“You did?” Brooke didn’t know that.
“For like two weeks. She broke up with me to go out with someone else. Didn’t bother me.” Phil looked at Tyler. “When did you two date? After you graduated?”
“Yeah. We went out for a couple of months. She ended it before school started again. I moved on.”
“Exactly. Ancient history. No reason to kill someone over something that happened back in high school.”
“Unless he’s been nursing a grudge all this time,” Brooke said, repeating things she’d heard others say.
“Does Tyler seem like the type to nurse grudges?”
Brooke studied Tyler’s face. He looked tired and stressed, but not angry. Not vindictive. Just...weary.
“No,” she admitted. “He doesn’t.”
“Besides,” Phil continued, “Sheila was one of the popular girls. But she was also a mean girl. She and her friends would go out of their way to make life difficult for whoever they decided was their current target.”
“I forgot about that,” Tyler said quietly. “Sheila was the leader of that group.”
“That’s for sure,” Phil said. “No one was safe. They played jokes on people. Remember that one kid? What was his name? Walt? Warren?”
“The brainiac?” Tyler nodded. “They were terrible to him.”
“Yeah. You hear about him? He’s like a gajillionaire now. Got into digital currency before it was a thing. Sheila was trying to track him down a few years back. Said she wanted to make amends. Wanted to figure a way into his wallet was more like it.”
Phil laughed, and Tyler joined in, though his was more subdued than her brother’s.
“So, Sheila wasn’t nice in high school?”
“She was awful.” He lifted his chin at Tyler. “Remember how she was with Edi? She’s the one who came up with those names. Yeti?”
“Sasquatch,” Brooke corrected softly. “I always thought that was terrible.”
Tyler frowned. “They were awful to her, but Edi never seemed to care. She let it slide right off.”
“Like water off a duck’s back,” Phil agreed.
“Besides,” Tyler added, “Edi had something Sheila and her gang didn’t.”
They looked at each other and said simultaneously, “Money.”
Phil laughed. “Right. But I do think it bothered Edi more than you realized. She had money, and her family had power, but she wasn’t always as strong as she is now. She put up a front when she was around you.”
Tyler shook his head. “I don’t think so.”
“Sure, she did,” Phil insisted. “She had a thing for you and didn’t want you to see her as weak.”
“Wait,” Brooke said, trying to follow. “Edi had feelings for Tyler?”
“No,” Tyler replied. “We were only ever friends.”
“A friend she had feelings for,” Phil corrected. “Trust me, everyone knew. Except you, apparently.”
Tyler looked genuinely surprised. “I had no idea.”
“Because you were oblivious.” Phil turned to Brooke. “Anyway, the point is, Sheila didn’t really outgrow her mean girl tendencies. I mean, sure, she was nice to people at the bank because she had to be, but get a few beers in her, and she’d say some pretty rotten things. More than one person took their business elsewhere because of Sheila’s mouth. I heard she’d even been written up over it.”
“I never heard about this.” Brooke shook her head, trying to recall anything that sounded like what Phil was talking about.
