Page 13 of Deadly Sins: Envy

“Uh-huh,” Coop said.

Bender and the other misfit toys walked away. Gina pointed toward the motorhome she’d come out of and said, “Why don’t y’all come inside for a minute?”

We parked and followed her.

“I’m not here long,” she said. “Just popped back to grab a few things. What are y’all doing here?”

“We wanted to ask you some questions about Willow,” Coop said.

She bit her lip.

It was obvious she’d been crying.

“Willow’s the sweetest person I’ve ever met,” she said.

“Any idea why someone would abduct her?”

“Cops think it’s because your family has money.”

“I know whattheythink,” Coop said. “What doyouthink?”

“The money makes sense, I guess.”

“But?”

“It’s just ... this guy was hanging us around for us for a while.”

“What guy?” Coop asked.

“His name’s Beck.”

“Last name?”

She shrugged. “He told us what it was, but now I can’t remember.”

“Tell us about him.”

“We met him about three weeks ago. He came to a venue we were playing at and talked to Willow for a while. I could tell he was interested in her.”

“Interested, how?”

“He kept giving her compliments and leaned in close when she was talking. It was obvious he liked her. Nothing happened, but I think he hung around hoping it would.”

Wait a second,” Coop said. “Are you saying this guy’s been to other stops on your tour?”

She nodded. “We didn’t have a problem with it at first because he said he worked for a bigtime label and was scouting various cities for new talent. It didn’t take long for Willow to figure out he was lying.”

“What did she do when she found out?”

“She told him off. Turns out he lied about working for a record label, but he is in the music industry. He works for a management company.”

“Why lie about it?” Coop asked.

“He’s a guy. He wanted to get laid. Even if he had been who he pretended to be, Willow wouldn’t have slept with him.”

“How did he take her rejection?”

“It upset him. He was sure she liked him at first when she thought he was a big deal in the business. She tried telling him he was wrong and asked him not to show up at any of our other gigs.”