Silence.
“Colin? Talk to me. Everyone’s worried about you. Where are you?”
Still nothing, until the line went dead.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Talon
I texted Jade to let her know I was still in the city. Told her I had some business keeping me here. It wasn’t a lie. I’d had a therapy session and then met with the guys about Kostas’s car. She texted me back that she and her father were at an Italian restaurant near the hospital and invited me to meet them there. So here I was, walking into Milano’s.
I found Jade and her dad and sat down between them at their four-top. Her father was looking at her, his eyebrows arched.
“That was Colin,” she said.
My nerves prickled. “What?”
“She just got a call,” Brian said. “Are you sure it was his number?” he asked her.
“Yeah. Unless he changed it. But then, who else would be calling me from his old number? This is great. It means he’s most likely alive.” She shook her head. “Thank God. If only he’d talked to me.
“He didn’t say anything?” I asked.
“No, he didn’t. Is there any way to have this call traced?”
“I don’t know,” Brian said. “And there’s something else you haven’t thought of.”
“What’s that?” Jade clutched the stem of her wineglass.
“It wasn’t necessarily Colin calling. All we know is that it was Colin’s phone.”
Their waitress interrupted us. They were both nearly done with their meals, so I ordered some chicken Marsala and a glass of Chianti.
&
nbsp; “You definitely need to call the cops,” I said after the waitress left.
“I will,” Jade replied, “but all I have is Steve Dugan’s card with his office number on it.”
“No problem,” I said. “Steve’s a poker buddy of mine. I have his cell number. I’ll call him now.”
Jade bit her lip. “It’s nine o’clock on a Saturday night, Talon.”
“So what? He’s been investigating this guy’s disappearance, and we just got a lead. Let’s let him know.” I quickly pulled up Steve’s number.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Steve. Talon Steel.”
“Hey, Tal, what’s going on?”
“Jade just got a call from Colin Morse’s phone.”
“What?” Steve nearly took my ear off.
“Yeah. We’re in Grand Junction, where her mom is in the hospital. About an hour ago, she got a call from Colin’s phone, but no one said anything, and then the phone eventually went dead. Any way you can trace where it came from?”
“Hell, yeah. I just need Jade’s number and the time of the call. We should be able to find something.”