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“What do you mean?” Baily leaned forward. “Exactly.”
“You’ve all read the newspapers. Those boys all tell the same story. They thought they were going on a little fishing trip with their buddy. They were excited. But then came the reports of the storm, and they thought better of it. They told Jared not to go, but Jared got mad, called them names, and told them he’d never ask them to go fishing again.”
“Something tells me you don’t believe them,” Baily said.
“Half the town says Jared was a sweet kid, who was kind to everyone and wouldn’t hurt a fly, much less steal anything.” Dawson cocked a brow. “The other half now believe he was a thief, made worse by the fact that one of the boys says he overheard Jared whispering about the jewels while on his phone, saying that he’d do it—that he’d handle it whether he had help or not.”
“There were many stories that came out right after the incident,” Audra said. “Jared had never been in trouble before. The other boys didn’t have glowing reputations, but they weren’t painted as bad kids who would lie.”
“Yeah, but since then things have snowballed. Other kids have come out to say that Jared had changed in the last few months before he died,” Baily said. “Even some very reputable adults have come forward with credible stories about Jared and his strange, secretive behavior.”
“Even the police chief on Marco Island told me that his own father stated that Jared had been late to work or had come back late from lunch and lied about where he was,” Dawson said. “His dad said that it was because he’d been seeing this marina babe, Valerie, but that girl has said more than once she never dated Jared. That they were barely friends.”
“Didn’t Mallary swear she set her brother up with that young girl?” Keaton asked.
“She did, and now it’s become a he-said/she-said kind of situation.” Dawson ran his hand over his face. “It’s hard to figure out the truth when one of the players is dead.”
“There have been someso-calledcredible things said about me and my dad in this town.” Audra twisted her hair. “For years, people in Calusa Cove believed horrible things about me, and only about an eighth of them were true.”
“Don’t get mad at me, babe, but you didn’t help yourself with some of the things you said and did.” Dawson pressed his finger on Audra’s lips to keep her from blurting out a typical retort consisting of a few curse words.
Keaton stared at his friends. Sometimes, he found himself simply watching their interactions with each other. It was so nice to see two people who genuinely loved, valued, and respected one another.
“After looking at everything I could about the case and doing my own little mini-investigation, the circumstantial evidence points to Jared, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to believe everything I hear,” Dawson said. “Without the boat or the jewels, there isn’t much to go on.”
“What are you going to do about it?” Baily asked.
“Not much I can do. Everyone thinks the jewelry is back at the bottom of the ocean, and Jared’s the one responsible.” Dawson wrapped his arms around Audra, who rested her head on his shoulder. “I’ve spoken to the lead detectives. They did everything by the book. Unless that boat is brought up from the bottom of the sea, or the jewels are found, Jared is, right now, the only plausible suspect.”
“I feel so bad for Mallary and her family,” Baily said. “Her father’s business has taken a big hit because of this. Even if Jared did do it, they shouldn’t suffer more. Right now, it’s just rumors. I wish I could say I didn’t believe how fast a town could turn on someone, but we all did the same thing to Audra.”
“The worst part is all the speculation is twisting partial truths into absolute facts,” Audra said. “That marina babe—Valerie—her story did change a little bit. She first indicated that she and Jared were closer—until her parents got involved. I get they want to protect her, but they’re doing so at the expense of a potentially innocent dead kid. And for what? To maintain her popularity status?”
“That’s harsh,” Baily said.
“But not necessarily untrue.” Audra cocked her head. “Mallary swears Valerie and Jared had sex. Valerie’s still in high school. She’s head cheerleader. Class president. Besides virgin status, she has a reputation to maintain.”
“I wouldn’t want to be a teenager again,” Keaton said. “The pressure to be cool, to be popular—it’s exhausting.”
Hayes tossed a marshmallow. It bounced off Keaton’s nose. “What are you blustering about? You were always popular. Class president. Captain of the football team. Voted most likely to succeed. You were even voted most popular.”
“That may be true, but there are pressures in being the kid everyone thinks they want to be. Or wants to be friends with. I hated it most of my youth. I’d look at thekids in school who weren’t popular and often wished I were them. I wanted to blend into the woodwork.” He smacked his forehead and chuckled. “I remember once thinking if I went out for something I wasn’t good at, people might see me as normal, instead of some kind of superhero. So, I started with the chess club. I had never played the dumb game, but it turned out that I’m great at it. I went out for three different things that I’d never done and?—”
“Oh, shut up,” Hayes said. “We get it. You’re the golden boy. Good at everything you touch, even flipping gymnastics.” He jerked his thumb. “You know, this guy was actually on the team his junior year of high school. Competed and everything.”
“No way?” Baily laughed. “You did a floor routine? I’d like to see that.”
“Absolutely not,” Keaton mumbled. “And for the record, I wasn’t that good, just good enough to make the team.”
“And get a couple of silver medals, or whatever they call it at the high school level,” Hayes said.
“And he can still do a backflip.” Dawson wiggled his finger. “I’d give it a seven. His form sucks.”
“You’re all assholes.” Keaton downed half his beer. His teenage years had been rough, but it was difficult to explain why. He’d had everything growing up. Loving parents. Great siblings. A cool older cousin named Foster, who, to this day, he still looked up to, even if he couldn’t get the guy to move to Florida now that he’d left the Air Force. No, Foster had decided on theOregon Coast. Well, it was a nice place to visit, and Keaton had spent his first few years as a boy living there. Not that he had any ties to Oregon, because he didn’t, but he had a bond with Foster.
Keaton’s family wasn’t rich, but they weren’t poor either. He’d wanted for nothing.
And yet, he’d craved everything.