“Evidently Cade hates his siblings nearly as much as he hates us. They work against him, after all.”
“Makes sense. But why Colin?”
“That one’s a little harder.” I explained my theory of Cade’s jealousy of Colin.
“Wow. Cade really had a number pulled on him.”
“Yeah. Well, my father pulled a number on a lot of people.” Myself included, to a much lesser extent—and not until his true self was revealed after his suicide.
“No one’s blaming you,” Joe said.
I exhaled slowly. “I know that. I’m beginning to see things a little differently.”
“Oh? Did you decide to see a therapist?”
“Not yet. I’m still going to talk to Melanie, once she and the baby are ho
me. It was actually Marj who gave me the epiphany.”
“Ugh. Spare me the details of sex with my sister.”
I chuckled. “It wasn’t during sex, you idiot. Your sister is one smart woman.”
“I always knew that.”
“She wants me to talk to someone qualified, of course, and I will. But she basically told me to get over myself. That I was indulging myself, a lot like—” I stopped. Marjorie had trusted me with her secret, and I couldn’t let her down.
“I know what you don’t want to say,” Joe said.
“You do?”
“Yeah. I know. I did the same thing. Feeling guilty because I didn’t protect Talon. Feeling guilty because nothing happened to me. It was stupid.”
Good save, Bryce. Actually, Joe had done the saving. He’d thought Marj had been talking about him.
“It’s time we both got over it,” I said.
“Can’t argue.” Joe tipped his Stetson. “That what you wanted to talk about?”
I swallowed. No. That wasn’t what I’d wanted to talk about. How to bring it up?
By the way, your father’s still not dead. Dominic and Alex actually do work for him. Oh, and he bought my dad’s cabin.
Before I could get the words out, though, Joe’s phone buzzed.
“Yeah?” he said into it. “Tell me some good news.”
Pause.
“You’re kidding. Excellent!”
Pause.
“We’re on our way.” He ended the call and stuffed his phone back into his pocket.
“Mills and Johnson,” he said. “They found Cade Booker. He says he’s willing to talk.”
Chapter Forty-Eight