“I know that. But he’s dangerous, Marj. He and his father—”
“Colin is not his father. In fact, he was getting ready to tell me some stuff when you stormed in and dragged me off like a pirate’s prize.”
This time he gave a weak smile. “I won’t apologize for that.”
“I’m not asking you to. I love it that you want me that much.”
“I do. Don’t ever scare me like that again. Answer your damned phone.”
“I would have if I’d heard it.”
“Was it noisy in the bar?”
“Not really. Maybe the phone died. Or maybe I put it on silent by accident. I promise I didn’t ignore your call on purpose.”
“You wouldn’t do that.”
“No, I wouldn’t. Do you need to…finish?”
He shook his head. “I’m okay. My dick is a lot less important than everything else going on.”
I smiled. “Your dick is plenty important, but we have a lifetime for sex.”
I hoped I spoke the truth. My mother’s disappearance had made me realize what a dangerous situation we might be in. When it was just Ted and Colin and their enigmatic statements, I’d been concerned, but now?
I was frightened. All-out frightened.
Why? Why couldn’t our family be left in peace? Hadn’t we been through enough?
And why take a mentally ill woman who had no way of defending herself? Preying on children was the worst thing ever, but this was a close second.
We had to find her.
“Tell you what,” Bryce said. “Call Colin. Get him back here, and we’ll both talk to him.”
“It’s late.”
“So? He didn’t mind bothering you when it was late.”
“Good point. He’s staying here at the hotel, so we can go back down to the bar.”
“Or we can talk here. Or in his room,” he said. “Here would be better. If he’s been staying in his room for more than a day, it could be bugged. No one knew you and I were going to be in this room. It’s probably safe.”
I rubbed at the invisible creepy-crawlies on my arms. I hated the feeling of being watched, monitored. After knowing members of my family who’d truly been violated physically, I hesitated to call it a violation, but it was.
A violation.
If we were all being watched, we were all being violated.
I felt sick. Really sick.
“Well?” Bryce said.
“Well what?”
“Will you call Colin?”
“Right.” I nodded. The creepy-crawlies had clouded my mind for a moment. I quickly dialed Colin.