My eyes must’ve nearly popped out of my head. Had I heard him right? “I’m the acting city attorney now, Larry. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t represent you. I’m not sure the mayor would look too kindly upon me moonlighting to represent my former boss who happens to be a child molester.”

He sighed. “You’d be surprised what the mayor is capable of.”

“It shouldn’t surprise me what you’ve turned out to be capable of, Larry. I mean, with your questionable ethics and all. Still, I never would’ve thought you to be such a sick criminal.”

“That’s because I’m not a sick criminal, Jade.”

I laughed out loud. Couldn’t help myself. “You do know that we have ample evidence against you.”

“I had nothing to do with that other guy’s disappearance. I don’t know how his things got into my possession. As for the other stuff, I was coerced. I’ve told the police the whole story. They’re offering me a deal if I name the two others.”

“First of all, you were not coerced. You’re a sick pedophile, Larry. If you were truly coerced, you wouldn’t have taken your turn with him like the other two did.”

“I’m telling you, they forced me.”

“They forced you to get a hard dick for a little boy? Sure.” This conversation was rapidly coming to an end. “Look, I’m not here to argue the point. I know exactly what you did. Talon told me everything. What I’m here for is to ask you to take that deal. I want those other two brought to justice.”

Larry shook his head. “I can’t.”

“Why not? You’re going to prison no matter what. Are you afraid of them from prison?”

“I won’t roll over on them. They would do the same for me.”

“Really? You think they would? Didn’t you just say you were coerced? And aren’t they the ones who had you beaten to a pulp when you helped Talon escape?”

His eyes lit up. “You’re right. I helped the boy escape. Don’t I deserve some compassion for that?”

“Jesus Christ. This wasn’t just some kid. It was heinous no matter what, but he was your nephew, for God’s sake.”

Larry’s lips trembled. “He wasn’t supposed to be there. When the other two brought him back, I begged them to let him go.”

“So you weren’t one of the ones who was at that little shack that day with Luke Walker?”

He shook his head. “No. Those were the other two. When they brought him back and I recognized him, I told them they had to let him go. That the Steels were important people.”

“Larry,” I said through gritted teeth, “tell me who they fucking are.”

“I can’t. They’ll kill me.”

“Is one of them Nico Kostas?”

Larry gave me a poker face. I couldn’t read him at all, and I was pretty good at reading people. He wasn’t going to budge.

“This is a waste of time.” I started to hang up the phone, but Larry held up his hand.

“Jade, wait.”

I put the receiver back to my ear. “What do you want now?”

“They held him for a little less than two months. When it became clear that he was near death, I started giving him more food. I was the one in charge of feeding him. I was just a lackey, Jade. A lackey.”

“A lackey who sexually abused a little boy. An innocent little boy. Your nephew.”

“I regret it, Jade. I regret all of it.”

“Is that supposed to mean something to me? To Talon? To his parents, may they rest in peace?”

“Brad and Daphne forgave me. They didn’t turn me in. If they were willing to let me go—”

“Brad and Daphne are dead. Daphne took her own life because she couldn’t live with what you had done to her son. She left her children without a mother. One of them doesn’t remember her. Talon needed his mother, Larry. And because of you, he didn’t have her.”

“Would you please just let me explain?”

“How do you explain this? How do you explain your sick mind?”

“Talon was never supposed to be taken.”

“And you think that makes this all right? What about the other six kids?”

“I wasn’t involved with any of those.”

“You expect me to believe that? No one’s going to believe that, Larry.”

“Jade, I let Talon go. Talon is alive because of me.”

“This conversation is over.”

He stood again, urging me to wait with his hand. “Doesn’t that mean anything to you? That he’s alive because of me? They killed all the others. Cut them up like firewood. It was sick, I tell you. Sick.”

“I know. Except for the one body that was found. I know what they did to the others because Talon told me. They made him watch as they carved up Luke Walker. They made a ten-year-old boy watch that sickness.”

“I…I had nothing to do with that.”

“Sorry. I don’t buy it. You were just as much a part of this as they were. So do yourself a favor and name the other two.”

He shook his head. “They’ll kill me.”

That was a great argument as far as I was concerned. If Larry ended up toes up, I didn’t really care. “I’ve got to tell you, Larry. You’re lucky to be locked up. If you were out, Talon and his brothers would make quick work of you.”

“Steels. They think they own the place.”

“Do you listen to yourself sometimes? You want them to grant you mercy, and you talk about them like that?”

“I’m…sorry. Just… He really is alive because of me, Jade. I drugged his food and let him sneak out. When he lost consciousness, and I put clothes on him and drove him to about half an hour away from his ranch at night. I knew when he woke up, someone would find him. And someone did. He’s alive. He was allowed to grow up. Because of me.”

“Because of you, Larry, he grew up never dealing with this. It was all brushed under the rug because you wouldn’t name the others and because Brad and Daphne made the decision to let you go.”

“They let me go because I saved their son. I had to leave the state.”

The five million dollars. Of course. “They paid you, didn’t they? They gave you a chunk of their millions to get you out of Colorado and away from their children.”