“Me too,” I said. “All I can come up with is Justin. How have we forgotten for so long?”
“Your dad told us to. Told us not to mention him at school because it would be too sad for everyone. Told us we’d be in big trouble if we ever said his name.”
“And we believed him,” I said. “Why did we believe him?”
“Because we were nine.” Joe took another sip of his drink. “We were nine fucking years old, Bryce.”
“Why is it all so fuzzy? It doesn’t make sense.” I shoved my hand through my hair. “My father killed him. My father killed Justin.” After doing God only knew what else to him, though I couldn’t say the words aloud.
“And then threw him into the river, no doubt.”
I took another sip of my bourbon and let it burn a new trail down my throat. “Surely the police were called, right?”
“I don’t know, man. This is your father we’re talking about.”
How well I knew. “But Justin’s parents…”
“These men got away with everything,” Joe said. “None of this should surprise us.”
My best friend was right.
“I haven’t given him a thought in all this time,” I said. “Even now the memories are like a faded dream. But what else could Morse have on us?”
“I have no idea.”
“We were nine. We’re innocent. I don’t know what he thinks he’s going to accomplish. He says he doesn’t want money, but what else could he be after?”
“He’ll get none from me,” Joe said. “Not a fucking penny, not after he tried to blame me when I rescued his son.”
“Do you remember Justin’s last name?” I asked. “I know it’s in my head somewhere, but I can’t bring it to the surface.”
Joe shook his head. “We should be able to find it, though. He attended school in Snow Creek. There’d be records.”
“How do we get them?”
“Jade is the city attorney. She has access.”
“To school records? Minors?”
“I assume so, and if she doesn’t, Mills and Johnson can find it.”
“That means we have to tell either Jade or Mills and Johnson why we want the information,” I said.
“No fucking way.” Joe let out a huff. “I’m worried they’ll find it anyway. I guess it’s up to us, then.”
I downed the last of the brown swill in my glass. “I guess so.”
If we could find Justin’s last name, we might be able to locate his family and discover whether Ted Morse or anyone else had contacted them recently.
Or…
We could be walking into a giant trap.
Chapter Forty–Seven
Marjorie
I eyed Colin, anger rising. “Say what?”