The other two abductors.

Was Larry insinuating that Bryce might know one of them?

I stood and addressed the guard. “Get this piece of shit out of my sight.”

“What was he talking about, Joe?” Bryce asked after the guard had led Larry away. “What happened to Luke?”

I didn’t relish this moment. How exactly was I supposed to tell my oldest friend in the world that his cousin had been killed, chopped into pieces, and stuffed inside a garbage bag?

“Let’s find a bar and get a drink,” I said, nearly choking. “And I’ll tell you everything.”

 

“How could you keep this from me?” Bryce took a long drink of his beer. “I thought we were friends, Joe.”

“We are friends. I only just found out about this a couple weeks ago myself. What would you have done in my place? I haven’t seen you in years, and first thing I tell you is that your cousin was chopped up while my brother was forced to watch?”

“Why did you want me to go see Larry with you? Surely you knew I’d ask about Luke.”

I sighed. “I probably did know in the back of my mind. I just wanted the company. And you do have a stake in this as well. Luke was your cousin.”

Bryce shook his head. “Damn,” he said. “Twenty-five years. I haven’t given this a thought in…over a decade at least. So now, all of a sudden, why is it so damned raw?”

I didn’t know how to answer my friend. Yes, twenty-five years had passed, and it had been raw for me the whole time. Bryce didn’t know how lucky he was. “It’s raw because it’s heinous. It’s unthinkable. Inhumane. Unbelievable that people like those three exist in the world. I wish I knew what to tell you. But just remember that it was twenty-five years ago. Luke is long gone. He was dead before they took Talon.”

Bryce finished his beer and signaled the waitress. “You want another?” he asked me.

“No.” Beer wasn’t my drink, and I was nursing the martini I’d ordered. “Look, I was going to tell you. I just didn’t know how.”

He nodded. “I understand, man. Not exactly news anyone wants to reveal.”

He was taking this better than I expected, and for that I was very grateful.

“I’m really sorry I didn’t tell you before we saw Larry. That was an idiot move on my part.”

“I won’t disagree, but I get where you’re coming from. I know you didn’t want to see the guy alone, and you couldn’t ask your brothers to go with you.”

I took a long drink from my gin infusion. Good stuff. I still felt like shit, though. “There’s one more thing we have to think about, Bryce.”

“What’s that?”

“Larry said something that stuck with me. He said there were only two people that you knew who had firsthand knowledge of what happened to Luke.”

“Yeah, the other two kidnappers, I guess.”

I shook my head. “That’s not what he meant. He said specifically that they were people you knew. One of the people he was talking about was Talon. I’m sure of it. I think he gave us a clue about who one of the other kidnappers is.”

“What clue?”

“That you know him, Bryce. You know one of the other men who took Talon.”

Chapter Ten

Melanie

Sitting across from Talon Steel in a session wasn’t easy. I had the eerie feeling that he could tell what I had just done with his brother a few days prior. But I was still Talon’s therapist, and he had made much progress, so I needed to continue his sessions. Knowing that I was helping Talon and my other patients was the only way I felt a little bit better about what had happened to Gina.

He hadn’t asked Jade to marry him yet.

“So what’s stopping you?” I asked.

“Well, Jade’s mom, Brooke Bailey, moved in with us. She’s going to stay while she continues to recover from her accident. She and Jade are trying to rebuild their relationship. This is really important to Jade, so I don’t want to interfere.”

“And you think proposing marriage would interfere?”

He chuckled. “Not interfere so much. I just don’t want Jade having to think about other things while she’s rebuilding a relationship with her mom. She’s also the city attorney now, so she’s always swamped at work, thanks to my esteemed half-uncle.” Talon visibly tensed.

“What’s going on with that?”

“He’s sitting in prison, waiting for his trial.”

“Has Jade been up to see him again?”

“No, but my brother Joe went up to see him.”

I widened my eyes, hoping Talon didn’t notice. “Jonah? Why would he go up?”

“For the same reason Jade did. He wanted to try to talk Larry into naming the two guys so we can get them put away.”

“And how did that go?”

“It didn’t. The asshole won’t budge.”

I wasn’t surprised. Talon probably wasn’t either. “Did Jonah manage to get anything out of him at all?”

Talon shook his head. “Because of something Larry said, Joe is now convinced that his friend Bryce Simpson might know one of the attackers personally. But I doubt it. I still think one of them is that boyfriend of Jade’s mother, Nico Kostas. Pretty strange that he just disappeared. And in all likelihood, he tried to kill Jade’s mom.”

I had heard the whole story of the insurance policy and accident. “There’s no way to know for sure.”

“I know, Doc. But it all makes so much sense.”

I couldn’t fault him there. Either this was a huge coincidence, or the man wanted to collect on insurance money. But I didn’t know.

“What about Jade’s ex-boyfriend, Colin?”

“The cops are looking into that right now. Since they found his belongings on Larry, they figure they got the right guy. They just don’t have a body, and Larry’s maintaining his innocence. But Larry’s such a liar, so I have no idea.”

“Do you think Larry was set up?”

“It’s possible. If he was set up, it was probably by the other two sickos who took me.”

What Talon said did make sense, but there was no way to be certain, unless we found out who the other two were.