Jonah
Colin?
“Not Colin Morse?”
He nodded.
I had only seen Colin Morse, Jade’s ex-fiancé, once. One evening, and I had threatened him because he was threatening Talon. I’d been mad as hell, but I hadn’t acted on it, thank God. Colin had been a nice enough looking young man, with dirty-blond hair and brownish-green eyes. Now his head was shaved clean, he must have weighed at least thirty pounds less, and he looked thoroughly drained.
He didn’t appear to recognize me.
What had they done to him? And why?
I knew damned well what they had done, and the “why” was probably no more than because they were sick as fuck. But why Colin specifically?
He had disappeared sometime after our last meeting. His father had been looking for him for a couple of months now. Had he been here all that time?
“How long have you been here?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” he croaked.
“Who brought you here?”
“Don’t know,” he said again.
“What do you remember?”
He shook his head.
“I’m sorry. Try not to talk. I’m going to call the cops now, and an ambulance for you. I know you must be hungry, but we need to get you to a hospital. You’re obviously dehydrated and malnourished.”
And physically, emotionally, and sexually abused, but I didn’t need to voice that. He knew that as well as I did. His body was battered and bruised, so he had most likely been beaten, too.
That fucking snake Tom Simpson. At least we had an eyewitness now.
Or maybe not. Tom and the other guy had probably used masks, like they always had with Talon.
Shit.
I quickly pulled my phone out and dialed 9-1-1. They answered on the first ring. I shook my head, remembering how 9-1-1 had been busy the night Melanie had called them. Shitheads. I gave the operator the lowdown, hung up, and turned back to Colin.
“It won’t be too long now,” I told him. “The ambulance will be here soon.”
I wasn’t sure if I should try to feed him. What had we done for Talon when we found him? I couldn’t quite remember. He had gone straight to the hospital as far as I knew. I had only been thirteen. Damn. How was I supposed to help this guy?
He reached up my forearm with his bony hand. “Don’t want to talk.”
“You won’t have to. Not until you’re feeling better. Right now you need to be in a hospital.”
“Haas…” He closed his eyes.
“Colin, your father has been desperate to find you. I’m going to call him, okay?”
His sunken eyes shot open. “No. Don’t.”
“Why not? He needs to know that you’re alive.”
“No!”