by C. D. Gill
The grin splitting his cheeks was contagious. Gia giggled and squeezed his hand. Joey chose that moment to walk in, shifting his gaze between them. He grunted. “Gia, the adjuster is about to leave. Come talk to him.”
A sigh escaped her lips. For five blissful minutes, she’d forgotten her issues and focused on someone else’s needs. The weight of her world sagged onto her shoulders. With a pat to Tommy’s arm, Gia followed Joey to the front yard and met with the adjuster who would have to crunch some numbers before he had a definite answer for her, but would call her before the end of this week and let her know.
The end of the week? Insurance guys had no soul. Her house was potentially going to collapse in on them and he bought himself time by telling her he had to crunch numbers. Swallowing her rant, Gia nodded, shook his hand, and thanked him as sincerely as she could. Joey didn’t pin her with a glare, so maybe she’d come across okay. The security guy approached her the second the adjuster left. He walked through the changes with her and the detailed report for the police, handed over the bill, and got into his van.
As he drove away, the weight constricting her lifted. She could breathe and think and focus. Skipping into the house, Gia grabbed a backpack stuffed with clothes, toiletries, and her phone cord in it. She put on a clean outfit and breezed through the kitchen where Joey spoke to Tommy in low tones. They stopped and stared. She scribbled the security code on a pad of paper and slapped her house keys onto the counter. “Watch out for Xander, will you? I’ll be back in a couple days.”
With that, she backed her Subaru out of the garage. Her pulse settled into a thrilling rhythm as she lowered the windows and cranked the music as loud as she could stand it. This would be part of her therapy. She buckled her seatbelt as Joey stood next to her window with pursed lips.
“Where are you going?”
“You were right, Joe. I’ve got things in my head to work through and there’s only one place qualified to give me that kind of therapy.” Gia smiled at him. He liked to joke about her running away from hard times, but he knew she wouldn’t be gone long. “Don’t leave ‘til I get back.”
Tommy dropped a water bottle into her lap as Joey released his white-knuckled grip on her window frame and stood to the side. “Be safe.”
She tossed the guys a salute as she peeled out of her driveway, free to let the mountain soothe her spirit and calm her mind.
Chapter 17
The minute Xander parked Chachi in the garage, he could sense something was different. Something was added? Something was missing? A quick glance around didn’t provide him any clues. He shrugged it off in favor of being back to help Gia make dinner, to make up for his all-day absence. Then again, Gia had a lot going on. She probably barely noticed he was gone, what with her crew hanging around. But when he walked in the kitchen and the lights were out, he held his breath and listened. The faint sound of the voices came down the hall. Gia rarely watched TV before dinner. Xander strode through to the family room. Joey and Tommy lay sprawled on the couches in front of the TV with bags of chips and bottles of beer sitting on the coffee table. Neither bothered to acknowledge him.
“Where’s Gia?”
Joey raised his bottle toward Xander. “Took off for a couple of days. She’ll be back.”
He acted like her leaving was the normal thing in the world. She just took off? His anticipation of the evening dropped like a rock.
“Couldn’t handle the stress so she ran for it,” Tommy said with a laugh.
Joey kicked a socked foot into Tommy’s knee and faced Xander. “Make yourself a sandwich and join us. After two weeks with Gia, you have to be ready for some male bonding time.” Joey relaxed into the cushions and raised the volume on the sports highlights.
Xander strolled to the kitchen where he’d missed the evidence of sandwich making spread out over the island. He and two guys he didn’t know were going to live like bachelors for a couple days in Gia’s house. What a strange turn of events. In prison, he’d decided if he didn’t have another guys night in his life, he wouldn’t care. In solitary, he changed his mind and would have settled for time with anyone who didn’t hate his existence and wasn’t trying to kill him. The two weren’t mutually exclusive behind bars. Circumstances had a way of changing a man’s absolutes.
