Page 99 of Dreadful

Gage drags a hand over his mouth, a rough chuckle escaping. “Maybe you need another lap around the pool, brother.”

The air goes still and heavy, tension snapping like a string between them.

They don’t move—just hold each other’s stare across the scarred wood, Gage’s knuckles pale where he grips the edge, Bishop’s shoulders rigid beneath his shirt.

Cruz leans back on his stool with a long sigh. “It was a conversation at a café. It’s a conversation now. Everybody fucking chill.”

Rafe shifts toward me. “Do we trust this guy?”

My attention shifts to him. I open my mouth, then close it again because it’s not actually an easy question.

Sure, I knew Ryder in high school. And yeah, he seemed sincere enough at the café. But he also showed up with a proposal to steal five million dollars from his employer, who also happens to be the government, with approximately fourteen thousand missing pieces of this so-called opportunity.

My stomach pitches slightly as I exhale. “I trust that he believes what he told us.”

“Well, that’s reassuring,” Bishop says with a scoff.

I turn toward him. “I didn’t say I trusted the job. I didn’t even say it was a job. I’m bringing the idea to everybody so we can figure out whether it’s worth our time.”

“Calling it an opportunity doesn’t make it less bullshit,” Bishop says.

Gage sighs, tipping his head back.

I straighten away from the workbench. “All I know is Ryder knows the money exists. He knows it’s moving and roughly when. And he knows enough about the previous transfers to believe there’s some kind of weak point between Westhaven and wherever the money is going.”

Cruz rubs his thumb slowly along his jaw. “But he doesn’t know where it’s going.”

“Right.” I nod, staring at the wall past his shoulder and trying to find the pattern from everything Ryder told us.

“And he doesn’t know exactly when,” Rafe says.

“Yeah.” Lola pulls a thread loose from the cuff of her sleeve. “He won’t have a firm timeline until a few days before.”

“So basically he knows jack shit,” Bishop says.

Lola raises one finger. “He knows there’s a lot of money.”

“Somewhere,” Bishop says dryly.

I let my shoulders drop. “I know it sounds sketchy as fuck. It’s not my idea. I’m just the messenger.”

Bishop turns toward Gage. “What do we even know about this guy? You went to school with him, right?”

Gage stares at the ceiling for a second before answering. “Yeah, he was fine, I guess. I don’t know.”

Bishop looks at him. “Excellent character reference.”

Gage rubs the back of his neck and lets his hand drop against his thigh. “What do you want me to say? We were kids. In high school, he was always down for whatever. He never ran his mouth, and he didn’t scare easily. I don’t remember him ever fucking us over.”

“You did jobs with him?” Rafe asks.

Gage shakes his head. “Not anything like this.”

“Well, like what?” Bishop asks.

Gage’s mouth curls up, and I know exactly what he’s going to say before he does.

“We stole Coach Miller’s car once.” His gaze finds mine. “You remember, don’t you, Bell?”