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I nodded. He was right.
I just hated the idea of discovering more horrendous secrets about my father.
“Did you hear back from the Spider?”
He shook his head. “He disappeared.”
My stomach flopped. “What?”
“I got in touch with my friend who recommended him. Said he’d tried to reach him earlier today and couldn’t.”
“He disappeared right after he sent you an email saying he had information?”
“Looks that way,” he said gruffly.
An invisible black cloud surrounded me. Something was coming.
Something big.
And something bad.
Joe pulled his phone out of his pocket. It must have buzzed. I was too freaked to hear it.
“Hey, Sis,” he said into it.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Marjorie
After making sure Jade was okay to get the boys from the bus stop after school, I drove into the city to see my mother.
I tried to get there every week. I wanted to tell her about Bryce and me. She wouldn’t know who either of us were, but still, she was my mother, and I needed to tell her my good news.
Having a little good news in the wake of what was happening seemingly all over again was a gift. A gift I intended to let myself revel in. I deserved that much, and so did Bryce.
The cut on my thigh still ached a little when I walked, reminding me of what I’d done. It had numbed up pretty good during my time on the elliptical this morning, but at the moment, it was pounding with my heart.
I erased it from my mind as best I could and signed the visitors’ log. Then I walked to my mother’s wing.
Her door was closed, so I knocked gently and opened it. “Mom?”
She wasn’t in bed or in her chair, not in itself unusual. She was probably in the common area. I found her there sometimes, cradling the doll she imagined was me and talking to other patients. I strode toward the end of the hallway, smiling at nurses and orderlies along the way, until I reached the large room where patients congregated to watch television and play board games.
The TV was turned to a talk show. I looked around the room. No mom. Strange. Maybe she had an appointment with one of her physicians.
I walked back toward her room and grabbed the first caregiver I found. His name tag read Barry. “Barry, hi. I’m Marjorie Steel. We spoke on the phone about the man who visited my mother. Daphne Steel?”
“Yes, hi. I’ve seen you around here.”
“Where is she? I came to visit, and she’s usually in her room around this time of the day.”
“Your brother came and took her out for a while.”
My heart dropped. “What?”
“Your brother. Didn’t he tell you?”
“My brothers work during the day. They only visit Mom on weekends.”
