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)
He shakes his head. “My God. I’m so sorry.”
“Can we assume you had nothing to do with this?” Buck says.
“I can see why you might think I would have, but I didn’t. I had no idea what my brother was up to. It’s difficult to say this about a person you grew up with, but he got what was coming to him.”
“We know,” I say. “We spoke with him a few days ago.”
His eyebrows fly up. “You spoke to Greg?”
“We did.”
“That’s impossible.”
“Why would you say that?”
“Because Greg was killed in prison over a week ago.”
39
BUCK
No. Just no. This story can’t get any creepier.
“No, he wasn’t,” I say. “We spoke with him.”
“Then you spoke to an imposter.”
“Your brother’s an albino, right?” I say.
Wallace raises his eyebrows. “An albino? Hell, no. He had the same complexion I have. Naturally tan.”
Aspen’s lips form an O. “I don’t understand. The man I saw—the man they brought to me who they said was Greg Wallace—is an albino. Pasty white skin and blue eyes. White hair. He knew the whole story. Said Taylor came to him and— Oh my God. And the albino… He tormented me on that island.”
“I’m very sorry you were tormented, my dear, but that man was not my brother.”
“Who the hell was he then?” I ask.
“If I knew, I would tell you.”
“We’re going to need a lot more information,” Aspen says. “I’m sorry about your daughter, Mr. Wallace, but—”
“You don’t have to be sorry about my daughter, Ms. Davis. I know what she did to you. What she and Nancy and Greg did to you. There’s no excuse for it, and there’s no way I can make it up to you. Although I would if I could.”
“You knew,” I say.
Harrison Wallace doesn’t reply at first.
“Maybe you didn’t know what was going to happen to Aspen, but you knew what your brother was doing.”
“I did not condone it.”
“But you knew.” I inch closer to Wallace. “You knew what they were doing to these young women. How could you not say anything?”
“Gentlemen’s agreement.” Wallace shifts from one foot to another. “Most men above a certain paygrade were aware of what was going on at Derek Wolfe’s island. Epstein’s island. We all knew. Anyone who could afford to go knew.”
“And yet… you did nothing?” I say.
“It’s not that simple. These are powerful people. People who tend to”—air quote—“take care of anyone who interferes.”
I shake my head. “Sometimes I hate humanity.”
“Mr. Moreno,” Wallace says, “sometimes I do too. Do you think it was easy for me to disown my daughter? My brother?”
“Your brother had his own money.”
“He did. Although a lot less of it once I cut him off.”
“Yet enough to keep going to the island,” Aspen says.
“Actually, from what I understand, it cost over a million dollars a day to be on that island. Once I disowned him, he no longer went there.”
“So he couldn’t have been the one who tormented me.” Aspen shakes her head.
“You’re right. Because once I found out what Greg helped Taylor do, I disowned both of them.”
“But Greg’s name was still on the master list,” Buck says.
“That’s right. And apparently there was a narc who named him as well.”
“Pollack,” I say.
“Is that his name?”
“It’s the name he’s using, and yes, he’s in jail awaiting trial for two counts of murder. And I’m guessing, now that his immunity is revoked, a bunch of other crimes as well.”
Wallace’s eyes widen. “You think he killed my brother in prison?”
“I think he probably had something to do with it. I doubt he could actually get into the prison and take care of your brother.”
“So some jackass narc, who turned on my brother in the first place, had him killed?”
“It’s my fault,” Aspen says. “I started asking questions.”
I grab Aspen’s hand. “Baby, none of this is your fault.”
“No, it’s not.” Wallace shakes his head. “It would be easy for me to blame you, Ms. Davis. You were there when my daughter took her own life. And she took her life because you were there asking questions. But is it your fault? No. It’s not. You have the right to answers. And what my daughter did… I’ll never understand, and I’ve thought about it ad nauseum. For the last five years, ever since I found out and disowned her.”
“Some people…” I say.
“You must think I was a terrible parent. But Rita and I… Rita never got over this. And now, Taylor is gone forever. Jocelyn and Gary? They don’t know either. They don’t understand any of it.”
“Why did you force Taylor to marry Nancy?” Aspen asks.
“That wasn’t me. That was Greg’s idea. He figured it was better to keep them both close.”
“Nancy claims she’s not gay,” I say.
“I don’t think she is. It didn’t really matter. It was purely a marriage of convenience. To keep Nancy and Taylor close so Greg could keep an eye on them.”