‘Good question. He wasn’t on the security camera in the lobby, which meant someone found an alternative way to get him in here. We opened an investigation, but didn’t get anywhere. As far as I know, it’s still an open case in IA.’
‘We figured that Tavilla had inside contacts,’ Joseph said, his jaw grim. ‘He’s been able to stay a few steps ahead of us for years. Fuck. I didn’t like that prick Brickman either.’
‘What do we do with this information?’ JD asked him quietly. ‘Is Hyatt compromised?’
Joseph grimaced, agitated. ‘Shit.’ He straightened his spine and smoothed his expression. ‘We’ll keep the news about Tristan quiet for now. I’ll tell Hyatt myself after this meeting with Dr Colt. If Brickman is in the room, I’ll find a reason to get him to leave.’
‘This should be interesting,’ Thorne muttered. He put his arm around Gwyn and drew her close. She leaned into him, her step momentarily faltering.
She was terrified for the boy she’d had to watch growing up from afar, and she had every right to be. She’d seen what had been done to Patricia first-hand and she knew about the others. He had no words of comfort, so he tightened his grip, holding her up.
‘Just a little longer, baby,’ he whispered, hoping like hell that was true. Her nod was jerky, but she was still with him, so he’d have to be satisfied with that.
He braced himself as he stepped into the conference room, the same room he’d been brought to after Gwyn and Stevie had been shot at. Right after they’d talked with Brent Kiley, the EMT. Who was now dead.
Colton Brandenberg came to his feet when they entered, his expression exhausted. And haunted. His sister remained seated beside his chair, giving Thorne a look of apology. He nodded to her, because he understood protecting one’s family. He’d do anything for his.
‘Tommy,’ Colton said quietly. ‘Or is it Thomas now?’
‘It’s just Thorne. Thank you for coming in.’
The man shook his head. ‘Don’t thank me,’ he said darkly. ‘Please.’
Shit, Thorne thought wearily. What now?
He helped Gwyn into a chair on the other side of the table and sat beside her, conscious of Frederick and Jamie behind him. Joseph took the chair on Thorne’s left and Hyatt made the introductions.
‘Dr Brandenberg wouldn’t tell us anything until you got here, Thorne,’ he said, his irritation clear. ‘Now that you are, let’s get this show on the road.’
Colton cleared his throat. ‘It’s Brandon Colt now, but people just call me Colt.’ He spoke with an accent that he hadn’t had when they were teens back in school, and Thorne wondered how long he’d been in Appalachia.
‘Why shouldn’t I thank you?’ Thorne asked. If Colt wasn’t going to help them, he’d rather know now than continue to hope for a revelation.
‘Because I should have said something nineteen years ago,’ Colt answered bitterly.
‘But I’m telling it now and I hope it will help.’ He drew a breath, gripping his sister’s hand hard. ‘My sister didn’t know any of these details until earlier this morning, when I arrived in town.’ He lifted a brow at Thorne. ‘I got your message. How did you track me down?’
‘I have enterprising friends.’
‘You must. No one’s found me in nineteen years. Because I changed my name and ran away.’ He blew out a breath. ‘Because I was a coward. I was terrified of Richard Linden’s father. And Gil Segal.’
Thorne stared at him. ‘Segal? Judge Segal? Why?’
‘Not now, not because he’s a judge. I was afraid of him back then. He was dating Patricia when she was in high school. Her parents had forbidden her to see him because he was so much older. He was in college and she was only fifteen. She didn’t listen.’
Beside him, Gwyn sighed softly, but said nothing. Thorne took her hand under the table and squeezed it.
‘Patricia was always unhappy,’ Colt continued. ‘At first we thought she was just moody. What the hell did we know? We were kids and we knew nothing about girls. By “we”, I mean me, Chandler and Darian. Richard was the expert. He’d had sex a lot more than we had. Trouble was, he had to force the girls to give it to him.’
‘You knew he was raping girls?’ Thorne asked.
‘No. Not at first. Not really until after we beat you up.’ He dropped his gaze. ‘For which I have been ashamed ever since.’ He looked up, met Thorne’s eyes. ‘I’m sorry, Tommy. I mean Thorne. I was one hundred percent wrong that day.’
Thorne wasn’t ready to accept his apology, so he just nodded. ‘Tell us about Patricia.’
‘Richard believed that Angie Ospina liked him. He wanted to believe it, at least. The day we beat you up, he’d boasted that she’d been all over him the night before. He suggested she might be up to taking a few of us on at once.’ He grimaced, as if still finding the notion contemptible. ‘Chandler and Darian were all for it. I . . . wasn’t. There was the typical macho bullshit. You know, asking if I was a pussy, or if I wasn’t into girls at all. What they didn’t know then is that I wasn’t.’
It took Thorne a second. Then . . . ‘Oh.’
Colt nodded grimly. ‘Yeah. Oh. I obviously wasn’t out then and it was critical to me to keep my secret. To seem as straight as I could be.’ He glanced at his sister. ‘Our parents were conservative. If they’d known, I’d have been thrown out.’
His sister’s smile was tight and sad and loving all at once. ‘I’d have taken you in.’
‘Like you could afford another mouth to feed back then,’ Colt said with a shake of his head. ‘But I know you would have tried.’
‘I always wondered why you hung with Richard and his friends,’ Thorne said. ‘You’d always been so nice before.’
‘I know. I hated them. I hated myself. I was a mess. Not all of my rage that day was aimed at you. I was having trouble at home too. When you did the right thing that day, saving Angie, something in me just snapped. All that self-loathing just . . . It took over and I just remember being so mad. Like I couldn’t see clearly. You were the most accessible target, and again, I’m sorry. I tried to find you after your trial, after I got my shit together, but you’d changed your name too.’
Thorne was more inclined now to give him absolution, but he’d wait to do so until they were alone. And after Colt actually gave them some useful information. ‘I understand your mental state at the time,’ was all he said. ‘Can you tell us about the day Richard was killed?’
Colt’s eyes registered the fact that Thorne had not accepted his apology, but he nodded. ‘Richard was at the school that night because he was going to take your bass and destroy it. Darian, Chandler and I went with him, but I had a last-minute panic attack and refused to go inside. They laughed at me and left me outside. They had a key to the school – Richard had stolen it from his father, who had it because he was on the board or some bullshit. But they left the door cracked open with a brick so that I could join them if I changed my mind. I ducked behind a bush when Gil Segal got there, and he was . . . well, like a charging bull. He didn’t see me, because I was hiding. Like a coward.’ He drew a steadying breath. ‘He grabbed the brick and ran inside. The door closed and locked behind him.’ Colt looked away, his eyes focusing on the past. ‘A few minutes later, the door busted open and Chandler and Darian came running out, white as ghosts and babbling that Gil was killing Richard, gutting him with a knife, screaming that he’d never put his filthy hands on Patricia again.’
He blinked, and his eyes refocused on Thorne. ‘They ran, Chandler and Darian. I tried to run too, but I was frozen. It couldn’t have been more than a minute later that you and Sherri arrived. I could see you on the curb, talking.’ He swallowed. ‘I always liked Sherri. She was kind to me, even though I was a mean, hateful mess.’
Thorne’s throat closed. ‘Yeah,’ he whispered hoarsely, vividly remembering the girl he’d loved. ‘She was kind.’