Chapter 10
Celeste's lip curled with revulsion. It was clearly a subject she didn't want to talk about. "My daughter is going through a difficult time in her life right now. For whatever reason, she has made these unsubstantiated claims. I blame the therapist she’s seeing. Regression therapy. All of a sudden, she has these traumatic memories,” she said dramatically in a mocking voice.
“It's not possible. As much as Brock and I may have had our differences, he did not and would not abuse Hailey.
I refuse to believe that. She never mentioned anything to me at the time.
I never saw any evidence of abuse. I would have known.
Something like that could not have happened right under my nose and remained hidden for all these years.
" Her face twisted into a scowl. "I think that charlatan has put ideas in her head.
To what end, I don't know. Maybe Hailey was trying to extort money from Brock. It doesn’t make much sense to me.
She has everything she wants. We've always taken care of her and Hunter.”
"That's somebody else I'd like to talk about," I said.
Celeste frowned. "If you ask me, I think Hailey is acting out because, quite frankly, Tiffany is younger than she is.
She's not okay with it. Neither am I. Nobody is.” She paused.
“Maybe it was a cry for attention. I don't think Brock has spent any meaningful time with his children since he got involved with the tramp.
As for Hunter, the two just didn't get along. Fundamentally different philosophies on life, I suppose.” Another frown tugged her lips.
“Hunter could never be Christian. It was unfair for Brock to expect as much from him.”
“How old was Hunter when Christian died?”
Celeste thought for a moment. “Twelve or thirteen, I suppose.”
“Do you mind if I ask how he passed?”
“It’s not a memory I like to revisit.”
“I understand.”
There was an awkward silence.
Then I said, “It’s safe to say that both of your children harbored some animosity toward Brock.”
Her eyes narrowed at me, and she sneered, “I guess that makes them suspects, too.”
“Anyone with a motive is a suspect.”
A hint of doubt crept into her brain. Fear filled her eyes. It was easy to see her thoughts. What if one of her kids had done this?
Celeste didn’t like the idea. Nobody wanted to raise a monster. Whoever killed Brock Madison was pretty monstrous.
After the unsettling thought, she shook her head, dismissing it. “No. My kids wouldn’t do that.”
I think she was trying to convince herself.
“What about enemies?” I asked.
“You mean besides anyone he ever knew?”
“Anyone who stands out.”
She exhaled. “I guess I’d better come up with some names so you’ll have someone to investigate besides my family.”
I gave her a look. “Legitimate enemies.”
Celeste considered it for a moment. “Brock could be a difficult personality. He demanded a certain level of excellence. It’s what made him a champion. But he made a few enemies along the way. Gavin Carver comes to mind.”
“He got cut after his injury,” Jack said. “Never got picked up again. That guy had so much potential.”
“And he blamed Brock.”
“Brock didn’t snap Gavin’s ACL on the field,” JD said. “He can thank Darryl Westbury for that.”
“Gavin blames Brock for pushing him to play with an injury.”
“It’s professional football,” Jack replied. “Everyone plays through injuries.”
“Yes, but Brock was vocal about his dislike for Carver. Badmouthed him around the league. Said he was difficult to work with. Which he was. Carver was a diva.”
“You think Gavin Carver snapped and took revenge?” I said.
Celeste shrugged. “You wanted suspects. I’m giving you suspects. Last I heard, he was working construction. Rags to riches to rags. I don’t know about you, but if I had to bust concrete in the sun all day, I’d be pretty pissed off too.”
“Anybody else we should look into?”
“You might want to talk to Coach Colt Ralston. I don’t think he was particularly happy with Brock when he got fired.”
“He deserved to get fired,” Jack said. “Their defense sucked last season. It’s what kept them out of the Super Bowl.”
“Well, Coach Ralston saw it differently. I know he and Brock had exchanged quite a few tense words. Threats were made.”
“What kind of threats?”
“I wasn’t present for the exchange, but I can only speculate.
Both of them are hot-tempered men. I know Colt was pretty vocal about it in the press.
Everybody came down on him hard for the way the season ended.
I don’t think he handled it particularly well.
I think he’s coaching high school football now. ”
JD and I shared a look. Not the end of the world, but could be a motive for murder.
“Of course, there were always disgruntled fans,” Celeste said.
“Some of them got pretty crazy. I’m sure you can imagine.
Brock would get death threats all the time on social media.
They’d send nasty letters to the house. We even got a few phone calls.
I don’t know how these people got our number, but they did. ”
“Anything credible?”
“Well, Brock is dead, isn’t he?”
She had a point.
“Honestly, I’m glad I’m out of all that. My life is so much less chaotic.” She frowned. “I’m sorry it caught up with Brock. But we all make our own beds, don’t we?”
“Is there anyone else you can think of?”
“No. Not really.”
After a brief pause, JD asked. “What about the accident?”
Celeste cringed.“That was so long ago. I had almost forgotten about that.”