Insatiable

by HELEN HARDT

  “I don’t know where he is. He wouldn’t give me that information.”

  “Fucker!”

  “Look, Joe, we’ve got more important shit to deal with. We have to find Booker.”

  “I’ll bet the great Bradford Steel already knows where he is.”

  Good point. Brad seemed to know everything. I didn’t agree with his methods, but he did stay on top of things.

  “He probably knows where we are right now,” Joe continued. “Come on out, Dad! I know you’re here. Get your ass out here, and you’re going to answer to me!”

  No response, of course. Brad Steel wasn’t here, not in Ted Morse’s condo.

  “Come on. Let’s go deal with Ted,” I said. “We can’t keep him tied up forever.”

  “I don’t know about that,” Joe said. “I hate the shithead.”

  Yeah, Joe had a particular ax to grind with Ted. I got it.

  “Come on.” I nodded to him.

  We both walked back into the living area where Ted was still taped to the chair. I ripped the tape off his mouth without warning.

  “Ow!”

  “Get over it. Time for you to talk, Morse.”

  “Not feeling real talkative.”

  I pulled my gun out and pressed it to his forehead. “Feeling a little chattier now?”

  Joe looked down, and I followed his gaze. Morse’s crotch was wet. He’d pissed himself.

  Sure, he could play the tough guy, but his body didn’t lie.

  “You’d better start talking now,” I said, “before the other end releases.”

  “I told you. Cade Booker came to me.”

  “Why? Why would he come to you?” I asked.

  “He wanted…”

  “What?” I pushed the end of the gun into his forehead, leaving a mark on his skin.

  “He wanted to know about Colin.”

  “Why?”

  “About Colin and…your father.”

  “And what did you tell him? That you’d sold Colin to my father just like his father had done to him?”

  “I didn’t—”

  “Spare me,” Joe said. “Colin has proof.”

  “Whatever Colin thinks he has isn’t true.”

  “Sell that somewhere else,” I said. “Right now, we need to know about Booker.”

  “He was weird,” Ted said. “Sort of…obsessed. He wanted to know about Colin, how Tom got hold of him.”

  “Because you pimped him out,” Joe said. “Go on.”

  “That’s not true!”

  “Don’t say that again,” I said through clenched teeth. “Now keep talking.”

  “I told him Colin had been held prisoner by your father, but he already knew that. He also knew that you”—he nodded toward Joe—“rescued him.”

  “Does he know you tried to extort money from me by telling him to name me as the perp?” Joe said.

  Easy, Joe. While I understood Joe’s anger—especially now that he’d found out about his father—we didn’t have time to rehash old news. I had to keep both Joe and Morse on track.

  “Keep going,” I said. “What else did he tell you?”

  “He told me his story, that his real name is Justin Valente, that he’d been abducted by your father on a camping trip that you two invited him to go on. That your father let him move around on his own for the last ten years but kept him on a pretty short leash.”

  “And…?” I said.

  “You sure you want me to go further?” He eyed Joe.

  “Go,” Joe said.

  “Really? You want your friend here to know—”

  “He already knows. Now you tell us what you know.”

  “He’s been watching both of you for years, but while your father was alive, he kept it under wraps. He befriended you at the club.”

  “And…?” I said again.

  “He blames you two for what happened.”

  “We were nine,” I said. “Neither of us knew who my father was.”

  “He thinks you lured him into a trap. I told him that wasn’t true.”

  “So you’re on our side now?” Joe asked sardonically.

  “Of course he’s on our side,” I said. “I’m holding a gun to his head. We just learned from Mills and Johnson that the one thing that trumps money to a mercenary is life.”

  “You say Colin is missing,” Joe said. “You sure you didn’t lead Booker right to him? For the right price?”

  “Why would I—”

  “Shut the fuck up,” Joe said. “We all know why.”

  Morse closed his eyes. “Maybe you should just pull the trigger. I deserve it.”

  “I won’t argue,” I said, “but you’re not done talking yet.”

