oh, hell no,” Finn replied. “I’ll wait until after the benefit for Bryan, so that Landry can help drum up money and Cal’s family can have an evening of peace.”
He tipped back his head, and I almost gasped at the rage in Finn’s eyes. Rage and pain.
“But after the benefit, I’m gonna nail that jerk to the wall for what he did to Emily.”
chapter 21
I’d never thought of Alice as the swooning type, but when Kyle confidently declared he could hack into the Dickerson i-Cash system, she came darn close.
Finn gave the kid a high five.
“I’m gonna pretend I didn’t hear any of that,” I said. “This is supposed to be your wholesome activity, working at the A-la-mode to keep you out of trouble. Your mama would have my hide if she knew I was contributing to your delinquency.”
Kyle smirked. “Even if you told my mom what I did, she wouldn’t understand.”
I felt a pang of sympathy for his mom. I didn’t understand one hundred percent what he planned to do, but I knew it couldn’t possibly be legal.
“I’m going to need a faster connection than McKlesky and Howard’s crappy open Wi-Fi network. We’ve got good service at home.”
“I’m coming with you,” Alice said.
“Nuh-uh. You’re not going anywhere,” Bree said. “At least, not without me.”
Kyle looked nervously between Bree and Alice. He’d witnessed their verbal brawls before, and I could tell he didn’t much fancy being caught in the middle of one.
To everyone’s relief, Alice didn’t put up a fuss. “Oh, all right. You can come, too.”
“Hey,” I said. “You can’t all leave me here on my own.”
It was a Wednesday night, unlikely to be particularly busy, but we had a rule that no one worked the store alone after dark. Even me.
“I can help,” Finn offered.
Bree laughed. “Help yourself to a vat of ice cream, most likely.” We’d all made a conscious effort to tease Finn, to keep him from dwelling too much on the loss of his friend.
Finn drew himself up in mock indignation. “I beg your pardon. I can roll up my sleeves and dip cones with the best of ’em.”
“Mmmm-hmmm,” she drawled. “Something tells me you’ve never done a lick of manual labor in your life.”
He clasped his hands over his heart and staggered back. “You wound me, Bree.” He opened one loden green eye. “Though you are absolutely correct.” He laughed and stood up. “There’s a first time for everything, right, Tally?”
“I guess we’re gonna find out,” I said.
Finn worked hard that night. I hadn’t counted on a rush of families following the curtain coming down on the community theater’s production of Alice in Wonderland. Wound-up kids and their harried parents swarmed the store, and both Finn and I were up to our armpits in junior sundaes for over an hour.
As the worst of the kid frenzy died down, I sent Finn to the back of the store to take a breather. The minute he disappeared, Rosemary and George Gunderson arrived with another couple. The two ladies tumbled through the door, arm in arm, their heads tipped together in eager conversation, while the men hung back and played the courtly gentlemen.
In their evening finery, the foursome stood out in the sea of golf shirts and jeans: Dr. Gunderson sported a natty tweed jacket and a bow tie, and Mrs. Gunderson wore a beaded satin shell and long velvet skirt, both in a refined wine