“So you think…” Ruby began.
“I don’t know. Something about the way he stood. That’s what I saw on the playground. It was him. I know it was.”
“So you did recognize him.”
“I’m sure now. I know I wasn’t quite sure at first.”
“You were scared.”
“Well…yeah.” He gulped.
“It’s okay to be scared, sweetie,” Jade soothed. “You’ve been through a lot.”
“No,” he said. “I don’t want to be scared. I don’t want to be scared anymore.”
“You don’t have to be,” Talon said. “The bad men who hurt you are gone, and I won’t let anyone else hurt you. I promise.”
That was a huge promise to make, but I had no doubt my brother meant every word he said to his son. If Cade Booker was indeed the person who had spooked Dale at the playground, he’d better not cross paths with Talon.
Or Joe, for that matter.
Or Ryan or Bryce.
Or me.
He’d put us all through enough.
“Is there anything else you want to tell us?” Ruby asked. “Remember, the more information we have, the more likely it is we can find this guy.”
“I can’t say how I recognized him,” Dale said. “I just know it was him. The guy who watched. He was the same. And he was watching.”
Ruby nodded. “Dale, there’s one other thing.”
“What?”
“You said you used to collect rocks.”
“Yeah.”
“Where is your rock collection? Your mom and dad said they couldn’t find it at your old house.”
“I don’t know. I wasn’t as interested after a while. It was kind of a little kid thing.”
“But you recognized the snowflake obsidian we found outside the playground.”
“Yeah. I had one like it. Most of my rocks were polished. I had a polisher of my own for a while, but when I stopped using it…” He paused a few seconds. “I think my mom sold it at a garage sale. She asked me if it was okay, and I said sure.”
“So you had stopped collecting rocks?” Ruby asked.
“Yeah. It was a little kid thing, you know?”
I smiled. Was it really this simple? “Did you sell your collection at the garage sale?” I asked.
He smiled. Smiled! For the second time since he’d been here. “Who would want to buy a bunch of dumb rocks?”
“Didn’t you say people carried rocks for good luck?”
“That’s what my mom used to tell me. I don’t really believe it. I don’t believe in good luck anymore.”
Silence for a few seconds. Not one of us knew how to respond to that.
However, one thing stood out. The rock collection had simply been misplaced because Dale was no longer interested in it. Kids were like that. They changed hobbies when the wind changed.
“Anything else, Dale?” Ruby asked.
“No.”
“And you haven’t seen that guy on the playground since the last time?”
Dale shook his head.
“Okay.” Ruby smiled. “This is really good information, Dale. You’re helping us a lot.”
He smiled again.
And that was worth every dollar of the Steel fortune.
Chapter Forty-Five
Bryce
Your father trained him.
I opened my mouth, letting my jaw hang there. Words flew through my mind, none of them coming together as a coherent sentence to speak.
My father trained him.
“I don’t understand,” I finally said.
“I’m not sure I fully understand, either,” Brad noted. “Now that your father’s gone, we may never know unless Cade decides to come clean. But I have a theory. I think your father took him as a sort of…protégé.”
I stood, my mouth still dropped open, most likely looking like an imbecile.
A protégé?
A strange wave of envy passed through me, and then I had to stop myself from doubling over.
Envy, Bryce? Really? That your father took a protégé other than you for his life of horror?
I was being stupid. Really fucking stupid.
“But he…” God, what a moron. I couldn’t even form words.
“Like I said, it’s only a theory. But we know your father bought Cade’s father’s silence.”
Money buys silence for a time, son, but a bullet buys it forever.
“I just assumed he…” Again, the words stopped. Brad and I both knew what I meant.
“He probably did. I’m sure Joe told you what your father and the others went through in their training.”
Again, the nausea. “Yeah. He told me. Who would do that?”
“Someone for whom money trumps all else,” Brad said, shaking his head. “Your father wasn’t always that way. Neither was Larry. They were corrupted.”
“Sorry, I don’t buy it. They had to have the propensity for it to even be corrupted like that.”
“I won’t disagree with you there,” he said, “but they were corrupted.”
“By whom?”
“Wendy. She was the mastermind behind it all, though I didn’t see it quite as clearly when we were still in high school.”
“You funded them,” I said, more to myself than to Brad.
“I did. And I’ll regret it for the rest of my life.”
I couldn’t help a sarcastic scoff. “The rest of your life was supposed to have ended eight years ago. Then again a few months ago. Spare me your regrets.”
“I’ve never asked for your sympathy,” he repeated. “Only your discretion.”
“Joe’s my best friend. And Marjorie…”
“You’re in love with her. I couldn’t wish for a better man for my little girl.”
“So how can you ask me to keep this from her? From Joe? From the rest of them?”
“They’ve all found their happiness, Bryce, just as I knew they would. I’ve done all I can, but my first loyalty is to my wife. You know that.”
“Your wife is insane.”
“Mentally ill,” Brad said.
“Semantics. No offense, but she doesn’t even know you exist.”
“I’m the only one she knows, Bryce. She doesn’t recognize any of her children, and she’s caught in a time warp. She can’t take care of herself.”
“You can’t take care of her either. Sure, you built a replica of your ranch house on that island—”
“I did that so I could take her home,” Brad said. “I had to protect her from Wendy. She never got over her jealousy of Daphne. She would have had her killed. I did what I had to do. I’ve told you this before. My children were adults and could protect themselves. My wife could not.”
“Why were you worried for Daphne, Marj, and Colin when Justin—or Cade, or whoever the fuck he is now—had a beef with Joe and me, not with any of—”
I stopped midsentence. My words were asinine, and I knew it.
“Daphne is the weakest link. Easy to target,” Brad said. “And Marjorie… Well, she means everything to both you and Joe. It was a two-for-one deal.”