“Cheaters!” She pushed her chair back. “Both of you, cheaters!”
Suddenly she felt very, very wired, as if someone had given her a double-shot espresso. Caffeine pushed her over the top. She did not have a good reaction when given too much.
“I have no idea what you are speaking of, dear.” Bets shook her head innocently.
“Lies!” Jake pointed at both of them and turned to Mr. Casbon, who was also nominated as game referee. “I request an investigation, sir.”
“On what grounds?”
“Cheating, money changing hands under the table. If you look at the evidence, you’ll see as clearly as I do. Mother is hiding something and Father is sweating.”
Mr. Casbon rose from his seat and began walking in circles around the table.
Everyone was silent.
“Wescott, what say you?”
“Not guilty.”
“Hmm.” Mr. Casbon stopped behind Bets and looked over her shoulder. “And you, what have you to say for yourself, miss?”
“N-not guilty.” She swallowed.
“Then you won’t mind if I look under your chair?”
“Um, well, I’m not sure that’s…”
“Ah-hah!” Mr.Casbon waved a few pieces of paper money in the air then stood to his full height. “My ruling.” He cleared his throat. “Disqualified!”
Bets and Wescott burst out laughing then kissed. “We tried, honey,” Wescott crooned in Bets’s ear. “We had a good run.”
“Well, that ends our night.” Bets rose. “Kacey, I expect you and Travis to pull through.”
“What about me?” Jake looked hurt, but everyone knew he was just joking.
“You, my dear, win every time. So I never root for you, only the underdogs.”
“Fine.” He pouted then began counting his money in a very irritating voice.
It was just the five of them left.
Kacey felt like her eyes were going to fall out of her head; they seemed to be too open, as if she couldn’t relax and too much air was hitting them, making them dry.
“Do you have any more tea?” she whispered to Travis.
He smiled and nodded. “Sure, I’ll be right back.”
Within minutes he had another steaming mug of tea. “This should help.”
She drank it down fast, fully expecting it to do the trick.
An hour later, Jake had also been disqualified — apparently embezzlement ran in the family, that and cheating. He left the room in a huff, leaving a paper trail of stuffed money falling from his pockets. Classy.
It was nearing midnight and Grandma seemed to be winning despite Kacey’s attempt to put a hotel on every property she owned.
“This could go on forever,” Mr. Casbon sulked. “I say we have a tie-breaker.”
“Deal.” Kacey wasn’t tired, but she figured the old people wanted to… socialize.