break up with her if she was pressuring him like that?"
"Because he really did love her," Theo said, his expression turning to a frown. "In his way. He didn't want to hurt her, he just wanted her to back off a little bit."
"And how did Isla fit into all of this?"
"She was a fun distraction. Brad said she was wild in the sack. He wasn't in love with her or anything."
"Was she in love with him?"
Theo's brows shot up in surprise. "Fuck, no. If anything, she hated Brad. I swear they were just hate-fucking each other because they both had the same kinks."
Do I even want to know? Not particularly, but it might be important.
"Kinks? Anything dangerous?"
"They both liked threesomes. And four or fivesomes. Shit, is that even a word? Anyway, they liked to make sex a party."
"How did they find this out about each other? I sure as shit don't remember this coming up in casual conversations."
"The way Brad described it, he didn't know either. The night after he got back into town from school, we saw Isla and Daphne out at The Alleyway. Brad and Isla got drunk and ended up making out. Long story short, he went home with her and she asked if it was okay if the roommate and roommate's boyfriend joined in. Brad was into it, so..."
More names to add to Ryan's list to talk to. Roommate and roommate's boyfriend.
I'm sure they're going to want to unearth some one-night stand from over a decade ago.
"Did Brad and Caro argue a lot about this?"
"She didn't know. She knew he flirted and shit, but she didn't have any idea that Brad was getting his freak on just about every other night with some girl."
Ryan finished the last bite of his cinnamon roll. "She knew. Trust me."
"He never told her."
"He didn't have to. He wasn't exactly discreet. People talk, Theo. Now...were they arguing a lot? Brad had been home from university less than three weeks but it sounds like he'd been a busy boy. Was Caroline pissed about that? She wasn't the happiest person that last night."
Theo's shoulders sagged. "He said that she was riding him hard. Wanted him to straighten up and start making future plans. But I swear, he didn't know that she knew all that he was up to. He always said that Caro would kill him if she'd found out he'd slept with another girl. Wait...you don't think...? No way would Caro do something like this."
"I don't think anything. I'm just trying to figure out what happened that night, and who might have had motive and opportunity. We've always known that Caroline was the jealous type but none of us thought for one single second that she offed Brad after he disappeared."
Ryan didn't tell Theo about Caroline and Trent. One, because he didn't know if it was the actual truth, and two, because it wasn't Theo's business. He was a little surprised that Theo didn't already know. Their social group wasn't known for keeping their mouths shut.
Or was he completely wrong about that? It seemed that some people had secrets that Ryan hadn't known anything about back then. Maybe they weren't the gossipy circle he'd thought they were.
"That's good," Theo replied, relief in his tone. "There's no way Caro would have done something like this. She loved Brad. It took her a long time to move on and it was only because Danny had been there to support her through it all. They were friends first."
"I have to ask this. Did Danny have any feelings for Caroline that you know of? He never mentioned anything to me."
"Not that I know of. He was sort of there for her out of sympathy in the beginning. You know how he is...the kind of guy who would take in a stray kitten. I think he felt sorry for her, to be honest."
"They seem to be very happy now."
"They are. We don't see them much but when we do, they seem to be really in love and happy together."
Ryan didn't have any more questions, at least not for Theo. He stood and pulled a business card from his pocket, placing it on the coffee table.
"Thank you for meeting me this morning. I have several people to talk to today so I won't take up any more of your time. If you think of anything else, call me. Anything at all. What seems like a small, insignificant detail can often be the missing puzzle piece that breaks a