Tessa Stark: Desert Heat

Chapter Twenty Six

 "This is just a working theory, of course, so I'm still going to need to keep one eye on Nathan Rutherford," she told the women, all of whom had taken a few minutes to try and pull themselves together, with Danni only half succeeding. "So, you have to tell me about Nathan's movements last night. Did you see him at all after Etty was carried away from the table?"

Chloe and Leva both shook their heads, with Chloe responding. "He..he came back to the table for a little bit. He sat there, trying to swallow the bottle service girl's face. And then they got up and left. And we didn't see him after that."

That was likely the point when Leva texted Etty that Nate was probably with the girl in Etty's car. Etty went out to check, didn't find Nate, started typing out her text to Leva...and before she could finish, someone jerked her out of the car and stabbed her to death. And if Nathan had gone off with the bottle service girl during that time, odds were high that he did not kill Etty.

"Did Nathan ride to the club with Etty?" Cole questioned, handing Danni another tissue from the box on the coffee table.

"He did," Chloe replied. "But, after the fight and...the bottle service girl...I guess we just assumed he'd gone home with her. Nate does that a lot. We didn't think anything of it."

"What did Etty mean about her family helping Nathan?" Cole wondered, continuing his tissue duties from his seat beside Tessa.

Chloe sniffled as she took a tissue. "When Nate was accused of killing Hallie, he needed lawyers to help him. But, his family refused to foot the entire bill to hire someone. I mean...Nate has been a-a...handful over the years."

"Has he?" Tessa wondered.

"He...he has," Chloe replied hoarsely.  "He'd rather laze around the pool most days instead of working, staying out and partying, expecting his folks to make all his speeding tickets and DUI charges go away because they're friends with most of the judges. I guess him being accused of killing Hallie was just one thing too many for Mr. and Mrs. Rutherford."

"Really, having a bunch of criminal defense lawyers on retainer could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars," Leva pointed out. "And that's just the retainer. Nate's parents are well-off, but I don't think they're willing to bankrupt themselves. So, Etty got her uncle to help."

Chloe nodded her agreement. "Etty's uncle is a partner in a huge firm in Houston. So, she asked her uncle and some of his partners to represent Nate. She has a trust, so she paid for the retainer herself. I think her uncle is going to take that as the only payment, as a favor for Etty."

Tessa felt a wave of disgust roll over her. "Etty was paying for Nathan Rutherford's lawyers and he decides to go off with a bottle service girl? In front of Etty?"

Leva took a long drink from her glass. "Nate liked to slum it sometimes. And Etty knows..." she paused, a devastated look washing her features, "knew...Etty knew...who Nate is. Sometimes, I think she likes the dance. The drama, the fighting...  I mean, if she didn't like it, she would have just left him alone."

She suddenly couldn't help but wonder how Nathan Rutherford had managed to avoid being stabbed to death. "Did either of you see Cameran Whitmore at Cherry?" she asked, just to cover all the bases.

"She was there," Chloe answered. "Her and Trista. I saw them a couple of times, sitting in a V.I.P. near ours."

"Did you see them after Etty left your table?" she went on.

"I don't think so. But, I wasn't paying much attention to anything by then," Chloe admitted.

"Did anything else strike you about last night? Did you see any of your other friends there, acting strangely in any way? Maybe someone whose clothes were wet because they'd been out in the rain?" she queried.