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“I never touched her on that island,” Pollack says.
“But others did.”
“Yes,” Pollack gulps out.
“Katelyn was his favorite,” Luke says dryly. “And believe me, I want you to make him suffer.”
Darnell gets a glaring and vengeful look in his brown eyes.
Damn, the guy means business.
He’s a SEAL. A decorated SEAL.
But this is his daughter.
His daughter who is my everything.
I understand.
But I also don’t think he’s going to do anything. He’s just making Pollack think he will.
“Guys came to me. Your men,” he says to Luke.
“Not my men. Not any longer.”
“Well, they were still your men.”
“Did I force you to get in bed with the drug lords of LA? No, but you did it anyway. You did it because of me. Because of Katelyn. You got in with some bad folks, Ice Man.”
“Keep talking,” Darnell says.
“Your men,” he says to Luke again. “Your men turned me over. Turned me over to a cabal, a prison underground. To Greg Wallace.”
“So this Greg Wallace is some bigwig in prison?”
“Not really. He just used all the leverage he had for this favor.”
“And what favor would that be?” I ask.
“He needed two people taken care of. Gloria Delgado and her husband. Seems they had been asking questions, or people had been asking them questions, about another one of the women from the island. Your daughter,” he says to Darnell.
“And?” Darnell says between clenched teeth.
“Wallace said I owed him. He was behind bars because of me, and the drug lords turned me over to him.”
“What could he do to you behind bars?” Darnell asks.
“Surely you’re not that ignorant,” Pollack says.
Darnell hits him in the head with the pistol again. “I’m not ignorant at all, asshole. But I want you to spell it out for me anyway. I want to hear it from your fucking mouth.”
“Tell them,” Luke says. “You’re such an idiot, Pollack. You got immunity. You could’ve gotten away from all this, but once you saw Katelyn, you couldn’t. Obsession runs deep.”
Luke’s eyes reflect knowledge. He understands obsession. He was once obsessed with my sister. Anger makes my neck grow hot, but I suppress it. I can’t go there right now.
“How many times am I going to have to repeat myself?” Pollack demands.
“As many as I say.” Darnell clocks him on his head once more. “Or I’ll put you out like a light, and then we’ll have to wait here until you wake up and can start talking again. That will make us angry, dumbass. And then we’ll make it a lot worse for you.”
“Fine, fine!” Pollack gasps, sweat trickling from his forehead. “I’ll talk.”
Darnell moves back a few steps. “I’m listening.”
“I didn’t know Greg’s connection to Aspen. Not until recently. Greg and I saw each other on the island a couple of times. But you know, it was a gentlemen’s deal.”
I scoff. “A gentlemen’s deal? You guys think you are actually gentlemen?”
“You know what I mean. Don’t ask, don’t tell, and all that. Anything we saw on the island was always in confidence. We signed a document to that effect.”
“Until you could buy your freedom for that information,” I say. “Then your so-called gentlemen’s deal meant nothing.”
He doesn’t respond.
“Keep talking.” From Darnell.
“We knew each other from the island. I was told, when I made my immunity deal, that none of the information would ever be made public. That no one would know I had given the names.”
“Yeah,” Luke says, “that was before you immersed yourself into my previous world.”
Pollack chokes a little. “Could you loosen these bindings around my chest? I’m feeling really tight. Like I can’t breathe.”
“No,” Luke says flatly.
“Please. I think I might be having a heart attack.”
I look at him. There’s no sweat on his face other than what’s already emerged at his receding hairline. He’s not breathing heavily.
“You’re bluffing. Keep talking.”
He winces a few times, but then he gives up the ruse. “The LA drug people found out all the names that I had given to the feds. Greg Wallace was one of them. Somehow that information got to Greg in prison.”
I roll my eyes. “Yeah, I’m sure it did somehow.”
“Anyway, your people”—he glances at Luke—“threatened me.”
“They’re no longer my people. Say it again and I’ll let this angry father here cut you up into tiny little pieces.”
“Please, no!” Pollack gasps. Then, “Greg found out that one of the people who knew of his involvement was talking to Aspen and you. He needed those people taken care of.”
“So you’re saying you killed Gloria and Brian?” I ask.
“I did,” he gulps out.
“I don’t buy it. It had to have been someone they knew. There was no sign of a struggle.”
“I wasn’t alone,” Pollack says. “Someone else was with me. Someone they knew.”
26
ASPEN
Shattered tibia and fibula.
Nerve damage.
Nerve damage.
Nerve damage.
Voices around me, and then Diamond.
“Garnet, can you hear me? Garnet?”
The sounds are coming through a funnel or something.
