Page 52 of Scored

I took the bottle and found a wine opener. Vee pulled two glasses from under the cupboard and sat at the island where we usually eat breakfast. The room filled with the sound of a pop. After pouring the rich dark liquid into the glasses, I handed one to her. “Tell me, Ms. Hubbard, why was your day long and what propelled you to come home and cook?”

She took the glass by the stem and swirled the liquid.

“Remember me telling you that Detective Oldson came by my office Monday?”

I nodded.

“Something about what he told me was bugging me.” She leaned forward, giving me a nice view of the tops of her breasts from her neckline.

“Fin, are you listening?”

“I can listen and stare at your breasts at the same time.”

Vee shook her head. “I’d pushed away all the things the detective said, but today my mind must have been more relaxed watching practice. And I figured out what was bothering me.”

CHAPTER 21

Vee

“What was it?” Fin asked.

I spun my glass by its stem and stared down into the swirling wine as legs dripped down the inside of the glass. Looking up, my focus was the handsome blue gaze looking back at me. “Detective Oldson said my dad met with Edward Clark the Saturday evening before his accident.”

Fin’s eyebrows came together. “Bre told me that Reid went to her place Saturday night for dinner.”

“Did she specifically say for dinner? I mean, he could have gone there after he met with Ed.”

“I’m sure she specifically said dinner.”

“That was what I recalled you telling me. Grant said Dad was gone from the house Sunday night. And you said Bre said she didn’t see Dad on Sundays, that it was family time. Where was Dad Sunday night?”

“If Bre lied about Saturday night, she could be lying about Sunday night.”

“She could be,” I agreed. “Or Dad could have been meeting with another potential investor in his infrastructure dealings.”

“I don’t know how you can find the answer to this question,” Fin said. “How did the detective learn that Reid met with Edward?”

“I don’t know. Maybe Dad paid and they were able to track his credit card charges.”

“Vee, let the police do their job. You have enough to think about without trying to be Nancy Drew.”

Scrunching my nose, I said, “When I was young, I was a fan of The Boxcar Children.”

“I was a fan of adventure like Hatchet.”

I nodded. “I’ve been tempted to call Preston to see if he knows anything about our fathers’ meeting or about Ed pledging a large sum of money to commission a hotel in Lexington.”

Fin pressed his firm lips together. “Remember me telling you that Clark said his father had his fixer investigate your family?”

Rolling my eyes, I replied, “When we first started dating. Because he was concerned about the lack of generational wealth.”

“And he discovered that shit about the possible way your grandfather double-crossed your uncle’s father. Now you find out Edward Clark and your dad had a contentious meeting. Isn’t that the word you used?”

I nodded. “It’s the word Detective Oldson used. This is bizarre.”

Fin walked around the island and kissed the top of my head. “Like some kind of crime-thriller-movie type of shit.”

“First, I prefer the kind of mystery that solves itself in two hundred pages or less. And second, my dad wasn’t involved with crime. He was simply seeking investments in Lexington’s infrastructure. This is all giving me a headache.”