Chapter 23
Reid
“Divide and conquer?”
“Divide and conquer,” Cade states, touching his fist to mine.
He walks away with the same determined look I feel throughout my body.
Football is supposed to be about competition, about team, about brotherhood.
We don’t fuck around with people’s personal lives, and as far as I’m concerned, McNally is the lowest kind of piece of shit on Earth.
Threatening players, conning women into sleeping with him, and maybe going as far as injuring one of us.
We just need evidence.
I head toward Deion James, our defense captain. He can get the word out to his guys. Cade and I thought it best that we didn’t leave paper trails—no messages or emails. We need discussions.
“James.”
He turns around, grinning. “What’s up, QB? If this is about Roberts, I told him he has to get up quicker off the snap.”
Shaking my head, I peer around, then lean against the cubby next to his. “It’s not about that. Listen, I have a little something I want to keep on the down-low, but I was hoping for your help.”
His face turns serious. “You know I got you.”
“McNally,” I state. “Ever heard anything about him?”
“Besides what he did to Freeman?”
I nod once.
Deion looks off to the side. “Naw, man. Not that I can think of. He always seems chill to me. You heard different?”
“Yeah. The kind of stuff we don’t want around the team.”
Deion has a seat on the bench. “What can I do?”
“Ask around the defense. See if they know anything. Just tell me privately. No phones or computers. Or they can come to me themselves.”
“You got it, bro.” He hits his knuckles with mine. “You going to tell me what happened?”
“I don’t want to say until we’re certain, but he’s taking things outside the team. I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t think it was warranted. If anyone is buddy-buddy with him, maybe skip them. We don’t need this getting back to him.”
“Alright. I got you.”
I fist bump him one more time, and then catch back up with Cade, who’s talking to a group of special teams. I’m not even surprised. Cade can hold court with anyone.
He peeks up and sees me standing there. He says one last thing, then bro hugs each and every one of them before striding toward me.
Every time I see the two of us in a place like this, I think about how far we’ve come from peewee when our helmets looked gigantic on our heads.
We’ve already been through so much, along with Lex.
I wish he was with us right now. He was always the more level-headed one.
But I’ll be damned if I let someone threaten to take this all away from us.
Or threaten Briar. Or Charley for that matter.
McNally doesn’t understand who he’s messing with.
“I have something,” Cade says.
Micah
“We got it covered,” the new security team leader I hired to watch over Raeann and Tab states, his tone matter of fact and filled with confidence.
“That’s what I like to hear,” I reply, then hang up the phone.
I tried giving Raeann her freedom, but after finding out that the fire may have been set deliberately, I can’t take the chance.
I peer inside the café at the man at a corner table in a cheap business suit. The barista sets his coffee before him, and he moves a manila folder off to one side. My stomach tightens.
The café door opens easily in my hand. The interior vibe is calm, nearly serene, the opposite of what’s going on in my brain at the moment.
The idea that someone tried to hurt Raeann… I want to rip their throat out. Sweet, innocent Raeann who feels bad when she swats a fly.
I sit at the table. The man across from me is about fifteen years older, a black mustache with hints of gray contouring his upper lip. “Mr. Freeman.”
“Mr. Vlekiyo.”
“Thanks for bringing me on with this.” He slides the manila folder toward me.
“I’ll cut to the chase. My opinion is that the original investigator was spot on.
The pictures of the crime scene indicate an accelerant was used in the kitchen to make it appear as if it was either a kitchen malfunction or faulty wiring, when in reality, the fire was set intentionally. ”
My entire body locks up. I should’ve put cameras throughout the apartment.
Then we would’ve already nailed the guy.
Fuck me for wanting to honor Tab’s privacy.
My jaw tightens, my teeth clamping together.
If only… Thousands of different scenarios play through my head.
If I’d put the camera there, I might’ve been able to stop it.
Motion detection and all that. Or at least I’d have physical, visual proof that someone did set the fire, and maybe have a clearer picture of who did it.
No wonder why Tab was more injured. Her bedroom was right off the kitchen.
That night weighs on Raeann like a ton of bricks.
If this was McNally, then it was definitely about Raeann and me.
It had nothing to do with Tab, yet she was the one who received the brunt of it all.
On the other hand, is it terrible that I’m happy it wasn’t my girl?
It is. I know it is, but I can’t help thinking it.
“A police investigation should be opened,” Vlekiyo says.
I unclench my jaw. “Thank you.” I remove a check from my pocket and give it to him.
“I’d be happy to testify in court if need be. You have my number.” He holds out his hand, and I shake it as he grabs his to-go cup and check and then leaves.
It’s time for me to make a call to the first investigator and get this started if he hasn’t already. Whoever did this needs to pay.
My gut says it’s McNally. The timeline matches up perfectly. Sure, it could be a crazed fan. But I don’t think so. This is retaliation for the players emailing Coach with their support of me and admonishing McNally.
I bring up the text thread that shall not be named and send one word.
Me: Confirmed.
Levi
Davis and I walk into the management suite. The Wildcats symbol and history are everywhere, mixed with the modern furnishings. Sleek metal, straight lines. It says professionalism to the nth degree. This is probably the least Tennessee-looking place in Tennessee.
