Me
lanie was thinking. She was gnawing on her lower lip as if her life depended on it.
“What is it, sweetheart?” I asked.
“You said his eyes looked unreal. Maybe they were.”
“What do you mean?”
“He was wearing colored contact lenses. The kind that can make dark-brown eyes blue.”
I smiled. “Why the hell didn’t the rest of us think of that?”
“I don’t know,” Jade said. “Now that you mention it, Melanie, that makes perfect sense. I’m not sure why I didn’t think of it. Remember those funky cat-eye contacts you had in college, Marj?”
Marj chuckled. “Oh, yeah. They were yellow.”
“They were creepy,” Jade said.
“I suppose there’s no way to know for sure,” I said. “But all three of us seem to think that the eyes were bizarre looking. Unreal looking. Granted, the guy who took Melanie said he was a hired gun, but it’s not so far-fetched for him to have been lying.”
“It makes sense that Gina’s uncle is the one who abducted you, Doc,” Talon said. “First of all, you knew what he had done to Gina. Second, he probably also knew you were my therapist and assumed I had told you everything.”
Footsteps thumped in the foyer. In a few seconds, Ryan popped his head in the kitchen. “I’m sorry I’m late. An issue in the vineyards early this morning.”
“You missed quite a revelation,” Marj said. “Sit down. I’ll make you some eggs.”
“Don’t bother. I had a couple doughnuts this morning. What’s going on?”
* * *
After Ryan had been filled in, Jade had to leave for work, and Marjorie left with Ryan to help him in the vineyards. Talon refilled our coffee cups.
“You okay, Tal?” I asked.
He was a little pale, but he nodded. “Yeah. I’m not the one who was held at gunpoint yesterday. I should be asking if you’re okay.”
“I’m good, bro. I’m just sorry I let him get away.”
Melanie caressed my forearm. “You didn’t have a choice. None of us want you dead.”
“That’s for sure,” Talon agreed.
My phone beeped. “Excuse me.” I took a look. “Damn.”
“What is it?” Melanie asked.
“I got another text from my stalker. Have we ruled out Brooke for sure?”
Talon nodded. “Jade searched her room. She only has the one phone, and she couldn’t have hidden it anywhere else, since she can hardly move. Someone is usually here with her. Either Marj or Felicia, since she came back to work.”
“I guess I’ll just put up with it for now.”
“Why don’t you have Mills and Johnson find out who the number belongs to?” Talon said.
“I don’t want to take them off your case. It’s way more important that we track down Tom Simpson and Nico Kostas. Or rather, Theodore Mathias.”
Talon shook his head. “Tom fucking Simpson. I can hardly believe it.”