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I shed my soiled clothes and step into the warm stream of water.
And for a moment, I imagine that it’s not only cleansing my body, but cleansing all the rest of this shit away.
Chapter Fifteen
Donny
For the first time in his life, Brock Steel appears to be speechless.
Plus, he’s shooting flaming darts with his eyes…toward his father.
Then he looks at Dale…at me.
And his expression is…
“We’re okay,” Dale says.
“But…my God.”
“Diana and Brianna don’t know about this,” I say. “We’re counting on you. Our sisters… They wouldn’t be able to take it.”
“And you think I can?” Brock rises, paces around the concrete pool deck.
“It was a long time ago,” Dale says.
“Yeah? Well, to me, it’s five minutes old.”
Uncle Joe interjects then. “Brock, son, with all due respect, this didn’t happen to you. It’s not yours to own.”
“Really, Dad? It doesn’t kill you to know what Dale and Donny went through? What your brother went through?”
“Of course it does, but I’ve known for twenty-five years. It’s over. It’s dead and buried.”
“Except it’s not,” Brock says. “None of this is. Our past is coming back to us. And Uncle Talon almost paid the price.”
Uncle Joe’s countenance goes dark then.
We all know what that means.
“We’re going to figure this out,” he says. “I couldn’t protect Talon all those years ago, and I’ve failed yet again. He took the shot meant for me.”
“We don’t know that, Uncle Joe,” Dale says.
“Ryan and I know,” he replies. “And we’re right. I guess I need to let him know that the three of you are now in on this.”
“Which means the two of you should help Dale and me go through the Murphy place.”
Uncle Joe shakes his head. “I disagree. It’s better to only have the two of you unaccounted for. Four of us would be much more noticeable.”
“Good point,” Dale says. “Don and I will handle it. I’ve already got decoys set up as well. We’ll be seven altogether, and the other five will handle security. We go in Friday.”
“Not tomorrow?” Uncle Joe asks.
“I need to get covered at city hall, with Mom out of town.” I haven’t told Dale yet about Callie’s involvement. Doesn’t seem like the right time.
“I’m feeling like I should be doing something,” Brock says.
“There is something you can do, son,” Uncle Joe says. “While Dale and Donny are searching Murphy’s, you can be at the main house while Jade is in Grand Junction.”
“Doing what?”
“My father left a ton of old records in the basement crawl space. Talon, Ryan, and I went through a lot of them twenty-five years ago. They are ultimately what led us to the truth behind Talon’s abduction, and they led us to Dale and Donny. But I have a feeling we haven’t yet scratched the surface of what may be hiding in those boxes.”
Brock nods. “All right. And you, Dad?”
“One of us has to be at work. If it’s not me, it has to be you, my right-hand man.”
“Maybe you should do the research,” Brock says. “You know what you’re looking for.”
Uncle Joe pauses a moment. “I see your point, but I’m an old man now. Hunching in a crawl space is a job for a twenty-four-year-old, not a sixty-three-year-old.”
“Fair enough,” Brock says. “I’ll keep my eye out for anything suspicious.”
“You’re looking for documents dated fifty years ago,” I tell him. “This all started with our grandfather, possibly our great-grandfather, and I’m betting there’s a ton of stuff we don’t know about.”
Brock wrinkles his forehead. “This is a lot to take in.”
“I know, Brock,” Uncle Joe says. “I understand. God, your mother’s going to have my head on a platter, but you’re the one I always knew I could count on.”
“Of course, Dad. But you can count on Mom and Brad, too. They adore you.”
“They do, and I love them both like you can’t imagine. But you and I are cut from the same cloth. We always have been.”
Brock nods.
I look toward my brother. He is to Dad what Brock is to Uncle Joe. What I am to Mom.
Dale’s father was shot with a bullet meant for Brock’s father.
There’s no stopping the two of them now.
And I realize how necessary I am to this whole equation.
Without me, the two of them will go off half-cocked.
Fuck.
That’s a lot of responsibility on my shoulders.
I rise. “We need to go, Dale. It’s nearing midnight.”
He darts me a glare but then joins me. “Yeah. Right.”
Dale, Brock, and Uncle Joe could easily spend all night talking, strategizing, getting angrier and angrier. Dale’s still a newlywed, though.
“Ashley’s probably wondering where you are,” I say.
He nods and then gives me an appreciative gaze.
“Don’t forget what’s important.” Then I look to Uncle Joe. “You either.”
Uncle Joe’s dark eyes widen for a split second, but then he nods. “I never do, despite what it looks like sometimes.”
“I know. Let’s go, Dale.”