  “I didn’t sell Colin. I didn’t.”

  “Then what did you do?”

  “I took some money from your father, and I gave him information.”

  “What information?”

  Morse sighed. “Apparently your father witnessed an encounter between Colin and you and your brothers,” he said to Joe. “Simpson came to me, said he was interested in talking business with Colin, maybe had a position for him with the city, and he offered me a large ‘finder’s fee’ if I let him know how to get in touch with Colin.”

  “How large?” I asked.

  “Really large. Seven figures.”

  “Sounds like a finder’s fee for his next plaything.” Joe said.

  “I honestly didn’t know—”

  “What a crock,” Joe said. “Didn’t you wonder how the mayor of Snow Creek had access to that amount of cash?”

  “I didn’t think about it! You really think I’d sell my own son out?”

  “For the right price?” I scoffed. “Hell, yeah.”

  “It wasn’t like that. It wasn’t—”

  “What did you tell Booker?” I demanded. “About Colin?”

  “Nothing. Not a thing. After what happened the first time, do you really think I’d accept money for information on my son?”

  I looked to Joe. “Do you believe him?”

  “Fuck no. No one pays a seven-figure finder’s fee for a job with a small town.”

  My initial instinct was to agree with Joe. After all, it gave me a certain constancy to think there might be another father on the planet who was horrid like mine. But Ted Morse wasn’t Tom Simpson. He was more like Mills and Johnson than my father, if he was telling the truth. He liked money and would do just about anything for it. Perhaps he truly thought he was getting a finder’s fee for my father offering his son a job. My father was the mayor of Snow Creek and a respected attorney, after all. Ted could have convinced himself my father was on the up-and-up, so he had an excuse to take the money. “For God’s sake, Bryce. You’re not buying this horseshit, are you?”

  “I’m not buying into anything,” I said, still poking my gun into Morse’s forehead. “But we need to find Booker. Does Colin ever go off by himself?” I asked Morse.

  “I don’t know. He’s an adult.”

  “If he went somewhere alone, where would it be?”

  “We have a place in Glenwood Springs,” Morse said. “This condo here in Grand Junction, although he’s not here, obviously.”

  “Anything else?”

  “We have some rentals here and in Montana and Florida, but they’re all currently leased.”

  “Glenwood Springs, then. What’s the address? And is there a landline there?”

  “Yeah, yeah. You’ll have to untie me so I can write down the information for you.”

  “Nice try,” Joe said, pulling out his phone. “Give it to me.”

  Morse sighed as he recited an address and telephone number and Joe typed the information into his phone.

  “Anything else?” I said. “How well do you know Booker? Where would he go?”

  “I don’t know.” A tear slid from Morse’s eye. “I truly don’t know.”

  “Damned cry baby,” Joe said. “I don’t believe you.”

  “He only wanted to know about Colin,” Mo
rse said. “And he told me the story about your father and the two of you.”

  Joe sighed. “Fine. Now, how much is it going to cost me for you to forget we ever had this conversation?”

  “Nothing,” he said.

  “Right,” I scoffed.

  “No. Nothing. Truly. I’ve learned my lesson after what happened to Colin. I didn’t take any money from Booker, and I tried to warn you. I did. Why do you think I got in touch with the two of you in the first place?”

  “Money,” Joe and I said in unison.

  Morse sighed. “I can understand why you’d think that. But I tried to warn you. I said all I could without putting my son’s and my life in jeopardy.” He shook his head. “My son is wrong about me. I did a lot of things wrong as a father. I know that. I was way too hard on him, and I thought he’d have the strength to stand up to me about marrying Jade. Everything I did was to try to make him stronger. But I never intentionally gave him to your father. I didn’t know who your father was at the time.”

  “Whatever,” I said. “What’s done is done, and there’s nothing you can do to change it. Now answer Joe’s question. How much is it going to take?”

  “Nothing,” he said again.

  “And we should trust you because…” Joe said.

