Hunting Truth (14 page)

Lucas looked thoughtful for a second and I
could tell he was fighting the urge to confront Scott
himself.
I knew it
wouldn’t be easy for Mr. Control Freak Hunter to step back and let
me handle it but, after a few moments, he nodded and said, “Very
well. But we need to create an opportunity for you to talk with him
privately that seems natural. You know, unplanned. Until then, I
don’t want him out of our sight . . . Joel will not get another
chance to talk to him today. Or any of our merry band of rock
stars, come to that. I hope you don’t mind, Issy, but I think they
should all leave with us on the jet as soon as
possible.”

“
Why would I mind
?” I asked, frowning. I caught his filthy grin and
realized.
Ah, no more Mile High Club pleasures.
“Lucas, after seeing Joel, I have no
desire to have sex any time soon. He makes my skin crawl. I just
want to find out what he’s up to and get rid of him.”

Lucas reached over and cupped my
face in his hands. “We will,
honey. Once we know his game, we’ll beat him at it. Don’t worry.”
Then he kissed me and I almost forgot about everything as warm
tingles spread through my whole body, although he was only touching
my face. As he released me and leaned back, I noticed Scott
watching us with a scornful expression.
Oh boy, this might be more difficult
than I thought.

We rejoined the others and had a couple
more drink
s, courtesy of
Lucas. I noticed how Jenny became less introverted when she had a
little alcohol in her. Her cheeks were flushed and she was much
more animated. So was Travis. He grew louder and louder until we
began to get disapproving looks from the bar staff. Jenny didn’t
seem to notice; or if she did, she didn’t mind. Once we were nicely
under the influence, Lucas offered everyone a ride home on the
private jet. Everyone was pumped. Everyone except Scott, who
refused scornfully. Eventually, with some persistent persuasion
from Chad and Angel, he finally agreed but he made sure we all knew
that he wasn’t happy about it.

It didn
’t go down too well when Lucas insisted on an early
departure. I guessed it was to make sure that Joel couldn’t meet
with Scott again—or any of our group. He used the excuse that there
were preparations to be made for the meeting with Trey and for
their tour, which was now only days away. That soon had everyone
chatting in a distracted buzz.

We walked to the festival entrance where a
cab was waiting to take us to our hotels and then the airport.
Lucas had cunningly only requested one cab. Obviously we couldn’t
all fit in. Lucas declared that he’d thought of something and
needed to see Trey urgently and would follow
on later. I said I’d wait but Lucas
pointed out that there still wasn’t room for me in the cab and
neither could one other. He said I should follow in another cab
with whoever else was left over. Immediately, Scott declared that
he would wait for another cab with me. Lucas caught my eye as he
called and requested another cab.
Oh, well played, Mr. Hunter!

The others left and Lucas headed back
inside the festival grounds
, having agreed that I’d get our luggage from the hotel so
he could get a cab directly to the airport. I decided to wait until
we were safely ensconced inside the cab before I tackled Scott
about Joel. Instead I gushed about how brilliant Denial had been
and Scott enthused about how awesome it had been on stage with the
electric atmosphere. He’d just started the usual drummer’s moan
that he was stuck behind a drum kit and couldn’t parade around the
stage like the others, when the cab arrived.

We got in and
I was pleased to see how relaxed and off guard
Scott was. I was just about to ask him straight out about talking
to Joel, when something stopped me. I don’t know what it was.
Intuition perhaps, but I decided to act the innocent
instead.

“
I was so worried about you when you hadn’t
showed up backstage, you know, just before your set,” I said
casually.

He looked at me thoughtfully for a second,
then shrugged. “I just lost track of time. But it was all cool. I
was there when it mattered.” He looked away and out of the
window.

“Where were you?” I asked, trying to sound
nonchalant.

“Oh, just wandering around, listening to the
bands.”

It was obvious that I was going to have to
come right out with it if I wanted answers.
“I went looking for you, you know. But I
couldn’t find you and the crowds were getting really
bad.”

He turned his head to look at me, clearly
surprised. “You did?”

“
Of course I did! I thought you were going
to miss your slot. That would have been disastrous not just for
you, but for the whole band.”

He nodded, looking a little sheepish. “I
know.”

I decided to bite the bullet so I took a
deep breath and asked, “Who were you talking to, outside the
backstage entrance?”

He frowned and made a face. “Nobody.
Why?”

My stomach flipped at his blatant lie and
I had to fight the urge to call him a liar and demand that he tell
me the truth. Again, my instinct told me not to confront him. I
forced a smile. “Oh nothing, I thought I saw you talking to some
guy outside the backstage door, right before you dashed backstage
and got changed. I was obviously mistaken. Anyway, are you all
ready for the tour? I can’t believe it’s almost here
already.”

He narrowed his eyes for a second or two
and I got the feeling he was suspicious about my sudden dismissal
of the topic.
Then his
face relaxed and he said, “Yeah, pretty much. It’s basically doing
what we did today, but over and over in different locations. No
biggie.” And with that, he turned and looked out of the window
again. I got the distinct impression that he had something on his
mind but I knew Scott and there was no point in pushing him; he’d
just clam up even more. I spent the rest of the short journey to
Scott’s hotel worrying about what Lucas might do, seeing as I’d
drawn a blank.

He collected his luggage quickly and we
went on to the hotel where Lucas and I were staying.
Scott came up with me and
waited whilst I quickly packed our overnight bags. He couldn’t
resist making a few sarcastic comments about us staying in the lap
of luxury. I ignored them; Lucas had booked the band into a
perfectly good hotel and, rather than two twin rooms just for the
band, he had once again paid for an extra double room for Chad and
Angel. And this time, he’d swapped a twin room for a double room
for Travis and Jenny, leaving Ethan and Scott to share a twin room.
I felt like retorting that Lucas was paying for everything—the
travel, accommodation and incidental expenses. Yes, he’d managed to
get them the festival slots, but they weren’t being paid so Lucas
wasn’t getting anything back.

