“But you haven’t met them,” Jem said.
“They don’t come to the group anymore because they don’t need to.”
“That’s convenient.”Before Quinn could respond, though, Jem repeated Tean’s question, “If Stephen’s not gay, what’s he doing here?”
“It’s a job,” Beckett said.“He helps President Fitzpatrick with everything.Stephen’s the one who keeps things running.”
“Financially?”Tean asked.
“Everything,” Beckett said.“President Fitzpatrick handled the actual meetings, did all the talking.But anything outside of that, Stephen was in charge of.”
“What about Stephen and Brigitte?”Jem asked.The question popped out before he could think about what it meant.Or why he’d asked it.
Beckett’s gaze slid away, and the blush started in his chest again.
Quinn, however, didn’t seem to notice.“Sister Fitzpatrick isn’t really involved with us.She comes to support President Fitzpatrick, and it’s important for us to see them model a healthy relationship, and for us to interact with women in positive ways.But she doesn’t do any of the actual work with us.”
“But there’s something,” Jem said.When Beckett still wouldn’t look at him, Jem said, “Beckett?”
The blond man hesitated for a moment.Then his face smoothed out, and he said, “Like Quinn said.She’s not involved.”
Jem considered pressing the question.Instead, he asked, “Did anyone in the group have a problem with Gerald?”
“Did anyone want to kill him, you mean?”
“More like, did he get in an argument with anyone?Did he seem upset recently?Did anybody in the group start acting differently?”
Quinn gave Beckett another of those sidelong glances.Beckett stared straight ahead, refusing to acknowledge it.
“He and Tafton had an interview yesterday,” Quinn said.
Beckett began shaking his head.
“It might be important,” Quinn said.
“Tafton didn’t kill anybody,” Beckett said.
“Why not?”Jem said.
“Because he’s a giant baby.”
But Quinn was biting his lip.
“You don’t agree?”Jem asked.
“He was really angry,” Quinn said.“You didn’t hear them.They were shouting.”But then he corrected himself: “Tafton was shouting.”
“What were they shouting about?”Tean asked.
Quinn shook his head.“I don’t know, but it was bad.Tafton pretty much shut down for the rest of the day, and President Fitzpatrick was pissed off, even though he tried to act like he wasn’t.”
“Tafton didn’t tell you what it was about?”
“What do you think it was about?”Beckett said.“Tafton is an idiot.”
“In what way?”
“Our first night here, he was bragging he found a privacy browser.You know, an app.No filters, and Stripling couldn’t track it.”
