Obsession(48)

“Why don’t you just ask him to see the records?”

“I should have. I was freaking out so much over the whole thing that I didn’t think of it.” I rubbed my chin. “Now that you mention it, that’s what I’ll do. He’s very cooperative when I throw a few bills around.”

“Most people are, bro.” Jonah chuckled. “Is that what you wanted to tell me?”

I shook my head. “No. I had a revelation, like I said.”

“What was it?”

“One of the guys, not the tattoo guy, and not the one I remember having a really low voice. The third guy, the one who seemed to be more of a follower. Anyway…he was missing the littlest toe on his left foot.”

Jonah’s eyes bugged out. “How did you remember that all of a sudden?”

“Damned if I know. Things just come to me sometimes. Like a couple weeks ago, I had a dream or flashback or something, and I remembered those guys taunting me with a full glass of water that was just outside my reach. All of a sudden it made sense why I wake up in the middle of the night, pour myself a glass of water, and then stare at it and don’t drink it.”

“Talon, don’t you realize that if you went back to see Dr. Carmichael, she could help you with all of this? She could probably bring more memories to the surface.”

I scoffed. “You think I want to remember that shit? I remember enough of it as it is.”

“But don’t you see? These are clues. We could still catch these guys.”

“Are you kidding? Those guys have got to be long gone if they know what’s good for them. Not all criminals are stupid, you know.”

“Then why are you chasing the tattoo clue?”

Hell, I didn’t know. Because…because I had to do something. But why? I’d never had any urge to do anything about this before. It had been my cross to bear, and I lived with it. “I don’t know.”

“I think I do,” Joe said.

Not surprising. My older brother thought he knew everything. “You don’t know shit.”

He laughed. “Maybe not. But I think I know why you’re raring to do something now, why you’re following that tattoo lead. It’s because you want to move forward. Finally. Because of Jade.”

Jade. Somewhere, stuffed into the recesses of my mind, did I actually think I could heal? Become worthy of her love?

Did my brother know everything?

I chuckled to myself. No, he didn’t. But he might be right about this. Damned if I was going to admit it though.

“You got nothing to say to that?” my brother asked.

“Nope.”

Jonah let out a guffaw. “Means you think I’m right.”

“No comment.”

He shook his head, laughing. “Have it your way. But back to these leads. Any lead is better than none. So far we have a phoenix tattoo on the left forearm and a missing pinky toe on a left foot. That rules out the majority of the men in the world.”

“Yeah, I thought of that. So I ran to the computer and did a search, but nothing came of it. I’m not sure what I was thinking. There’s no database of guys missing toes out there.”

“I know you never wanted to do this before, but maybe it’s time we hire a P.I. Those guys could still be found. They could still pay for what they did to you.”

If I ever found any one of them, he’d pay. At my own hand. I couldn’t say that to my brother, though. “Maybe. I’ll think on that. But what are the chances of catching those assholes this late in the game? It’s been twenty-five years, Joe.”

“Yeah, I know. But I’ve been thinking about something else.”

“What’s that?”

“I think it’s time we tell Marjorie the truth. About everything.”

Marjorie? Jade’s best friend? From whom she had no secrets? Oh, hell, no. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Why not?”

“She’s just…not old enough to handle it.”

“She’s twenty-five. The rest of us had to handle it when we were half that age.”

“Well…” And the truth came out. “She’ll tell Jade.”

“Not if we tell her not to.”

“Look, Joe, you and Ryan and I decided a long time ago that the past was best left buried and we weren’t going to unearth it. Just as much for your sake as for mine.”

“But you’re unearthing it, don’t you see? By following this lead about the tattoo and now about the missing toe. Are you planning to just let that go? And if that was your plan, why did you go chasing all over to Grand Junction to find the designer of that tattoo?”