“Then what the hell do you want, Morse? Because the way I see it, the Feds can turn over every rock in my life, and they’ll never find any evidence that either Joe or I are connected to the trafficking ring. Not one tiny shred.”
“I mean no disrespect,” Ted said, “but you’re being naïve, Bryce. Incredibly naïve.”
My knuckles whitened around the handle of my coffee cup. Maintaining a level head was becoming increasingly more difficult.
“And you’re being incredibly transparent.”
“How is that?” he asked. “Aren’t you aware of Jonah Steel’s history?”
“I’m very aware of Jonah Steel’s history. He’s been my best friend nearly my entire life.”
“Then you know he paid off prison guards to beat Larry Wade?”
I swallowed, keeping my expression noncommittal. I did not know that. But I knew Joe, and he had a hot temper. Larry Wade was his half uncle and one of the men who’d tortured and raped Joe’s brother. Could I see him ordering a beating?
Yeah, I could.
“Ah. So you didn’t know.”
“Joe wouldn’t do that.” The lie tasted good. Actually good. I’d defend Joe with my life.
“I assure you he did. See? Something you didn’t know about your best friend of all these years.”
“You think prison guards are paragons of virtue? If Wade got beaten in prison, he probably had it coming, and even if he didn’t, a couple black eyes are nothing compared to what he inflicted on innocent children over the years. Joe didn’t order anything, but even if he did, Wade got what he deserved. You know what those men were capable of as well as I do.”
That last part was a cheap shot. Ted’s son had been brutalized at the hands of my father. I never forgot that. But right now, he was trying to implicate Joe and me, so I’d defend us both.
“Jonah Steel is a loose cannon,” Morse said nonchalantly. “You’re his best friend and the son of Tom Simpson. Why wouldn’t they be investigating you?”
“Well, for one, because we’re innocent.”
“Are you? What happened during those camping trips your father took you and Joe on, Bryce?”
The camping trips? The ones Joe and I looked forward to more than anything? We foraged, fished, hunted. Only the three of us ever. No one else would know anything about—
Oh, God.
I’d nearly forgotten.
Just once, we hadn’t been alone.
Just once.
I stood and threw a couple bucks on the table to cover my coffee. “This meeting is over.”
I walked out the door quickly, and when I was out of eyeshot of the café, I called Joe and left a voicemail.
“We need to talk. Now.”
Chapter Thirty–Seven
Marjorie
Jeans, a gray hoodie, and a black beanie.
That was all Dale could tell the officer about the man who had spooked him. The officer wanted to speak to some of the other children who’d been on the playground at the time, but the school principal forbade it without getting their parents’ permission first.
Who could blame the principal? No more information to be had, though. Dale didn’t want to go back to school, so I texted Colin and canceled our meeting. Jade and I picked up Donny early and headed back to the ranch.