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“Fine. I found them in Joe’s bedroom.”
Ryan’s jawline tightened. “And just what were you doing in Joe’s bedroom?”
“I want answers, Ry. I found out a couple days ago that I was born premature, and my mother, whom I never knew, who died before I can remember her, changed my name. And for some reason our mother’s name—her maiden name—got changed on her marriage certificate.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Tell him, Jade.”
I let out a heavy sigh and told him what we had asked Jonah about weeks ago and what I had found in the Colorado records database.
Ryan stood, nodding, his signature smile absent.
“Aren’t you going to say anything?” Marj asked.
“It’s not my story to tell.”
“Oh, for the love of God, is that all you people say?” I threw my hands in the air.
“Look, Jade, this is about…family stuff,” Ryan said.
“Oh, no, you don’t,” Marj said. “You’re not kicking Jade out of here. She is family as far as I’m concerned. She’s my best friend in the entire universe, and she’s in love with our brother.”
Ryan visibly gulped, but he didn’t seem surprised by Marj’s revelation. Then he nodded. “Fine. These articles are simply what they are. Some psychos were taking kids twenty-some years ago.”
“Why is this of such interest to Joe?” Marj asked. “Why did he save all of these? I mean God, I found these and I thought he was a pervert or something.”
Ryan shook his head. “No, Joe’s no pervert.”
“I know,” Marj said. “But why did he save all this stuff? Did he know one of the kids?”
Ryan’s corded muscles tensed as he nodded. “Yeah.”
“The kid from Snow Creek? Luke Walker?”
“Yeah. He was a…friend.”
“Of Joe’s?”
Ryan cleared his throat. “Of Talon’s, actually.”
“That makes sense. They would’ve been the same age.”
Ryan nodded again. “He was never found.”
“So why did Joe keep all the articles?”
“Joe was almost thirteen at the time, Talon had just turned ten. When Luke disappeared, the two of them tried to find him. I helped as much as I could, and they let me tag along most of the time. It was…kind of like a game. Junior detectives, you know?”
“What about the police?” Marj asked. “Weren’t they involved?”
Ryan nodded. “Yeah. But whoever took these kids… They left no clues. They were smart. Genius in some ways. The kids were never found alive, if at all, so the police could never get any information about the abductors.”
“You say abductors, plural,” I said. “What makes you think there was more than one?”
Ryan’s face reddened. “I don’t know. I guess I just assumed.”
Ryan was lying. His face had never turned red as long as I had known him. But I wasn’t going to push it. Not just yet.
