Eli felt a pang in his chest. But now was not the time to panic. Sure, the money was out of the account. But he could message the original seller and see what was up. He could definitely get a refund. Definitely. He had not made the problem worse. He would check in with the original seller and he would fix this. And then get back to saving the bookstore.

yo someone said these are fake. i’d like a refund if they are

The original seller messaged back immediately. You buy the merchandise it’s yours. I already shipped it out, man.

Eli typed so that he hit every key with precision. He hit a hard return. I. want. my. money. back.

You snooze you lose, kid. And then the original seller logged off.

Eli went back, trying to use the buyer protection plan on the vendor website. But it was too late. The money was gone. The banks could possibly work it out, but the account wasn’t his. If he reported this to real authorities, Eli would be the one on the hook for stealing the bookstore’s money to begin with. Especially since Eli had wanted to use the money to help Jo buy a stake in the store from its actual owner, Archer Hunt Junior.

It looked like fraud. Eli didn’t have to be good at math to know that.

Eli logged out of the bank account. He logged out of the vendor website. He scrubbed any email evidence of the purchases out of Jo’s inbox. Eli scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed, so that there was nothing left. No trace of what he’d done.

Of course, there was nine thousand dollars missing. So that was a trace.

But Eli kept scrubbing anyway, as best he could for as long as he was able. He couldn’t look at any of it anymore. Couldn’t clear his mind of what he’d done. He’d lost more than nine grand. Over a bunch of fake Air Jordans. The store would be lucky if it could operate past tomorrow. The petty cash was gone.

Gone.

Eli closed Jo’s laptop. Put it back exactly in the spot where he’d found it.

And then he finished closing, as though nothing had happened. He tallied the totals on the calculator. He input them into the account ledger, just like Danny had shown him. Then he stood, locked up Wild Nights Bookstore, and went out into the muggy, early Chicago morning. He started walking, not sure of where he was headed. He heard the vape fall out of his pocket, but he didn’t stop to pick it up. He had to keep moving, keep going.

Then he got out his phone and he messaged Danny. Wild Nights is closing down. Top secret. Cover for me until I get to work tomorrow.