"I'm just hoping that one of us might know what Brad was doing and who he was hanging out with. Maybe Trent argued with Brad about someone else? I need to know that. You probably don't know this but I'm helping Brad's family investigate what happened to him."
"Everybody knows that. We're counting on you to find out the truth."
"Everybody?" Ryan echoed. "How could everyone know? I barely got into town yesterday."
Carl shrugged. "Skip and Lily told Theo's parents who told mine or something like that. Does it matter? We all know, and we're all glad that you're doing this. It was lucky you became a cop. I wouldn't be much help on something like this."
His friend was a mergers and acquisitions specialist. Carl traveled a great deal and had recently split from his wife, but they were working on getting back together in couples therapy.
"So do you?" Ryan asked again. "Do you know what Trent and Brad fought about? Or do you know what Brad had going on right before he disappeared? Was he hanging around with anyone new? Did he talk about anything?"
Shrugging again, Carl fidgeted in his chair. "Shit, I don't know. Brad was yelling that Trent was a cheat, and Trent was saying that Brad didn't know what he was talking about. I assumed they had made a bet and Trent wasn't keeping his end of it. You know how they were. Friends one minute and enemies the next. It was no big deal. As for what Brad was doing, I don't know. That last year he didn't talk to me as much. He was always closer to Theo and Dan. They'd know what Brad had going on."
That was true. While they were all a group of friends, some were closer than others. Brad and Ryan had definitely not been as close as they had in the past.
"I'm going to talk to both of them. I'm going to talk to everyone, actually." Ryan paused, wanting to phrase the next question just the right way. "Was Brad...seeing anyone that you know of?"
Carl gave him a shrewd look. "You mean besides Caro?"
"That's what I mean. We both know..."
Ryan didn't have to spell it out. Everyone had known that Brad ran around behind Caroline's back.
Sadly, she'd known it, too.
Carl's gaze darted to Isla and then back. It was fast but Ryan had caught it.
"Isla? He was seeing her?"
"He didn't care about her or anything, he was just...you know...having some fun. She was up for it. I don't think she was in love with him or anything."
"Brad acted like she wasn't all that attractive. He said she was too obvious."
"Sometimes he liked them obvious," Carl whispered. "They kind of hated each other but from what I gather the sex was hot. He said she was pretty wild in the sack."
"When did he say this? Where was I?"
Chuckling, Carl grinned. "With Mariah, where you always were. We were playing golf a few days before leaving for Hawaii. You hated golf."
"I still hate golf."
"That's why you weren't there."
Isla and Brad. Interesting couple.
"How long had he been seeing her?"
"I have no idea and I wouldn't even call it seeing her. They were...having sex. That's it. More like enemies with benefits, if you ask me. I doubt he hung around afterward and cuddled and talked."
"Did Caro know?"
"I don't think so, but I could be wrong. She never said anything to me about it. She might have said something to Mariah."
"Mariah would have told me if she had."
Ryan was sure of it. They'd told each other everything.
"So...you and Mariah. I didn't think I'd ever see you two together again."
"It's not like that."
His answer was reflexive and swift. His friend group loved a little gossip. For the most part, he'd managed not to be a focus of it.
Carl scratched his chin. "Why not? She's single again and you both clearly still have feelings for each other."
"Why do you think that? We're just friends."
And barely that. Basically, they'd called a truce this morning. They were hardly texting each other and making lunch plans.
"Because you've barely taken your eyes off of her since you walked into the memorial service. And the same for her. You can't deny that Mariah is one gorgeous woman. Hell, I'd be looking at her too if I wasn't trying to fix my marriage."
"We're just friends."
He was going to have to watch his behavior much more closely because people might get the wrong idea. If he was watching Mariah, it wasn't because he wanted to