“Give it to me,” Ty invited.
“I will but I’m also gonna break it down, some speculation in this shit but gotta tell you, Keaton turning to the dark side threw me. He was a straight arrow. Made Frank look crooked. That said, he was no choirboy and I mean that only in the sense that he liked to get him some and he’s a good-lookin’ guy, he had choice and he enjoyed it, including Misty. He didn’t talk about it but I reckoned he might play as much as he liked but when it got down to bein’ serious, no way the likes of Misty Keaton would have his ring on her finger. He might accept a woman who had some experience… some. If he couldn’t bag himself a virgin, though, he would not be settling with a girl of Misty’s array of knowledge. He’s a man who likes control and my guess is, he wouldn’t mind he had to do a fuckload of training seein’ as, when he was done, he’d get it just like he liked it. Just a guess but Chace wanted a quiet life, out from under Daddy’s thumb, white picket fence he earned his own self fencing in a family with two point five kids and a wife who made kickass pies, was the leader of his daughter’s Brownie troop but still gave world class head,” he paused, looked at me and said, “Sorry, Lexie.”
“That’s okay,” I whispered on a grin.
Tate grinned back.
“And?” Ty prompted when Tate didn’t continue speaking.
So Tate continued speaking.
“What I’m sayin’ is, this man was his own man, not his father’s son. He was who he wanted to be. Took balls to walk away from all that. So, him goin’ under shocked the shit outta me. Everyone knows Misty got Chace outta your deal and everyone knows Chace didn’t pretend to like it. Before that, he kept his head down, his nose clean, did his job. Like all the boys, he wanted to stay employed, he looked the other way with shit but he didn’t participate in it. Without family to hold him close, a connection to the community, like Frank has, why he stuck around Carnal and put up with that shit, I don’t know. My guess was, him movin’ on or quittin’ altogether would get him a big ‘I told you so’ from Daddy. Also could be, Fuller’s network was so vast, would be hard to find a job if he left Carnal. I know I didn’t go back into police work after that, bad taste in my mouth. But I had ties to the community, I grew up here, this was home, found a way to stay and earn a living. That said, if Keaton told Fuller and his boys to go fuck themselves and moved clean across the country that would not have surprised me. What surprised me and what I never got was why a man like Chace, his own man, a straight arrow and a man who liked control, buckled regarding Misty then, directly after, entered the inner sanctum.”
Ty’s voice sounded distracted when he muttered, “Didn’t enter it, was shoved in it.”
“Bet he’s seen that video,” Tate muttered back and I closed my eyes.
Seeing his Dad like that, I couldn’t fathom it and I didn’t even have a Dad. But being married to the woman who did that to his Dad, knowing she trapped his Dad and him, it was no wonder he hated her and didn’t hide it.
But this was worse. To keep his father from enduring untold humiliation should that video leak, a good man got pushed into the mud. He could go to the grocery store or out to have a beer anytime he wanted but he was still in prison, controlled, his life not his own nor his decisions. And, as far as I knew, he didn’t do anything to deserve any of that.
And that sucked.
“Not hip on the Aspen social scene, Tate.” I heard Ty say and I opened my eyes as he went on. “What does knowin’ Fuller has this guy by the balls mean to me or anyone but Keaton?”
“First, it fills in blanks about Misty and Chace. Second, Trane may not be local but Trane is Trane. He’s got money, money buys him power and he wields it. He may live two hours away but there are a lot of ways to squeeze a guy like that, you got that video, and keep squeezin’ him until he’s dry. Wasn’t invited and even if I was, wouldn’t go to the wedding, but I bet Trane sat up front watchin’ his son marryin’ the woman who saw to his sick kink and he smiled big while adjusting his pants ‘cause Arnie had his boys in a tight grip.”
“Makes you wonder how many balls Fuller has his fist wrapped around,” Ty noted.
“Money, power, judges, lawyers, other cops… if he made a habit of collecting that kinda video,” Tate motioned to his computer with his head, “then he would think he’s untouchable ‘cause if he goes down, they all go down.”
And there it was.
Shit, shit, fucking shit.