27. Chapter 27
Chapter 27
Dylan
P ete seemed to ignore Elise’s question. He remained silent until we neared his silver Ford F-150.
After setting down the folding table, he reached into his pocket for his keys. “Look, you kids gotta understand somethin.’ Our team was under a lot of pressure. It was dope or get cut, and I needed my scholarship. Without it, I would have been flippin’ burgers. I couldn’t afford school on my own, and Coach knew that.”
“My dad managed to stay on the team after he stopped doping.” Elise’s voice had an unusually hard edge to it.
He dipped his head. “Your dad was one of the few that managed to crawl out of that pit.”
Pete picked up the folding table and carried it to the back of his truck, but Elise moved to block his path. “You still haven’t answered my question. Was Tara blackmailing you too?”
Sidestepping her, Pete eased the table into the truck bed.
“Alright, then I’m taking your silence as a yes, especially considering that you hired her to work for you when she’s obviously useless.”
Pete shook his head without turning around. “You kids don’t understand. You’ve never had to be the breadwinner. Our family’s survival revolves around running. Of course I paid Tara to keep her quiet. Wasn’t about to go home and tell everyone it was time to pack up and head to the poor house just ‘cause one high in the instep female had dirt on me.”
When he turned around, his eyes glistened with unshed tears.
Elise bit her lips before answering. “I’m sorry I was so blunt. I guess I got so wrapped up in finding my dad’s killer that I forgot to think about how all of this affects you. I’m not trying to threaten your livelihood.”
“That’s alright.” Pete cleared his throat. “You never were one to pull your punches, even if you do a pretty good job of pretendin’ to be shy.” Thumping her on the back, he said, “Now let’s get the rest of this junk in the back and head home. It’s been a long day.”
“Um, wait.” Elise said. “I want you to know that I’m not going to say a word about this whole doping thing to the police unless I have to. The only reason I would need to tell them is if we find out for certain that it’s linked to my dad’s death. If it does turn out to be related, I bet the police would agree to keep it quiet if it means we’ll tell them what they need to put a murderer behind bars.”
Pete caught her in a side-hug. “Mighty generous of you. Hopefully, it doesn’t come to that.”
How could Elise make that promise? Did she expect us to hunt down a possible assassin all on our own so this guy could save face?
“There’s something else I wanted to ask you,” she said when Pete shoved his box of stuff into the backseat.
“What's that?”
“I was wondering if…I wanted to…Is it too late for me to join the team?”