I had to face the truth.
I had to face the truth that my father might not have been the man I’d thought he was. He might have impregnated another woman and raised the child as my mother’s.
He might have contributed to my mother’s suicide. Maybe even to my brother’s abduction.
“Jonah?” Melanie touched my arm.
I turned to face her. She was so beautiful, and she represented all that was good in the world.
Thank God for her.
“I’m all right.” And I was. As long as I had her.
“I know this is hard,” she said. “But we’ll get through it. And we’ll find the truth if it’s out there.”
I smiled, brought her fingers to my lips, and kissed them.
And then my phone buzzed.
* * *
Melanie had begged me not to go, but I’d promised her I’d return. As I looked down at my ankle, my holster hidden, while pulling into the driveway at the Simpsons’ house in town, I hoped I’d be able to keep that promise.
Mills and Johnson had found Simpson, ironically at his own home. Why had he been so stupid as to return? I couldn’t say. But because I knew Bryce was in Grand Junction with his mother and Henry was safe at Talon’s with Marj, I had to try.
I wasn’t alone this time. I eyed my phone. I’d just called the police. They wouldn’t be far behind me. This time, Tom Simpson wasn’t getting away.
I exited my truck and walked stealthily to the front door. I turned the knob, and oddly, it was unlocked. I unstrapped my Glock and entered. “Tom? I know you’re here.”
I inhaled. He was cooking something. Odd. It smelled kind of like refried beans.
I walked toward the kitchen—
Something hard hit the back of my head.
“Drop your gun, Joe.”
I gulped. I’d stared down a gun twice, and now twice someone had held a gun to the back of my head.
As much as I hated to do it, I laid my gun down carefully on a table to the side of me, my nerves skittering.
“Now turn around.”
I complied.
Tom stood there, his dyed hair greasy and unkempt, his blue eyes eerily calm. “This is the third time, Joe. The third time we’ve come face-to-face since I left. And this time, you’re not going to get out alive. You’ve cost me my wife, my son, my grandson.”
“You cost yourself those people,” I said. “Your actions caused this, not mine. I simply shed light on who you really are.”
“Who were you to do that? My family and I were happy.”
“Your family and you were living a lie. You’ll never see your son or grandson again. I can guarantee you that.”
“You’re wrong. I will get my family back.”
“Not if you kill me.”
“Evelyn loves me. So does Bryce. So does that baby. They will take me back.”