Possession: Steel Brothers Saga: Book Three (20 page)

“You may well be right,” Wendy said. “I really have no idea, and I can’t speculate. Daphne Steel was… Well, I’ll just say it. She was a mess.”

“All right, but none of this tells me why they didn’t turn Larry in to the police.”

“Part of it was the fact that he was Daphne’s brother. Her father begged her not to turn Larry in. Her father said that Larry was sick, that he needed help, and that prison would kill him. Still, Brad would have none of it, but Daphne… She wasn’t close to Larry. Like I said, they hadn’t grown up together. But she
was
close to her father. If ever there had been a daddy’s girl, it was Daphne Steel. So she thought about it. But in the end, she agreed with Brad that Larry had to be arrested.”

“Then why wasn’t he?”

“A day later, before he could be arrested, Larry ended up in the hospital. He had been severely beaten, most likely by the two other men who’d abducted Talon. Larry ended up nearly dying from the beating, but he never would name who they were.”

“Why on earth would they have beaten him?”

“Because, Jade, Larry is the one who helped Talon escape.”

T
he dreams came again
. I was back, walking on the outskirts of the Walkers’ small ranch, but it wasn’t Ryan with me, clutching at my hand. No. It was Jade. Jade, who looked up at me with innocent steely blue eyes, who trusted me to protect her.

But when the masked men came, and when they grabbed her, I wasn’t able to stop them. They dragged her away, all the while she was screaming, “Talon, help me! Help me! Help me!” Until she disappeared into the rundown shack.

I ran toward the shack, but my feet were stuck in mud. I was sinking in quicksand, and all around me, disembodied arms and legs came up from the mud to mock me.

“Help! Help!” I screamed. “I’m sinking! I’m sinking!”

In the abyss, a disembodied head floated upward, laughing at me.

“You couldn’t help me, Talon. I died anyway. You didn’t get here in time. And now you will die too.”

I stared into the dead eyes of Luke Walker.

“No!”

And then my head went under.

I held my breath as long as I could, but soon I was forced to breathe in. Mud, dirt, slime entered my mouth, my nose…

The end…

The—

* * *

I
shot up in bed
.

My heart was beating out of my chest. What the fuck? A new dream?

I had to talk to Dr. Carmichael. She had given me her number, but I had never used it, other than to call to make an appointment. She told me point blank that she didn’t normally give out her cell number except in rare cases. I guessed I was one of those rare cases.

I had come so far. I had told Jade everything, and she hadn’t turned away from me. I had to get through this. And I wasn’t going to be able to get through it if I continued to have horrible and disgusting dreams. I looked at my cell phone. Ten thirty. Not too early to call.

I punched in Dr. Carmichael’s number.

“This is Melanie.”

“Hi. It’s…Talon. Talon Steel.”

“Yes, Talon, I recognized your number. Did you want to try to get an appointment today?”

“No. I mean, I was wondering if you could talk to me now.”

“Of course. Are you all right?”

“Yeah. I mean no, but yeah. I’m not suicidal or anything. I’m not going to do anything stupid. But I’m a little freaked.”

“Tell me what’s going on.”

“I told Jade everything last night.”

“I see. And how did it go?”

“It was…hard. I mean, I knew it would be. But still it was hard.”

“How did she take it?”

“She bawled. I bawled. But we got through it.”

“And none of it mattered to her, did it?”

I sighed. “No.”

“Is that what you need to talk to me about?”

“No. I just had a really freaky dream.” As I told Dr. Carmichael about the dream, my skin chilled. “It’s different than any other dream I’ve had. I really don’t know why I would have it now, right after I told Jade.”

“Well, Talon, you’ve always been able to protect everyone. Everyone except yourself. Now you finally have the person who means everything to you, so you’re afraid that you won’t be able to protect her.”

“It can’t be that simple.”

“Dreams are never simple. But that’s my initial thought. You can come into the office if you want, and I can take you through guided hypnosis. That might give us more valuable information.”

“No, I don’t want to do that. At least not today. I guess I was just surprised by it all. I mean, I woke up in a cold sweat.”

“Understandable. But dreams are usually manifestation of fears, sometimes fears we don’t even realize we have. And that’s a very legitimate fear.”

“But she trusts me, Doc. She fucking trusts me.”

