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“It’s too complex. I don’t want to talk about it over the phone.” Her voice was agitated, disturbed.
“All right, all right.” When Marj got her mind on something, there was no changing it. “I’ll get there soon as I can. I just got out of the shower. I’ll put on some clothes and be right there.”
“You need a ride?”
“No, Talon gave me the Mustang, remember?”
“Right, good. Meet me at Joe’s house.”
“No way. I am not going to sneak through your brother’s house. I sure as hell don’t want to be an accessory to whatever it is you’re doing. I’ll meet you at the big house.” Big house, meaning the main ranch house, of course. I hoped the words weren’t foreshadowing…
She sighed over the phone. “Fine. Just hurry, please.” She clicked the phone off.
An hour later, I arrived at the ranch house. Marj met me at the front door, Roger lapping at her heels. I knelt down and gave the dog some love.
“Since Roger’s following you around, I assume Talon’s not here?”
She shook her head. “He went off an hour or so ago. He texted me to let me know. Little did he know I was riffling through Joe’s bedroom at the time.”
“So what’s the big deal? What did you find?”
“We’re going to need a glass of wine for this.”
“Marj, it’s noon. We don’t need wine. We need lunch.”
“Well, it’s Sunday, so Felicia’s not here. And I can’t wait to talk to you about this. We’ll eat after. And suit yourself, but I’m having a glass of wine.” She walked to the kitchen.
I followed. “Fine. Just water for me, please.”
Marj poured our beverages. “We need to go to my room. I can’t risk having this stuff out in case someone shows up in the house.”
My heart started pounding. What was she getting at?
When we got to Marj’s room, her bed was filled with scattered newspaper articles. She sat down on a empty spot and cleared another spot for me.
“Take a look at these.”
I grabbed an article, and nausea overtook me as I read the words. It was about a little boy who had been abducted and never found. I put it down and picked up another one. This one had been found, strangled to death in a vacant field. Ice shrouded my skin.
“Marj, what is all this about?”
“You tell me. I found an envelope full of these articles hidden in Jonah’s closet.” She shook her head, her face pale, her lips trembling. “All this time I thought Talon was the one with the issues, and now I find out my oldest brother—”
“Don’t finish that sentence.”
“Believe me, I don’t want to.”
“I doubt Jonah has these for any other reason than…” I couldn’t finish the sentence either. Why would he have them?
“I can’t imagine that my brother would ever…”
“See? That’s because he wouldn’t.” I leafed through the papers, checking the dates. “I mean, look at these articles. They’re twenty-five and thirty years old. If Jonah were interested in abducting little kids, he’d be looking at present-day stuff.”
Marj’s features softened, and I could see the relief coursing through her. “Oh, God, Jade. Why didn’t I think of that?”
“Because you were too busy freaking out. Joe is the nicest guy in the world. He would never even think of doing anything like this.”
“Of course he wouldn’t.” Marj’s cheeks flushed their usual rosy pink.
