“But the bank has to pay better than Wal-Mart!”

“Not as much as you’d think, but still…” She walked into the living room and handed Neely Kate and me glasses of lemonade. “That girl doesn’t have any bills or expenses. I ain’t got any idea where she spends it all.”

Neely Kate looked at David out of the corner of her eye, then back to Carla. “What about recreational drugs?”

Carla’s eyebrows lifted and she shook her head. “Oh, no. She hangs out with guys who use drugs, but she says she’s keepin’ her body pure by avoiding anything that could defile it.”

Neely Kate snorted. “I saw her grabbing a Big Boy bacon cheeseburger at the Burger Shack last week. Last time I checked, the EPA was looking into using the fat from those burgers as an alternative energy source. She can’t be trying that hard to keep her body pure.” She snuck a grin at me and whispered, “Especially with the company she keeps.”

Carla shrugged. “That’s why she has a boyfriend.” She gave David a wink. “To help keep her supplied. Although she’s more into alcohol.”

I tried to hide my surprise. Without a job, I wasn’t sure how David could afford to get his own pot, let alone Carla’s.

Neely Kate took a sip of her lemonade. “I heard about the bank robbery last week. How is Samantha Jo handling it?”

Carla shrugged her shoulders and took a sip. “Honestly, watchin’ her, you’d never know it had happened.”

Leaning over her knee, Neely Kate asked, “She was held at gunpoint and she seems just fine?”

Carla’s forehead furrowed. “Gee, now that you mention it, that is kind of odd.”

“Has she been spending more money lately?”

“Huh… She did buy a bunch of new clothes when she got sent home from the bank that day. Said she was finally planning her trip to L.A.to make it big in Hollywood. I figured I’d let it go since she’d been through such a shock.”

The timing seemed significant and then some.

“Carla,” I said. “Do you think Samantha Jo might have had something to do with the bank robbery?”

“How so?” Carla asked, clearly confused.

“Do you think she helped the bank robbers?”

“I guess you could say so since she handed over the money.” Carla’s face scrunched up again, as though she was in pain from thinking too hard.

“Well, I would too if some guy in a dang SpongeBob ski mask was pointing a gun at my head,” Neely Kate said.

“The guy holding the gun on her had on a Batman mask,” I said. “The other guy wore a SpongeBob mask.”

David burst out laughing and Neely Kate and I turned to him in shock.

“What’s got you in stitches?” Neely Kate asked.

“We had some of them masks at the Piggly Wiggly. That’s what got me fired. I wonder how them robbers got them since we never sold any.”

I cocked my head to the side. “How did they get you fired? Did you steal them all?”

“I took’em, but it wasn’t stealin’.” He shrugged. “I thought Bruce Wayne and I could wear them when we were playing paintball with the guys. You know, so we could be undercover.”

Carla made a lovey-pouty face. “Awww… Daveypoo. I didn’t know you played paintball.”

He leaned back, propping his foot on the opposite knee. “What can I say? I’m a complex guy. A man of mysterious ways. Just like last night.” Then he waggled his eyebrows at her.

My nausea roared to life and I tried not to gag.

Neely Kate seemed nonplussed. “So you stole the ski caps from the Piggly Wiggly? Why in the world would you do that?”

“I didn’t steal them. I swear. I set them out in a display bin in the morning, but the next day a customer pointed out how screwed up the seams were. The assistant manager, Merrill, that is, was madder than hell and wanted to keep sellin’ ’em, but the manager said we couldn’t. So I pulled all of ’em. The company that sent them didn’t want them back and Merrill told me to throw them away. I figured that was a waste, so I took them home. When Merrill found out, he fired me.”

“How could he fire you for that?” I asked, outraged.

David shrugged. “He said they was property of the store.”

“Did you fight him on it?”

He snorted. “That would have been a waste of time. He’s hated me ever since he took the assistant manager job a month ago.”

“Why?”

He shrugged. “We used to be friends ten or so years ago. Then he got married and moved away to be closer to his wife’s family. They had a couple of rugrats and then they split. I told him not to get hitched, particularly not to her, but he didn’t listen. Instead, he wasted all them years, and now look at him.” He spread his arms on the arms of his chair, a lazy grin spreading across his face. “I think he’s jealous of me.” He looked like a king surveying his kingdom.

I took in the dingy paneling, the matted carpet, and the musty smell that was making me gag. It was apparent his standards were pretty low.

Neely Kate choked on her lemonade.

Carla reached over and patted her leg. “Are you okay?”

She nodded, trying to hold back a laugh. “I’m fine.”

“So if you took them all, how did the bank robbers get them?” I asked. “What did you do with them?”