“Of course she does. With good reason. You’re a very trustworthy person.”

“But what if I can’t protect her?”

“There are no guarantees in life, Talon. I only wish that there were. But you will protect her. You protected her from her ex, remember? Even though he wasn’t a threat. And if there was a legitimate threat to her, you would do everything within your power to protect her. Your feet would not get caught in quicksand. It was just a dream.”

I suddenly felt very foolish. “Will the dreams ever stop?”

“They may never stop completely. But I feel certain that they will lessen. And you’ll find, in time, that they don’t bother you nearly as much. Even this time, I’ve talked you down in a matter of minutes. That wouldn’t have happened three months ago.”

I couldn’t disagree with her. “All right. I think I’m okay now. Thanks for talking to me, Doc.”

“I’ll always be here for you, Talon. For as long as you need me.”

And I knew she would be.

Just like Jade would be.

As I said goodbye and hung up, Jade came running into my bedroom, Roger at her heels.

“Talon, thank God you’re awake. You need to get up.”

“What’s going on, blue eyes?”

“I just got off the phone with Wendy Madigan.”

Wendy Madigan? That was a blast from the past. How did Jade know about her? “Wendy?”

“Yeah.”

“But how?”

“I found her name at the bottom of that local news article about your heroics when you came back from overseas.”

Okay. But that didn’t help me understand why Jade was on the phone with her.

“I’ll explain all this later, but right now we need to act quickly. You were right, Talon. Larry Wade was one of the three men who abducted you.”

H
is eyes widened into circles
. He said nothing. In fact, he looked almost catatonic for a few moments. When I got to the point where I was actually beginning to worry, he finally blinked.

“What?”

I sat down next to him on the bed and took his trembling hand. “I’ve been talking to Wendy for a while. After I found her name on the article about you, I figured she had some information, and she confirmed that she did. Today she decided to give it to me.”

He gulped. “Why today?”

“She felt an obligation toward you and your family. She didn’t want to divulge anything until you had told me everything.”

“She told you that something happened to me?”

I nodded. “But Talon, don’t be angry with her. You told me yourself that something had happened to you, remember?”

Talon stared straight ahead, not speaking.

“Talon? Do you understand what this means? We can have him arrested. One of your abductors will see justice served.”

He shook his head, blinking as if to clear his head. “We don’t know where he is.”

“Wendy told me he owns some land in Montana. We’ll start there. But honestly, he’d be stupid to go there.”

“And if that turns up nothing?”

“We put the cops on it. We hire the best PIs in the business. For once, aren’t you glad that money is no object?”

Again, silence.

What was up with him?

“Baby, this is good news. Once we find Larry, we can force him to tell us who the other two are. Let’s get on it. Let’s get Jonah and Ryan and Marj, and we’ll get started. Not only do you have the money to bankroll a full-scale investigation, but the woman you love happens to be the city attorney of Snow Creek right now. I have access to all the databases. We’ll find him, Talon. I know we’ll find him.”

Still he stared straight ahead.

“What’s wrong? I don’t get it.”

He shook his head slowly, methodically. “I just don’t believe it. I mean, I wanted to believe that I had identified two of my abductors, but inside, inside my objective brain, I knew it was unlikely.” He turned to me, his eyes unreadable. “Is there really an end to this in sight?”

I took his hand, massaging my thumb into his palm. “Nothing can erase what you went through, but we can at least find one of them and bring him to justice.”

And again, silence.

“You should be ecstatic. What’s wrong?”

Silence again.

Then, “It’s just…” He raked his hands through his tousled bedhead. “I’m not sure how to say this. How to make you understand.”

I continued to rub his palm with my thumb, aching to comfort him. I had no idea what could be the matter, but he needed to know I was here for him. That I wasn’t going anywhere. Ever.

“You can tell me anything. You know I’ll understand.”

He drew in a deep breath. “All these years I’ve lived with this horror, and until recently, I never even thought about trying to heal. And now, with you, I finally found a reason to go on. And through you I found other reasons, my brothers and sister, my ranch, even myself. And I’m beginning. I’m moving forward.”

“Yes, you’re doing great. So what’s the matter?”

“I’m not sure. I’m not sure I can put it into words. But if we find one of them, finally put one phase of this to rest…it’s gone. That part of my life is finally gone.”

