by HELEN HARDT
“Look,” Larry said. “Those two are still at large, and they probably think I ratted them out. Believe me, my time behind bars is limited. Meaning, they’re not going to let me live. And the more I tell you, the shorter my time on this earth will be.”
“Not necessarily. My offer to pay for the best lawyer in Colorado still stands. If you help me find these two.”
Larry rolled his eyes. “I don’t know where they hole up. They never told me. You think I’m lying to you? What would I have to gain at this point?”
Jonah let out a laugh. “Hell, yes, I think you’re lying to me. You’ve been lying to me this whole time. I looked you straight in the eye and asked you if Tom Simpson was one of Talon’s abductors. You told me no.”
“I never said no. At least not that I recall. I said I wasn’t rolling over on them, whoever they were.”
“You knew I was on the right path, yet you said nothing. I’ve found them now. I know who they both are, although one of them does go by a dozen different names.”
“Look, all I can tell you is this. Don’t underestimate those two. They’re way beyond psychopaths, especially Mathias. That man is dangerous.”
“Uncle, are you concerned about me?”
“Stop with your bullshit. I’m trying to be straight with you here. I don’t fucking know where they are. I have never known where they are, but I know what they are. They’re both criminally insane.”
Jonah scoffed. “That’s an interesting assessment, coming from someone who’s criminally insane.”
“Look, I’m far from perfect. Okay? I have certain urges that most people don’t have. I’m not proud of it, and I’m serving my time, but I’m telling you again. Don’t underestimate the two of them. They make me look like a fucking angel.”
Again, as far as I could tell, he wasn’t lying. Of course, pathological liars were often very good at it and left no evidence that they were lying. But what if Larry was telling the truth? What if he was, as he’d put it, an angel compared to the other two? He probably wasn’t as good at lying as they were.
I decided to chime in. “Larry, there has to be something you can tell us about those two.” I kept my voice as soft and feminine as I could. Perhaps Larry would respond to that. Perhaps not. But it was worth a try.
“Sorry, Dr. Carmichael.”
Jonah stood. “This is a fucking waste of our time.”
I touched his forearm. God, he was so tense. “Let’s not leave yet,” I said. “Let me ask a few questions.”
Jonah sat back down. “Melanie, I think you’re walking toward a dead end, but go for it if you want to.”
I bit my lip and looked straight at Larry Wade. “What high school did you go to?”
“That’s probably a matter of public record,” he said.
“Maybe it is, but I don’t have access to those records right now. Why don’t you tell me where you went?”
“Tejon Prep School in Grand Junction.”
“Good. Tom Simpson told us that you and he went to the same high school. Or rather, he told Jonah.”
Larry stiffened.
“Did anyone else we know go to that high school? Theodore Mathias, perhaps?”
Larry stiffened further, but he did not answer.
“All right, let’s attack this from another angle,” I said. “You want to live through tonight?”
Jonah looked at me, his eyes unreadable. Perhaps he hadn’t thought that I could play hardball.
“Lady,” Larry said, “I’ve had a contract out on my life since I got here. Do I want to live through tonight? Sure. But you can’t give me any guarantee that I will.”
“Don’t ever refer to her as ‘lady’ again. She’s Dr. Carmichael,” Jonah said.
I squeezed his thigh, hopefully showing him that it was okay, as long as Larry was talking.
“What can you tell us about Wendy Madigan?” I asked.
Jonah darted his gaze at me again. Was he confused? I wasn’t sure, but I had a reason for asking this question.
“She’s a newswoman. Retired.”
“We already know that. I’m looking for something deeper. I want to know how she was involved in the attack on Talon.”
“You’ll have to ask her.”
“As you know, Jonah and Talon have asked her about it. Her story doesn’t jibe with yours. You say Talon was never meant to be taken. She says Talon was taken on purpose, and the plan might have been to take all three of the boys.”
“Doesn’t surprise me.”
“What doesn’t surprise you? That all the boys were meant to be taken?”
“No. It doesn’t surprise me that she’s lying to you.”
Jonah was rigid next to me. He’d had a bad feeling after his meeting with Wendy, thought there was more to her than met the eye. Clearly he was correct.
“Why doesn’t that surprise you?”
“Because she was obsessed. Obsessed with Bradford Steel.”
“You mean my father and she were not lovers?” Jonah said.
“They were a long time ago. She was a great-looking woman in her younger days. And Brad was no saint.”
“Do you know for sure whether they were lovers?” Jonah asked.
“I can’t say for sure. I mean, I never saw them in bed together, but it was pretty much known when they were younger. They went out during high school.” He shook his head. “She may play the part of the competent newswoman, but don’t be fooled. She has a dark side. And that dark side was obsessed with your father.”
“You claim you didn’t get the five million dollars that mysteriously disappeared from one of my father’s accounts twenty-five years ago,” Jonah said.
“Correct. I didn’t get any.”
“Then where did it go?”
“How the hell should I know? It would’ve been a nice gesture for them to give me some money. They chased me out of town after I helped your brother escape.”
