Page 76 of A Scandal in Homeroom
Yes, there it was. That last bit of hesitation. She was still holding onto something, but this time I didn’t think it was about self-preservation.
“Because the adult game is more serious. If this Moriarty has gone to such lengths to create a false identity, taken over a simple teenage poker game and turn it into something else, that tells me there is more than the vig and tips at stake. Isn’t there?”
All eyes turned to Irene, but she was looking at Beth.
Fitz reached for Beth’s hand and Beth nodded.
“You can say it, Reen,” Beth said. “Whatever it is. Don’t hold back to protect me or I’ll kick your ass.”
Irene looked down at her feet. “I don’tknowanything.”
“But you suspect,” I pushed. “Given we’ve established you’ve got a pretty good track record of your own about uncovering other people’s secrets, I’d like to hear those suspicions.”
“I told you that your dad’s been back for a few weeks.”
“You mean Roger,” Beth said sourly. “That man is no longer my father.”
“Well, I’ve noticed something strange when he sits down at a table. Other players start losing to him.”
“He’s a good poker player then,” Fitz concluded.
“No,” she corrected him. “They lose to him. I think on purpose. I suggested as much to Coyle, and he told me to mind my own business. But I think…I think…that’s really why they jumped me. They won’t let me leave the game because they’re afraid I’ve seen too much.”
I pulled in a breath and tried to control the new swirl of anger I was feeling. Feelings compromised investigations. I knew this, but I still couldn’t completely control them.
“Your propensity to withhold information is troubling,” I said calmly.
Only I wasn’t. Calm, that is.
“What was I supposed to say?” she countered. “It’s Beth’s dad. Roger. Whatever. Roger Bennet is involved in something. That’s all I know. I swear it!”
I shot her a hard look, then turned to Beth. “The name Moriarty mean anything to you?”
She shook her head. “No, nothing.”
“Whenhedid he leave? You, your family?”
“At the end of June.”
“You’ve been working at The Club. Why?”
“How do you know…”
I raised an eyebrow. “It’s sort of my business to know what other people don’t. For the sake of this conversation, let’s not question it. You were working because you needed money. It’s the primary reason one does it.”
“Yep. Not to learn Spanish. Someone would have to be a real idiot to fall for that,” Fitz drawled.
Beth rolled her eyes at Fitz, then turned to me. “When my dad…when Roger left, he took everything. All of our money. Gone. I was working to put food on the table.”
The information flowed into me, and I placed it on a shelf along with other pieces of information I’d gathered.
“You’ll get me in that game,” I insisted.
“Coyle is going to want to know why. Why the adult game and not the normal one?”
“Simple,” I said. “I prefer higher stakes.”
* * *
