“Got no idea what you mean.” Burt looked down, and Kevin drank from his glass.
“Burt, if I have to sit here much longer, I’m going to get crabby.” Mike grabbed an onion ring off his plate. “Mom, Dad, and art?”
Burt snarled. “Yeah, the house is covered. My dad gets off on them.”
“What about the paintings Mom and Dad don’t share with too many people?” Mike’s voice was clipped.
Kevin kicked his friend under the table, and Burt turned red. “Yeah, they have a screening room for the special stuff. Dad says it’s to protect the shit. I don’t pay attention.”
“Very good. Now to the next question,” Mike said.
Martin looked feral. “Six years ago, Cassie Ellis.”
“She was our friend’s fiancée. They ended it.” Kevin had trouble saying the words.
Martin took a sip of beer. “Do you know why?”
Burt bristled. “Yeah, it has nothing to do with us. She got herself raped. Couldn’t deal. She ended the engagement.”
“What would you say if we told you Garett ended the relationship? Did you know your friends Robby and Sebastian were her attackers? Sebastian told her all about it before he almost killed her again,” Martin said.
“Still don’t know what it has to do with us.” Burt tried to act disinterested.
“Gentlemen, you don’t seem to understand what we’re doing here. My friend and I ask questions. You give us truthful answers. Now it can go two ways. The first way, we sit here as friends, and over the beers we just bought you, you tell us what we need to know. Or we haul your asses out of here, go to a not-very-comfortable place, and you answer our questions,” Mike said.
“You can’t do that to us. We have rights,” Burt hissed.
Mike laughed, wrapped Burt’s tie around his wrist, and dragged him across the table. “Right now, you have no rights.”
“It was for Garett. He said he wanted to fake out his folks. He was gonna take Cassie away and do her for the first time.” Kevin was close to tears.
“His mom is a piece of work, and Garett needed an escape route. He told us Cassie was coming to the house, and he planned to elope with her. Garett was supposed to drive Cassie away, but to get past his mom, I dropped Burt at Garett’s house to get Cassie’s car and drove to the restaurant. Garett and I could pass for twins, and Phyllis dressed up in a wig. Cassie always wore these super high heels—even then she met eye to eye with Garett. But Phyllis was Garett’s height, so she decided to wear flats—to look like Cassie.
“Burt showed up with Cassie’s car and parked it. Phyllis and I play-fought in the parking lot, and Phyllis ran off. We met Phyllis, without the wig, around the corner and came here.
“Garett figured his mother would buy that she ran off, and he was looking for her. When they came back, it would be too late for Adrienne to interfere. The next morning, Garett called, all freaked out about what happened to Cassie. That’s it.” Kevin was covered in a fine sweat.
Mike tapped his finger on the table. “Burt, it’s on you again. Did you see anything at Garett’s house when you got the car?”
Burt swallowed hard. “Cassie’s car was parked in the apron of the driveway, but there were no keys. I was also surprised to see Robby’s car. He should have left by then. I went to the door, and no one answered, so I went in. The main floor was empty, so I headed up to Garett’s room. I could hear a woman begging for someone to stop and asking for help. I heard Garett’s mom yelling at her. I ran past the room and knocked on Garett’s door. When he answered, he had a handprint on his face and was crying. He gave me the keys and told me to go.”
“And you did nothing? Didn’t try to help?” Martin asked.
Burt shrugged.
Mike shook his head. “Was it Cassie?”
Burt nodded.
“Think before you answer this question. Robby and Seb took Cassie somewhere and hurt her. Where would they take her?”
When neither man answered, Mike continued tapping his finger.
After a minute of silence, Martin had had it. “We don’t have time for this. Let’s go, boys.”
“Wait,” Burt yelled. Martin sat back down. “Robby has a warehouse on Fourth and Atlantic. He has it set up as a crash pad. It’s hard living with your folks.”
“One more question: do you know if Cassie was ever at that building?” Mike stared at Burt.