Plate in hand, Xander joined the guys. When the highlights changed to tennis, Tommy groaned and started channel surfing through the endless amounts of cable options. Joey handed him the bag of potato chips and sat back. Silence was what Xander preferred, although he’d rather be hearing about Gia’s day if he were honest.
“You asked Gia to connect you with someone at Salguod about the steroids found in your possession,” Joey said without looking away from the screen.
Xander clenched his plate in his hands. His mouthful of bread became dry, sticking to the roof of his mouth. There’s no way they could have heard this quickly if they weren’t on the inside. This, right here, was the reason he had sworn off of all guy nights. Some guys were worse than teenage girls.
Tommy flicked his wrist in Xander’s direction. “Don’t get your knickers in a wad. You’re very lucky Ma Sophia keeps such a close eye on her daughter’s associates and their many troubles. You happen to be the associate with the most troubles at the moment though. Her control freak tendencies have their occasional perks like that one time I snuck Gia out of the house and took her to that roadside bar. Police popped by to arrest underage drinkers and the bartender happened to be a friend of Sophia’s and smuggled us out the back.”
“Into Sophia’s waiting limo,” Joey said. “The only perk of that was that you didn’t die, because I think even prison is better than getting on Sophia’s bad list.” Joey swigged another mouthful of beer and plunked the empty bottle onto the table. “Which is why Tommy couldn’t hack dating Gia for longer than three months before cheating on her for five months with the most obnoxious girl he could have possibly found.”
Joey spoke with a confusing air of simple fact as if he didn’t fall on either side of the fence on the issue. Tommy was the cheating kind. That usually meant something to a man when he cared about the girl getting cheated on. What man in his right mind would cheat on Gia? Xander would’ve wagered everything in his bank account that Joey beat Tommy to a pulp and brought him back to life to do it again because Tommy cheated. The talking stopped as they all went back to staring at the screen. If he didn’t say something, they might start sharing their feelings next. Xander relaxed his posture and inhaled.
“Yeah, Salguod is the biggest producer of anabolic steroids. One of the steroid bags in my possession was identified with Salguod’s markers,” Xander said.
Tommy groaned. “We’re not babysitting. We’re living an episode of some novice detective show. Besides Gia, what else have I done in my life for karma to kick me around like this?”
“There are not enough digits on all our appendages combined to list off the reasons karma is coming for you. But I will say, the majority of those reasons were brunettes or darker which is simply inviting karma and all her friends to your table of insanity.” Joey rolled his head to look at Xander and blinked. “What exactly are you hoping to achieve by casting your line into that very vast ocean?”
Xander counted the beer bottles on the table. Nine. And no record of when they started, but Tommy seemed to be drinking at a faster pace than Joey. The chances of them remembering this conversation in the morning were pretty much ninety-five percent at this point.
Xander opted for the truth. “I want to find out what I did to deserve getting my life screwed over. One minute I’m an assistant soccer coach to my undefeated soccer team. The next, I’m a drug-selling junkie who isn’t willing to take responsibility for his actions. Someone covered every angle, every loophole to make sure I’d be put away for the maximum sentence.”
Tommy snorted. “How are you going to find out if the detectives assigned to the case with all the evidence at their disposal couldn’t acquit you? It’s a lost cause.�
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“I’m going to start with the Athletic Director and work my way down. Someone saw something or knows something that they weren’t willing to come forward with back then.”
Neither answered. Xander was about to leave to make himself another sandwich when Joey spoke.
“I’d do what you’re doing, man. I’d search until I found who stole my life away.”
“Then help me do it. You don’t have to sit in the meetings, but help me find the truth.”
Joey traded looks with Tommy and then smirked at Xander. “Fine. We’ll figure it out in the morning. I think I know how to get these meetings scheduled.”
*****
The next morning, they sat down at breakfast. Joey and Tommy had their faces in bowls of cereal.
“So what’s my plan?” Xander leaned over the island, praying they’d come up with something genius.
