Overkill(33)

To Kate’s credit, she didn’t begin peppering him with questions. Rather, she looked at him with a mix of compassion and expectation.

“It was a quick trip,” he said. “I didn’t have to be there long to fully grasp the quality of her life, which amounts to no quality.” He took another sip of his whiskey. “I think I mentioned Bing to you?”

Kate dipped her chin in acknowledgment.

“On my way back, I went to see him. He can be as ornery as hell, but I haven’t listened to him and heeded his advice for all these years because he talks nonsense.” He gave a dry laugh and scratched his eyebrow with his thumbnail. “I didn’t ask his advice before marrying Rebecca. Look how that turned out.

“Anyway, last night I laid it all out for him, starting with your coming out of nowhere and dropping this bomb on me. For half an hour, I talked nonstop. But Bing was more concise. After I’d gone off on all these tangents, he honed things down to this.” He raised his index finger. “He said that the person most affected by my decision is the person I’ve given the least consideration.”

She spoke the name on a soft breath. “Rebecca.”

“Yeah. When it happened, many said she’d gotten no better than she deserved for going into a bedroom, while stoned, with three men. She lived wildly, recklessly, and paid the price.” He paused, picked up his glass, and looked down into the bourbon. “Those harsh judges should have to spend time—only a brief time—in that hospital room with her. Nobody deserves having to exist like that.”

He shot the whiskey and set down his glass. “I’m giving you no guarantee, Kate. It’s gotta be my decision, and I won’t be browbeaten or rushed into making it. But I’ve come around to thinking that maybe Rebecca has been victimized long enough. And not only by Eban Clarke, but by her father. And me.”





They ordered. During their meal, they didn’t talk about anything relating to Rebecca. Kate, and she assumed Zach also, needed a breather.

As she stirred a dollop of cream into her after-dinner coffee, she said, “Bing seems to be an important and trusted person in your life.”

“The most trusted. He sort of filled in for my parents when they were killed in a car wreck.”

“I read about that in an article I found online. I’m sorry.”

“Me too. They were driving home from a game my freshman year at Clemson. Nobody’s fault, just a dreadful accident. Four fatalities in all. A number to everybody else. To me, a monumental loss.”

“You were close.”

He smiled. “Very. Dad was my best buddy and biggest fan. Mom was beautiful, gracious. Exceptional people, really. Both of them.”

“What’s your favorite memory?”

“Jeez, there are so many, but a standout is the day I signed my letter of intent with Clemson. Full athletic scholarship. Mom and Dad were so proud. They celebrated big, had all their friends over for a cookout. A few months later, they were gone.” He snapped his fingers.

“No siblings?”

“No, just me. That’s when Bing took over the parental role, although he never came right out and said it, and I probably would have decked him if he had. Nobody could have replaced my mom and dad. But in his own grouchy way, he nursed me through that year, kept me in line, focused. Thanks to him, I came out strong my sophomore and junior years.”

“And thanks to you, the Tigers won the national championship your senior year.” At his arch look, she added, “I did my homework.”

“Of course you did.” He smiled before turning reflective again. “It was tough, losing my parents so suddenly like that. But later I looked on it as a blessing of sorts. They didn’t have to go through that scandalous mess with me, and they weren’t around to watch my fall from grace.”

“Maybe if they had been around, things wouldn’t have turned out as they did.”

“Maybe.” He gave a dry laugh. “Rebecca sure as hell wouldn’t have been their pick for a daughter-in-law.”

Kate hesitated then asked something she’d been wanting to ask. “How’d you two meet?”

“She hung out in the clubs known to be gathering places for team members. There were always these girls, all dolled up and available. You know.”

“Looking for action with a hot jock.”

“Or the man with the ‘it’ factor of the moment. That was her job.”

“Her job? What do you mean?”

“She’d gone to cosmetology school. Something like that. But she made a career of looking great and showing up at happenings. Events. PGA tournaments, movie premiers, like that. Anywhere she’d be seen rubbing elbows with the glitterati.”

“How did she support herself?”

He gave a dry chuckle. “She didn’t have to. Her catch-of-the-day would put her up in his hotel suite, take her shopping, indulge her until she moved on to the next guy.”

“Which ultimately wound up being you.”

“Yeah. That season there was a lot of buzz about my throwing arm and the team going all the way to the Super Bowl.” With bitterness, he added, “And then, following that win, there was a lot of chatter about my new contract.

“After the amount of it was reported, Rebecca came on strong. She made herself noticed among the other groupies. Every time I turned around, there she was. One night, I went home with her. Six weeks later, we were saying boozy ‘I dos’ in a wedding chapel in Vegas. I’m a little vague on exactly how we got there. I don’t recall actually proposing.”