I seethed silently as I zipped up
Lucas
’ bag. I said
nothing but my manner was noticeably cooler. I pointedly refused to
allow him to carry either of the bags and hefted them myself,
grateful that I’d not packed much. I thought it was odd that Scott
didn’t insist or ask me what was wrong, although it was obvious I
was giving him the cold shoulder. The journey to the airport
continued in silence. I was glad to see Lucas waiting to get us
through security. He’d already escorted the others onto the
jet.

As soon as we
’d taken off and everyone had a drink in their
hand, Lucas inclined his head towards the bedroom. I frowned,
knowing there was no way I would be clocking up any more Mile High
Club points with my friends in the cabin next door. He rolled his
eyes and shook his head slightly then nodded again towards the
bedroom. Predictably, there were cheers and lewd remarks from
Travis and Ethan as we left. I felt my cheeks blush furiously,
although I knew they’d mistaken our intentions.

As soon as the door closed behind us, he
said, “Well, what did
little drummer boy have to say?”

I bit my lip, not wanting to admit that
I
’d failed and worrying
about the consequences. Lucas noticed and said, “Ah, I see. I’m not
going to like this am I?” He turned and sat on the edge of the bed.
“Come. Sit,” he said, as he patted the bed next to him.

I sat and took a deep breath. “Scott denied
talking to anyone when I asked him.”

I saw the muscles in his jaw tense before
he spoke. “What did he say when you told him that you’d seen
him?”

“
I didn’t persist. I pretended to have been
mistaken.”

“What?” he demanded, glaring at me, his face
mere inches from mine.

I instinctively
pulled away from him. Immediately, his expression
changed, showing surprise then remorse. “Oh, Issy, I’m sorry. I
didn’t mean to snap. I’m just feeling tense and I know that’s no
excuse. I shouldn’t take it out on you.” He reached out and pulled
me into his arms.

I relaxed as we just sat
holding each other until Lucas
apologized again and asked me whether Scott had said anything
else.

“
Lucas, I know Scott. Well. He has
something on his mind; he’s distracted. He is notoriously stubborn
so insisting that he tell me about Joel would have been pointless.
He would just have dug his heels in further.”

He squeezed me slightly. “I trust your
judgment, Issy. It’s frustrating though. Surely if Joel had simply
approached him either by coincidence or by design and there was
nothing for Scott to tell, he would have confessed to it.
Therefore, he must be hiding something.”

I nodded. “That’s what I think too. Which
is why I didn’t persist and make him clam up completely. Give me
time, I’ll find a way to get him to talk.”

I felt the tension in Lucas’ frame.
“Joel’s up to his tricks again. I know that much. I just hope
Scott’s smart enough not to get himself involved in whatever it
is.”

“
Oh, Lucas, I’m sure he won’t,” I
protested.

He gave a bitter laugh. “I wouldn’t be so
sure. He’s no fan of mine, he clearly hates the fact that we’re
together and Joel can be very persuasive, I can assure
you.”

I thought for a second and decided that
the circumstances were serious enough for me to confess.
“Lucas, I’m going to need to be
honest about Joel when I talk to Scott. It’s the only way that I
think I can get Scott to understand what a monster Joel
is.”

I felt his head tilt. “Honest about
what?”

I took a deep breath. “That day that Joel
came to my apartment and we . . . Well, I got drunk with Scott and
ended up staying there.”

I heard the tension in his voice when he
replied, “Hmmm. And?”

“
So I told him what had happened. With Joel
and . . . with you.”

He was silent for a while and I realized
that I was holding my breath. “You told him everything that Joel
had said?”

“
Yes. I told him everything that I knew, or
thought I knew, at the time.”

His voice was strained when he asked, “Do you
think he believed you when you told him what actually happened to
my mother?”

“
Um, I haven’t told him yet.”

Lucas grasped my shoulders and pushed me
upright to look at my face. “What? So he still believes that I
murdered my mother and drove my father to his death?”
His eyes bored into mine
relentlessly.

I looked down and muttered, “Yes.
I
’ve spent practically
every moment with you. I haven’t had a chance to speak to
him.”

“
Issy, you
’ve just spent time alone with him in the cab. If
he wouldn’t tell you about his conversation with Joel, I’m sure you
could have used the time to bring him up to speed,” he said
caustically. “So why didn’t you?”

I opened my mouth to
reply
, then hesitated. I
looked up into Lucas’ face and saw him narrow his eyes. I knew I
needed to tell him the truth. “I didn’t tell him because I got the
distinct impression that he was hiding something from me. There was
definitely something on his mind.”

His eyes were boring into mine.
“Do you think it was connected
to Joel?”

I shrugged. “I
’ve got no idea except that his awkwardness began
when I brought up the topic of him talking to someone by the
backstage door. He was fine when we first got into the cab—he only
got distant and distracted once I tried to talk to him about
it.”

He laughed. “Of course he was fine to
begin with. Did you see how quickly he jumped at the chance to be
alone with you in a cab? Is that all you spoke about? Joel, I
mean?”

I nodded.

“
Well, whatever he’s hiding must be about
Joel then.” He stood suddenly, taking me by surprise. “I should go
in there and demand to know what the hell’s going on.” He raked his
hand through his hair—a gesture I knew meant pure
frustration.

I stood and placed my hand on his
arm.
“And what good
would that do? We don’t know for sure that he knows anything about
Joel. And trust me, embarrassing him in front of the guys won’t
make him confess to anything if he does.”