But I was guessing they knew shortly after.
“Phone,” Ty rumbled and I realized I still had his phone in my hand.
I lifted it up and he slid it out of my grip, instantly flipping it open. His thumb moved over the keypad then he put it to his ear.
Then I heard him say, “Tate? Ty. You in for the night?” He paused then, listening as well as clicking, opening up the DVD directory and the hard drive directory, then, “Just got a delivery, anonymous, DVD sex tape left at the backdoor. Hang on.”
He looked at me and pushed the chair back, dipping his head to the machine.
“Save it but bury it, babe. At least two places.”
I nodded, reached out, moved the keyboard to face me, grabbed the mouse and got to work.
Ty went back to the phone, “I’m here.” Pause then, “Yeah, Lex saw the guy who left it but didn’t recognize him and he was gone before I got out the backdoor. Misty Keaton is on the tape, younger, thinner, gotta be around the time she fucked me over or just before. I don’t know the other two in the tape and Lexie hasn’t seen them. But I do know Arnie Fuller made it seein’ as he was on screen after the festivities were over, camera caught him turning it off. It is not fun viewing, brother, but I’m at a loss why this was slipped to me. I need you to take a look at it and tell me if you got more.”
Another pause while I created directories, “Recipes” then “Cookies” then dragged the video file across windows, dropped it in and renamed it “Chocolate Chip”.
Then Ty said, “Right, we’ll be over soon’s we save it. Sorry, Tate, need this info or I wouldn’t fuck up your Sunday and, no way around it, you see this sick shit, it’s gonna fuck up your Sunday.”
He was not wrong about that. My Sunday hadn’t been the greatest but we’d got to the good part. Still, that video fucked up the whole day.
I kept going, creating another directory called “Addresses” then “Christmas Card List” then saved the file under the name, “Out of Town”.
Ty was back to Tate. “Right, we gotta shut the computer down. Be there as soon as we can. Thanks.” I heard him flip his phone shut and say to me, “Close it down, babe.”
I did and he ejected the DVD. He put it back in the case while I moved out of the office and down the stairs. He followed me down and I went directly to my shoes. Ty got his boots on in no time flat and waited while I finished with my zips then we both hoofed it to the car. We took the Viper. Ty stayed within the speed limit but I knew it cost him.
When we hit Carnal, I spoke into the strained silence.
“What do you think this means?”
I looked to him and saw his eyes flash back and forth from road to rearview mirror as he answered, “I think it means Arnold Fuller’s net is unraveling.”
“That man in that video is important and he’s blackmailing him,” I guessed.
“That man in that video is important and Fuller’s got him by the balls,” Ty replied.
“Misty?” I whispered.
“Fuller’s go-to *.”
Hmm. This seemed to be true. After what I saw, I was actually beginning to feel sorry for Misty. She looked like she was loving every minute of it in a way she looked like she was trying really, really hard to pretend she was loving every minute of it which means she was not. Even if the guy was hot, not old enough to be her father, no girl could love every minute of that.
Ty kept talking. “The question is, this guy’s important, how many more men like him does he have by the balls? And question two, who got hold of this and gave it to me?”
“It wasn’t Keaton or Frank,” I said softly.
“Crabtree?” Ty asked.
“No, it wasn’t him. I’d recognize him anywhere, even in the dark.”
“Then his net is unraveling,” Ty muttered.
I went silent, uncertain what this meant but knowing it was only partially good and the rest could be very bad.
We arrived at Tate and Laurie’s house which was on the other side of Carnal, through some winding roads up on a hill. A long two story house, the bottom floor mostly built into the ground, a deck that ran the entire front of it and jutted off the end. It was embedded in trees and I loved our view and, even as days slid into weeks, I was not used to it. Still, I had to say that the seclusion and quiet of Tate and Laurie’s house surrounded by dense Colorado forest was definitely a close runner up in cool.
Ty parked, waiting for me to round the car and took my hand as we walked through the bright outside lights up to the deck. Tate came out the sliding glass door that I knew led to the dining area off the kitchen and he slid the door to.
His eyes moved down to the DVD case Ty was carrying.
“Already told Jonas he’s to stay upstairs but Laurie’s curious. How bad is this shit?” Tate asked when we got close.
“You like gettin’ some from your wife?” Ty asked back when we stopped at Tate.
Tate’s lips twitched and he answered the obvious, “Yeah.”