CHAPTER 33

Sutton

“Hold on, are you trying to say that Gabe and Father Montgomery were having an affair?” I scoffed. “There is no way.”

Brian shrugged. “Why not?”

“Because,” I spluttered, “I have known Gabe my entire life. He’s a total manwhore.”

Brian’s eyes narrowed. “Okay, then tell me who his conquests were.”

“Every girl we went to high school with!” I retorted. “Gabe was always bragging about how he hit it with Kelly Summers, Donna Flagen, Amberly Jones, I could go on and on.”

“Out of those three girls, would you say that at least one of them would have a juicy, salacious story about Gabe? Some wild nights partying or at least a memory of hooking up?” Brian asked.

I nodded. “Definitely. I know that Kelly was his girlfriend for almost a year.”

A smirk broke out across Brian’s face. “Kelly was the one who told me that Gabe was gay.”

“You are shitting me,” I gasped. “She did not.”

Brian raised his hands in surrender. “Kelly said that her relationship with Gabe was strictly platonic. He promised to raise her popularity level in high school if she would cover for him. I don’t know Donna Flagen, but Amberly Jones had a very similar story. But where this gets really interesting is that Amberly’s older brother Kevin, who is gay, said that they dated until Gabe up and broke things off about a year ago.”

I could hardly believe it. “Gabe dated Kevin? He’s gorgeous!”

Mark tensed beside me.

“Nothing compared to you.” I kissed his cheek and Mark grumbled something, which I chose to think was ‘I love you.’

“Kevin was openly living the lifestyle when we were in school. He and Gabe have always been very close, I can see the connection. Looks like I am going to need to speak with Kevin and Amberly.” Knox got to his feet. “Anything else, detective?”

Brian shook his head. “No, but I do really feel like the connection is there.”

Knox nodded. “We will look into it. In the meantime, I want you all to consider not going to the Otterville Town Days.”

I drew in a harsh breath. “Not go to Town Days? Shit, Knox, why don’t you just take away Christmas as well?”

He made a face at me before continuing, “It is unlikely we will have an attack there. But I worry about Sutton being out in the open.”

I shrugged. “I understand, Knox, but I already promised Martha that I would help out at Abberly’s booth. She is going all out this year.”

Candice nodded. “I did too. Martha said she needed all the help she could get.”

Knox sighed. “I don’t like the idea of having the carnival people in town and not being able to keep an eye on everyone. But I understand that you can’t live like you are trapped inside. Maybe we could compromise.”

Mark agreed. “How about we are in by dark? In the daylight, Brian and his agents can keep a good eye on things. When darkness falls, we will be back home.”

Knox nodded slowly. “Yeah, that could work. Do you have enough men to cover everyone at Town Days?”

Brian nodded. “Yes, but you are right. I would be better if they were indoors before nightfall. Town Days starts the day after tomorrow, right?”