Melt (Steel Brothers Saga #4)(59)

I kept walking, past a bakery—the yeasty aroma of fresh bread nearly drew me in—a clothing shop, the grocery store, Murphy’s Bar. I sipped on my iced tea and crossed the street. The hardware store stood with its door opened, an unassuming little shop nearly hidden. I walked closer and found it was actually a combination hardware and office supply store. I smiled at its small-town charm. I wasn’t sure what possessed me to walk in, but I did. I almost felt like the little store needed me.

An elderly man sat behind the counter, helping a customer with the purchase of some rope and duct tape. “There you go, Mayor,” the elderly man said.

“Thank you, Gus,” the man who was presumably the mayor said. “Always good to see you.”

“You too. Have a great day.”

The silver-haired mayor brushed past me without a look.

Gus looked over to me. “Anything I can help you with, miss?”

And suddenly I knew why I had walked into the store.





Chapter Twenty–Nine





Jonah




“Anything you want to tell us, Joe?” Talon raised his eyebrows when I walked back to the kitchen.

“Nope.”

“Oh, come on,” he razzed me. “I knew you had the hots for her.”

“I’m not discussing this. And be quiet. She’s embarrassed enough as it is.”

“I hope she’ll join us,” Jade said. “I’ve been wanting to meet her for a long time, to thank her for all the help she’s given to Talon.”

“Believe me, blue eyes, she knows how much I appreciate it.”

“But she doesn’t know how much I appreciate it,” Jade said. “The woman is a miracle worker.”

A small smile played at my lips. Melanie Carmichael was special, for sure. Yes, she had worked a miracle with Talon, but right now she was dealing with a patient who hadn’t turned out so well. Of course, I couldn’t mention that to Jade and Talon, and Melanie would likely be joining us soon anyway.

“She’s just getting dressed. She’ll be out in a few minutes,” I said.

Talon chuckled under his breath.

“Not another word out of you,” I said.

“Sure, my lips are sealed.” But he was still chuckling.

“So what do you guys have to say that’s so important enough to interrupt me in the middle of my swim?”

“Oh, that was swimming? Looked more like skinny-dipping.”

“Just show me what you have, Tal.”

“They were able to extract enough blood from the business card to get a DNA sample,” Talon said.

“That’s good news,” I said.

“The only problem is we have no idea whose DNA it is. And here’s something as well. Jade found Larry’s fingerprints in the Colorado attorney database, and they do match one of the three sets that were on Colin Morse’s card.”

I nodded.

“We can get a DNA sample from Larry easily,” Jade said, “If it’s his blood, he’s probably the one who left the rose. He could have pricked his finger on one of the thorns.”

That made sense—which blew my Tom Simpson paper cut theory. Was I totally barking up the wrong tree? Maybe Tom was completely innocent. I’d have to give this some thought. I was certainly glad I hadn’t yet voiced my suspicions to Talon.

“Or,” I said, “someone planted Larry’s fingerprints on the card to implicate him. He’s still claiming innocence in the whole Colin matter.”

“That’s also a possibility,” Talon said. “But I don’t believe Larry for a minute when he says he’s innocent with regard to Colin’s disappearance. That man is no good.”

“We already know that our uncle is a sick criminal. But remember, the other two beat him to a pulp when he let you go. It’s possible they’re trying to frame Larry to ensure that he stays quiet.”

“Larry is scared to death of those other two,” Jade said. “I could see it on his face when he refused to tell me who they were.”

“Yeah, Jade is right. Larry won’t roll over. He’s scared.”

“How would you know?” Talon asked.

“I went to see him. Bryce and I.”

“Bryce went with you? Really?”

“Yeah, now that this whole thing is dredged up again, he wants to find out what happened to Luke.”

“Oh my God, you didn’t tell him what they did to Luke, did you?” Talon rubbed at his chin.

“I had to. I hadn’t, which was a bonehead move on my part, but he insisted on going with me to see Larry, and Larry mentioned that you knew. Which of course meant that I knew. So I was the one who had to tell Bryce.”

“God, I’m sorry, Joe,” Talon said.

“You don’t have anything to be sorry for. None of us have been through the hell you have. Bryce needed to know. Hell, Bryce wanted to know. If I hadn’t told him, Larry probably would have.”

“It’s a nasty situation all around,” Jade said. “But now we have to figure out where to go from here. I can get a court order for Larry to take a blood test, so we can check to see if his DNA matches what’s on the card. We already know his fingerprints are on the card, so I’m sure Judge Gonzalez will give me the warrant.”