“Gee, I don’t know why my parents would chase you out of town,” Jonah said. “After you fucking abused their son.”
“Let me get straight to the point here,” Larry said. “I did help him escape. He was never supposed to be taken. None of us wanted to incur the wrath of the Steel family. That would just be stupid. You can think what you want about all three of us, but we were never stupid.”
“Seems you were stupid to get involved with the other two,” Jonah said through clenched teeth. “Seems you have their backs, but they never had yours.”
I squeezed Jonah’s thigh again, hoping he would calm down a bit. “What else can you tell me about your high school experience?” I asked. “Were you and Tom good friends?”
“We were both members of the future lawyers club. That’s how we met.”
“And was anyone else a member of the club?”
“Lady— Excuse me. Dr. Carmichael, I’m not saying another word about Simpson or the other one. But you can find the information you seek very easily.”
Chapter Twenty–Two
Jonah
Melanie squeezed my thigh again. “Jonah, I think we can go now.”
“Fine.” I signaled the guard. “We’re done here.”
The guard led Larry away, and I grabbed Melanie’s hand. “I need to talk to the guard on duty.”
“Why?”
“I’m giving him a few hundreds to have Larry roughed up tonight.”
She touched my upper arm. “Don’t do that.”
“Why the hell not?”
“Because he just gave us a clue.”
“Are you kidding me? What clue did you get out of that?”
“His high school. The future lawyers club.”
“How in the world is that going to help us?”
“The last thing he said was that we could find the information we needed easily. Since the only information he gave us was where he went to high school and the club he and Tom Simpson were in, that means we start there.”
“We go to his high school?”
“That
’s right. We go to his high school right now, and we ask to see their old yearbooks.”
“How would that help?”
“I’ve dealt with my share of unstable and psychopathic people. They each follow a certain type of logic, which in their minds makes sense, even though it doesn’t make sense to the rest of us. Did you ever see Silence of the Lambs?”
“Yes.”
“Remember when Clarice first goes to see Hannibal Lecter? He tells her to ‘look inside yourself.’ He wasn’t referring to Clarice finding herself. He was referring to a Your Self storage company. What Larry said isn’t that different. He told us we would find what we need at his high school and the future lawyers club.”
He smiled. “You’re fucking brilliant.”
She laughed. “I don’t know that I’m brilliant. I could be completely wrong. It’s possible he’s sending us on a wild goose chase. But the way he looked at me when he said we already knew where to find the information we sought… Honestly, I think it’s worth checking out.”
“I trust your judgment, Melanie. That’s why I brought you along. Let’s visit the good people at Tejon Prep School. Hell, we’re already here in the city.”
* * *
A half an hour later, we arrived at the school. Classes were over for the day, and after-school activities were in full swing. Melanie and I walked into the school to find the office.
A redheaded receptionist sat behind a desk.
“Excuse me,” I said.
“May I help you?” she asked.
“Yes. I’m Jonah Steel.” I handed her my business card. “Of Steel Acres ranch. We’d like to look at some of your old yearbooks.”
“Nice to meet you, Mr. Steel.” She smiled broadly. “Which yearbook are you looking for?”
I looked at Melanie.
“We’re not sure,” she said. “Probably at least thirty years ago. We’ll have to look to find the ones we need.”
“We keep copies of all of our yearbooks in the school library and the school archives. Are you two alumni?”
“No,” Jonah said. “But my uncle is. We’re trying to find some information for him.”
“We don’t normally give access to our library and archives to anyone other than current students. I can have you fill out a form to request access, but that probably won’t be necessary.” She smiled.
She was flirting with me. Melanie tensed a little beside me. I figured she would understand if I used this to my advantage.
“Oh? Would you be willing to bend the rules a little for us”—I glanced at the name on her desk—“Jordan?” I gave her my best smile.
“I’m afraid I can’t do that.” She batted her eyes coyly. “But all of our yearbooks are on our website. All your uncle needs to do is open an account.”
I sighed. “My uncle is…incapacitated at this time. Are you sure you can’t grant us access to the library?”
“I wish I could. It’s just not possible right now.” She nodded toward an office door marked “Principal.”
Melanie grabbed my hand. “That’s quite all right. You’ve been very helpful. Let’s go.” She pulled me out of there.
When we got outside, I said, “Are you crazy? I could’ve gotten access for us.”
“Why bother? We can open an account in Larry’s name and get the information ourselves from the website.”
“It’s not that easy, Melanie. We’ll probably need his year of graduation to get in. Or his Social Security number.”
“You’re so funny, Jonah. Jade can get all of that information for us. From the lawyers registration file in Colorado.”
“Still… I could’ve gotten in.”
“Pardon me if I don’t want to see you flirting with some bubble-headed receptionist just to get something you want. This is an easier way. We can research it at home, and no one will be looking over our shoulders.”
I squeezed her hand. “All right. You know, you’re cute when you’re jealous.”
She smiled at me. “Admit it. Part of you liked that you had her in your clutches. You wanted to see how far you could get her to go with the principal in the next office.”
