"Right. I won't say anything to him." Mariah wasn't so sure that it didn't matter anymore, however. "Did Brad know about Caro and Trent?"
Daphne's eyes went round and she shook her head. "No way. He would have killed Trent."
"They were arguing a few days before he disappeared. And he was kind of nasty to Caro that night. Are you sure he didn't know?"
"Well...I don't think so. Brad would have been livid. He wasn't an equal opportunity cheater, if you know what I mean. It was one thing for him to chase girls but he would have gone ballistic if he thought Caroline was doing the same thing. No, I don't think he knew. It would have been ugly if he did."
It had been ugly. A young man had lost his life that night. Was Trent involved? Or Caroline?
Mariah's gaze swept over her old friends just sitting and chatting with one another. Was one of them responsible for Brad's death? She didn't want to think about that possibility, but she couldn't shake the idea.
What if it wasn't a stranger? What if it was someone she knew?
12
Ryan had made plans for the next day to meet up with the other friends in the group that he hadn't had a chance to speak with. He needed to talk to all of them about that night. Already he'd found out that Brad was cheating on Caroline with Isla. What else didn't he know?
It wasn't that he thought that Isla had killed Brad, hitting him on the head, but if Ryan didn't know about their covert relationship there might be a hell of a lot more that he didn't know about Brad's life. Important details that might lead to solving the mystery of what happened that night.
"Caroline was sleeping with Trent."
Ryan and Mariah had just exited the Uber vehicle and were walking into the apartment building.
"Hold that thought."
He punched the elevator button and the doors dinged and then slid open. He urged Mariah inside and the doors closed.
"Can you say that again?"
"Caroline was sleeping with Trent. Daphne told me today. She said that Caroline told her all those years ago, and she also saw Caroline sneaking into Trent's hotel room in Hawaii. Did you know Daphne was sleeping with Theo?"
That was two pieces of information. Neither one he was aware of.
"No, I didn't know about Daphne and Theo but I'm not really all that surprised. They were constantly flirting with one another. I would have been more surprised if something hadn't happened, to be honest. Now let's get back to Caroline and Trent. How long was that going on?"
"I don't know. Daphne just said that Caro was angry about Brad running around on her and being a dick so she was getting back at him by sleeping with Trent."
It was the perfect revenge since Trent and Brad were frenemies, always competing with one another. Trent would have loved to tell Brad that he'd slept with Caroline.
"And Brad knew?"
Mariah shook her head. "Daphne says that he didn't."
The doors slid open and they headed down the hall. He didn't reply until Mariah had unlocked her door and they were in her apartment.
"I find that hard to believe. If Trent slept with Caroline, he'd want Brad to know. He'd enjoy telling the news. In fact, I'm surprised he didn't tell all of us with a PowerPoint presentation. It would have been the ultimate fuck-you-I'm-better to Brad."
"Daphne was sure that Brad didn't know. She said that he'd be livid if he found out and I have to agree with that. Think about what you said as well. If Trent had told Brad, he would have told all of us. He didn't. So I think that Daphne may be right that no one else knew."
It didn't make sense to Ryan, not with what he knew about the two men.
"Are you saying that Trent had feelings for Caroline then? Because that would shock the hell out of me. He never seemed to even like her very much. He sure as hell didn't have any patience for her."
"He didn't have patience with anyone," Mariah pointed out. "Let's face it, Trent was kind of an asshole. If he hadn't been a childhood friend of yours would you have been hanging out with him?"
"He was always that way."
"That's not a great excuse for being a jerk."
"Trent isn't that bad. He'd give you the shirt off his back if you needed it."
"And then tell everyone that he did it."
Maybe. Probably. The fact was Trent had all sorts of issues. He'd had a fucked-up childhood, being shuttled from one neglectful parent to the other, and mostly been brought up by nannies and housekeepers. Freud would have had a field day with the guy and his need to be loved and admired.
Mariah sat down on the couch, stretching out her legs and kicking off her high heels. He'd forgotten just how gorgeous her legs were. She used to run to keep them toned. Did she still do that? It looked like it. They were also tanned from the summer sun.
Shit, is it hot in here?
"Ryan," she said sharply, pulling him from his daydreams. "Did you hear me? I said, do you think that's what Trent and Brad argued about?"
Pull it together, man. They're just legs. Attached to Mariah.
"I don't know. I'm going to talk to Trent tomorrow. I didn't have a chance tonight."
"He may not tell you the truth."
"I like to think that I know when someone is lying."
Her brow quirked up. "You have that superpower? Lucky you."
"People have tells when they lie."
"Can you tell if I'm lying?"
Chuckling, Ryan nodded. "Yes, you rub your earlobe when you're telling a fib."
"That's not true," she said with a scowl. "I don't do that. And when have I ever lied to you?"
"I said a fib, not a lie. Remember when my sister was dating that guy from Stanford that I couldn't stand? Shit, I can't even remember his name now but he was a jerk. She went out on a date with him and you told me she was out with her friends. She didn't want me to know because she knew I'd give her a hard time about it. You covered for her."
"Of course I did, she's my best friend."
"And you rubbed your earlobe when you did it."
Her expression was scandalized as her hand flew up to her ear. "So you knew I was lying?"
"Not then, but later when I was being trained, I thought back to that. You've done it more than a few times. Like when you told me that you liked camping and the show ‘Lost’."
"I was trying to impress you. I never thought we would actually go camping, and I didn't think you'd make such a big deal about a television show."
"It was one of my favorites."
"We both liked ‘The Sopranos’."
"You liked ‘American Idol’. Admit it."
"Millions of people liked ‘American Idol’. I won't apologize for it, Ryan. Here we go again. Even your taste in television shows has to be superior to everyone else's. Get over yourself."
"I'm just saying that some shows and movies are better than others."
Rolling her eyes, she walked over to the refrigerator and pulled out two water bottles, handing one to him.
"I'm saying that I don't care what other people watch or read or sing or do. It's none of my business."