Chapter 39

It turned out to be easier than that to get Beth to Phoenix. It wasn't an hour after Bailey and I had spoken when Beth called me.

"I was hoping I could come down early," she said. "Things have really gone to shit here and I just need to get away."

I told her she could come anytime she liked.

"I'm glad because I'm already at the airport," she said with a tired laugh. "I didn't think you'd tell me no. I'll explain everything when I get there. Can you pick me up at the airport around 7 a.m.?"

"You know I will," I said. "I was going to call you tomorrow to ask you down early. We must have some psycho connection."

I slipped out of my bed early the next morning. I made sure I stopped by Sophie's room and gave her a hug before I went to bed and I made sure to do the same thing before I left in the morning.

Sophie didn't say anything — she didn't need to — but she returned the hugs forcefully.

Beth looked haggard and tired when I saw her. Melissa was asleep in her carrier and Timothy looked like he'd just awakened. But Beth looked as though she hadn't slept for days. I collected the kids from her arms and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

I hoped some time in the sun, and some time to herself, would help rejuvenate her. I figured a house full of loving friends wouldn't hurt anything either. I left Melissa sitting with Beth while I went to collect the baggage, but Timothy wouldn't let go of my hand.

"There's not much," Beth said. "I just tossed some stuff in a suitcase and we hit the road. I didn't want to sort through a bunch of crap."

I told her we'd pick up anything she'd missed. I had a ton of baby clothes at the house and I'd also picked up outfits for Timothy on my shopping spree a month earlier. Beth wasn't the tiny woman I'd met years before. Her body was more womanly now and she was starting to show the signs of having carried two children and had given birth only a few months before. But she still looked great to me.

"You look beautiful," I told her. I'm glad she could see in my eyes that I wasn't just trying to make her feel better.

She smiled. It was still a sad smile, but at least it was a smile.

"I don't feel beautiful," she said. "But I feel better than I have in a while."

It was a start.

She told me the whole story of her flight from Lexington on our ride through rush-hour traffic.

"Greg's in trouble," she told me as the kids slept in their car seats in the backseat. "A lot of trouble. The company thought he was stealing from him. When they searched his computer at work in December they found a lot more than they'd bargained for.

"He and I already had separated at that point. And it's lucky for him we had. They found pictures of little kids on his computer. Real little kids, R.J."

Beth couldn't keep the anger out of her voice. I don't know what sort of look was on my face when I glanced at the angels in the backseat through the rear view mirror, but it apparently belied my emotions.

"No, not them," she said. "I'd have been the one in jail, not him. You wouldn't have gotten the chance to kill him."

I was thankful her children had been spared, but it didn't make anything better for the others.

"I was already in Lexington," she said. "Last week, I was contacted by the FBI. They wanted access to the computer I took with me from the house. They'd seized Greg's from the house and found a bunch of shit on it. My computer has a lot of confidential information about you on there, so I told them I had to be present when they examined it.

"It made them think I was part of Greg's sick world, so I explained why. They did a thorough search and found things on my computer, too. They also found that Greg had been accessing your financial records despite my safeguards.

"I don't know how to tell you this, but he stole from you, too. It's not much — but only because I don't have access to much of your money. I should have seen it. As soon as I did a quick check of your records, I saw it immediately. But I haven't done my job very well these past few months. He took $15,000 from you in December a year ago. But I'm sure he'd have gotten more if I hadn't left him.

"I'm sorry and I'll pay you back. I'd offer to let you take it out of my salary, but I don't think I can work for you any longer."

I told her we could worry about little things later.

"You're important," I said. "The kids are important. Nothing else. We'll worry about the small stuff after we figure a way through the bigger stuff."

She told me she knew the money wouldn't matter to me.

"It's more that fact that you trusted me and I let you down," she said.

I told her quickly that she hadn't let me down.

"You're not responsible for anything anyone else does," I said. "I don't want you to worry a single second about your job. If you don't want to do it any longer, that's fine. But I don't hold you accountable for any of this.

"Now, about Greg," I continued. "I assume you have made arrangements to end any custodial and visitation rights he may have had. You and the kids are welcome to stay here as long as you want to — forever, in fact. But I want it perfectly understood that if I ever see that man again, I'll kill him. Not for anything he's done to me, but for what he's put you and the kids through."

"He's such a bastard," she spat. "The first thing he did is offer to give up his parental rights if I wouldn't testify against him. I took him up on it immediately. The Feds said they had no intention of contacting me in that regard anyway. They had enough to hang him without me. So I had the papers drafted and signed a day after the offer.

