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“Hi, Wendy. I hope it’s not a problem to call you on a Saturday.”
She sighed. “No, I’ve been expecting your call. And I’m not surprised it’s during off hours.”
I wasn’t sure what she meant by that, but I didn’t want to pry. I had a lot of other prying to do. “I had a long talk with Talon last night. He told me everything.”
“By everything, what exactly do you mean?”
Did she really expect me to spell it out for her? It had been so hard hearing it from Talon’s lips, and I wasn’t sure I could say it. “Wendy…”
“I need to know, Jade, before I can tell you anything else.”
“All right.” I sighed. “He told me about what happened to him when he was ten. That he was abducted by two masked men and held captive for almost two months by three men. He told me what they did to him.” I fought the nausea that crept up my throat. “And he told me of his eventual escape.”
“I see.” Silence for what seemed like hours but was probably only a couple of minutes.
“Wendy?”
“I’m here. I haven’t talked about these things in…well…twenty-five years.”
“Talon is in therapy, Wendy. He’s healing, but I think it would really help him to heal if he knew who these perpetrators were. So that they could be brought to justice. Do you know who they are?”
“Not all of them.”
God. My heart stampeded in my chest. That meant she knew at least one of them. And she could tell me. I could tell Talon. We could find him. We could lock him up for good.
“Oh my God. Who were they?”
“Before I tell you any more,” she said, “there are some things you need to understand.”
“I’m listening.”
“You were right about Larry Wade and Daphne Steel. They were half-brother and half-sister. Larry is Daphne’s elder by five years. They didn’t grow up together. Larry stayed with his mother. But they did know each other.”
“Why did the Steels try to cover up that relationship? Why would anyone care?”
“Because Larry was sick. And he was one of the three men who held Talon captive.”
My heart nearly stopped, and my bowels churned. Sickness oozed within me. I had always known he was backward, unethical, but this…
My God. Talon was right.
“Jade?”
I cleared my throat. “Yeah. I’m okay.”
“I’m sure this is a shock.”
“No, not as much as it could be. Talon had already decided that he was one of them. I guess it’ll be good for me to tell him that he’s right.”
“Jade—”
“What I don’t understand, Wendy, is why didn’t they have him arrested twenty-five years ago? He should be in prison.”
“It’s a long story. I can give you the short version now. We’ll need to meet in person, maybe even with Talon, for me to tell you everything.”
“Oh, no. I want you to tell me everything now. You promised.”
“I will tell you everything. Right now I can only tell you the gist. I made a promise a long time ago never to reveal any of this except to Talon himself when the time was right.”
