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“They shouldn’t be able to. Not after the safety upgrades I had installed.”
“I know, but these people, Jade. They get away with everything. Someone walked into a mental health facility and took my disabled mother away…and no one seemed the wiser.”
“Well,” Jade said, “we’ll soon find out. I’m going in.”
She tapped on the computer and went through screen after screen. Wow. She really had put in top-notch security.
“The city of Snow Creek really paid for all this?” I said, flabbergasted.
“Oh, no. I didn’t even ask. Talon gave me the money to have this done.”
I nodded. I should have known. Maybe this security would hold after all.
“Bingo,” Jade said, coming to a screen. “Here he is. Justin C. Valente. Father Bertram Valente. Mother Cadence Russo Valente. Last known address just outside of town. He would have been bused to school.”
“With your brothers?”
“No. Looks like he lived east of town.”
“So we check out the house?”
“We can, but I’m sure they’ve been gone forever. I can check the property records.” She tapped furiously. “Looks like they rented a small place on someone’s farm.”
“Did he have any brothers or sisters?”
“No, not that it says. The school records don’t show any siblings. Looks like an only child.”
“Okay. My research shows that Bertram Valente is dead. Died ten years ago, shot at a convenience store.”
“Yeah.” She tapped. “Just substantiating that.”
“Did they ever catch who did it?” I asked.
“Doesn’t look like it. It’s an unsolved case in Denver.”
“So Bertram Valente left Snow Creek, went to Denver.”
“Looks like it. He bought a— Wow!”
“What?”
“He bought a freaking mansion nearly thirty years ago in Cherry Hills. That’s posh Denver.”
“And his wife?”
“Let me check. They divorced about a year later. It’s all here. Public records.”
“What happened to her?” I asked.
“Looks like she remarried… Let me get the name.” Then she swallowed and turned pale.
“What? What is it?”
“She married a man named Booker. Richard Booker.”
Chills rattled my flesh. “Booker? As in Cade Booker? Dominic and Alessandra Booker?” Thoughts whirled in my head. “Justin C. Valente. Cade must be his middle name. Cade, Cadence. After his mother.”
Jade typed frantically. “Here are the birth certificates. Dominic James Booker and Alessandra Cadence Booker. Father is Richard Booker, mother is Cadence Russo. Shit. The. Fucking. Bed.”
