Page 58 of Art of Love

Kevin gave a humorless smile. “Hard. I was a wreck. I’d been drinking too much for months, even before Kara died, but after... I couldn’t cope. I needed help, and I knew I wouldn’t get it if I didn’t do something. So I checked myself in and went dark. I was away for almost a year. Then, I was in and out for a few more years.”

Abe frowned. “You told the cops you were home that night. The night of the accident.”

“I was,” Kevin said. “Alone. Watching the game and drinking myself stupid. I wasn’t lying, but I wasn’t… helpful either. I didn’t remember most of that night until recently. I’ve been piecing it back together.”

“Go on,” Abe said, leaning on the edge of her desk, folding his arms over his chest.

“Kara… stopped by my place after dropping you off. I lived in the same townhouses, just down two units, remember?”

Dylan felt Abe tense as he nodded.

“And?” she asked, waiting.

“And she confided in me that she was thinking of leaving you. She said you’d found out that she was cheating. She told me she smoothed things out with you, but I was pissed at her for cheating,” he said to Abe. “I was drunk, too drunk.” He sighed. “We fought. I said things, she said things, she left angry.” He closed his eyes. “Shit, the last thing I said to her was ‘fuck off.’”

“Who else was she sleeping with?” Abe asked dryly.

“I don’t know. She was very secretive. I knew about a week before… before that night.” He shifted.

Abe wanted to ask why he hadn’t told him, but he kept his mouth shut as the hurt sank in.

“How did you find out?” Dylan asked.

Kevin glanced over at her. “I saw them together.”

“Then you do know who,” Abe interrupted.

“No.” He shook his head a few times. “They were in her parked car. I knew it wasn’t you because you were in Georgia recording. We’d just talked on the phone an hour earlier.”

“Where?” Dylan asked.

“Outside my place,” Kevin answered.

“Why was she with someone else outside of your place?” Abe asked.

Kevin shrugged. “I didn’t ask. Kara… did whatever she wanted. Always had. I tried to shield her, protect her, but she was…”

“Kara,” Abe finished and went quiet.

“You lived in the same townhouses as Abe did back then?” Dylan asked.

“A few other people we knew back then lived in those places too,” Kevin said, catching on. “We’d all hung out a lot and when Abe moved in, we all sort of followed.” He shrugged.

“Who else?” She sat behind her desk and found a piece of paper to jot down the names as they both listed them off.

“Do either of you suspect any of them to be the driver?” she asked.

Both men were quiet.

“One,” they both said at the same time.

“One person had reason to keep a relationship quiet. To make Kara stay with me until after my album released.” He shifted to stand behind her and pointed at the name. “Tony. I was his first real big client.”

“Abe made him who he is today,” Kevin said quietly.

“What’s our next move?” Kevin asked.

Dylan looked up at him. “My next move is to find proof. Yours is to head back to Pride,” she said to Abe, “and feed horses and watch your friend’s lighthouse.” She pointed to Kevin. “Yours is to go back home or to work or whatever and stay sober.”