  “You shouldn’t,” he said. “But you can.”

  I put my gun away and started to unwrap the duct tape around Morse’s chest.

  “What the hell are you doing?”

  “What else can we do? We have to go after Colin and Booker. We can’t just leave him here stewing in his own piss.”

  “Sure we can.”

  “Leave me if you want,” he said. “It’s no less than I deserve.”

  “For once we agree,” Joe said.

  I quickly unwrapped the tape from Morse’s ankles. “There. If you care about your son as you say, you’ll let us do what we have to do.”

  He nodded, trembling.

  “And take a damned shower,” Joe added.

  Chapter Fifty-Six

  Marjorie

  Going to Glenwood

  Springs to look for Colin.

  I read the text from Bryce again for the umpteenth time since it had dinged four hours ago. I’d texted back a quick “Be safe, I love you,” and that was that.

  My feet itched to move, to run to my car and chase Bryce and my oldest brother all the way to Glenwood Springs.

  But I’d promised Talon I’d stay with Jade.

  Jade was fine. She said so herself. The cramping was normal, and her ultrasound had shown that the baby was healthy. She wasn’t bleeding, her blood pressure was normal. Everything was A-okay.

  No.

  No. No. No.

  I couldn’t leave. She’d promised Talon she’d stay in bed, and I’d promised I wouldn’t leave her alone.

  I sighed, placing Jade’s sandwich plate in the dishwasher. I’d just checked on her, and she was sleeping. We’d been home several hours, and all was fine.

  The house was so big and quiet without Talon and the boys here, so I jerked in surprise when the doorbell rang. I shut the dishwasher and walked to the door before it could ring again and disturb Jade. Chills erupted on the back of my neck. It was dark, and Jade and I were alone.

  I drew in a deep breath, gathering my courage. I looked through the peephole—

  I opened the door. “Colin! What are you doing here?”

  “I need to see Jade,” he said. “Quickly. I don’t have a lot of time.”

  “What’s going on?”

  “I’ve got someone in the car. He’s skittish, and I don’t want—”

  We both looked toward the sound of a car door. A man with dark hair and olive skin walked toward us.

  “Who’s that?”

  “You were supposed to stay in the car,” Colin said.

  “Sorry. I’m not sure I trust you quite yet.”

  “Trust him? Who the hell are you?”

  “Marjorie,” Colin said, “this is Cade Booker.”

  I gasped, my jaw dropping.

  “Also known as Justin Valente.”

  I gulped. “Colin, this man is dangerous. What the hell are you doing?” I quickly scanned Booker. “He’s armed. Probably in three places.”

  “Only in one place,” Colin said. “Show her.”

  He pulled at his jeans to reveal an ankle holster.

  “He’s the one who—”

  “I know,” Colin said. “He’s not here to hurt anyone. I promise.”

  “Sorry. Don’t trust him.” I reached for my phone in my pocket.

  “Don’t call the police, Marj,” Colin said. “Please.”

  “Why shouldn’t I? He pepper-sprayed Bryce and Joe. That’s assault.”

  “They barged into my office,” Booker said.

  “Yeah? Well, you kidnapped me and—”

  “That was his brother and sister,” Colin said. “You know that.”

  “Are you trying to tell me that Dominic and Alex are the bad guys?”

  “No,” Colin said. “They were acting on your father’s orders.”

  “My dead father’s orders?”

  “You think Brad Steel can’t control people from the grave? Come on. He put systems in place. They were telling the truth.”

  “Just who is the bad guy here, then?”

  “There isn’t one. Not now, at least.”

  “Sorry. Not buying.”

  “Let us come in,” Colin said. “I came to talk to Jade, but it might be good for you to hear everything from Cade.”

  “I’m willing to work with you, Colin,” Booker said, “but I’m not setting foot in the Steel house.”

  Just as well. Jade was in her bedroom resting.

  “Then we’ll talk out here,” I said. “Pull up a chair.”