“There she is,” Davis says.
There’s just something about the way he says it that has me turning toward him. His stare is on Nala, all five feet nothing of her. She has stick-straight black hair, and she perpetually looks tired. Even at team parties, she’s McNally’s shadow.
Currently, though, she’s seated at her desk, her fingers flying over her keyboard.
“We should’ve come up with a plan.”
“It’s all good,” Davis says. “I know her.”
Okay, that’s interesting. He never said…
Nala hears our footsteps. She peers up, her gaze zeroing in on Davis first, then me. “Davis, Levi.” She smiles, and for a moment, it lifts the shadows from her face. “What can I help you with?”
“Is Steve in?”
She shakes her head. “He’s at lunch.”
“Excellent,” Davis says. “Can we all talk privately?”
She gives him a narrowed gaze, and I’m so freaking curious right now. They’re acting like they might be a bit more than acquaintances at team parties or on the rare occasion one of us is called in for a conversation.
“There’s a conference room down the hall.”
I shake my head. “Some place else? Out of the building.”
She checks her watch, her lips thinning. “My lunch is in ten.”
“Sandwich shop down the street?” Davis asks.
Nala blushes, and now I’m positive something happened between these two. “Sure. I know the one.”
Davis and I walk away, and I wait until the elevator closes to ask, “What the hell was that?”
“What?”
“Dude, you two clearly have history of some sort.”
Davis shakes his head. “You’re a relationship guru now?”
“No, I’m just not clueless.”
He stretches his neck to the right, then the left. “Maybe,” he says. “I don’t really want to talk about it right now. I want to get these questions answered.”
We stride down the street to the sandwich shop. It’s a homey place, a complete one-eighty from the offices we walked out of. Half a dozen tables line a wall, while the opposite side has a counter to order from. We order a few sandwiches so we don’t feel bad taking up a table, and then we wait.
As Nala said, about ten minutes later, she comes strolling through the door. I wave her over, and Davis pushes an egg salad sandwich her way. She peers at it, then up at him. Before long, both of us are staring at him. I’ve never known Davis to be so tight-lipped.
Davis kicks me under the table, and I press my lips together to keep from laughing. “Okay, listen, we want to be straight with you about why we’re here,” I tell Nala.
“I’m listening.”
“We think McNally is a piece of shit, and we also think you know that more than anyone else.”
Nala bites her lip. “I signed an NDA. I can’t disclose—”
“Nala,” Davis says, his voice firm but with a roundness to it that catches her attention. “Please.”
“The last thing we want is to get you in trouble. Considering what we suspect about him, we’re sure that wouldn’t end well for you. Let me lay out what we know.”
She nods, rubbing her hands up and down her arms. She looks so small—frightened, even.
“One, he set up the trade rumor for Micah, though it was all bullshit. It caused Micah’s girlfriend to have a panic attack on live TV.”
Nala doesn’t react, but the look in her eyes acknowledges that fact.
“My dating show?” I start. “He coerced one of the final ladies to sleep with him by telling her he could get me to choose her. He never once said anything to me. I wouldn’t be surprised if he told the other woman that as well.
” The thought blurts from my mouth, coming to me in the moment.
It would make sense. The reason for her rudeness.
She probably caught on before the rest of us did.
I’ll have to ask her.
Nala starts to visibly shake. She hugs her elbows to herself. Davis’s face turns red, his eyes like thunder.
“The other thing we’re sure of is that the apartment mine and Micah’s girlfriends were staying in was set on fire…and it wasn’t an accident.”
“And you think McNally set it?”
“We don’t think he actually set it himself, he’d be too smart for that, but yeah, we think it’s highly possible he was behind it.”
“That’s awful.” She peers between the two of us. “I can tell you I haven’t seen anything like that. I’d have said something. I promised Micah. I don’t know what you want me to do…”
“We wondered if maybe you had access to his emails or text messages. Maybe even computer files.”
She switches her gaze to Davis quickly. “I can’t. You know I need this job, Davis.”
“We don’t want you to jeopardize anything,” he says, assuring her. He reaches out to put his hand on her arm but places it on the table instead. “We thought if you felt comfortable doing something without getting yourself in trouble that you could try.”
“Please,” I implore her. “If he was the reason behind the fire, then it means he wouldn’t hesitate to hurt others, too. We can’t have that.”
“He’s a sick bastard,” she says. “He had me write up the apology email to the team and players about the talk show. He wasn’t sorry at all for what he put Miss Raeann through.
He was madder that the whole team sided with Micah.
He threatens a lot. But as far as I can tell, he’s never gone through with any of it. ”
“Threatens?”
“You know, like ‘He’ll get theirs,’ or ‘Assholes deserve to be taught a lesson.’ Vague stuff.”
“Clearly he doesn’t like people crossing him.”
“Clearly,” she states. She peers toward Davis, and their exchange of looks says something I’m not privy to. “I don’t know what I could find out, and if I’m caught…”
“We don’t want you to put yourself in a position where you get caught,” I tell her. “We only wondered, if you happened to find an opportunity, maybe you could look at a few things.”
She blows out a breath, staring at the table. She takes a few moments to answer, then says, “Sure. But I can’t promise anything.”