Melt (Steel Brothers Saga #4)(48)

Mills shook his head. “We can’t assume it was Colin, based on the fact that there are three distinct sets of prints on the card.”

“Is there any way Colin’s prints might be on file somewhere? You have access to the state databases at work, don’t you, Jade?” I asked.

“Yes, I do. But I doubt Colin’s prints are available. I don’t think he’s ever been arrested or charged with any crime.”

“What about Larry Wade?” Marj piped in. “Since he’s been arrested, his prints will be on file somewhere.”

Jade raised her eyebrows. “They’ve been on file for a while. Every person who takes the Colorado bar exam has to be fingerprinted. I was.”

“Well then, eureka,” Ryan said, standing. “Let’s get that checked out.”

Mills nodded. “Will do, first thing in the morning. But even if Wade’s fingerprints are positive, there are still two other unidentified sets on the card.”

“And I know just whose they are,” Talon said. “I bet you anything they belong to Colin and that idiot boyfriend of your mother’s, Jade. Nico Kostas.”

Jade shushed him. “For God’s sake, Talon, don’t mention him. My mother’s asleep, but if she hears his name, she’ll wake up in a second. She’s still convinced he’s coming back to her.”

“Besides, you’re jumping the gun,” I said to Talon. “We still have no proof that Nico Kostas is even involved.”

Talon gritted his teeth. “I have all the goddamned proof I need.”

I wasn’t so sure. I wanted to believe we were on the path to one of the other criminals as much as Talon did. But we had no idea where this Nico character was, and even if we found him, we had no proof he was guilty.

Then something occurred to me. Talon was sure. I recognized that look in his eyes.

It was the same look he would have seen in my own eyes when I became convinced of Tom Simpson’s involvement.

I had to tell Talon sooner or later of my suspicion, but now was certainly not the time. I wanted him to heal, and as long as he was hell-bent on catching these guys, he wasn’t paying attention to the things that really mattered—his healing, his relationship with Jade, his relationship with the rest of us.

I looked over at Jade. She was smiling up at him adoringly. Maybe their relationship was okay after all.

“So tell me exactly where you found this card,” I said to the two detectives.

“We can do better than that,” Mills said. “We can show you.”

I followed them down the hallway, Jade at my heels, toward the guestroom Jade had used when she first came to the ranch. The room was vacant, and the carpeting had been pulled up, rolled into a cylinder, and was standing against one wall.

“We went through all the furniture with a fine tooth comb.” Mills said. “Then we moved it to another spare room so we could take a look in all the crevices.”

He showed me the spot where he’d found the card, right against the wall, where the foot of the bed had been.

“Whoever did this got in and out quickly,” Jade said. “I couldn’t have been in the shower for more than about fifteen minutes.”

“It wouldn’t take long for someone to slide this card into the carpeting and put a rose on the pillow,” Mills said.

“Yeah, but how the hell did he get in this house?” I asked.

“We’re still working on that,” he said. “We’ll figure out what happened. Don’t you worry. There’s not a case in the world Johnny and I can’t solve.”

“I hope you’re right. Where did Talon find you guys?”

“We found him.”

I widened my eyes. “What the hell do you mean?”

“We’re friendly with the police departments around the state of Colorado. When there’s a case they can’t figure out, they pull us in sometimes. The city of Snow Creek has never used us before. Small towns can’t usually afford our services. But they figured your brother might be able to.”

“Okay. That still doesn’t tell me who you are. You have any references?”

“Sure. Call any police department in any big city in Colorado. They’ll vouch for us.”

I swallowed. I had no reason to think the guys weren’t on the level, but the Steel money was well-known. They could have crawled out of the woodwork.

“We’re on the up-and-up, Mr. Steel,” Mills continued. “We wouldn’t stay in business if we weren’t.”

I had no idea whether I believed him. What kind of detectives worked at midnight? They could’ve easily sniffed out our money and come calling, assuming we wouldn’t call the police and check them out.

I was going to call. Absolutely. I’d call the Grand Junction Police Department and the Denver Police Department. If both of them had heard of these guys, I’d let it go.

“Anything else in this room that looked suspicious?” I asked.

“Not that we’ve seen so far, but we’ll figure this out. I guarantee it.”

“If it’s all the same to you,” I said, “I’d like to call a police officer I know and trust to handle the evidence. I want him to keep it in his custody.”

“But we’re the ones who’ll be running the tests.”