Keep My Heart

Chapter 10

“Trey? Was that you playing?” she asked.

“No. I have…I have an evil twin” Trey smiled.

“I’m serious. That was beautiful” Millie sat down in one of the chairs.

“It was Karen’s favorite song,” Trey said thoughtfully.

“Karen? Was that your wife?” Millie asked.

Trey nodded.

“How did she die?” Millie asked slowly.

Trey sighed. “I guess you should know.”

Millie waited while he thought up the words he wanted.

“In my line of work, things… they tend to get dangerous. We went on a job in a town down south where the payroll had just come in for some government workers. My men came along and were surveying the scene around town while I stayed out of sight and watched the bank. Little did I know that I had a follower. Karen had been complaining that I don’t spend enough time with her, and I should have listened, but I didn’t and she followed me. I was sorely tempted to chew her up one side and down the other, but instead I told her to go home. Of course, she didn’t. So I made sure she stayed back out of sight while we did what we had to do” Trey rubbed his forehead and sighed. “Why didn’t she stay back? She never did anything I told her to. While me and my men went inside, she stayed out back with the horses. I don’t know what happened after that. I don’t know if she tried to follow us or if she wasn’t hidden well enough and the sheriff found her or what happened. When we got back to the horses she was shot in the stomach. She bled to death before we could get her to a decent doctor” Trey’s eye’s hazed over and he blinked a few times. “So there you have it. I killed my own wife. If I’d made her go back home instead of giving in to her as I always did… she might be alive right now.”

Millie waited for him to continue. What on earth could he possibly do would cause Karen to get shot? His story was beginning to add up, and not in a favorable way.

Trey looked as her as if gauging her reaction. “I-I’m in a line of work where… the law isn’t exactly always compliant to what we have to do.”

“What are you saying, Trey? Are you an… outlaw?” Millie asked.

“That’s the least of it” Trey stood and walked to the window. “I don’t want to tell you this, but you have to know because someone could be after you now and you have to know the danger you’re in.”

“What are you telling me? Does this have something to do with the man in my room?” Millie asked.

“Yeah, sorta. Wes worked for me. There’s two others that have been here a time or two, I don’t know if you remember them or not” Trey said.

Millie nodded.

“The one in your room was Wes. The money came up missing from our last job and I think he’s the one who took it. He always implied that I should get rid of you. I always refused, so I guess he was trying to do it himself. He might try to get rid of you again. If you want out of here then I don’t blame you one bit,” Trey said, not looking at her.

Millie knew he was still hiding something.

“You’re keeping something else from me. What is it?” she asked.

Trey looked at her now, a pain in his eyes she hadn’t seen before. He shook his head.

“Trey. You have to come clean to me. You’ve hidden this from me for too long. Tell me,” Millie demanded.

“Okay, fine.” The muscle in Trey’s jaw tensed as he sat down on the piano bench. “My men all have aliases. Wes you probably know as Chad Mason. Shane Anderson and Perry Elliot are the other two. I‘m the one they refer to as Boss. We---we robbed the bank in Casden all those months ago. Wes was the one who shot your father”