Dylan (Bowen Boys, #3)(49)

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She watched Dylan, waiting for him to go off on her as the others were doing. Well, they weren’t so much yelling at her, but they were upset. The monster had Reed. When Dylan put his fingers in his mouth and whistled, everyone in the room stopped and looked at him.

“I haven’t heard you do that in an age. Who is it that taught that to you?” His dad said with a laugh, then sat down, continuing to chuckle. “Did you know that he could whistle so that no matter how many people were around us we’d know it was Dylan?”

“No one taught me. I’m naturally talented that way.” Dylan stood up and pulled Jack into his arms. “You guys are upsetting Jack. She can’t tell us how she’s going to get Reed out if we have her pissy with us. She might just leave the lot of us on our own and go get him herself. Foolhardy that would be, now wouldn’t it, love?”

“I should go alone.” He shook his head. “I didn’t say I was, I just said I should. You don’t have the training I do, and even if you did, it’s my fault the guy has him.”

“How on earth do you figure that?” Caitlynne stood up as well with her hands on her hips. “You do know that you’re not the only one here that can carry a gun? And last time I looked, we’re all family here, and we work together. You slowed him down by shooting him, kept him from taking all of you. I think what you did was brave. Stupid but brave.”

Jack snorted before speaking. “You wouldn’t know how to take orders from someone if you knew it was the only way to get out of something. And as for the rest of you, I’ve never seen a bigger bunch of bossy people in my life. But I understand the family part. Sometimes. But I should have made Reed stay at the house where I knew it was safe.”

Reed had met her downtown. She needed to get a few things, clothes mostly, and he said that he knew of a great shop on Pennsylvania. She knew he carried, and that he’d been trained a little on how to defend himself, but this guy played a different ballgame than any of them were used to.

“You’ll get him back to us. We all will.” Corrine patted her on the shoulder. “You’re going to have to learn to see yourself as a part of our family, too, dear. If you don’t, then I think Monica and Caitlynne will have a little talk with you. You know how they are…bossy women just like someone else I know.”

They settled down to plan. Khan kept trying to contact his brother, but couldn’t. He said that the connection was there, meaning he wasn’t dead. Jack was relieved to hear that. She looked up when Caitlynne came into the study with them all. She didn’t look like she was bringing good news.

“They found a body at the Gentleman’s Hotel on Seventh an hour ago. It took them until now to verify who it was. Kirby Mann was murdered. They’re saying a wild animal did it.” She sat down and tossed a file on the desk. “I got that twenty minutes ago, and I was reading it when the call came in. It’s from Mann. I suppose it could be called his last will and testament. He confessed to every crime he ever committed all the way back to grade school. He even confessed to being a part of the treason that Small and Jackson were in on.”

“Do you suppose he knew that he was going to be dead soon and wanted to meet his maker with a clean slate?” Caitlynne shrugged at her question. “Where are his wife and daughter? They weren’t there, were they?”

“No, just him. And I don’t know where they are. I sent a car to the house, and there was no answer. Maid said that the missus and the daughter had gone on vacation. She didn’t know where Mann had gone. She said that there had been no calls, either.” Caitlynne laughed. “I don’t think he was well-liked by his staff. They hinted that if he didn’t come back, they wouldn’t lose any sleep over it.”

Jack could believe that. He treated his secretary with less respect than he treated her, and that was pretty bad. When she looked at the file, she flipped to the back pages and stood up. He mentioned Lucius.

“They’re dead. Sally and Karrie, he believes, are dead. He sent them away so they might be safe, and Lucius took them. Mann thinks he killed them as soon as he took them. He said that….” She flipped back several pages to when he first mentioned him. “Apparently, Lucius showed up when his wife was dying some years ago. Right after they’d found out about the baby. Lucius gave her his blood and took hers. That explains how he was able to find them, I guess.”

“So he saves his wife and daughter, and what? Owes him for the rest of his life?” Jack nodded at Khan and said that he’d been owned by Lucius since. “Why didn’t he just let someone know what was going on?”

“Because he was getting everything he wanted by helping out the blood sucker.” Jack sat down as she continued reading. “Listen to this. ‘Lucius calls me human. I don’t think he’s ever said my name in all this time. I believe we’re all just cattle to him. But he does seem to have a weakness. His temper gets the better of him every time.’ A temper could work in our favor.”

Dylan started to shake his head, but Caitlynne agreed with her. “Yes. Because we both know that pissed-off people make huge mistakes. Do you have a plan?”

She did, but she thought that if she told them they’d be pissed, too. She simply shook her head. Jack wanted to stew on it just a little longer before she told them. But they had less than ten hours until sunset and getting Reed back. Then she looked at the computer.