“I remember her. You should too.” Caden read the words aloud, then tossed the envelope and note to Ryan. “That means absolutely nothing to me.”
“Don’t be so quick.” Ryan glanced down at the note. Plain paper, nothing really distinctive about the handwriting. They could dust it for prints to cement Lyle as the sender, but the envelope had been through postage, and both he and Caden had handled the letter. Even without prints there was little doubt Lyle was the author. Circumstantial or not, too much added up. “Think about it, Caden. Whoever this girl is, he has a feeling you’ve forgotten her.”
“Ryan, I’d forgotten Marian until you mentioned her. There are a lot of people I went to school with I’ve probably forgotten. It’s not like I make a habit of thinking about high school every day.”
“No, but a lot of those people still live here, and if you ran into them, you’d know them. You’d remember.” Once again the nagging sense he’d overlooked something rose to haunt him. “He seems to think you won’t remember her. Why? What makes her different than everyone else?”
Exhaling, Caden dragged a hand over his face. “I don’t know. If I come up with anything, you’ll be the first person I tell.”
“You’re not taking this seriously.”
“As seriously as I can. I’ve got other things on my mind.”
“Like what?”
Caden was quiet for a moment, idly bouncing a thumb against his desk. He looked right, then left, as if judging who was within earshot. Lowering his voice, he leaned forward. “Halloween is less than a week from now.”
Ryan was still hung-up on the note. “And?”
“Jerome’s code.” Caden raised an eyebrow. “The thirty-first of October. Remember?”
He did now. According to Parker Kline, Indrid Cold was supposed to visit Earth at some time after eleven in the evening. “What are you going to do? Drive around the TNT and look for some alien named Cold on Halloween?”
“I’m thinking about it.”
“Be serious.”
“I am.”
“Caden—”
“Listen to me.” His brother’s voice was sharp and gruff. “I’m not saying I buy into all the extraterrestrial bullshit, but Parker did. He’s still out there. It’s anyone’s guess how he’s surviving, because he’s not capable of functioning on his own for long.”
“Floyd’s got to be helping him.” It was the only thing that made sense. “He has to know where Parker is.”
“Maybe, but Pete’s had deputies watching Floyd since Parker escaped, and the guy hasn’t gone anywhere.”
“So you’re going to scout out the TNT on Halloween hoping to come across Parker?” The idea was mind-boggling. It would be easier finding a needle in a haystack.
“I owe him that much. I put him in West Central.”
“He put himself there. He shot Hank point blank.”
Caden winced. “I know that. But I can’t ignore the chance of catching up with Parker.”
“Uh-huh.” Ryan pursed his lips, realizing nothing he said would make a difference. “You do know the TNT is thirty-six hundred acres of wilderness? If I believed Parker’s code and if I thought there was a chance in hell of finding him, you’re still missing the location. Parker’s code was down to the second. Yeah, he might be wandering around out there afterward or even before, but if you’re not at the exact place at the exact time, he could be gone.”
“I’ve got that covered.” Caden leaned back in his chair, shutting down the conversation. “I know where he’ll be.”
“Where?”
“I’d rather not say. This is something I need to do on my own.”
Ryan scowled. “Want to explain why?”
“No.” A tight answer followed by an equally tight grin. “Rank aside, I’ve still got older brother privilege.” Yanking open the top desk drawer, he picked up the yearbook, then shoved it inside. “By the way, Eve wants to know if you and Katie are interested in hooking up for dinner.”
And just that quick, the topic of Parker was closed.
The next night Ryan picked up Katie and Sam and took them to his mom’s house for dinner. Sometimes he thought it odd that he still lived there while Caden had left as soon as he was able, enlisting in the army following graduation. His brother had spent the next four years in Vietnam, then snagged his own place and a job with the sheriff’s office when he returned. The war hadn’t changed him, but the time away had done nothing to erase the burden of Maggie’s death. Thank God, that trauma was finally behind them.
Caden and Eve joined them for dinner with much of the talk centering around their upcoming wedding. They’d settled on June eighteenth as the date for the ceremony. Eve announced she’d already booked the church for two o’clock in the afternoon, and reserved the ballroom at the hotel for the reception. Ryan was happy for both of them. His mother positively beamed, overjoyed by the prospect of having a daughter-in-law.
It was nearing seven-thirty when Ryan took Katie and Sam home. The house was empty, but cozy. Doreen Sue had left a note on the kitchen table saying she’d gone to visit Martin and probably wouldn’t be back until late. Katie brewed a pot of coffee while Sam took a bath and Ryan made himself comfortable in the living room.
He flipped on the TV while she fussed with Sam and helped him get ready for bed. The show options were minimal. Tales of the Gold Monkey, Real People, or Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. He decided on the first, but turned the volume down since his mind was elsewhere. They hadn’t discussed Lyle in front of Sam, but it was time he brought her up to speed about Mason’s true target, Caden.
A half hour later, Katie joined him on the sofa.
“That’s mind-boggling,” she said when he was through with his tale. “I bet it came as a surprise to Caden too.”
“Yeah, I don’t think he’s taking the whole thing seriously, but my brother has his own way of doing things.” Time to change the subject. It had been several days since he’d seen her, and he didn’t want to spend the entire time talking about Caden. “My mom really enjoyed seeing you and Sam tonight.”
“She doted on him. It was like having a second grandmother.”