Page 25 of Tangled
“We found out from Mom and Dad this morning,” Cody said, turning to face him, his disappointment clear.
“You should have seen how Dad gloated,” Mitch grumbled before introducing himself to Scarlett.
“It’s been a long time since he won the grapevine wars,” Cody said, referring to the family tendency to see who could share the lateston ditthe first. “Not since I graduated from college. You have a lot of explaining to do, brother,” he added, fixing him witha look.
Brad ignored him and made his way to Scarlett’s side. “You okay?” he whispered as his brothers made more coffee and distributed mugs around.
“Who’s missing?” she asked as he directed her to a seat, then lowered himself beside her. Kara took a seat on her other side.
“Ethan and Chad, of course,” Kara said, referring to her and Sabina’s husbands. “Then there’s Josh and Sofia and Josh’s son Matt, but Matt is at UCLA, and you won’t meet him until Christmas.”
“Josh is Chad and Ryan’s brother,” Sabina said. “The middle one. And Sofia is his partner.”
“Then there’s Asher and his wife, Ellie, and the twins, Charley and Joey,” Brad said. “Asher is Ethan’s brother and the oldest in that branch of the Warwick family. The twins are the youngest.”
“And you haven’t met my wife, Olivia,” Ryan added.
Scarlett nodded, still looking a little, not lost, but slowly taking it all in.
“I was serious about my twenty-minute rule,” Kara said, pointedly looking at Sabina, who sat in the chair closest to Scarlett, then to Ryan, who hovered nearby, coffee in hand. “Which means you have about fifteen minutes left.”
“Fifteen minutes left for what?” Cody said, perching on the arm of the chair Tia had lowered herself into.
Scarlett glanced at Ryan.
“We can do this later,” he said, giving her the choice.
She studied him, then shook her head. “I imagine there are things we might not be able to talk about that have to do with Maria’s murder. Gracie’s murder isn’t a case, though, so there’s no conflict, is there?”
Ryan inclined his head. “I think there will be one, but for now, it’s not part of any official police investigation.” He paused, then smiled. “Even if it were, though, despite how hard it is to keep secrets within the family, no one gossips outside of it.”
Kara and Sabina nodded, then Scarlett swung her gaze to him. “With my grandfather in politics for most of our younger lives, we all grew up watching what we said,” Brad explained. “My mother’s father was a senator as well. And Michael, Ethan’s dad, is a federal judge. As Ryan said, despite how chatty we are among ourselves, we keep the information tight.”
“Okay,” Scarlett said, then turning to Ryan, she asked, “You should tell them what we need to discuss. That way, if they don’t want to hear the details, they don’t have to stay.” Then turning back to Brad, she added, “Should we schedule a dinner or something together?”
A nice thought, but if the way she set a hand on her stomach at the word “dinner” was anything to go by, he doubted they’d be hosting any meals soon. Regardless, he nodded.
“We have things to discuss,” Ryan said to the group. “Some of which aren’t pretty. Kara has given us fifteen minutes before she steals Scarlett away to give her some IV fluids and anti-nausea meds. So if you want to stay, stay. If not, take your leave now.”
It was nice that Scarlett had wanted to offer, but it came as no surprise to him when no one moved. Well, Mitch moved. He pulled a chair over, took a seat in it, then dragged Ava onto his lap.
“Right,” Sabina said, turning her attention to Scarlett. “Here goes. I’m not going to talk about anything involving Maria Abel’s murder, so we’ll leave that off the table. As Ava told you, Jason Katz, the man likely behind the murder you and Brad witnessed in December, works for the Wolf. The Wolf is a shadowy but powerful drug lord that the DEA has been after for years and who, based on what you’ve told us, supplied your friend Gracie. The thing is, it’s unusual for someone like Gracie to be supplied from the top dog himself. Not unless they had some sort of other relationship.”
“A relationship that would give her access to him. Give her the opportunity to learn things about him,” Scarlett said with a thoughtful nod.
Sabina inclined her head. “Yes, and maybe the relationship soured. Or she learned something she shouldn’t have. In which case, it could be a motive. At the very least, though, she’d be able to identify him.”
“How do you know he supplied her directly?” Tia asked.
Sabina shot Scarlett an apologetic look, but Scarlett lifted a shoulder. “I know who and what my friend was,” she said. “It doesn’t bother me to talk about the morecomplicatedaspects of her life.” Then turning to Tia, she added, “Gracie once mentioned to me that the Wolf supplied her. At the time, I didn’t know who, or what, he was.”
“If he’s as shadowy as you say, how’d she get so close?” Mitch asked.
Sabina’s lips thinned as she shot Scarlett another apologetic look before answering. “Gracie was an astonishingly beautiful woman and very sought-after by certain men.”
“She was a prostitute,” Scarlett said. “A very selective one, and only when she needed the money. She was raised to believe that her looks and her body were her best—heronly—assets. She learned how to use both to her advantage at a very young age.”
Scarlett’s gaze darted around the room, no doubt taking the temperature of everyone there. No one looked shocked, or worse, disgusted, though, and her shoulders lost some of the tension she’d been holding. Brad reached over and took her hand as she returned her attention to Sabina.
