“Too many,” Mom said.
“Well, it wasn’t hard getting the man to talk or to find the girl once Aymes had left town. Turns out there had been copies of those pictures sent to his little pregnant wife in Tulsa. And it turns out the girl had been hired, she admitted to it. Given two grand to find Aymes and get him drunk. She swore nothing had happened between them so he couldn’t be charged with anything, but the damage was already done. Aymes was gone and trying like hell to keep his wife from leaving him. But the girl admitted that it was the P.I. who paid her to find Aymes and stage those pictures.”
“And?” I asked, a little twitchy for information.
“And,” Sara started, her voice rattling a little when she cleared it. “The P.I. had the check Cass had given him to hire the girl. Five grand. Two for the girl. Three for the P.I. When they confronted Cass about it, he didn’t bother to deny it. Didn’t set right with the big dogs at Sony. They figured if this asshole would blackmail his competition to get a contract, there wouldn’t be much he wouldn't do. Like maybe hold out for money when the time came to renegotiate contracts or jump ship altogether. They didn’t think he was worth the risk or the hassle so they cut him loose.”
The mood in the room didn’t seem fitting for punching the air, celebrating my gut instinct. Especially not when I looked down at my mother’s face, seeing how she squeezed her eyes shut, how that hand on her neck moved quicker and quicker.
“So,” Sara said, clearing her throat again, “Keira, if you don’t mind me sticking my big nose in your business, your artist is a shithead and I think if you keep him on, especially with you trying to give your new label wings, you’re gonna run into some walls with him. You know how our people talk. You know how loyalties work in Nashville. He stepped on some pretty big toes a few years back. No telling what he’s gotten up to since then. Or how far he'll go in the future, if he goes anywhere.”
I exchanged a look with Aly when Mom walked to the large window at the back of the room, watching the lake stretching out with the slow, steady current keeping her attention, likely distracting her enough that she didn’t break down.
“Sara, thanks so much,” I answered for Mom. “We appreciate you digging around for us. Mom I know appreciates…”
“I do,” Mom said, over her shoulder. “Sara, honey, thank you. Looks like I…well. Hopefully I dodged a bullet.”
“Good to know, Keira. Next time you’re in town…”
“I owe you a beer. A bunch of them. Thanks honey, I’ll make good.”
Phone back in my pocket, I watched Mom staring out of that window, continuing to keep to herself until Aly went behind her, slipping her gaze between my mother and me. “Keira?” she tried.
Mom only shook her head and I knew she needed a second to absorb everything Sara had revealed. She was likely dissecting the details, probably wondering how much stock she should put into office gossip, maybe trying to wage what she knew of Cass and what she knew of most wannabe artists trying to land a contract.
I would have let her go on just staring at nothing, thinking, keeping to herself, but the footsteps overhead knocked me out of my patience as did the chirp of my phone when the text alert sounded. Koa and Mack were upstairs, doing God knew what. They didn’t need to see Mom break down and when I read my message, smiling at my father’s confident attitude, I realized we needed to get things rolling, to find out if Cass had tried to pull another shitty game to get something he wanted: my mother.
“Mom…”
“He’s the type, isn’t he?” she asked, finally turning around. “He just seems like the type to go a little desperate, lie to people, pay people off to…” She rubbed her face, holding her palms over her eyes. “If he’s the one…”
“We’ll find out,” Aly said, standing next to my mother. She glanced at me, looking like she wanted me to move, take action, at least give her an idea what was in my head.
“Yeah,” I said, standing in front of my mother to kiss her forehead when she looked at me. “We’ll figure this out.” Over Mom’s head I noticed the darkness descending and the quick swarm of lightening bugs that flew over the water’s surface. Dad needed me and if I was convincing enough, we’d get the answers we wanted, one way or another. “Listen,” I told Aly when Mom went to her chair, slumping against the leather. “Can you stay with them tonight?”
“What’s going on?”
“I’m not sure, but I think Kona has some thoughts.”