“Diego? What do you mean by the key?”

“Yannick, Garrick, and Aldrich had all dropped Diego’s name more than once. I knew the guy was a lothario and played both sides of the field, and—”

“Wait,” Bennett said, holding up her hands. “Are you even gay, or was that a lie, too?”

“That wasn’t a lie. I’m gay. I promise.”

“I’m not sure your promises are worth anything.”

“I never broke one to you,” Ruby said, looking Bennett in the eye. “Why wouldn’t they be?”

Through narrowed eyes, Bennett took stock of Ruby for a long moment. “Go on.”

“Okay, so from what I overheard, Diego not only fooled around a lot, he also liked to talk a lot. It was the other thing they all agreed on, to the point of them being worried that he’d eventually be their downfall because he’d spill the beans to the wrong person.”

“And you wanted to be that wrong person?”

“Yes, so off to Spain I traveled. It took me a while to get there and even longer to get in the door of the hacienda belonging to Diego and Concepcion Garza, but late in 1535, I did just that. I bided my time, making sure I always looked my best until I finally turned their heads.”

“Their heads?”

Ruby snorted. “You’re not the only one who’s had threesomes.”

“Christ, are you saying you slept with Concepcion? Wait,” Bennett said, whipping her head to Ruby. “That’s why you turned away when she came into Max’s on New Year’s, wasn’t it? She would have recognized you.”

“Possibly, although it was over four hundred years ago, and I’m sure she’s had thousands in her bed since then.”

Bennett fell back in her seat, trying to wrap her head around what Ruby had said. “Okay, but how did you get Diego to talk if Concepcion was there? I wouldn’t think there would have been much talking going on.”

“There wasn’t at first, except Concepcion was way more into men than women. When someone new was brought in, she liked to…um…sample the merchandise, and then she’d go back to bedding everything wearing trousers until a new girl came along. Luckily, Diego liked me so much that even though he had several women he regularly saw, since I worked in the house, I was always around if the mood struck.”

“And you say you’re gay?”