"He's done and gone," she said. "But this is getting a lot of press up there. Greg offered to give the names of everyone he's every traded kiddie porn with, of everyone he's ever placed a bet with, of everyone he's ever seen shoplift from Wal-Mart.

"I wanted the kids away from there. Melissa is too young for any of this and Timothy doesn't even remember his dad. But I don't want some asshole saying something to me in front of him."

I told her she wouldn't have to worry about that here.

"We'll let everyone in charge of the case know I'm not interested in pursuing charges against him unless it keeps him in jail for a considerably longer time," I said. "You do what you have to and I'll be behind you all the way."

It didn't seem like the time to mention what was going on at the house, but I knew it wouldn't stay a secret for long.

"The LPGA tournament was in Phoenix this weekend," I said. "I have a houseful but there's still plenty of room. I hope that's OK. If it isn't we'll figure something out."

Beth said she thought it would be fine.

"I've been thinking a lot for the past few months," she said. "Hell, I've been thinking for the past two years. I never should have married Greg. I guess I liked him well enough, and I thought I'd grow to love him, but I didn't. By the end, I didn't even like him. Now you and I will have to race to see who kills him first if we ever see him."

Beth was smiling, so I chuckled. But I wasn't kidding when I told her I'd kill him.

"Do you remember the last fall you were in Lexington?" she said. "The first semester we lived together?"

I told her I remembered it like yesterday.

"That was the happiest time in my life," she said simply. "But there a couple of things I'd have done differently."

I told her I felt exactly the same way, and she dropped a bomb.

"I think you should find Bailey again," she said. "I know she was in Phoenix last week, so I figure she's playing the next event here too. When I finally got the chance to look at ESPN.com yesterday is when I made my decision to come here final.

"The reason Greg and I had kids so early is because I was looking for what I missed from that time. I love my little boy, but his presence wasn't what was missing. I love my little girl, but hers wasn't either. What was missing was the companionship I felt those months. We were all so close. Even though I knew Bailey was jealous. At that time, I was jealous of her, too.

"We're older now. I wanted you all to myself and so did she. I'm not sure who would have won the battle for you if it had taken place anywhere outside of my parents' back yard, but that's not important. Because we all three lost in the end. You know she's not married? I pulled up her stats on the LPGA web site. She's almost as reclusive as you are. The only data on her bio was her birthday — I didn't realize the three of us have a birthday in the same week, I knew you and I did, but not hers — her career winnings and her marital status. "Do you know what it says there?"

I, in fact, did know what it said, because I'd read it about a million times in the last six months, but I didn't say anything.

"It says: 'Single and not looking.' Some of the woman say 'Dating so and so, ' some say 'married to so and so, ' some say 'single and looking.' One even said 'single and looking everywhere, '" Beth said.

I had no doubt who that belonged to, but again I kept quiet.

"I thought maybe Bailey meant she was dating someone," Beth continued. "So I Googled and Yahooed and even Lexis Nexused her. Nothing about a boyfriend since you. I also did the same for you, by the way. I got a chuckle out of that.

"Do you know you have five fan sites, but no official Web site? Some woman has about 500 pictures of you with her and her daughter. It's a little creepy, but that's neither here nor there. I bookmarked my favorite because I want to show you one of the pictures.

"It was the Florida game when you were at UK. It's of Sara sitting in the fan section surrounded by UK people. She and her friends are the only ones wearing Florida stuff. There's a huge woman sitting beside her in UK blue and white from top to bottom with her arm draped around Sara in a hug. They both have big smiles. This large black woman and this little tiny white girl — two people who never would have met and never would have known the other existed — are sitting there enjoying themselves and having a blast because of you.

"When I saw it I realized that's the ability you have. You bring people who wouldn't be friends, and maybe even shouldn't be friends, and suddenly they're friends because of you. Look at Tom. By all rights he should have been pissed off. And when the news came out that you were coming to UK, he was. He told me he was bound and determined to hate you, right up to the moment he met you.

"Think back to how I was when we met. Jesus, who would have thought, six years later, you'd be the person I most want to be near. And who would have thought you'd let me be near you."

I decided now was as good a time as any.

"Finding Bailey won't be a problem," I said. "I'd guess if you were to call the house now, she'd answer. She was the one who wanted me to call to see if you could come down early, because she wants to see you, too.