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She went out, leaving Laura alone with Coach Joe Miller. He was an intimidating presence. He stared at her, his expression judgmental. Yet he also seemed curious about her, in spite of himself.
“I’m sorry about your baby.” He nodded toward the door through which his wife had passed. “Ellie shrugs it off, but her heart broke each time.”
“I’m sure it did.”
“You’re sure it was Griff’s baby?”
“No question. My husband was incapable.”
“Sterile?”
“Incapable,” she repeated.
“Huh.” He digested that, then asked, “Is that why you took up with Griff?”
Before she could answer, Ellie returned carrying a bottle of ibuprofen and a glass of water. “Take two.”
Laura had alrea
dy sworn off analgesics that pregnant women were advised not to take. Swallowing the capsules was a painful reminder that the precaution was no longer necessary.
“What are you doing?”
That from Ellie, whose voice was sharp, imperious, and directed toward her husband, who had picked up the telephone on the desk.
“Calling the police.”
“You’re going to sic the police on that boy?”
“He’s not a boy, Ellie. He’s a man. He has to be held accountable.”
“Please, don’t call Rodarte,” Laura said. “He’s Griff’s sworn enemy.”
“Because he’s a homicide detective and Griff is a…a…”
“See?” Ellie said, planting her fists on her narrow hips. “You can’t even bring yourself to say it because you know it isn’t true.”
“If it’s not true, why’s he running?” Coach asked. “Why doesn’t he turn himself in?”
Ellie, having no answer, looked helplessly toward Laura, who implored Coach to hang up the phone. “Please don’t make that call. At least not until I’ve told you about Griff and me. And Foster. All of it. Please, Mr. Miller.”
He considered her for several moments, then reluctantly replaced the phone and folded his thick arms across his barrel chest. “Well?”
She began with the day Foster first told her of his plan and left nothing out except the most intimate details of the four times she and Griff had been together.
“I never heard anything so outlandish,” Coach said. “You’re telling me that your husband paid Griff to…to do that?”
“Regrettably, I went along, for reasons that are too complex to explain now. After I learned I was pregnant, I didn’t expect ever to see Griff again.”
While she was listening to Laura’s story, Ellie’s eyes had turned moist. “How did you feel about that? About never seeing Griff again?”
Laura hesitated, then said, “I was conflicted. And because I was, I would never have allowed myself to see him again.”
Ellie nodded, understanding.
“I would have stayed with my husband forever,” Laura continued. “Rearing the child as his, exactly as he wanted.”
“So what made it all go south?” Coach asked. “Let me guess. Griff.”
