Deadly Silence (Blood Brothers #1)(38)

“You were a master at the case.” Ryker snorted, enjoying bugging Denver enough that he had to speak. The more he spoke, the more he continued speaking. Physics at its best.

Heath chuckled.

Yeah. He’d made Heath laugh a little. Good. “Do you still have the leather pants and bullwhip?” Ryker asked, widening his eyes. “Maybe we could use those in Wyoming if we get a case on a ranch.”

Denver stopped typing. “It was a flogger, not a bullwhip, and if you don’t stop messing with me about it, I’m going to shove it up your—”

Heath held up a hand. “God, please don’t say it. The image. It’s a mental picture that would never go away.”

Ryker bit back a grin. “We could always use Heath’s clown outfit from that case in Jersey. The master and the clown. Man, I think we might have an idea for a sitcom. Denver can spank ’em, and then Heath can make ’em laugh.”

Both of his brothers looked at him like he’d lost his mind. He tried to bite back a chuckle. Then Denver started laughing, a full rolling sound he rarely made. Heath swung his head and then joined in, the tension visibly leaving his shoulders.

Ryker settled. “Any news on Zara’s medical records?”

“You sure you want to know?” Heath asked, clearing his throat.

“Yeah.” Well, probably. “I’d rather she told me, but she hasn’t, and if I ask her directly, she’ll know I investigated her.” More than she already knew he had, that was.

“Haven’t found anything,” Denver said.

If Denver hadn’t found records, there weren’t records to find. Good. That was good. Ryker tugged on a loose thread near his knee and ripped open a hole in his faded jeans. “Shit.”

Denver glanced over the desk. “That’s the style.”

“Like you’d know shit about style,” Heath retorted.

Denver grinned and read his screen. “I’m going to need about an hour to create a program that’ll spot and hopefully shut down any backtracking software Madison might use. We’re still calling her Madison, right?”

“Yeah. That name rings more true than the one she used with us. I always felt she was lying,” Heath murmured.

“I wish I had that ability,” Denver said.

Heath shrugged. “You have plenty of other weird ones, including the freaky computer skills.”

“Maybe that’s why she was studying us,” Ryker said, his mind flipping the puzzle around. The woman had given them written test after written test and then watched them, recorded them, working out and playing sports. They’d even attended a military training camp once with her as their guardian. He shivered at remembering the way she’d looked at him when he started to gain muscle. . . like she wanted to take a bite. “What if we showed weird promise in some initial tests, and that’s why she arrived to test us more? What if she wasn’t some governmental social worker keeping an eye on orphans?”

Denver stopped typing and looked up. “But that would mean—”

“Yeah. It would be way too coincidental that we were all at the boys home at the same time being tested by the same woman.” Ryker shoved down unease until a ball formed in his gut. His skin prickled. “No way could she have engineered our lives that way.”

Heath pushed back in his chair. “You’re right, so stop thinking such a bizarre scenario. That Greg kid got to you, buddy. There’s no big conspiracy that put us in that shithole, and that Madison woman was just studying us as part of a governmental study, like she said. How orphans learn or something like that.”

It was totally farfetched to consider any other explanation. “Why give us a fake name, not her real one?” Ryker asked.

“Maybe the kid gave us a fake name and her name really was Sylvia, like she told us,” Heath said.

That was the most likely scenario. “The kid is wicked smart to have hacked us so well, but genius and madness, you know?” Ryker murmured. He settled back and tried to figure out the problem.

Heath glanced at his watch. “Did you see Special Agent Jackson on the news yesterday? She’s becoming the face of the Copper Killer investigation, and damn if her hair isn’t starting to look red.”

“So we stick close to her,” Denver said. “Right?”

“Exactly,” Heath said, satisfaction tilting his mouth.

“Great. Us tailing the FBI. What could go wrong?” Ryker sighed.

“I’m with you there. I’ve tracked down Jackson, and she’s still in Utah. I’m catching a flight in an hour to, well, bug her,” Heath said. “She has to know more than she’s told us.”

Denver nodded.

“Okay.” Ryker nodded too. “Denver, you keep working on Greg and finding Isobel Madison, and for the moment, I want to treat Zara’s issue like a case.” He needed to banish emotion until he figured out what was going on. Something had been nagging at his subconscious, so he tuned in. A buzzing sound. Barely discernible . . . but with a definite pattern.

He motioned to Heath, who instantly stilled.

Denver paused in typing, and Ryker shook his head, pointing at the keyboard. Denver nodded and continued typing, his gaze now wandering the room.

“We need to get furniture for the apartments,” Heath said, his head slowly turning as he scanned the room.