“Let’s ask Ryan,” Marj said. “He’s so much more easygoing than Joe, and I know he’ll keep the secret that I was snooping.”

I had almost suggested asking Talon, but that would have been ridiculous. Talon was less than forthcoming about most things, so even if he knew anything about these articles, he would be as tightlipped as Jonah.

“I’ll text him right now,” Marj said, “and see if he can come over.”

I perused another one of the articles, this one about the one girl in the bunch. Raine Stevenson, aged nine. Never found. My blood ran cold.

About fifteen minutes later, a knock sounded on Marj’s door.

“I’m here,” Ryan called.

“Great, come on in,” Marj called back.

Ryan entered, looking like he’d just gotten out of the shower. His dark waves were plastered to his neck. “What’s got you all in an uproar?”

Marj gestured to the bed where we both still sat. “This.”

Ryan walked forward, and his eyes widened into dinner plates as he sat down on the bed and shuffled through the articles. “Shit. Where the hell did you find these?”

“Promise you won’t get mad if I tell you?”

Ryan shook his head. “You can’t ask me to make such a promise.”

“He’s right, Marj,” I said. “If you want to get to the bottom this, you’re going to have to risk angering some people.”

“Fine. I found them in Joe’s bedroom.”

Ryan’s jawline tightened. “And just what were you doing in Joe’s bedroom?”

“I want answers, Ry. I found out a couple days ago that I was born premature, and my mother, whom I never knew, who died before I can remember her, changed my name. And for some reason our mother’s name—her maiden name—got changed on her marriage certificate.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Tell him, Jade.”

I let out a heavy sigh and told him what we had asked Jonah about weeks ago and what I had found in the Colorado records database.

Ryan stood, nodding, his signature smile absent.

“Aren’t you going to say anything?” Marj asked.

“It’s not my story to tell.”

“Oh, for the love of God, is that all you people say?” I threw my hands in the air.

“Look, Jade, this is about…family stuff,” Ryan said.

“Oh, no, you don’t,” Marj said. “You’re not kicking Jade out of here. She is family as far as I’m concerned. She’s my best friend in the entire universe, and she’s in love with our brother.”

Ryan visibly gulped, but he didn’t seem surprised by Marj’s revelation. Then he nodded. “Fine. These articles are simply what they are. Some psychos were taking kids twenty-some years ago.”

“Why is this of such interest to Joe?” Marj asked. “Why did he save all of these? I mean God, I found these and I thought he was a pervert or something.”

Ryan shook his head. “No, Joe’s no pervert.”

“I know,” Marj said. “But why did he save all this stuff? Did he know one of the kids?”

Ryan’s corded muscles tensed as he nodded. “Yeah.”

“The kid from Snow Creek? Luke Walker?”

“Yeah. He was a…friend.”

“Of Joe’s?”

Ryan cleared his throat. “Of Talon’s, actually.”

“That makes sense. They would’ve been the same age.”

Ryan nodded again. “He was never found.”

“So why did Joe keep all the articles?”

“Joe was almost thirteen at the time, Talon had just turned ten. When Luke disappeared, the two of them tried to find him. I helped as much as I could, and they let me tag along most of the time. It was…kind of like a game. Junior detectives, you know?”

“What about the police?” Marj asked. “Weren’t they involved?”

Ryan nodded. “Yeah. But whoever took these kids… They left no clues. They were smart. Genius in some ways. The kids were never found alive, if at all, so the police could never get any information about the abductors.”

“You say abductors, plural,” I said. “What makes you think there was more than one?”

Ryan’s face reddened. “I don’t know. I guess I just assumed.”

Ryan was lying. His face had never turned red as long as I had known him. But I wasn’t going to push it. Not just yet.

Marj apparently didn’t share my reasoning. “Why would you assume that?” she asked.

“I don’t know. It just seems implausible that someone could get away with so much and never get caught if there was only one brain behind it.”

That seemed to satisfy Marj. But not me. He was still red. And he was still lying.

“How come you guys never mentioned Luke Walker? I mean, I’m your sister, and I’ve never heard of this until now.”

“I was just a kid myself. He wasn’t really my friend. He was Talon’s. You know Joe’s friend, Bryce Simpson? The mayor’s son? He was Luke’s cousin. Their mothers were sisters. So Joe had an interest. I just tagged along.”

“Talon has never mentioned Luke Walker,” Marj said.

“Talon never mentions anything.”

Well, Ryan had us there.

“So what kind of things did you guys do?” I asked. “I mean, when you were playing detective.”

“We talked to Luke’s parents. But that didn’t work out very well because they were so distraught, understandably. They didn’t have much to say, and it was too painful for them to talk about. So that didn’t last long. We never went back to them after the first time.”

“Did your mom and dad know you were doing this detective work?” I asked.

Ryan nodded. “Yeah, I think they did. Remember, I was a kid myself. Joe would be the one to ask. He was the oldest, and he would have the best memories.”

If Talon had been almost ten, his memories would be as good as Jonah’s. Funny that Ryan didn’t say to ask him.

“So what did you guys do after talking to the Walkers?” I asked.

“I remember going into town to the police station with Jonah and Talon. We asked to see the chief of police, because we wanted to know what was being done to help our friend. They gave us toy badges and sent us on our way.” He rolled his eyes. “Jonah was so pissed. Remember, he was almost thirteen, and he considered himself a man. He demanded to see the chief, and then we were ushered out, and they threatened to call our parents.” He shook his head. “Crazy stuff.”