“And that’s a bad thing?”

He shook his head. “I told you that you wouldn’t understand.”

“Try me. Talk to me, Talon.”

“It was horrible. No child—hell, no living being—should go through what I went through. But I did go through it. It was my own. It was horrible, heinous, awful. But it was
mine
.”

I squeezed his hand. I wanted to take him into my arms and comfort him, but I wasn’t sure that was what he needed right now. “Why do you want to hold on to this, Talon?”

“I don’t. At least I think I don’t. I told you it was hard to explain. But it’s been part of me for so long.”

“It will always be a part of you. It will always be part of what made you the man you are today. And I think you’re an incredible man.”

“I’m trying, blue eyes. I’m really trying.”

“I know you are. You’ve had to own this. You’ve had to walk this path alone for so long. But you’re not alone anymore, Talon. I’m here for you. Your brothers are here for you. Marjorie is here for you. The six people you saved that day in Iraq—they’re all here for you. The hundreds of employees on this ranch who depend on you for their livelihood—they’re all here for you. You have a lot of people in your corner, a lot of people who would do anything for you.”

“Could it really—I mean really—be over? Really over?”

My sweet, wonderful Talon. He’d lived so long with this burden. “It was over twenty-five years ago, baby. You’ve been free since then. You just didn’t know it. It’s time we took matters into our own hands, time we brought those perpetrators to justice. And now we can. So, my love, it’s time.”

He turned to me, his eyes misted over, and nodded. “Time to let it go.”

* * *

A
s expected
, Larry wasn’t in Montana, but with the Steels’ money and a private investigation team, along with help from the local police force and state patrol, Larry was picked up three days later in southern New Mexico. He’d been using an alias and had been working at a hatch chile farm, trying to make enough money to cross the border.

And in his personals? Colin’s wallet and phone.

That sicko had been the one who called me using Colin’s phone.

He’d been brought back to Grand Junction and was being held in the county jail for now. I sat, at the visitors’ window, waiting for him. I’d told Talon I was going, and I’d offered to take him with me, but he had chosen not to come. Probably just as well. I wasn’t sure he could have held it together. I’d had to nearly tie him down—along with Jonah and Ryan—to keep him from going after Larry himself.

I didn’t know what I was going to say to Larry. What could one say to such a sick person? He most likely had killed Colin, too, though with no body, a murder would be difficult to prove. There would be no reasoning with Larry. A psychopath couldn’t be reasoned with. Still, I had to try. The prosecuting attorney had offered him a deal if he named the two others. I was here to convince him to take it.

His hands and feet were cuffed when a guard let him in. He was dressed all in orange, the little hair he had in disarray and his countenance fatigued. He sat down and picked up the telephone.

“Jade,” he said. “Are you here to represent me?”

My eyes must’ve nearly popped out of my head. Had I heard him right? “I’m the acting city attorney now, Larry. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t represent you. I’m not sure the mayor would look too kindly upon me moonlighting to represent my former boss who happens to be a child molester.”

He sighed. “You’d be surprised what the mayor is capable of.”

“It shouldn’t surprise me what
you’ve
turned out to be capable of, Larry. I mean, with your questionable ethics and all. Still, I never would’ve thought you to be such a sick criminal.”

“That’s because I’m not a sick criminal, Jade.”

I laughed out loud. Couldn’t help myself. “You do know that we have ample evidence against you.”

“I had nothing to do with that other guy’s disappearance. I don’t know how his things got into my possession. As for the other stuff, I was coerced. I’ve told the police the whole story. They’re offering me a deal if I name the two others.”

“First of all, you were not coerced. You’re a sick pedophile, Larry. If you were truly coerced, you wouldn’t have taken your turn with him like the other two did.”

“I’m telling you, they forced me.”

“They forced you to get a hard dick for a little boy? Sure.” This conversation was rapidly coming to an end. “Look, I’m not here to argue the point. I know exactly what you did. Talon told me everything. What I’m here for is to ask you to take that deal. I want those other two brought to justice.”

Larry shook his head. “I can’t.”

“Why not? You’re going to prison no matter what. Are you afraid of them from prison?”

“I won’t roll over on them. They would do the same for me.”

“Really? You think they would? Didn’t you just say you were coerced? And aren’t they the ones who had you beaten to a pulp when you helped Talon escape?”

