Traci mulled it over, picturing Hudson, the pesky, skinny sunburnt kid, and Ric, tanned, bare-chested, cruising the island with the top down in his penile extension, flirting with any pretty girl that caught his eye. He’d even hit on Traci more than once, until Hoke, her placid, peace-loving Hoke, threatened to knock his brother’s teeth down his throat.
“Brad claimed the PI couldn’t find who Kasey’s lover was because he couldn’t get access to witnesses. Your father-in-law saw to it that he couldn’t get past the front gates.”
“But you don’t believe Brad? Why would he lie about that detail now? Hudson’s dead, your mom is gone.”
“He didn’t know my mom was gone until I told him this afternoon,” Whelan said bitterly. “He divorced her within a year.”
“Then, why?”
“Money. I’m positive once Brad found out Ric Eddings was sleeping with my mom, and that he was at least partially responsible for Hudson’s death, he and his attorney went to Fred Eddings and threatened not just to sue, but to put the whole messy business, and the Saint, right in the public eye.”
“Fred bought off your stepfather? Paid him to walk away? From his own son’s death?” Traci shuddered. “Dear God. I don’t know why I’m surprised, but that’s so sordid. And unconscionable.”
“Brad told me he never told Kasey about the PI, or what the second autopsy showed, because she was already despondent over Hudson’s death. But I’m ninety-nine percent positive he kept it secret because as soon as he found out about the affair, he saw a payday coming. He never told Kasey he’d gotten a settlement. She never knew what had really happened. Brad made sure she paid for being ‘an adulterer,’ as he put it, and not just with the loss of her little boy’s life. She left the marriage with nothing. She was broken.”
Traci pushed the glass of wine away. “I feel sick.”
Whelan nodded. “It’s a lot.”
“No. I mean physically sick.” Traci jumped up, pushed the screen door open, and barely made it to the bottom of the steps before she was doubled over, vomiting into a bed of ferns.
Whelan waited a minute, then went to her. Her hair had come undone, so he gingerly reached over and held it off her face. She retched again and he waited. Finally, she straightened.
“Sorry.” Her voice was wobbly and she was unsteady on her feet. He helped her back inside the house and she fled to the bathroom, where she washed her face, brushed her teeth, and attempted to fix her hair.
When she emerged from the bathroom she heard water running in the kitchen, which is where she found Whelan, at the sink, rinsing their dinner dishes and stacking them in the dishwasher.
“Well, I’m officially mortified, again,” she declared.
“I shouldn’t have sprung all that ugly stuff on you. It’s a lot. Even for me. My only excuse is that I needed to unburden myself, and there’s nobody around who’d understand. Except maybe you?”
Traci nodded. “I’m glad you told me. I’m not glad about what happened to Hudson and your poor mom, but selfishly, it’s a relief to know it wasn’t our fault—mine and Shannon’s, I mean.”
The teakettle whistled and she startled at the sound.
“Hope you don’t mind. I thought some tea might settle your stomach.”
She cocked her head and considered him while he poured boiling water into a mug with a teabag.
“You’re a decent man, Whelan.”
He slid the mug in front of her. “Please don’t let that get out. It’ll ruin my tough-guy reputation.”
Traci dipped the teabag in and out of the steaming water, before placing the bag in the bowl of her spoon and wrapping the string around it to extract more of the tea.
“Honey?”
“What?” She startled again.
Whelan held up a plastic bear-shaped squeeze bottle, and chuckled.
She covered her face with both hands. “My humiliation is complete. There is nothing else I can do tonight to make a bigger fool of myself.”
He slung a dish towel over his shoulder and began attacking the greasy grill pan with a steel wool pad. “I don’t think you’re a fool. I think you’re sweet. Honey.”
To cover her embarrassment she blew on her tea to cool it. “So what happens now? You got the answers you came here for. Where to next?”
CHAPTER 53
