One hour, two lattes, and three cupcakes later, Kennedy followed a mostly sober and completely dressed Darcy down the hall, past the suite of offices and what appeared to be a medical center, to the locker room. “Why would Alex be here today?” Kennedy asked.
“They’re training.”
“The owner isn’t going to get mad if they take a couple days off.” Kennedy was pretty sure on that one.
“Chuck would want it this way.”
“Really?” That sounded rather heartless, but maybe she didn’t understand.
“He worked out a schedule to get them on track for the finals. He wouldn’t want everyone slacking off. He loved this team.”
Kennedy wasn’t so sure about that, however Darcy knew him better than Kennedy ever could. “Don’t they train at a training facility?”
“It’s still being built in Henderson.” Darcy pushed on a big metal door and walked through.
Kennedy followed her into a large room with a green floor that resembled a field. White lines edged the outside and sliced down the center. A net was set on each side of the practice field.
“We ran into some zoning issues, so it’s not going to be ready till next season. The guys practice over here, and they use the gym we have set up next to the locker room.” She waved a hand at wall of floor to ceiling windows. On the other side of the glass, state-of-the-art treadmills and weightlifting benches were lined up, machine after machine.
“Mom, what are you doing in the bowels?” A young woman with red streaks in her blond hair approached Darcy.
Fanny? This couldn’t be Darcy’s daughter. Sometimes all Kennedy saw when she looked at Fanny was a tween with pigtails and braces, not this woman. “Fantasia!” Kennedy had called her Fantasia since she was born. The girl was magic from moment her lungs took in air.
“Aunt Kenn!”
“Oh my goodness, you are beautiful.” Kennedy wrapped her best friend’s daughter in a hug, and then pulled back. “How old are you now?”
“Nineteen.” As old as Darcy was when she’d had her. It had been quite the drama back in the day. Darcy dropped out of school, and Chuck and Darcy had an actual shotgun wedding. Her father literally showed up to Chuck’s fraternity house with a shotgun.
Despite all that, Chuck married her, and they had been happy until now. Happy adjacent, anyway.
“Sweetheart, you’re back. Did you get my messages? Why didn’t you come find me?” Darcy’s eyebrows arched as she pulled her daughter into a hug. “I tried calling and texting,” she said, her voice choked.
Fanny’s tears slid down her face. “I was at soccer practice. Where’s Dad?”
“Honey, there was an accident.” Darcy swallowed. “Your father…”
“I know. Uncle Craig told me.”
Darcy took a step back. “When did you talk to Uncle Craig? Where is he?”
Fanny shrugged. “He’s upstairs hiding from the cops.”
“What did he tell you?” Darcy asked, voice sharp.
“That Dad was murdered.”
“How did he find out?”
Fanny frowned, looking confused. Kennedy was a little bit confused herself. Wasn’t it a good thing that Craig told Fanny the hard news, so Darcy didn’t have to? Kennedy had delivered this type of bad news multiple times. It sucked.
“Can I see Dad?”
“Oh honey.” Darcy smoothed a piece of stray hair off Fanny’s face. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“But Mom...”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Mom. I need to make sure it’s him.” Fanny’s eyes watered, and she swiped at them.
“It is him, honey.”
“Mom…”
Darcy stared at her daughter, looking like something was warring inside of her. Probably the urge to satisfy her daughter’s curiosity versus the reality of how Chuck looked. “Follow me.”
“Mom, they moved him.”
“You were in the box?” Darcy asked. Kennedy completely understood her shocked tone. The box that looked like a horror movie set, soaked in blood spatter?
“I had to look, but they already took him away.”
“Oh honey.” The worry in Darcy’s eyes was unmistakable.
“Yeah.” Tears spilled down Fanny’s face. “It was terrible.”
“I know, sweetie.” Darcy wrapped her in a hug. “That’s why I don’t want to take you to see Dad.”
“I have to know.”
“Know what?”
“If it’s really him. It doesn’t seem real.”
Kennedy couldn’t really blame Fanny for feeling that way. If it wasn’t for her seeing Chuck with her own eyes, she wouldn’t believe it was real either. Things like this happened on TV, or to other people. At least that was how it always felt… until now.
“Kennedy, can we start tomorrow?” Darcy said as she hugged her daughter, the words muffled by Fanny’s hair.
“Tomorrow?” What were they starting? Oh. The letters. The threats.
“What’s tomorrow?” Fanny pulled away from her mother.
Darcy looked directly at Kennedy. Over twenty-five years of friendship, and Kennedy understood Darcy was clearly asking her to shut the hell up. Which made sense. Some things your children didn’t need to know. Darcy put on a half-smile. “We need to start talking to the staff and make sure everything is ready for the season.”
“Of course.” Kennedy smiled. Fanny didn’t need to know that the talking had to do with her father. The murder was probably hard enough to deal with.
Darcy’s phone dinged. “Charlie’s flight just landed. I need to send a car…”
“Why don’t I go get him?” Kennedy didn’t want to sit around and infringe on the family moment.
“You don’t mind?” Darcy felt at her jean pockets. “I don’t have my keys.”
Of course that wasn’t surprising. She’d pulled on a spare pair of jeans and a team sweatshirt she kept in her own office for emergencies. “Do you have keys to any of the cars?”
“I have keys to the Range Rover.” Fanny pulled out a fob and twirled it on her fingers.
“Can you give that to Kennedy so she can get your brother?”
“Sure.” Fanny tossed the fob to Kennedy.
“Do you mind?” Darcy reached over and held Kennedy’s hand. “I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important.”
“Not at all.” Kennedy had been in Vegas twenty-four hours, and she was already heading back to the airport. So far, this trip was anything but ordinary.