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I nodded. “News travels fast.”
Bryce’s eyes went glassy. “I’m sure sorry about what happened to Talon. I had no idea.”
I still didn’t know how to respond to things like this. I wanted to squirm and pretend I hadn’t heard Bryce. I could only imagine how uncomfortable it was for Talon. “No one did. It was very hush-hush.”
“Why? Why didn’t your parents try to find out what had happened?”
“That’s what we’re all trying to figure out. They had their reasons for keeping quiet, I guess. But at least one of those motherfuckers will come to justice.”
“Pretty scary,” he said. “It could have been either one of us.”
True that. It had haunted me since it happened twenty-five years ago. I swallowed the lump that had formed in my throat. “Yeah, it should have happened to me.”
“What the heck are you talking about?”
I cleared my throat. Bryce was my oldest friend. If I couldn’t be honest with him, I couldn’t be honest with anyone. “The day Talon was taken, he went out to the Walkers’ ranch to look for clues. He asked me to go with him, but I refused. If I had gone…”
“If you’d gone, they’d have taken both of you.”
I shook my head. “Ryan was with him, and he got away. He got away because Talon protected him. He protected his little brother, like I should’ve protected mine.”
“You can’t hold on to something that happened so long ago, man.”
If only it were that simple, but I didn’t think for a minute Bryce would understand. Then again, maybe he would. Luke Walker, the boy who had been kidnapped before Talon, was Bryce’s cousin. Talon had told Ryan and me what had happened to Luke Walker. Two of the kidnappers had chopped him up into pieces while they forced my brother to watch. I chilled to the bone. I couldn’t be the one who told Bryce that horror story. Still, he might understand my feelings about failing to protect Talon.
“Do you ever feel guilty about what happened to Luke? He wasn’t your brother, but he was your cousin.”
“I missed him, even though we weren’t overly close. We didn’t have a lot in common.” He shrugged. “But guilt? Not really. Maybe I should have. It was horrible that he disappeared and was never found. I was bummed when he disappeared, but nobody knew he was taken. We all thought he’d run away at first and that he’d eventually show up.”
“But then Talon disappeared.”
“But remember, none of us knew about Talon. It happened during the summer, and by the time school started up again, Talon was back. Then your parents covered it up, so no one knew.”
He was right, but then something shot into my mind. “You know, I never thought of this before, but after Talon, no one else was taken. At least not from around here.”
Bryce nodded. “You’re right.”
Larry Wade had been caught, but the other two hadn’t. Those two could have kept abducting kids. “My parents knew Larry Wade was one of Talon’s kidnappers, and they let him get away with it. I sure as hell don’t know why. Larry claims he helped Talon escape, and maybe he did, but I still don’t get why my parents let him go.”
“Have you asked Larry?”
“I haven’t gone to see him. Only Jade has. I’m not sure Talon could hold it together. Hell, I’m not sure I could either.”
“Did Larry tell Jade anything?”
“No. Larry won’t say a word about the other two. He’s scared to death of them. We don’t know who the hell they are, and he won’t roll over on them.”
“That is a pickle.”
“A pickle?” I laughed, despite the somber subject.
“Just a phrase my mom uses,” Bryce said. “I’m sure you’ve heard me use it before.”
I shook my head. “I’m certain I’d remember that. But seriously, I don’t know. Maybe I should go talk to the SOB. I can force myself to hold it together. God knows I’ve done it before. Nothing to lose, except a couple hours of my life.”
“I’ll go with you, if you want. I’d like to pick his brain about Luke. My cousin could be alive somewhere for all I know.”
Poor Bryce. I’d have to tell him the truth about Luke at some point. But not right now. I loved the idea of him going with me, though. Facing Larry alone was more than I could stomach. “Would you really go along? I’d be grateful for the company, and I can’t ask one of my brothers to go with me, especially not Talon. They have to go in their own time. But I should talk to Talon first. It’s really his call whether I go. This is his story, not mine.”
