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“They’re all so tight, Ronnie and Spencer especially, that I don’t know if they will,” she said as the engine eased and the boat slowed to float more peacefully on the water.
Guess this was where they were having lunch.
“I’m going to go make everyone some drinks,” Tracie said, coming to her feet. “Waverley? Want to lend a hand?”
“Um, sure,” Waverley said and shared a quick glance with him before slipping out from under his arm. “Did you want anything?”
“Water would be great.”
He watched as they disappeared down the steps into the lower cabin.
“Glad to see that Waverley is doing better today,” Bry said to him.
“Yeah. She was pretty shaken up last night.”
“I still can’t believe that Spencer hit her,” Bry said. “I never would have believed he was capable of violence like that. And I’ve known him a long time.”
“Like I told Waverley, he’s got a lot to lose right now, and that can make people dangerous.”
“You sound like you have experience in that,” Greg said to him. “Aren’t you in cybersecurity?”
The guy was really paying attention. “I guess maybe I watch a lot of true crime shows.”
“Me, too,” Stacie said and not so subtly elbowed her husband. “There’s this new one on Netflix that I’m totally hooked on.”
“No one cares, babe,” Greg said dismissively, bringing a flush of what might have been anger across his wife’s face.
“You mean the one that explores all those unsolved serial killer cases?” Reynolds persisted, ignoring Greg’s comment.
“Yes, I love that one,” Staci said, looking at him gratefully. “There’s something strangely calming about watching all these gruesome things happening to other people. Morbid, I know, but it is what it is.”
“It does bring me back to Spencer,” Reynolds said. “Why would someone who seems to have it all need to steal all that money? Wasn’t he wealthy in his own right? And married to Waverley, who would be coming into her own fortune someday. It seems bizarre that he would take such risks…or need to.”
The group was silent for a minute, looking at each other.
But he’d apparently made a friend in Staci, who leaned forward. “If you ask me, I think he gambled it all away. Didn’t you used to mention how Spencer would spend the entire night playing the tables the last few times you guys went to Vegas?”
Greg hesitated. “He did like to gamble, but I don’t think he would have been as stupid as to put up much more than he could afford to lose.”
“It’s not always about stupidity,” Reynolds said. “Arrogance could actually be worse. If you can’t imagine losing, then you wouldn’t see it as a risk at all.”
“Spencer was definitely arrogant,” Julie added.
“Julie,” Bry said, a warning tone in his voice as he addressed his wife.
“What? Well, he was,” she said, placing her hand on her head just as a gust of wind came up and threatened to take her hat with it. “I mean, he was obviously arrogant to think he could just show up here this weekend without any concern for being caught, or how it might affect us if he were caught. It was kind of scary having to give a statement to the police last night. How do we know that we still won’t be implicated for his crimes or be seen as accomplices? I know he was your friend, babe, but he puts all of us at risk, and I would be happy if I never saw him again.”
There was a ring of sincerity in her tone, and from the look on Bry’s face, he didn’t disagree. They were obviously well off and content in their life situation and wouldn’t want anything to change that, least of all a charge of accessory to a crime.
“Yeah, I don’t think it would come to that,” Ronnie said. “I don’t know why he did what he did, but I still consider him a friend.” He looked at Reynolds as he said this last part, as if daring him to challenge that notion.
Reynolds had learned enough for now about the group’s dynamics from this brief conversation, and if he were to push it, it would be suspicious. Instead, he shrugged. “Sorry, didn’t mean to offend. Was just trying to understand the guy, seeing all the pain and damage he’s brought on Waverley.”
“You are sweet to care for her,” Julie said, her words kind but the tone coming off as patronizing.
He didn’t say anything, but he noticed Staci roll her eyes and meet his gaze, smiling slightly at him. It was good to know that Waverley had some friends here. People who saw how amazing she really was.
The conversation around Spencer closed and turned to lighter topics like when they would meet for their next adventure in the fall, giving Reynolds the chance to sit back and lift his face up to the sun and pretend to relax while wondering what was taking Waverley so long.
