“I’m not buying into anything,” I said, still poking my gun into Morse’s forehead. “But we need to find Booker. Does Colin ever go off by himself?” I asked Morse.
“I don’t know. He’s an adult.”
“If he went somewhere alone, where would it be?”
“We have a place in Glenwood Springs,” Morse said. “This condo here in Grand Junction, although he’s not here, obviously.”
“Anything else?”
“We have some rentals here and in Montana and Florida, but they’re all currently leased.”
“Glenwood Springs, then. What’s the address? And is there a landline there?”
“Yeah, yeah. You’ll have to untie me so I can write down the information for you.”
“Nice try,” Joe said, pulling out his phone. “Give it to me.”
Morse sighed as he recited an address and telephone number and Joe typed the information into his phone.
“Anything else?” I said. “How well do you know Booker? Where would he go?”
“I don’t know.” A tear slid from Morse’s eye. “I truly don’t know.”
“Damned cry baby,” Joe said. “I don’t believe you.”
“He only wanted to know about Colin,” Morse said. “And he told me the story about your father and the two of you.”
Joe sighed. “Fine. Now, how much is it going to cost me for you to forget we ever had this conversation?”
“Nothing,” he said.
“Right,” I scoffed.
“No. Nothing. Truly. I’ve learned my lesson after what happened to Colin. I didn’t take any money from Booker, and I tried to warn you. I did. Why do you think I got in touch with the two of you in the first place?”
“Money,” Joe and I said in unison.
Morse sighed. “I can understand why you’d think that. But I tried to warn you. I said all I could without putting my son’s and my life in jeopardy.” He shook his head. “My son is wrong about me. I did a lot of things wrong as a father. I know that. I was way too hard on him, and I thought he’d have the strength to stand up to me about marrying Jade. Everything I did was to try to make him stronger. But I never intentionally gave him to your father. I didn’t know who your father was at the time.”
“Whatever,” I said. “What’s done is done, and there’s nothing you can do to change it. Now answer Joe’s question. How much is it going to take?”
“Nothing,” he said again.
“And we should trust you because…” Joe said.
“You shouldn’t,” he said. “But you can.”
I put my gun away and started to unwrap the duct tape around Morse’s chest.
“What the hell are you doing?”
“What else can we do? We have to go after Colin and Booker. We can’t just leave him here stewing in his own piss.”
“Sure we can.”
“Leave me if you want,” he said. “It’s no less than I deserve.”
“For once we agree,” Joe said.
I quickly unwrapped the tape from Morse’s ankles. “There. If you care about your son as you say, you’ll let us do what we have to do.”
He nodded, trembling.
“And take a damned shower,” Joe added.
Chapter Fifty-Six
Marjorie
Going to Glenwood
Springs to look for Colin.
I read the text from Bryce again for the umpteenth time since it had dinged four hours ago. I’d texted back a quick “Be safe, I love you,” and that was that.
My feet itched to move, to run to my car and chase Bryce and my oldest brother all the way to Glenwood Springs.
But I’d promised Talon I’d stay with Jade.
Jade was fine. She said so herself. The cramping was normal, and her ultrasound had shown that the baby was healthy. She wasn’t bleeding, her blood pressure was normal. Everything was A-okay.
No.
No. No. No.
I couldn’t leave. She’d promised Talon she’d stay in bed, and I’d promised I wouldn’t leave her alone.
I sighed, placing Jade’s sandwich plate in the dishwasher. I’d just checked on her, and she was sleeping. We’d been home several hours, and all was fine.
The house was so big and quiet without Talon and the boys here, so I jerked in surprise when the doorbell rang. I shut the dishwasher and walked to the door before it could ring again and disturb Jade. Chills erupted on the back of my neck. It was dark, and Jade and I were alone.
I drew in a deep breath, gathering my courage. I looked through the peephole—
I opened the door. “Colin! What are you doing here?”
“I need to see Jade,” he said. “Quickly. I don’t have a lot of time.”
“What’s going on?”
“I’ve got someone in the car. He’s skittish, and I don’t want—”
We both looked toward the sound of a car door. A man with dark hair and olive skin walked toward us.
“Who’s that?”
“You were supposed to stay in the car,” Colin said.
“Sorry. I’m not sure I trust you quite yet.”
“Trust him? Who the hell are you?”
“Marjorie,” Colin said, “this is Cade Booker.”
I gasped, my jaw dropping.
“Also known as Justin Valente.”
I gulped. “Colin, this man is dangerous. What the hell are you doing?” I quickly scanned Booker. “He’s armed. Probably in three places.”
“Only in one place,” Colin said. “Show her.”
He pulled at his jeans to reveal an ankle holster.
“He’s the one who—”
“I know,” Colin said. “He’s not here to hurt anyone. I promise.”
“Sorry. Don’t trust him.” I reached for my phone in my pocket.
“Don’t call the police, Marj,” Colin said. “Please.”
“Why shouldn’t I? He pepper-sprayed Bryce and Joe. That’s assault.”
“They barged into my office,” Booker said.
“Yeah? Well, you kidnapped me and—”
“That was his brother and sister,” Colin said. “You know that.”
“Are you trying to tell me that Dominic and Alex are the bad guys?”
“No,” Colin said. “They were acting on your father’s orders.”
“My dead father’s orders?”
“You think Brad Steel can’t control people from the grave? Come on. He put systems in place. They were telling the truth.”
“Just who is the bad guy here, then?”
“There isn’t one. Not now, at least.”
“Sorry. Not buying.”
“Let us come in,” Colin said. “I came to talk to Jade, but it might be good for you to hear everything from Cade.”
“I’m willing to work with you, Colin,” Booker said, “but I’m not setting foot in the Steel house.”
Just as well. Jade was in her bedroom resting.