“I have a contact with ways to find people’s contact information. I’ll call and set up an in-person interview for a TV show or magazine. Tommy and I go in to the interview and disarm them. Get them talking about the good ole days. Then you walk in and nail them with an ‘you at least owe me an explanation.’ And we catch it all on video,” Joey said around a mouthful of cocoa cereal.
Tommy nodded.
Though not failproof, the plan gave Xander a sense of relief. He’d have backup—people who would make him look less desperate or scary. They exuded confidence.
The tension released its hold on Xander’s stomach. “What’s our next step?”
Joey shoved his dishes into the dishwasher and smirked. “I’ll send your list of people to my contact and then we wait for information. We spend that waiting time doing demolition in Gia’s master. Saves her $5,000 and we look like heroes. She’s supposed to hear from the insurance guy this weekend. When she receives the call, she can have those contractors start.”
“For the record, I came here for a vacation, not to renovate my ex-girlfriend’s bedroom or get arrested for lying about being in the press. If any part of this ends badly, I will deny any responsibility in the decision making. But if it goes well, it was my idea,” Tommy said.
Xander cocked his head. “Not that I mind hard work, but why wouldn’t we wait for the contractors to do the demolition?”
“Because this is what we do. When family’s in trouble, you stick by them and do whatever they need done without being asked.” Joey leveled a glare at Tommy, then stormed out the door to the garage. Xander followed with Tommy trailing them.
From the garage, they hauled the sledgehammer, hammer, and saws to her room. The boards came off her window first, then the window frame. Tommy swung the sledgehammer into the damaged drywall and it crumbled under the force. They worked for two hours before a truck backed into Gia’s driveway onto her grass and lowered a dumpster in front of the bedroom window. Joey jumped out the window opening and greeted the driver with a shake of the hand.
Somehow these guys had endless resources. Was that part of the Carter privilege? Once the truck drove away, Joey hauled the trash they’d thrown into the yard into the dumpster. Xander stared at him as he jumped into the room.
Joey grinned. “A friend of a friend knew someone that agreed to lend us their dumpster for Gia’s renovations.”
“Nice friend,” Xander said.
Tommy grunted, but the shrill of Joey’s saw drowned out any reply. The majority of two out of the four walls were ripped apart. After a quick lunch break, they finished dismantling the rest of the drywall, pulled off the doors, and tossed the burnt linens. Joey and Tommy moved the metal bed frame into another room and the charred wooden dresser was sitting on the grass outside.
Joey checked his phone. “Part of your list is in. Looks like the team members are some of the easiest to find. We may have to hire a private detective for the volunteer staff. It’s a really long shot, Xander. Anyone could have picked a lock and had access to equipment lockers, offices, staff lockers.”
That was part of what had started his anxiety, wasn’t it? It could have been anyone. The list could be extensive. Someone he hadn’t thought of in a decade.
Tommy stopped and yanked off his work gloves. “I’ll get started calling to set up the meetings. I have a buddy in downtown Denver with a co-working place who would lend us a conference room.”
Xander exhaled and pushed off the door frame. Lady A was nearby. He could feel her chill in his veins. “Start with the seniors and then do the scholarship kids next.”
The roster had twenty-nine players on it, and by dinner time Tommy had five confirmed interviews scheduled for himself during the day and four for Joey. Then they both had a couple of after-work meet-ups as well. Three players had moved out of state, but two agreed to video in. His hope at the progress took a beating. The players weren’t lining up to be interviewed about their time in the university’s soccer program. Especially not with the scandal they were involved in.
If they only knew Xander was behind all this, none of them would have called back. Every single player had signed a court-submitted request that he be given maximum sentence. If he’d been a student, his parents would have demanded the same thing and he would have stood by that. Drugged without their consent by someone they trusted. He didn’t blame the guys, but it didn’t make their attitude change toward him easier to stomach. He’d worked with some of the guys for the majority of their time in the program and he was proud of them and what they’d overcome.
