Colton's Lethal Reunion (Coltons of Mustang Valley)

“Do you have a trunk, too?” She heard the hint of emotion in her voice, the lack of professionalism in the question, wished she could take it back as she looked at him, waiting for his answer.

“I do.” The blue in those eyes darkened, as though he was pleading with her. But for what? He had it all.

“Okay, well...” She didn’t look away. She did push her personal feelings aside. “Things to look for... A baby book, or the hospital bracelet he’d had on...some mothers save those, hers and the baby’s, and they could have doctor’s names on them. They used to, sometimes, before the digital age. Baby books also typically have a line to name the delivery doctor...”

“Kerry...”

She shook her head. “I’m heading in to see if the autopsy report is back on Grant Alvin. If we can establish the ranger’s cause of death as a homicide, I think I can get an order to have Tyler’s body exhumed and reexamined. The way they both were lying...the similarities in landing...can’t be a coincidence. It has to have something to do with how they went over the side. Like, the same guy pushing them both in the same way...”

She was rambling but stopped. He didn’t need to know that she’d be spending her evening at home, on her law enforcement databases, searching for Nan Gelman. That wasn’t pertinent to their association. “Please keep me posted,” she said, putting the still-running Jeep back in Drive.

Rafe got the hint. She read the resignation in the long look he gave her. Saying he’d call her if he found anything in the trunk, he told her to take care and vacated her space.

She told herself it didn’t hurt.

* * *

Colton Oil finance business kept Rafe at the office longer than he’d have liked. As eager as he was to get up in the attic and go through Ace’s trunk to see if he could find anything that would help with discovering who’d switched his adopted brother at birth, Rafe was more driven to having a reason to call Kerry. The completed trunk search would offer that.

It was like he had to be in constant contact with her.

He also had to spend time at the hospital with Payne. He’d changed back into dress pants and shirt and tie upon arrival at the office and was wearing the same as he walked into the hospital room. Genevieve was there, but welcomed a chance to have dinner with Marlowe, Bowie and Callum, Marlowe’s fraternal twin, and after she left, Rafe ended up sitting with Ace for an hour, watching Payne lying unconscious.

Marlowe and Callum were going to be heading up to the hospital after dinner and then Genevieve would take the night shift.

Rafe told Ace about wanting to go through his trunk.

“Fine,” Ace said, throwing up his hand. “It’s not like I have much say in anything these days.”

Rafe understood the other man’s frustration. Probably more than Ace knew.

“You want to be there?” he asked. “We could do it tonight, when we’re done here.”

Ace’s headshake wasn’t a total surprise. Who’d want to go look through childhood memorabilia right after finding out that his childhood had been based on a lie? At least Rafe had always known who he was, where he came from.

“I’m staying at the condo,” Ace said, referring to his loft in the industrial section of town. “I saw a reporter lurking around at the mansion yesterday and I’m not dealing with that,” Ace continued.

Rafe didn’t blame him.

They talked about Colton Oil business for a minute or two, mostly awkward conversation since Ace was no longer on the board and privy to the confidential board minutes, which were taking up a lot of Rafe’s office time at the moment. A lot of people outside of Mustang Valley and even Arizona lived off the success of Colton Oil.

Rafe turned to study the monitors hooked up to Payne. The rise and fall of every heartbeat was designated with a green line in teepee-shaped formations. The oxygen levels and blood pressure readings turned up on the same screen. He’d asked enough questions that first day to know normal ranges for all of Payne’s vital statistics and was glad to see them all completely on track. That had to be good.

“I get it now,” Ace said, elbows on his knees, his hands clasped, as he glanced between Payne and Rafe.

“Get what?”

“How it must have felt...you moving in with us...there, not really one of us, but one of us...”

Uncomfortable, unsure where Ace was going, and pretty sure he didn’t want to tag along, Rafe said, “What you’re getting at is how hard it was, not having a say in how my life was going to go,” he told the other man. That he could talk about.

He was still paying the price for having to do what a Colton would do, rather than following his own dictates.

Ace looked at him. Nodded. And shut up.

Rafe left soon after that, not wanting to be there when everyone got back from dinner. He’d be forced to stay longer and visit. Callum, an elite bodyguard, wasn’t home much, so he had a lot of catching up to do. Rafe had to get home and uncover whatever of Ace’s past was stashed away in the attic.

Thinking about his plans, he kept a light foot on the gas pedal as he made his way down Mustang Boulevard, noting Kerry’s Jeep still parked outside the police station, and then sped out of town. There’d be food for dinner in the kitchen at the mansion. He could grab something and take it upstairs with him.