Chương 4
Her father was a man who always had a next thing.
A flat tire meant jack, spare, pressure gauge.
A late bill meant phone call, payment plan, calendar reminder.
A broken sink meant shutting off the valve before anyone panicked.
Now he stood in silence.
Finally he said, “First, we figure out exactly what left this house.”
“My computer.”
“Anything else?”
Tasha frowned.
“No.”
James looked at Devon.
Devon shifted.
Tasha felt something cold move through her stomach.
“What else?”
“Nothing.”
James stepped closer.
“Do not make me discover another lie.”
Devon’s eyes dropped.
Renee whispered his name.
Devon pressed both hands together.
“The VR headset.”
Tasha stared at him.
“What?”
“And one controller.”
She turned toward the shelf beside the desk.
She had not noticed.
The headset case was still there, zipped and empty.
Her breathing changed.
“You took the headset too?”
“I needed enough.”
“You took the headset.”
“I’m sorry.”
“No, you aren’t.”
“I am.”
“You were lying thirty seconds ago.”
Devon’s face tightened.
“What do you want me to say?”
“The truth.”
“I’m telling you now.”
“Because Dad found the messages.”
“I said I’m sorry.”
Tasha grabbed the empty headset case and threw it onto the bed.
Devon jumped.
Renee stood between them without touching either one.
“Tasha.”
“He took everything.”
“Not everything,” Devon said.
The words came out automatically.
The room went silent.
Devon closed his eyes.
Tasha stared at him.
“What does that mean?”
“Nothing.”
James’s voice sharpened.
“What else?”
Devon swallowed.
Tasha moved toward her dresser.
Her hands went to the second drawer.
Socks.
T-shirts.
The small metal cash box she kept under both was gone.
She stood frozen.
There had been three hundred and eighty dollars inside.
Birthday money.
Tips.
Emergency savings.
She had counted it Sunday night.
She turned.
Devon’s expression told her everything.
Her voice came out nearly soundless.
“You took my cash?”
“I was going to replace it.”
Tasha crossed the room before she knew she was moving.
Renee caught her around the shoulders.
“Let go of me.”
“No.”
“Let go.”
“Tasha.”
“He went through my drawers.”
Devon backed away.
“It wasn’t like that.”
“What was it like?”
“I knew where you kept it.”
“That makes it worse.”
“Tasha, stop.”
She twisted out of Renee’s hold and pointed at him.
“You came into my room when I wasn’t here, opened my dresser, dug under my clothes, took my money, unplugged my computer, took my headset, and carried all of it out of this house.”
Devon said nothing.
“You had to make trips.”
He looked at the floor.
The detail hit her with brutal clarity.
“You had to come back more than once.”
“Tasha,” Renee said softly.
“No.”
Tasha’s hands shook harder.
“He did this slowly.”
Devon’s face changed.
“I didn’t think about it like that.”
“That is because you were not thinking about me.”
“I was trying to fix something.”
“You keep saying that like it helps.”
James lifted a hand.
“That’s enough.”
Tasha looked at him.
“No, it isn’t.”
His expression softened for only a second.
“No,” he said.
“It is not.”
He looked at Devon.
“But right now I need facts.”
Devon sat down again.
James placed the phone on the desk but kept one hand over it.
“How much total did you give Malik?”
Devon counted under his breath.
“The cash was three eighty.”
James nodded.
“The computer.”
“He said eight.”
“The headset?”
“One fifty.”
Tasha stared.
“You gave away a four-hundred-dollar headset for a hundred and fifty dollars?”
Devon flinched.
James kept going.
“Total.”
“Thirteen thirty.”
“And you owed him eight hundred.”
Devon looked miserable.
“Yeah.”
“Where is the other five hundred and thirty?”
Devon’s lips parted.
Tasha saw the answer forming before he spoke.
“Tickets.”
James closed his eyes.
Renee turned away.
Devon rushed ahead.
“I was going to sell them.”
Tasha laughed once.
This time nobody told her to stop.
“You used my stuff to buy concert tickets you were going to resell.”
“The price was going up.”
“How many?”
“Two.”
James opened his eyes.
“Where are they?”
“Digital.”
“Transferable?”
“I think so.”
“You think so.”
“They are in the app.”
James pushed the phone across the desk.
“Open it.”
Devon did.
His fingers trembled now.
He tapped through two screens.
Then stopped.
“What?” James asked.
Devon tapped again.
His face emptied.
“No.”
Tasha stepped closer.
“What now?”
“They’re gone.”
James leaned over the screen.
“Gone how?”
Devon refreshed.
Then refreshed again.
A small notification appeared near the top.
Order canceled.
Payment method disputed.
Devon stared at it.
“I paid Malik.”
James’s eyes lifted slowly.
“You paid Malik for the tickets.”
Devon nodded.
“He said his cousin had a presale account.”
Renee covered her mouth again.
Tasha felt anger drain out of her, replaced by a hollow kind of disbelief.
James looked at his son for several seconds.
Then he asked the question none of them had asked yet.
“Devon, have you ever met Malik’s cousin?”
Devon stared at the phone as if the answer might appear somewhere between the canceled tickets and the dead message thread.
“No.”
James nodded once.
Not in anger this time.
In confirmation.
Renee sat back down in the desk chair and looked at the floor.
Tasha watched Devon’s face collapse by degrees.
“You never met him?”
Devon shook his head.
“He was always working.”
Tasha turned away and pressed both palms against the edge of her desk.
The wood felt cool beneath her skin.
Her monitor reflected the room back at her, but now she could barely stand looking at any of them.
James picked up Devon’s phone again.
“How did you send him money?”
“Cash app.”
“Show me.”
Devon opened the payment history.
There were more transfers than Tasha expected.
Fifty dollars.
Seventy-five.
One hundred.
Another hundred.
Then three hundred.
Then two hundred and fifty.
James scrolled without speaking.
Renee leaned toward the screen.
“These go back to February.”
Devon rubbed the back of his neck.
May you like
“I told you I made money at first.”
“How much did you actually make?” James asked.
