Joe cornered me as we were leaving the hospital. “Excuse me, Ruby. I need a word with my sister.”
Ruby nodded and went back into the room where Melanie sat with the baby.
“Yeah?”
“What are you two doing here?”
“Visiting our nephew.”
“Okay, I’ll buy that. But not only that. Why else?”
“Do we really need a reason other than to see your son?” I smiled sweetly.
“No, you don’t. But I know you, little sis. You and Ruby aren’t that close. Why would you come together?”
“We’re close enough, and Ruby is Mel’s best friend.”
“She’s also an ex-cop. I don’t want you bothering Melanie with—”
“Hold on.” I raised my hand to stop his mouth from moving. “We’re all in this, and Melanie wants to help. She’s the one person who might be able to shed some light on Cade Booker and why he’s doing what he’s doing. Ruby and I were curious, and you know what? Your brilliant wife didn’t let us down. She has a theory about Booker, a theory that makes an awful lot of sense.”
“Still, I— Shit.” His phone buzzed. “I have to take this.”
“Good.” I stood, tapping my foot on the floor. Joe infuriated me sometimes.
Ruby peeked out from the doorway. “All done?”
“As far as I’m concerned. Let’s go.”
“Cade must know that Dominic was working on the other side,” Ruby said in the car as we were driving back to the ranch. “That’s why he used the baseball card. And Colin as well. He used the cufflink to incriminate Colin, since Colin had been a victim of Tom Simpson. He was giving us two suspects.”
“He was going to throw his own brother under the bus?” I said.
“Oh, yeah. Psychopaths will normally throw anyone under the bus.”
“But then you have Tom himself, who went out of his way to keep his son away from this part of his life. Bryce is going crazy over it. He remembers Tom as a great dad, and it’s killing him.”
“Has he talked to anyone?”
“He’d planned to talk to Melanie, but then I got taken, and she had the baby early. There hasn’t been time.”
“I kind of get it,” Ruby said, “in a weird way. My father was, in some ways, the worst of the three, but in the end, he saved my life. He also saved me from his goons when I was at the compound.”
I opened my mouth, but she gestured me to stop.
“I know what you’re going to say. He tried to rape me when I was fifteen. I haven’t forgotten that, and I haven’t forgotten all the heinous things he did to others. In the end, though, he saved my life. How can I not be grateful for that?”
“Have you talked to Mel?”
“Yeah. A little. More as friends than as doctor-patient. She’s helped me see that it’s okay to have a good memory of a bad person. It’s not like they negate each other. My father was a monster, but I wouldn’t be here without him. I wouldn’t have this wonderful life I found with Ryan. So I’m grateful, in a strange way, and that’s okay.”
“Bryce needs to hear that,” I said. “I’ve tried to tell him the same thing, but it will mean more coming from a professional.”
“He will. Bryce is a decent guy. One of the good guys. He’s struggling with the fact that he always thought his father was the same. In fact, every memory he has of his father would indicate that. So his situation is different from mine and harder. I always knew what my father was. The fact that he had a smidgeon of feeling for his only child at the end doesn’t change who and what he was. What it does change is that I’m here, and I wouldn’t be if he hadn’t had that smidgeon of feeling.”
“And Bryce has your feeling times a million,” I said softly. “Poor baby.”
Ruby smiled. “I don’t know Bryce well yet, but I’m betting he’d hate being called a ‘poor baby.’”
“I know he would, but I can’t help it. I feel for him. I love him so much, the way you love Ryan. I feel everything he feels.”
“I know.” She pulled into the drive leading to the main ranch house. “He’s lucky to have you.”
“And vice versa,” I said. “We had a rocky start, but I can’t imagine my life without him.”
Talon was outside on the front deck when we arrived. Odd. He didn’t usually sit out front. He walked to the car as I got out, gesturing to Ruby. Ruby unrolled her window.
“Can you stay for a few minutes? Dale wants to talk to you.”
“Sure.” Ruby killed the engine. “Is he all right?”
“I think so. He just says he remembers a few things, and he wants to tell all of us together, including you because you’re a detective.”
“Was,” Ruby said. “But of course. I’m happy to help.”
My heart beat double time as we walked into the house. Dale was sitting in the family room with Jade.
“Where’s Donny?” I asked.
“He actually had a playdate with a boy in his class,” Jade said. “He was really excited.”
Dale, at ten, was too old for playdates. Only three years separated the brothers, but at their current ages, it might as well have been a lifetime, especially considering what Dale had gone through to spare Donny. Dale wasn’t smiling—he still rarely smiled—but he did look at ease. Not stiff and tense, the way he had for so long…before he’d found the polished rock where he’d seen the stalker standing.
“Hey, Dale,” Ruby said.
“Hi.”
“What do you want to talk about?” she asked. “Do you want us all here?”
“Yeah. That’s fine.”
“What’s on your mind, then?”
He opened his mouth but then closed it.
“Whenever you’re ready, son,” Talon said.
“Sometimes things come back to me,” he said. “I don’t understand why I don’t remember everything. Melanie says I was probably drugged a lot of the time.”
Talon nodded. “You probably were. We’re all glad it didn’t do any permanent damage.”
“Yeah. Me too,” Dale said. “I mean, I kind of don’t want to remember some of it, but Melanie says it’s part of getting better.”
“It is,” Talon said.
“Anyway…” He sighed. “There was a guy where we were. He didn’t do anything to us. He just…”
“Just what?” Talon asked.
“Um…he stood in the room and watched.”
My throat felt raw and saliva pooled in my mouth. I held back a gag.
“Watched…what?” Talon asked slowly.
“Whatever. Whatever the other guys decided…to do to us…that day.”
“He didn’t do any of that?” Ruby said.
“No. He just watched. I only just remembered this today. This morning. I woke up, and I remembered.”
“What did this guy look like?” Ruby asked.
“I don’t know. He wore a mask like all the others. But he also wore a gray hoodie and jeans. Or dark pants. I don’t know. The hood was always up.”