Garnet (Gems of Wolfe Island)

“No, ma’am.”

“He did not, Mother. In fact he tried to talk me out of it.”

“How could he talk you out of it? He’s a stranger to you. I’m your mother, little tree. Listen to me.”

“And I’m your father,” Dad says. “And I won’t rest until we see whoever did this to you brought to justice.”

Mom sinks her head into her hands, lightly weeping again.

I look down at her, I want to reassure her. I want to sit down next to her and hug her, tell her not to worry. That everything will be all right.

But I don’t know that it will be. I don’t know that I will come out of this alive.

And I can’t lie to her.

“Lisa,” Dad says, “you need to be strong. You need to be strong for our little tree.”

Mom lifts her head, sniffles, nods. “I can’t convince you not to do this, can I?”

“Lisa, you know I love you more than I love the air that I breathe, but no. This is our little girl. Our little tree.”

Mom nods then, her jaw going rigid. “Do what you have to do. All of you.”

31

BUCK

Monday morning, during a virtual meeting with Reid Wolfe to let him know we’re fine, I filled him in on Aspen’s wishes.

Whatever you need.

Those were his words.

All the Wolfe resources are at our disposal.

“Wow,” Aspen says when I tell her the news.

“Whatever you need. We’ll be able to find all the members of your team. Your dad already has the seat records. According to the original seating plan, the person next to you was a player named Margaret Rudolph.”

Aspen narrows her eyes. “Margie? No, I would’ve remembered if she were next to me. She had a body odor problem.”

“Maybe she washed that day,” I say.

“No… I’m almost sure I would’ve remembered if it was her.”

“Maybe someone changed seats?”

“Maybe. We often did that. Sometimes seats were preassigned, and the taller players, like me, would trade for aisle seats so we could stretch our legs a little better.”

“This Margaret? Was she tall?”

“She was…not as tall as I am. But not short either. She was an outdoorsy person, didn’t shave, and didn’t believe in using chemicals on her body. Hence the BO problem.”

“Were you friends?”

“She was a perfectly nice person. No one could really stand to be around her though. For obvious reasons.”

“So she wouldn’t have anything against you.”

“Not that I know of. Then again, I didn’t think anyone had anything against me.”

“The only person to gain from your disappearance was Gloria Delgado.”

“I know, but there’s just no way Gloria did this.”

“Aspen, baby, sometimes you think you know a person, but no one knows what goes on inside another person’s head.”

She shakes her head adamantly. “No. It absolutely wasn’t Gloria.”

“You keep saying that, but Gloria had the most to gain.”

I don’t reply.

“Maybe Gloria’s girlfriend then?” Buck says.

“Taylor? I’ve been over and over this in my mind, and I don’t think Taylor could do it.”

“Again…you think you know a person…”

“If I had to choose between the two, I’d say it would more likely be Taylor than Gloria, but what would Taylor have to gain?”

“Her girlfriend as the starting middle blocker.”

“Gloria never talked about wanting my position.”

“She never talked to you about wanting your position.”

Good point. I’m the one person she wouldn’t talk to about it. “I suppose that’s true.”

“Whatever. We’ll figure it out. We have resources behind us. The first thing we need to do is talk to Gloria Delgado. I’ve got an address for her. It’s in LA.”

“Then I guess we go to LA,” Aspen says.

“You sure about this?”

“I’m sure. Even my father agrees.”

“Your father is a retired military man. A SEAL, like me. We’re wired that way. We’re wired never to leave the scene until everything is wrapped up.”

“Then you understand.”

“Sure. As a SEAL, I understand. As a man? I understand there are sometimes things more important than finding the truth, than revenge. Your mental health for one. Your physical health for another.”

“My mental health needs this,” Aspen says. “Trust me., I don’t want to feel this way, Buck. I really don’t. I wish I could be one of those women who just lets bygones be bygones and—”

“Wait a minute. No one is saying you should let bygones be bygones. This isn’t the end of a bad relationship. This is someone who betrayed you in the worst way. What I’m saying is that you’re alive, you’re healthy—at least physically—and to get mentally healthy, you don’t need to make this person pay.”

“It’ll go a long way toward making me mentally healthy,” she says.

The SEAL in me agrees with her.

The man? The man who’s gone through his own damned therapy because of what he saw overseas?

That man disagrees.

But this is Aspen. This is my forever. I have to be there for her, and I have to support her in this.