Garnet (Gems of Wolfe Island)

“I don’t know. It was all long ago. You’re so big and so strong, Aspen. I just knew you couldn’t be dead.”

“I need to talk to you,” I say. “I think you might have some information that I need.”

“What kind of information would I have?”

“You were my roommate at the hotel when I disappeared. You were one of the last people to see me before I was taken.”

“Someone actually came in and took you?”

“How else would I have gotten out of there? But I honestly don’t know, Gloria. I don’t have any memories of any of it. I was obviously drugged.”

“This is too much.” She shakes her head. “I need to get out of here. This is my place of employment, Aspen. I can’t talk about this here.”

“Come with me then.”

Her eyes widen. “Right now?”

“Yes, Gloria. Please.”

Her lips tremble.

My God. Is she frightened of me? And if she is… Was she behind this all along?

Something hits me like a brick to the head. I need to get her to come with me now. Because if I don’t, she will disappear. Call it intuition. Call it a hunch. Call it whatever.

But I’m assured of its truth.

“Please. Have supper with me. We can go now. I need to talk to you.”

She looks around, over her shoulder. “Where’s your car?”

I nod toward the rental car in the parking lot. “It’s right there. I’m with my bodyguard.”

She gulps. “Your bodyguard?”

“Yes, he’s a former Navy SEAL. He can easily protect both of us, Gloria.”

She gulps again. “How about…tomorrow?”

“I’m leaving town late tonight. So it has to be now, Gloria. Please. We were friends once. Do you remember?”

She softens then. “I do remember, Aspen. I do.”

“Then please. For old time’s sake. For an old friend. Have dinner with me tonight.”

37

BUCK

I don’t like her stance. Whoever this Gloria Delgado is, she’s hiding something. I’m not sure what Aspen is asking her, but it’s obviously making her uncomfortable.

And that makes me uncomfortable.

Finally, the two of them head toward the car.

“Great news, Buck,” Aspen says when she opens the passenger door. “Gloria has agreed to come to dinner with us.”

I hide my surprise. I’m good at that. “That’s great,” I say. “Hey, Gloria, I’m Buck. Buck Moreno.” I unlock the doors to the back seat.

Aspen opens the door for Gloria, and Gloria slides in. She still looks pretty darn timid, like she doesn’t want to be here.

Aspen and I will not harm her, and she’ll get a free dinner. She can be as scared as she wants to right now, but she’ll find out quickly that there’s no reason to fear either of us.

“What kind of food do you like to eat, Gloria?” I ask.

“Mexican. American. Italian. Nothing Asian.”

“Easy enough to find good Mexican or Italian food here in LA,” I say. “You have any favorites?”

She clears her throat. “Whatever you like is fine.”

Good. Good answer. For a moment, I was berating myself for asking. She could easily take us somewhere where we may not be safe.

Aspen may be right after all—maybe Gloria had nothing to do with this. She’s scared simply because her friend has come back from the dead. Who wouldn’t be freaked out to see a ghost?

“Neither of us are from here,” Aspen says. “It’s early, so we shouldn’t have too much trouble getting a table. I’ll do a quick search.”

While Aspen fiddles with her phone, I drive off the school grounds. My job here is a simple one. I need to make Gloria feel more comfortable in a car with a strange man and a woman she no longer knows.

“How long have you been teaching at West Beverly?” I ask Gloria.

“Only two years. Since I stopped playing volleyball professionally.”

“How come you stopped?” Aspen asks.

“I got injured. Plus…I guess I was getting old.”

“Are you older than I am?” Aspen asks.

“I’m thirty now.”

“Oh. You are a few years older than I am. Funny how we never talked about that on the team.”

“I never really felt I had friends on the team,” Gloria said.

“Sure you did. You and I were friends. And of course there was Taylor.”

I peek in the rearview mirror. Gloria’s cheeks turn red. “Right, Taylor. I haven’t thought about her in a while.”

“I see you’re wearing a wedding band,” Aspen says. “So you’re not married to Taylor?”

“No. She and I didn’t last. In fact…” She wrinkles her forehead, clearly thinking. “We broke up soon after you disappeared, Aspen.”

“Oh? What happened?” Aspen asks.

“We really didn’t have much in common. Other than the team, course.”

Interesting. Maybe Aspen’s hypothesis is correct. Maybe Taylor was behind this, and maybe Gloria knows more than she’s letting on. Maybe…Gloria ended a relationship with Taylor over what happened to Aspen.

I’m getting ahead of myself, but it’s how my mind works. I take the evidence I have and form it into my hypothesis. You have to think fast, think on your feet, when you’re in the trenches.