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“Of course he’s on our side,” I said. “I’m holding a gun to his head. We just learned from Mills and Johnson that the one thing that trumps money to a mercenary is life.”
“You say Colin is missing,” Joe said. “You sure you didn’t lead Booker right to him? For the right price?”
“Why would I—”
“Shut the fuck up,” Joe said. “We all know why.”
Morse closed his eyes. “Maybe you should just pull the trigger. I deserve it.”
“I won’t argue,” I said, “but you’re not done talking yet.”
“I didn’t sell Colin. I didn’t.”
“Then what did you do?”
“I took some money from your father, and I gave him information.”
“What information?”
Morse sighed. “Apparently your father witnessed an encounter between Colin and you and your brothers,” he said to Joe. “Simpson came to me, said he was interested in talking business with Colin, maybe had a position for him with the city, and he offered me a large ‘finder’s fee’ if I let him know how to get in touch with Colin.”
“How large?” I asked.
“Really large. Seven figures.”
“Sounds like a finder’s fee for his next plaything.” Joe said.
“I honestly didn’t know—”
“What a crock,” Joe said. “Didn’t you wonder how the mayor of Snow Creek had access to that amount of cash?”
“I didn’t think about it! You really think I’d sell my own son out?”
“For the right price?” I scoffed. “Hell, yeah.”
“It wasn’t like that. It wasn’t—”
“What did you tell Booker?” I demanded. “About Colin?”
“Nothing. Not a thing. After what happened the first time, do you really think I’d accept money for information on my son?”
I looked to Joe. “Do you believe him?”
“Fuck no. No one pays a seven-figure finder’s fee for a job with a small town.”
My initial instinct was to agree with Joe. After all, it gave me a certain constancy to think there might be another father on the planet who was horrid like mine. But Ted Morse wasn’t Tom Simpson. He was more like Mills and Johnson than my father, if he was telling the truth. He liked money and would do just about anything for it. Perhaps he truly thought he was getting a finder’s fee for my father offering his son a job. My father was the mayor of Snow Creek and a respected attorney, after all. Ted could have convinced himself my father was on the up-and-up, so he had an excuse to take the money. “For God’s sake, Bryce. You’re not buying this horseshit, are you?”
“I’m not buying into anything,” I said, still poking my gun into Morse’s forehead. “But we need to find Booker. Does Colin ever go off by himself?” I asked Morse.
“I don’t know. He’s an adult.”
“If he went somewhere alone, where would it be?”
“We have a place in Glenwood Springs,” Morse said. “This condo here in Grand Junction, although he’s not here, obviously.”
“Anything else?”
“We have some rentals here and in Montana and Florida, but they’re all currently leased.”
