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“The guilt, huh? From what I can tell she didn’t have much to do with it.”
“No, she didn’t.”
“That worked out well for you then. Once she left, that bumped you into the first position. You were the middle blocker.”
Nancy doesn’t reply.
She doesn’t have to.
It’s written all over her face.
“How do you live with yourself?” I ask. “I disappear. Then Gloria leaves the team, which I have a feeling you knew was going to happen. And now your wife is dead because of all of this.”
Nancy scoffs. “Taylor and I weren’t in love.”
“Oh?”
“Taylor never really got over Gloria. And I’m not even gay.”
I drop my jaw. “Then what the hell is all of this about?”
“It was best for us to stick together. It made sense, at least that’s what we were told,” Nancy says. “Taylor had already lost so much.”
“But why did she lose her inheritance? How did her father even know what his brother was up to?”
“You’d have to ask Taylor that,” Nancy says. “Oh wait. You can’t. She’s dead.”
“If you know anything else, you’d better level with me.” I prod her with the gun in her side. “Because if you don’t? My boyfriend and my father will see that you pay.”
“A couple of Navy SEALs? I don’t think so, Aspen. No Navy SEALs I know would ever harm a woman.”
She’s right of course. Neither my father nor Buck will harm her.
“Just how many Navy SEALs do you know?”
“Does it matter? Navy SEALs are honorable.”
“You’re right. Perhaps I misspoke.” I dig the nose of the pistol into her side a tad harder. “Let me make this clear then. I will make sure you pay. Me. Aspen Davis, the woman you wronged. And I have absolutely no qualms about bringing harm to a woman whose actions contributed to my five years in hell.”
27
BUCK
“Who was with you?” I ask.
“Who do you think? Taylor Wallace and her wife, Margo.”
Margo. AKA Nancy Mosely. The woman Aspen is holding outside this very house.
And Taylor?
There’s no way we can confront her since she chose to end her own life rather than face this music.
“Did they see what you did?” I ask.
“No. I didn’t come in until later. They went by on the supposed social visit, and Gloria invited them in of course. They had to persuade her.”
“What do you mean?” Darnell asks.
“Apparently they hadn’t kept in touch, so Gloria thought it was kind of weird that they just showed up. But they made up some kind of excuse and Gloria eventually let them in. Then of course we had to get rid of that yappy little dog.”
Good thing Aspen isn’t here to hear this. She loves that pup.
“What did you do to the dog?” Darnell cocks his pistol.
“Hold your fire,” Pollack says. “We just put him outside.”
“You put him outside?”
“Well, later. After the sedative had taken effect.”
“So what happened exactly?” I ask. “Taylor and Nancy go over, feign that they want to visit, Gloria invites them in, and…”
“They put a sedative in their drinks. The whole thing took about half an hour.”
“All right, and then…”
“Then I went in. I moved them to their bed, let the dog out, and… I suppose you can guess the rest.”
“And why are you admitting all of this?” From Darnell.
“I…”
Luke intervenes then. “It was Katelyn. She said some things to him…”
“What things?” My voice is low.
“Things she didn’t mean of course. Things that made me puke. But it worked.”
“So you have a soft spot for Katelyn,” I say to Pollack.
“To me, she’ll always be Moonstone.”
“I don’t even want to consider what you might’ve done to her,” Darnell says. “You better have never touched my little girl.”
“I didn’t. Garnet’s not my type.”
Darnell grits his teeth, and his jaw goes even more rigid. For a moment I think he’s going to pursue this. Demand to know why his little tree isn’t this derelict’s type.
Then he appears to think better of that.
Thank God.
“What do we do with him?” I ask.
“We turn him in,” Luke says. “His immunity will be struck down. He’ll go to prison.”
I yank Luke aside for a minute. “What about your immunity?” I whisper. “You kidnapped a guy, tied him up, and held him at gunpoint. Surely that’s enough criminal behavior to lose your deal.”
“I’ll worry about that,” he whispers back.
“Look. It’s not like I care. But Katelyn…”
“I said I’ll take care of it.” Luke goes rigid and walks back to Pollack. “Get ready for prison, asshole.”
Fine, then. I’ll file Luke’s immunity issue under the heading of “not my problem.”
“Looks like you’ll be going to trial for two murders,” Darnell says. “Plus the crimes you committed on that island.”
“Whatever,” Pollack says. “If I can’t have Moonstone, life isn’t worth living anyway.”
“Oh, you’ll live,” Luke says. “And trust me, prison will be hell for you.”
“Prison is hell for everyone,” he says. “Why do you think I struck the deal in the first place?”
