All She Ever Wanted - Barbara Freethy [40]
"Putting aside Natalie and Emily," Cole said, trying to refocus his thoughts, "what's your take on this book?"
Dylan shrugged. "Someone wants revenge."
"At Emily's expense. It's not just Natalie's reputation that's going to take a hit. Emily's life has been put under the microscope. Words and thoughts that might not even be hers are portrayed as utter truths. I don't care how the names have been changed. We know, and soon a lot of people will know, that the character in that book is Emily. My parents are going to go crazy when they find out about this. It will destroy them."
"They're still in Europe, aren't they? When do they get back?"
"Wednesday. I have three days to come up with some hard answers. Do you have any ideas? You were in Santa Cruz with the girls. Who knew all this stuff about them? Was there someone Emily confided in outside of Natalie, Laura, and Madison? What about Drew McKinney?"
Dylan's mouth tightened at the mention of Drew's name. "That guy was a first-class asshole."
Cole didn't disagree, but he had to ask, "Was that your opinion or Emily's?"
Dylan sighed. "Emily liked everyone. She wasn't a good judge of character. She was easily taken in. I tried to look out for her, but I wasn't around twenty-four/seven."
"So she might have confided in Drew, maybe even talked to him the night of the party? Because I just saw him, and he was definitely hiding something. He also doesn't like Natalie. He was in the right place at the right time back then. He now has the means and the motive. Except that Laura's reputation is also on the line, and she's his wife, so why would he help someone write a book about a girl he knew ten years ago?"
"I wouldn't put anything past him. For that matter, I wouldn't put anything past Madison. She always had an agenda." Dylan paused. "There's something else you should think about. If Emily was pushed, then maybe this book is a way to get justice for Em. Wouldn't you want whoever killed Emily to pay?"
Cole stared into the eyes of one of his oldest friends and wondered why Dylan's words made him feel so uneasy. Did Dylan know something? But if he did, wouldn't he say? Wouldn't he have said a long time ago? He was practically a member of the Parish family. No, he didn't know anything. He was just guessing, like the rest of them. "This isn't the way to get justice," Cole said finally. "If someone had hard factual information, they could have contacted me or my parents or the police. They could have come forward in a less public, less sensationalized manner."
"Obviously, the writer didn't have hard facts."
"Emily would hate this," Cole murmured. He was surprised to see a smile play in Dylan's eyes. "You don't agree?" he asked sharply. "You don't think this would upset her, to know that someone has invaded her privacy, put words into her mouth, feelings into her heart, made her look like a victim?" His blood boiled at the unfairness of it all, and he silently dared Dylan to disagree with him. He was itching to fight someone, and right now his old friend was looking like a pretty good target.
"I agree with you," Dylan said hastily, the smile disappearing as quickly as it had come. "Relax, dude."
"I can't relax. Not until I know who's behind this."
"We'll find out," Dylan promised. "In the meantime, if you're going to hang out with Natalie, stay away from high places."
"That isn't funny," Cole snapped.
"It wasn't meant to be. Now, I've got to get back to work."
Cole sat at the bar for several minutes after Dylan left, feeling frustrated and pissed off. He'd come to Dylan for answers and had ended up with more questions. Why wasn't Dylan more upset by the book? What the hell was wrong with the guy? Was there