That evening, they walked through the interview questions and highlighted information that was important for Xander to know. More than once, he stopped to check his reality. They’d met him a couple days ago and they jumped in to help him because Gia asked. No other reason. They had jobs and lives at home. Instead, they were here on the couch next to him setting up fake interviews. For what? Closure, really. Was it really necessary for him to know who had set him up? No, but yes.
The next day, Xander kept himself busy with the manual labor until the guys got set up for conducting interviews. They’d managed to link him to watch the interviews live and simultaneously. He clicked on the interview to hear one audio louder than the other. That way if he had a more in-depth question, he could send it immediately to Joey or Tommy to ask. His nerves were strung as tightly as soccer cleat shoelaces, wrapping him in physical and emotional pain.
He didn’t realize quite how painful seeing his players would be until the first two walked in and gave updates on their lives since the soccer program. They’d had shared jokes, moments they laughed until they held their stomachs. They had teased each other mercilessly and still walked away great friends. With each new interviewee, Xander felt the exact same distress arise. If only he could look them in the eye and make them believe he didn’t do it. But if—no, when—he found out who it was that had framed him, he’d contact all the players to tell them the truth.
By the end of all the in-person interviews, there had been some venting, but no admissions. No one looked like they were hiding anything. Xander looked at the clock. He should make himself a sandwich, but he couldn’t work up an appetite. Tommy and Joey combined forces for the video interviews before splitting up for the evening meet-ups.
First video meeting was the starting goalie at the time, Jake Coyen. He seemed at ease until Joey asked him about his scholarship.
“Being on a scholarship was really great until they started hanging it over me.” Jake snorted as he rubbed the back of his neck.
Xander was about to text Joey to dive deeper, but they were already on it.
“How was it hung over you?” Joey asked.
Jake’s eyes widened as if he regretted saying something and then shifted as he searched for an answer. “Oh you know, with grades and behavior. They make sure those scholarship kids are earning their keep.”
“Jake, this can be off record if you want it to be and five years is the statute of limitations here in Colorado.”
Jake sat forward and Xander scooted to the edge of the couch, whispering to th
e empty room. “Please be brave enough to say something. Please. What is it, Jake?”
“Okay. Off record then. The year the steroid scandal happened, someone at the beginning of the training started leaving me small deliveries to make. Said that if I didn’t, they’d report illegal things I’d done over the summer to Head Coach Randall. Of course, there is a strict code of conduct for scholarship athletes, so anything illegal would risk my scholarship. My mom couldn’t afford to send me to college without one so if I got shipped home, I’d be working odd jobs trying to pay for online classes. After a month, those small errands turned into exchanging envelopes for other envelopes and the person insisted I use gloves so as not to get my fingerprints on the packages. One time I peeked inside one and saw white powder. When Coach Reinerman was caught, I was so relieved that maybe the blackmail and secret errands all would end. But instead I got a warning envelope with pictures of me doing the exchanges as well as partying during the season, saying that if I said anything about my jobs to the police those pictures would be leaked to the police. I’d then be sent to prison for whatever was in those packages.”
“During this time, did you ever hear a name of the person? Or catch a glimpse?” Joey asked.
Jake stared off camera as if debating his next words. “I knew the person was watching me because I’d get texts on my phone. One time, I saw a note inside that was signed Victor Frankenstein. I wasn’t supposed to see that, since I was never supposed to open the packages I delivered. But I thought maybe the person knew I would look and put in something to mock me. I was an English minor and my hunch was that the sender knew I’d recognize the name as a literature reference.”
“Did anyone else on the team mention this?” Tommy said.
“I didn’t dare talk to anyone else about it, in case they ratted me out. I was good at soccer and I was making really great grades in my classes. I couldn’t afford a slip-up. I needed every handout I was given.” His wry smile looked almost embarrassed.