Chapter Five

At Kelly's apartment, I kicked off my shoes and accepted the Bud Light she handed me. Kelly was half-black, half-Italian, all attitude and curves. Long black hair, dark brown eyes, and flawless mocha skin. We had been best friends since the first day of college, roommates for two years, until she met Tom and got serious enough to move in with him.

I sat back on her ratty couch, drained half of my beer, and then handed Kelly the envelope. Or, as I thought of it, The Envelope. “I got this in the mail today. Just like that. Out of the blue. Open it.”

She frowned at me, then examined the outside. “Nice handwriting.”

“I know. But look inside. And…maybe sit down.” I took another long pull of my beer.

Kelly perched her butt on the arm of the couch beside me and withdrew the check. “Holy shit!” She looked at me, her eyes wide. “Frey, this is twenty thousand dollars. You know what you could do with this?”

“Yeah. I do. But…where did it come from? Who sent it? Why? And more importantly…do I dare cash it?”

Kelly sighed. “I get your point. I mean, part of me says ‘duh, cash that bitch!’, but the untrusting part of me says ‘hold on now, sister.’”

“Exactly. I’d never be able to pay this back. Not ever.” I finished my beer, and got up to get another one, found a box of old pizza in the fridge. “Can I?” I lifted the box.

Kelly shrugged. “Go for it. So what are you going to do?”

“I don’t know, Kelly. I wish I did. I—I’m at the end of my rope. If I didn’t have you, I’d be living in my car right now. Daddy’s life insurance policy ran out six months ago. I’m short on rent, and all my other bills are past due. Jax tuition needs paying, and so does mine. Fuck, everything is due. And I don’t have a job. I looked for weeks to find even this temp job.

I’ll never find another one. And now…right when I need it most, this” —I snatched the check from Layla and shook it— “shows up. I don’t see how I can not cash it. I’ll just have to hope I don’t end up owing, like, a mob, mafia or something.”

Kelly nodded. “That’s a risk. You don’t know who this is.” She taps the check. “Did you G****e this Trn Incorporated?”

“No electricity, remember? I couldn’t use my computer. And I’m out of data on my cell phone plan.”

“Oh.” Kelly slumped into the chair in front of her PC, which was almost as old as mine. She brought up G****e, typed in the name and address, and scrolled through the results. “Nothing. I mean, there are tons of companies with that name, and the fact that it’s a P.O. box means whoever it is doesn’t want to be found.”

“No shit, Sherlock. Short of hiring a fucking P.I. or something, I don’t see how I can find out who this is.”

“So you cash it.”

“So I cash it.”

We spent the evening drinking. I got blitzed on about eight beers and passed out on the couch, since I didn’t have to be up in the morning. Kelly and I both had an afternoon class, so we slept in until almost eleven, which was nice. After breakfast and a shower, kelly and I went together to the bank.

I stood in front of the teller, two checks in my hand, shaking like a leaf. Eventually, I managed to hand them to the teller. I asked her to deposit them, and give me back four thousand dollars in cash.

When that was done, the teller handed me a receipt and an envelope full of the cash she had counted out to me. I put two thousand dollars in my purse, and left the other two thousand in the envelope. I stared at the bank balance on the receipt $16000. We left the bank, got into my car, and drove to the university.

True to form, kelli made no mention of the money, no hints at how many bills she had due, how much she could use even a couple hundred bucks. Couple hundred? Shit, to girls in our situation, even twenty bucks would be a godsend.

She would not ask, not ever, no matter how much money I had. Just like I would not ask her if the situation were reversed. She had never ask for anything unless she was in dire straits like I was now. Before we got out and went to class, I put the envelope of cash into kelly's hand.