“Haven’t we gotten past that by now, Jade? We have more than we could possibly use, and I’m happy to share it with you.”
“I know.”
“Seriously, how’s it going? With work?” She paused a moment. “With Talon?”
“I think things with Talon are going well. He told me he’s in therapy.”
Marj widened her eyes. “He did?”
“Yes. To be truthful, I’m glad he is.”
“Me too,” Marj agreed.
“He asked me to be patient with him. Not to press him for information.”
Marj smiled again, this time a little bigger smile. “I guess I’ll ask you to be patient with me too. If I could tell you what’s going on, Jade, I would.”
“All right. I understand. By the way, Talon said we could make our relationship public.”
“That’s great.”
“And as for work, I still don’t know what to think. I can’t figure out why Larry disappeared. He’s been gone for a week now, and no one knows where he is. I’ll do some investigating of my own on Monday. See if I can figure out where he went.” It freaked me out more than just a little bit, but I couldn’t let on to Marj how much. After all, Larry had told me to research the Steels. I still had no idea what information he was looking for. He had been tight-lipped about the whole thing. “Do you have any idea why Larry might’ve disappeared?”
Marj shook her head. “I really hardly know the guy. I mean, I had heard that he had dealings with our family in the past.”
“I don’t like the guy, to be honest.” I sighed. “I mean, he gave me a job, which I needed. But he’s a horribly unethical attorney. Last Friday, the last time I saw him”—I wasn’t going to mention that I thought I had seen him talking to Nico in the hospital late Friday night—“he was wearing shorts and a Hawaiian shirt, getting ready to take his grandkids somewhere. He was looking creepy. You know the kind—like you wouldn’t leave children alone with him?”
Marj visibly shuddered, the look on her face unreadable. “What makes you say that?”
“I don’t know. He just looked creepy. And not that there’s anything wrong with this, but he was missing a toe on his left foot. That’s not what made him creepy though.”
Marj’s mouth popped open. “Are you serious? On the left foot? Are you sure?”
“Yeah.” What I didn’t tell her was that I’d dropped my gaze to his foot because I hadn’t been able to look into his eyes after I’d asked him about Daphne Steel being his sister. I hadn’t told any of the Steels about that yet.
Marj jumped off the bed and pulled me up with her. “Oh my God.”
Chapter Eighteen
Talon
I finished the accounts I was working on, sent a detailed e-mail to our accountant and financial manager, and even though it was nearing midnight, I decided to see if Ryan was up. I felt like sharing a drink with my little brother.
I wrote him a quick text, and sure enough, he was up. Sure, come on over, he texted. My brother always welcomed me.
He met me at the front door, wearing his sleeping pants and a T-shirt. “What you doing up so late, Tal?”
“I could ask you the same thing.”
“Not much. Was working on some paperwork.”
“Same here.”
He walked into his family room, and I followed him. He went behind the bar and pulled up a few bottles. “Peach Street, I assume?”
“That’ll do it.”
He poured me two fingers of the amber liquid and a glass of wine for himself. He sat down next to me on a barstool.