Melt (Steel Brothers Saga #4)(37)

Again, the icy trickles of water…

Calm down, Joe. You don’t even know he had anything to do with the abduction.

Right now, I had to be there for Bryce. He was clearly distraught over his son.

“He’s always been such a healthy kid, Joe,” Bryce said. “I wouldn’t have freaked out so much over a fever, but when those little nail beds turned blue… Man, I’ve never been so scared in my life.”

“Your mom said he had a chill?”

“Yeah, that’s what the ER guys said. Said it was a normal thing. I’d never heard of it. They checked his pulse ox and he was fine, so the blue nail beds and lips were caused by the chill, not lack of oxygen. He’s got some kind of virus. Now he’s running a fever.”

He set Henry, who had finally calmed down, into his crib.

“So what did you need last night?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you texted me several times. And Mrs. Norris came by this morning and said you were pounding on our door last night at midnight.”

Shit. I shouldn’t have done that. I’d been going crazy after what Talon said. Had I really thought I could barge into this house and demand to see a guy’s birthmark?

I said nothing.

“Seriously, Joe. What were you doing here at midnight?”

I had to think of something and think of it quick. “I was…in town at Murphy’s, and I’d had a few drinks. I guess I thought something was more important than it actually was.”

“What?”

“Something about Talon and Luke Walker. I thought I had a lead, but I found out this morning that it was nothing.”

“So what was it?”

“I… I can’t say.” Yeah, good save, Joe. No way was Bryce going to buy this.

“What do you mean you can’t say? You were pounding on my door last night to tell me.”

“Yeah, I know. I’m sorry about that.” I cleared my throat. “I found out this morning that what I thought was a lead wasn’t, and the people involved asked me to keep the information in confidence.”

“Seriously? You can’t tell me? You know my word is as good as gold, Joe.”

“Yeah, I know. You know I trust you implicitly. But I just can’t. I’m sorry.”

He sighed. “No matter anyway. Right now, I’m so relieved that Henry is okay that I don’t really care about anything else.”

Thank God. He’d bought it. I’d have to find out about his father’s birthmark on my own. Why would I drag my old friend into this when he had a son to worry about? At least I’d have to wait until Henry had gotten over this virus or whatever it was.

Bryce leaned over the crib and put his hand on Henry’s forehead. “He’s so warm. God, Joe, I never knew I could be this scared.”

“He’s a great kid,” I said. “He’s going to be all right. Kids get sick.”

“I know. But he’s so little.”

“I remember when Marj came home from the hospital when she was born. Talk about little. She’d gained weight by the time she came home, but she was still under six pounds. The most fragile little thing. But she was a trouper and she survived. Look at Henry. He’s ten months old, good and chubby, the picture of health. He’s going to be fine.”

Bryce nodded.

“You want something? I can go out to the kitchen and get you some coffee.”

He smiled—sort of. “That’d be great. I think my mom has a fresh pot brewed.”

“No problem.” I left the nursery and went to the kitchen. Sure enough, a fresh pot of coffee sat on the burner. I’d been to this house so many times when I was a kid, and I knew where they kept everything. I opened the cupboard door, got out a mug, and poured a cup of coffee. I poured another for myself.

“Anything I can help you with, Joe?”

I nearly spilled the coffee when Tom’s deep voice met my ears. Talon remembered the man with the birthmark as having a low voice. Tom’s voice was low. Was it lower than Larry’s?

Hell, I didn’t know. They were completely different voices, and my own voice was deeper than either of theirs. Talon was remembering as a prepubescent ten-year-old. All grown men’s voices were low to a ten-year-old.

I turned, willing myself not to wince. “Just getting some coffee for Bryce and myself.”

“Sounds good.” He took a mug out of the cupboard. “Tell Bryce to come out here to the kitchen. I’ll join you.”

So much for Tom going into the office for a few things that couldn’t wait.

“I don’t think he wants to leave Henry.”

“Nonsense. Henry’s fine. Do you know how many viruses Bryce had when he was a kid? Hell, I remember when he and Luke both had the chicken pox. What a mess.”

Luke. Why did he have to bring up Luke? Did they still talk about Luke?

I drew in a breath and let it out slowly. “Wow,” I said, “I haven’t thought about Luke in a long time. I assume you’re talking about Bryce’s cousin, Luke Walker.”

Tom nodded. “Yup.”

He sounded so matter of fact. So unaffected. It creeped me out.

“That was a tough time. Talon took that particularly hard.”