Page 101 of A Rose of Steel

At first, Boone wouldn’t admit to anything—the scam or murder. He wouldn’t even talk to the lawyer he said he wanted, but he changed his mind after a visit from Mrs. Hackett. No one knew what she’d said to him, neither one of them would tell. So, he took a plea—life without the possibility of parole instead of a death sentence like the Texas judicial is so fond of giving.

And, as for me, there wasn’t as much talking behind closed doors and I was in a state of confusion about it.

I didn’t know what to do about Alex or Rhett.

Alex thought everything was fine between the two of us—nothing had changed. He still planned for us to be together just like we’d talked about before I left Chicago. Only I wasn’t sure that’s what I wanted anymore.

But did I want Rhett? Better question, did Rhett want me? Because if he did, why was he flaunting another woman in front of me?

Or was he?

Hailey Aaron had popped out of sight just as quickly she had popped in, and Rhett hadn’t said anything about her.

Auntie Zanne had said, even though I hadn’t mentioned one word to her about it, that if I wanted to know who she was to Rhett, I should ask.

And Shane Blanchard and Coach Buddy Budson were indicted, yep, lo and behold Auntie Zanne was right, they were running a gratuity and bribery operation. LaJay Reid wasn’t implicated, but they seemed to refer to him in the indictment papers that Auntie somehow secured. But to her dismay, it wasn’t her “Secret Agent Man,” Rhett Remmiere who ran the sting, although to placate her he’d made a call to see if any operations had their sights on the two. They, along with a few other conspirators, had charges filed out of the Washington D.C. Circuit.

I found myself thinking less and less about going back to Chicago and more and more about taking Doc Westin’s job. Oh yeah, and making some friends.