His eyes lit up. “You’re right. I helped the boy escape. Don’t I deserve some compassion for that?”

“Jesus Christ. This wasn’t just some kid. It was heinous no matter what, but he was your nephew, for God’s sake.”

Larry’s lips trembled. “He wasn’t supposed to be there. When the other two brought him back, I begged them to let him go.”

“So you weren’t one of the ones who was at that little shack that day with Luke Walker?”

He shook his head. “No. Those were the other two. When they brought him back and I recognized him, I told them they had to let him go. That the Steels were important people.”

“Larry,” I said through gritted teeth, “tell me who they fucking are.”

“I can’t. They’ll kill me.”

“Is one of them Nico Kostas?”

Larry gave me a poker face. I couldn’t read him at all, and I was pretty good at reading people. He wasn’t going to budge.

“This is a waste of time.” I started to hang up the phone, but Larry held up his hand.

“Jade, wait.”

I put the receiver back to my ear. “What do you want now?”

“They held him for a little less than two months. When it became clear that he was near death, I started giving him more food. I was the one in charge of feeding him. I was just a lackey, Jade. A lackey.”

“A lackey who sexually abused a little boy. An innocent little boy. Your nephew.”

“I regret it, Jade. I regret all of it.”

“Is that supposed to mean something to me? To Talon? To his parents, may they rest in peace?”

“Brad and Daphne forgave me. They didn’t turn me in. If they were willing to let me go—”

“Brad and Daphne are dead. Daphne took her own life because she couldn’t live with what you had done to her son. She left her children without a mother. One of them doesn’t remember her. Talon needed his mother, Larry. And because of you, he didn’t have her.”

“Would you please just let me explain?”

“How do you explain this? How do you explain your sick mind?”

“Talon was never supposed to be taken.”

“And you think that makes this all right? What about the other six kids?”

“I wasn’t involved with any of those.”

“You expect me to believe that? No one’s going to believe that, Larry.”

“Jade, I let Talon go. Talon is alive because of me.”

“This conversation is over.”

He stood again, urging me to wait with his hand. “Doesn’t that mean anything to you? That he’s alive because of me? They killed all the others. Cut them up like firewood. It was sick, I tell you. Sick.”

“I know. Except for the one body that was found. I know what they did to the others because Talon told me. They made him watch as they carved up Luke Walker. They made a ten-year-old boy watch that sickness.”

“I…I had nothing to do with that.”

“Sorry. I don’t buy it. You were just as much a part of this as they were. So do yourself a favor and name the other two.”

He shook his head. “They’ll kill me.”

That was a great argument as far as I was concerned. If Larry ended up toes up, I didn’t really care. “I’ve got to tell you, Larry. You’re lucky to be locked up. If you were out, Talon and his brothers would make quick work of you.”

“Steels. They think they own the place.”

“Do you listen to yourself sometimes? You want them to grant you mercy, and you talk about them like that?”

“I’m…sorry. Just… He really is alive because of me, Jade. I drugged his food and let him sneak out. When he lost consciousness, and I put clothes on him and drove him to about half an hour away from his ranch at night. I knew when he woke up, someone would find him. And someone did. He’s alive. He was allowed to grow up. Because of me.”

“Because of you, Larry, he grew up never dealing with this. It was all brushed under the rug because you wouldn’t name the others and because Brad and Daphne made the decision to let you go.”

“They let me go because I saved their son. I had to leave the state.”

The five million dollars.
Of course.
“They paid you, didn’t they? They gave you a chunk of their millions to get you out of Colorado and away from their children.”

“No, no, they didn’t. They didn’t give me anything. But yes, they did make me leave. Said they’d have me arrested if I didn’t stay far away.”

Liar. I’d have to push Wendy some more about that transfer. Of course they’d paid Larry. Where else could it have gone? “I don’t believe you.”

“I left. I didn’t come back until after Brad died. I was broke, dead broke. My wife had left me. I needed a job, so the mayor appointed me city attorney. I was a good city attorney, Jade.”

I couldn’t even respond to that. The man was delusional.

“Please, Jade. Brad and Daphne chose to let me go.”

“I don’t think Talon is as forgiving as his parents were. And I can tell you right now I’m not. So unless you tell me who those other two were, I’m leaving and I will see you in court.”