  The front deck wrapped around both sides of the house. I gestured to the Adirondack chairs to the side.

  “Can you get Jade?” Colin asked.

  “Sorry. She had a scare at the hospital today, and she’s resting.”

  “All right,” Colin said. “Go ahead, Cade. Tell her what we’re going to do.”

  He opened his mouth when Joe’s truck came rumbling up the drive.

  “Shit,” Booker said.

  “Hold on,” I said. “If you’re willing to tell me, you should tell Joe and Bryce.”

  “They let that bastard take me.”

  “They were nine!” I said.

  “I’ve been talking to him about that,” Colin said.

  Joe and Bryce exited the truck, and both came running toward the front deck, their guns in their hands.

  “Cade Booker,” Joe said. “We’ve been looking all over for you. I ought to shoot your brains out.”

  “He’s armed, Joe,” I said.

  “I’ll have his brains splattered on the deck before he can draw his weapon.”

  “Don’t be so sure,” Booker said. “Same man who taught you taught me.”

  Tom Simpson. Bryce’s father.

  Bryce was holding a gun as well. He nodded to me. “You okay, honey?”

  “Yeah. I don’t think they’re here to hurt anyone.”

  “We’re not,” Colin said. “We’re here to say goodbye.”

  “Right,” Joe scoffed.

  “Hear us out,” Colin urged.

  “I fucking trusted you, you son of a bitch. I vouched for you with my closest friend. I asked you for help finding a place for my mentally ill mother. You’re not even a real lawyer!”

  “I’m as competent as any lawyer.” He looked at Bryce. “Your father saw to that.”

  “Shut up,” Joe continued. “I don’t trust easily, and I rarely make a mistake. You slipped right by me, and that pisses me off.” His cheeks were red with rage, his free hand curled into a fist. “You attacked us.”

  “You barged into my office and disarmed me,” Booker retorted.

  “You’ve been watching us for years.” Bryce this time.

  “I won’t deny it.” Booker stared straight at Jo
e, who still held a gun on him.

  He wasn’t frightened. Not at all. Could he really draw before Joe shot him? No. No way. He wasn’t frightened because he’d already been through hell. Death couldn’t be any worse.

  “You’re going to have to answer for what you’ve done,” Bryce said.

  “For pepper spraying you? I don’t think I’ll get prison time for that.”

  “Not that,” Bryce said. “For killing your parents.”

  “I didn’t kill my parents,” he said. “Though they both deserved it.”

  “Pretty convenient, their deaths,” Joe said. “A drive-by shooting in a nice neighborhood and a holdup at a convenience store. What are the chances they both would die by getting shot? Right around the same time you showed up at your mother’s?”

  “Chances were good,” Booker said, turning to Bryce. “Your father was behind it.”

  Bryce gulped and turned white.

  I went to him and hugged him. “Not your fault,” I whispered.

  “We’re supposed to believe that?” Joe said.

  “Why the hell not? You know what that psycho was capable of. Killing two people with a gunshot, instant death, was probably one of the nicer things he did.”

  Bryce tensed beside me, and his countenance became rigid. He dropped his gun and held it at his side.

  “I’m willing to hear you out, Justin,” Bryce said. “Let’s end this. Once and for all.”

  Chapter Fifty-Seven

  Bryce

  My father was involved in killing Justin’s parents?

  Yeah, I had no problem believing it. It almost seemed too normal for him.

  “Why would Bryce’s dad have your parents killed?” Joe asked.

  “Easy. My father demanded more money. Tom killed him.”

  Money buys silence for a time, son, but a bullet buys it forever.

  I had no difficulty believing my father lived by his own words.

  “And your mother?” Joe said.

  “When I left, I went to her. Tom was afraid she’d soften me, so he offed her. He went after Dominic and Alex as well, but your father”—he nodded to Marj—“put them under his protection.”

  I swallowed down the nausea that had become such a big part of my life. None of this was hard to believe. It could easily be true.