murder.
'Have you ever been to Trey's beach house in Galveston?'
'No.'
'Has Brett?'
'No. Look, Brett doesn't have the balls to make a five-foot putt to win, much less murder someone… or satisfy me.' She shook her head. 'I should've been a Mormon.'
'A Mormon? ' Nick said.
'Yeah. Then I could have four husbands-one to support me, three to satisfy me.' She smiled. 'And they'd have built-in beer buddies. A win-win deal.'
Nick stared at her in apparent disbelief at what he had just heard.
'Tess, Mormon women don't get four husbands. Mormon men get four wives.'
' Really? Well, that sucks.'
Tess downed her margarita. She placed the goblet on the bar and waved to the bartender. Scott opened the tote bag and pulled out one of the freezer-sized Ziploc plastic baggies he had brought with him that day. He reached past Tess, took the goblet by the stem between his fingers, and dropped it into the baggie. He then put the baggie into the tote bag. Tess had observed Scott's actions with a wry smile.
'I didn't kill him.'
'Who did?'
'Maybe Rebecca. She's the Guilty Groupie.'
'Was she?'
'Guilty?'
'A groupie?'
'No. I'm a groupie. I love having sex. She loves having things.'
'So why would she kill Trey and lose everything?'
'She wouldn't.'
'Did he say anything about marrying her?'
'When? While we were having sex?'
'Anytime.'
'That was the only time I saw him. And no, he didn't.'
She sipped the fresh margarita the bartender had delivered.
'You ever see them fighting?'
'No. Never. They were happy.'
'Did they drink?'
'Everyone on tour drinks. There's a lot of free time.'
'Why didn't they get married?'
A shrug. 'She didn't want to push him, risk losing everything.'
'Why'd you end the affair?'
'I didn't. He did.'
'Why?'
' 'Cause he started up with Lacy.'
' Lacy Parker? ' Nick said.
Tess nodded. 'I told him we could do a threesome, but Trey was kind of small-town, you know. He would only cheat with one woman at a time.'
Scott turned to Nick. 'Who's Lacy?'
'Donnie Parker's wife. Hot little number, used to do porn movies. They met during the first round of the Vegas tournament, got married right after the last round.' He shook his head. 'Something about Vegas.'
Scott turned back to Tess. 'Did Rebecca know about Lacy?'
'She never said anything to me. We were friends.'
' Friends? And you had an affair with Trey?'
She shrugged. 'I was better friends with him.'
'What about Donnie?'
She laughed. 'No way. Shortest driver on tour.'
Scott turned to Nick. 'What's his story?'
'His story is, I can't buy an endorsement for a player married to a former porn queen. One day he was bitching because of all the endorsements I got for Trey, I told him, 'Donnie, patrons of porn don't get paid to endorse chocolate milk!' '
'Were they at the Orlando tournament? Lacy and Donnie?'
'No,' Nick said. 'They were home in San Diego. Donnie's been rehabbing a bum rotator cuff the last two weeks, with his therapist out west.'
'But if Trey was having an affair with Lacy at the time of his death-'
'He wasn't,' Tess said.
'How do you know?'
'Because he left her for Riley.'
' Riley Hager? ' Nick said. He threw his hands up. 'Jesus, is there any woman on tour Trey didn't screw?'
Tess's eyebrows crunched slightly, as if she were thinking.
'Maybe the older wives.'
Nick faced Scott. 'Riley is Vic Hager's wife. He's ranked fifteenth in the world. He made the cut in Orlando, finished eleventh.'
'And you're his agent, too?'
Nick shrugged. 'Riley used to be an underwear model in L.A. She was voted second hottest WAG on tour.'
'What's a WAG?'
'Wives and girlfriends. There's an online rating system for athletes' WAGs, for each sport. It's a big deal, all the girls want the title.'
'I was third,' Tess said with pride.
'Who was first?'
Nick and Tess exchanged a glance.
'Rebecca,' Scott said.
Nick nodded.
'She's eleven years older than me,' Tess said, 'and her body is still perfect. And abs like that after a baby? Amazing.'
Scott turned to Nick. 'You didn’t know about this?'
'Yeah, her abs are amazing.'
'No. About Trey's affairs?'
'I was his agent, Scott, not his pimp.'
'What's the deal out here, all this Desperate Housewives stuff?'
'You got four groups of players on tour.' Nick ticked them off on his fingers. 'You got your single guys, they screw everything with tits. You got your guys with girlfriends, they party hardy every night. You got your married without children-some stray, some don't. Most of the guys are real sticklers about the Rules of Golf, not so much the vows of marriage. Ask Tiger. And you got your married with children, they bring the wives and kids on tour during the summer, it's like being in fucking McDonald's every day. Trey-I guess he found those wives looking for a little fun. Like Tess.'
'My middle name,' she said with a smile.
'No wonder we found Viagra in Trey's bathroom.'
'Hell, looks like he was servicing half the women on tour. Can't keep that up on protein shakes alone.' Nick smiled. 'They pop those blue pills like M amp;Ms out here.'
Scott turned back to Tess. 'Why?'
'Why what?'
