“Oh, yeah.” Jade nodded. “He was helping.”
“Helping yourself goes a long way,” I said, echoing words I’d heard from Mel more than once. “It doesn’t matter that it’s probably nothing. What matters is he found it and saw that it was out of place.”
Jade smiled. “I can’t get over the smile on his face. All because of a rock.”
“Did you know Dale used to collect rocks?” I said.
“No. He never mentioned it. Then again, he never mentions much of anything.”
“Apparently he had quite a collection, but they didn’t make their way from his old house to here.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t know. I thought you and Tal brought everything from their room.”
“We did. There wasn’t a collection of rocks.”
“That’s strange. Maybe Dale kept it hidden.”
“Maybe… If it meant that much to him, would he have—” She shook her head. “No, he probably wouldn’t have said anything. He didn’t say anything at all until now.”
“Right.”
“You don’t think…” Jade bit her lip.
“Think what?”
“That you actually found one of Dale’s rocks? That someone took his collection because they’re after him?”
“Why would anyone steal worthless rocks?” I asked.
“I don’t know. Whoever this guy is has spooked Dale more than once now. I don’t like it.”
“None of us do, Jade.”
“I’ll talk to Dale. See if he left the rocks somewhere hidden.”
“Okay.” I finished up the chicken breasts I was frying. “Call in the boys for dinner. It’s ready.”
Chapter Forty-One
Bryce
CM? Colin Morse? He was Marj’s age. Why would he have cufflinks, and why—
“This is Colin’s,” I said. “It has to be.”
“But you said your father didn’t come here after we grew up.”
“That I knew of. But who else could it belong to?”
“Well…anyone with the initials CM. There’s
probably more than one.”
“He held Colin captive,” I said.
“Not here,” Joe retorted.