Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 70628 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 353(@200wpm)___ 283(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70628 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 353(@200wpm)___ 283(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
“Well…no.”
“What? She doesn’t like you to have visitors?” This from Buck.
“Nothing like that.”
“Then let us in,” I say. “You have information that we need.”
“I don’t have any information you could possibly need.”
“Then why are you refusing to talk to us?”
“Because… It just brings back so many…bad memories.”
“What kind of bad memories?”
“You know… Gloria…”
“Gloria’s dead,” Buck says.
Taylor’s hand goes to her mouth, and as she backs away from the door, Buck takes advantage of her movement and lets us both in.
As much as I thought Taylor was feigning before, this surprise seems real.
I ease her toward the couch in the living room and push her gently into a sitting position. I sit down next to her.
“You didn’t know.”
She shakes her head.
“Whatever happened between you and Gloria, Taylor?”
“It wasn’t pretty,” Taylor says. “After Gloria got your position on the team, she changed.”
“What do you mean?”
“She got kind of full of herself. She decided she was too good for me.”
“What? That’s ridiculous. That’s not Gloria at all.”
Taylor shrugs. “Maybe I knew her better than you. We were in a relationship after all.”
I shake my head. “Gloria told me you broke up because you didn’t have much in common.
“I guess we didn’t. She’s bisexual, you know.”
I nod. “Yeah, I know.”
“At that point, she decided it was better PR for her to be with a man than a woman. So we broke up.”
“And that upset you.”
“Well, of course it did. I was in love with her.”
“She didn’t mention that you were upset by the breakup,” I say.
“It doesn’t really matter what she told you,” Taylor says. “I’m telling you the truth.”
“And how convenient that she isn’t here to discredit you.”
“Look, my volleyball days are way behind me. They ended in heartache. I lost Gloria, and I lost my inheritance.”
“How does volleyball have anything to do with your inheritance?” I ask.
“It’s a long story.”
“Lucky for you,” Buck says, “we’re free, and we love a good long story.”
She sighs. “I really can’t talk to you about this.”
“We can subpoena you,” Buck says.
“Don’t you have to file a lawsuit for that?”
“The lawsuits are already filed,” Buck says. “By the Wolfe family on behalf of the young women. Aspen being one of them.”
This is news to me.
But then I realize what Buck’s doing. He’s lying to Taylor. No one has filed any kind of lawsuit. I mean seriously, why would the Wolfes file the suits? We’d have to file them with the Wolfes backing us.
But maybe Taylor will buy it.
“Fine. Then subpoena me.”
“Will do,” Buck rises. “Come on, Aspen. We’ll be back with the subpoena in a few hours.”
Oh no. We’re not going anywhere. She’ll fly.
Buck must know this.
He does.
He goes to the door and secures the deadbolt.
“What are you doing?” Taylor asks.
“Change of plans. We’re going to get the information we want now. You’ll get your subpoena later. But we’re here now, and we need to know what you know.”
Taylor sighs. “All right. Fine. Sit back down.”
We do.
Taylor rises. “I’ll get us some coffee.”
“That would be nice.” I say.
She walks out of the living room.
“Follow her,” Buck says.
“Why?”
“Trust me.”
I rise and follow her, and lo and behold—
Taylor is about to walk through a sliding glass door that leads to her backyard.
I grab her arm. “Going somewhere?”
She shakes herself free. “You can’t imprison me in my own home.”
“I think we just did.”
“That’s a crime, you know.”
“Are you going to call a cop?”
“You can’t—”
“Look, I’ve got nothing against you, assuming you had nothing to do with what happened to me. But if you did? You’re going to pay one way or the other. The only way I’ll go even slightly easy on you is if you tell me everything you know right now.”
“It wasn’t my idea,” Taylor says.
“What wasn’t your idea?”
“Any of it.”
“So you knew? You knew what they did to me?”
“No! Of course not. You really think I would do anything like that?”
“I don’t know what the fuck to think right now, Taylor. You won’t talk to me, and the few things you are saying are full of contradictions. So that leads me to believe that you orchestrated at least part of it.”
“No. Nothing like that.”
“You’re going to come back to the living room now, and you’re going to tell us everything.”
“You have to protect me, then.”
“I’ll decide whether to protect you after you tell me what you know.”
“No, you have to. Gloria’s dead. You told me yourself.”
“What makes you think that has anything to do with me?”
“How can it not? All of a sudden you come here asking for information. And now Gloria’s dead.”
She’s right, of course. Gloria is dead because of me. But Gloria obviously knew something she didn’t tell me. Why else would she be dead?
And Taylor… Maybe I do have a duty to protect her. But not until I find out what she knows.
17
BUCK
Aspen and Taylor return to the living room.