Melt (Steel Brothers Saga 4)

“No problem, man. I understand. How’s Henry?”

“He’s got a fever now. It was the strangest thing. I seriously thought he was dying.”

“Wow.”

“I can’t even describe how scared I was. You don’t have kids, so I’m not sure you’d understand anyway.”

I thought I’d understand just fine, but I didn’t want to upset Bryce. “What happened?”

“Last night his lips and nail beds turned blue, and every book on raising a kid says that’s a big danger sign. My mom and I totally freaked. Only Dad remained calm.” He looked over at Tom. “You’ll never know how much I appreciate that, Dad. You sure know how to keep your head in a crisis.”

Tom smiled slightly. An eerie feeling swept through me. Remaining calm in a crisis would be a great characteristic…for a criminal. A psychopath.

Bryce handed the filled syringe to Tom.

“Here you go, buddy,” Tom said, putting the syringe to Henry’s lips. “Come on. Take your medicine.”

Tom finally got the medicine in Henry’s mouth, although some of it dribbled down his chin. He wiped it up with a towel and handed Henry back to Bryce. “I ought to get into the office. I haven’t had any sleep, but there are a few things that can’t wait.” He turned to me and held out his hand. “Always good to see you, Joe.”

I flinched a little. I had to shake his hand. Hell, I’d shaken it hundreds of times before. I’d grown up with this guy. He was the father of my best friend. So I forced my arm out and took his hand.

Again, a strange sensation surged through me, like ice-cold water trickling over my neck and chest. My stomach churned.

He conveyed something to me in that handshake, whether he knew it or not, and whatever it was, I didn’t like it.

I felt one million times better when Tom left the room. I cringed, thinking of him holding Henry, taking care of him. I had to find out where Tom’s birthmark was. And I had to find some way to tell Bryce about my suspicions.

How the hell did I tell my friend that I thought his father was a child molester? A sick criminal? It was as bad as finding out my own uncle had taken part. In fact, worse. From what I knew, Larry hadn’t been the one who chopped up and disposed of the bodies. If what I suspected was true, Tom Simpson had not only abused and disposed of random kids, he also did it to his own nephew, Luke Walker.

Again, the icy trickles of water…

Calm down, Joe. You don’t even know he had anything to do with the abduction.

Right now, I had to be there for Bryce. He was clearly distraught over his son.

“He’s always been such a healthy kid, Joe,” Bryce said. “I wouldn’t have freaked out so much over a fever, but when those little nail beds turned blue… Man, I’ve never been so scared in my life.”

“Your mom said he had a chill?”

“Yeah, that’s what the ER guys said. Said it was a normal thing. I’d never heard of it. They checked his pulse ox and he was fine, so the blue nail beds and lips were caused by the chill, not lack of oxygen. He’s got some kind of virus. Now he’s running a fever.”

He set Henry, who had finally calmed down, into his crib.

“So what did you need last night?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you texted me several times. And Mrs. Norris came by this morning and said you were pounding on our door last night at midnight.”

Shit. I shouldn’t have done that. I’d been going crazy after what Talon said. Had I really thought I could barge into this house and demand to see a guy’s birthmark?

I said nothing.

“Seriously, Joe. What were you doing here at midnight?”

I had to think of something and think of it quick. “I was…in town at Murphy’s, and I’d had a few drinks. I guess I thought something was more important than it actually was.”

“What?”