“All right, I can’t fault your perception. But you’re right. Doing it in the privacy of our own home will be much easier.”
“And if it doesn’t work?” Melanie said. “I will personally accompany you back here tomorrow, and the two of us will reduce that receptionist to jelly, okay?”
I laughed.
* * *
Though we had originally been planning to eat dinner in the city, both Melanie and I were eager to get home and explore this new avenue. On the way home, Melanie called Jade at her office and got the information we needed—Larry’s date of birth and year of graduation from Tejon Prep School. When we got home, I let Lucy out while Melanie filled her food and water. Then I threw two of my home-chef-prepared frozen meals in the microwave, opened a bottle of wine, and fired up my laptop.
Melanie sat next to me, positioned so she could see the screen as well, as I typed in the correct website. I typed in Larry Wade, his birthday, and graduation year.
And jolted when it came up “nothing found.”
“Damn.”
“Maybe his real name is Lawrence,” Melanie said.
“Good point.” I tried again.
No dice.
“Shit,” I said. “We’re going to have to see the hard copies of the yearbooks.”
“Wow, I feel bad,” Melanie said. “This was my idea.”
“Not your fault, sweetheart. You were right. This would have been easier. This isn’t the first time these guys have hacked in and changed databases. It wouldn’t surprise me if Larry Wade was erased from this one.”
“If they were able to accomplish that, they were probably able to get into that school’s library and destroy the pertinent yearbooks.”
“Yes, probably.” Would we ever be able to get this information? Seemed like they were always one step ahead of us.
My phone buzzed. Damn, not another text from my stalker.
But no, it was a phone call, from a Grand Junction number I didn’t recognize.
Chapter Twenty–Three
Melanie
Jonah put the phone to his ear. “Jonah Steel.”
He was silent for what seemed like forever but was only several seconds.
“I see. And how can you do that?”
I had no idea what he was talking about or to whom he was speaking. Probably work related.
“Won’t that get you into trouble?”
More silence.
“I’m near Snow Creek. How soon can you get here?”
Now I was curious.
He rattled off the editions of the yearbooks we needed from Tejon Prep School, and my curiosity piqued again.
“Thank you. You’re a lifesaver. I’ll make sure you’re well compensated.” He clicked off his phone.
“What was all that about?” I asked.
“You won’t believe this. That was my admirer, Jordan Hayes, the receptionist at Tejon. She’s going to sneak into the school archives and get the books we need. We’ll meet her at Murphy’s in an hour.”
“What?” I let the words sink into my head. “You must have made more of an impression on her than you realized.”
He smiled. “I guess it’s not just you women who can use your looks to get what you want.”
I gave him a loving smack. “I don’t do that.”
“No, I’m betting you don’t.” He smiled. “You’re too classy for that.”
“How did she get your number?”
“I handed her a business card while we were there. Maybe you didn’t see me.”
Then I remembered. He had handed her the card when he introduced himself. He hadn’t introduced me. Perhaps he’d had the idea in his head the whole time to flirt his way into what he wanted. That was neither here nor there. If we could get the information that had been deleted from the website and possibly from the library, this was a good thi
ng.
“I suppose you’re going to want to go alone to meet her at the bar. If I tag along, you won’t be able to work her as well.”
“No, Melanie. I want you to go. You have a way of reading people that I don’t. She’ll just have to get used to the fact that she’s not getting anywhere near this body.”
I smiled. “You did say you would compensate her handsomely.”
“Well, my body won’t be her compensation. Money will have to do.”
“How can she sneak into the archives?”
“The archives are off-site, at a storage place.”
“That doesn’t mean that Simpson and Mathias haven’t figured it out and destroyed everything that was in the archives.”
“Yes, I thought of that. I assume she’ll call me back if she can’t find what we need. But for now, let’s be hopeful. If we don’t get a call within a half hour, we head to Murphy’s in town.”
* * *
Jordan hadn’t called, and now I sat next to Jonah in a booth at Murphy’s, waiting for the spunky receptionist to walk through the door. It was nearing eight o’clock, and she had to drive all the way from Grand Junction. I had no doubt that she would show, though. The way she had looked at Jonah when we had been at the school earlier confirmed my beliefs.
A-ha. The bell on the door chimed, and in she strolled, her red head bobbing. She couldn’t be more than twenty-five, but she wouldn’t be the first younger woman to be attracted to Jonah Steel. How could a woman not be attracted to his dark handsomeness?
Jonah stood and motioned her over. She smiled and trotted toward us, but then her face fell when she noticed me sitting on the inside of the booth.
“Have a seat.” Jonah gestured to the bench across from us. “Can I get you something to drink?”
“Sure. What are you drinking?”
“We’re just having a glass of wine.”
“Perfect. I’ll have the same.”
“Hello?” I nudged Jonah.
“I’m so sorry. This is Dr. Melanie Carmichael.”
I held my hand across the table. “Maybe you remember me from this afternoon? When we came to the school?”