“I like the mountains. We could see them outside our back window. They look purple.”
Far enough away to look purple most likely meant Denver or Colorado Springs. Now we were getting somewhere. I could ask him how long he’d been held captive, but he probably wouldn’t be able to answer me. Days had no doubt blended together.
Then he squirmed in his chair. “My bum hurts.”
A spear entered my heart. God only knew how this sweet young boy had been used. I took only a smidgen of solace that my father hadn’t inflicted it the way he had on Talon. And that was only if he’d been telling me the truth.
“I know you took a shower, but have you had a bath? That might help a little.”
“No, not yet. The bad men did things to us.”
“I know. But you’re safe now. And you will heal. I promise.” I could easily make the promise that his body would heal. His mind? He could heal, but he would need help. A lot of help. Help Talon hadn’t been given until much later in his life. Help that Gina had been getting, but they’d taken her anyway.
“Dale protected me a lot. They hurt him worse. He stopped crying after a while.”
My heart splintered in two. “He’s a good big brother, isn’t he?”
“He’s the best. He’s my hero.”
* * *
After Donny had eaten the snack of apple slices and peanut butter that Marabel brought him, I took him inside to my bathroom and ran a warm bath. I found some lavender bubble bath in the cabinet.
“Mommy used to give me bubble baths,” he said.
“Your mommy is going to be so happy to know you’re okay. You and Dale both.” I turned off the bath water. “You’re a big boy. You probably don’t need my help to take a bath.”
“Right. I can do it myself.”
“I’ll just stay in here, in case you need me.”
“No. You don’t have to.”
“Donny, have you ever taken a bath by yourself before?”
“Yeah. Dale doesn’t get in with me anymore. He says he’s too old for that. So I have to do it alone.”
“You mean your mommy doesn’t stay in the bathroom with you?”
“Sometimes. But sometimes not. I’m getting too big for that too. I mean, I’m a boy and all.”
“You sure you’ll be okay?”
“Yup. I’ll be fine.”
Still, something poked at me. “I’m not leaving you.”
“Please,” he said, his voice taking on a whine. “I’m…embarrassed.”
“You don’t have to be embarrassed. I’m a police officer, and I’d never hurt you. I just want to make sure you’re okay.”
“But…they did things… Please.”
I shuddered. I knew exactly what had happened to this sweet boy. He wanted some privacy, which made complete sense. Maybe I could give him a minute or two.
“Okay. Just sit in the water for a while. It will help. There’s a washcloth and towel on the rack. Some shampoo on the shelf if you want to wash your hair. I’ll be right in the next room. Just holler if you need anything.”
“Okay.”
I closed the door behind me, leaving it cracked so he’d know I was here…and also so I could keep watching him without him knowing. The water sloshed as he got into the tub and sat down. I quietly moved a chair so I could sit and still see Donny in the tub. Across the hall, the Steels were having their conference. I could sneak out and probably hear what they were saying, like I’d heard Brad with my father before. But I couldn’t. First, I couldn’t leave Donny alone, and of course, it was none of my business. This was between Brad and his children—four children who were mad as hell.
I didn’t envy Brad Steel his task, but he deserved it nonetheless.
Donny wasn’t using the washcloth. He was just sitting there, silent. Poor ba—
Crash!
And then a high-pitched scream.
I jerked toward the bedroom door. The sound had come from the office. Ryan had warned me that Joe might get physical. Marjorie had probably been responsible for the scream.
I walked to the door but then hurried back.
I couldn’t leave Donny.
I peered back through the cracked door. He was no longer in the tub. He must be drying off behind the door. “Donny? Do you need help?”
No answer. I jerked the door open. No Donny.
I ran toward the tub.
His little body was floating. Facedown.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Ryan
Joe took charge, as the rest of us knew he would.
“Talon has filled us in on the bullshit you’ve spewed so far,” he said to our father, “so start with something new. Like why the fuck you faked your own death. I can’t believe I let that lunatic Wendy Madigan—” He looked to me. “Shit. I’m sorry, Ry.”
“She is a lunatic. I can’t help that I’m her progeny. No need to tiptoe around it. I’m not the idiot who slept with her.” I couldn’t resist the dig at our father. It was a hell of a lot less than he deserved.
He remained silent, his lips pursed.
Joe cleared his throat. “As I was saying, I can’t believe I let that lunatic Wendy Madigan identify your body. It was my job as the oldest.”
I saw where this was going. Joe was a master at harboring guilt. “Don’t do that to yourself,” I said. “We were all adults. It was all our responsibility.”
“Still, I should have—”
Marjorie stood. “Stop it! Stop this right now. We all should have looked at the body. We all should have stopped this long ago.”
“Marj,” Talon said. “You didn’t even know anything about it until the guys and I told you.”
“Well, stop protecting me. I’m not some fragile glass ornament that needs to be wrapped in bubble wrap. I’m as strong as the rest of you.”
Our father smiled from across his desk. “Yes, baby girl. You are.”
Marj’s eyes began to soften. When he’d tried to keep her away from ranch work, she’d had none of it. She learned to run the ranch right alongside the rest of us, all the while remaining Daddy’s girl.
She was our father’s Achilles’ heel. Maybe that could come in handy. Though Marj was nobody’s fool. She wouldn’t appreciate being used. Plus…she’d held on to him for dear life when she saw him. She wouldn’t harden easily.
“Start talking, Dad,” Joe said icily. “And don’t leave out one single solitary detail.”
Brad Steel coughed into his fist. “What you all need to understand is that everything I’ve done was for your protection.”
“What about the future lawmakers?” Joe demanded. “Why did you fund them? How couldn’t you tell they were bad people? You can’t say you did that for our protection. We weren’t born yet.”
“I’ve made many mistakes, and I have many regrets.”
Joe scoffed. “Sell it to someone who gives a damn.”
“I did the best I could by you.”
“By keeping our mother from us? By keeping us from our father as well?” Joe stood, grabbed an empty chair, and hurled it at the wall. It crashed against a framed photograph of Aspen trees, and the wooden legs splintered from the seat.
Marjorie screamed. Talon sat, rigid, while my body went tight, as if I were a balloon and the air was being squeezed out of me.
Our father had no reaction to Joe’s outburst except for a slightly raised brow. “You will understand after you know everything.”
Joe snarled like an animal. “Don’t bet on—”
“Help!”
Fuck! That was Ruby’s voice. Coming from her room. I stood and bolted.
Ruby was administering CPR to one of the little boys, who lay, naked and wet, on the floor of her bedroom. She pumped at his heart ferociously. “Come on, damn it. Breathe, Donny, breathe!”
Then she tilted his head, pinched his nose, opened his mouth, clamped her lips over it, and delivered two rescue breaths.
After she lifted her head, she began chest compressions again. “Call 9-1-1, damn it!”
I pulled out my cell phone and dialed, and then it occurred to me that there probably wasn’t any 9-1-1. My father and siblings had congregated in the room. I grabbed my father’s shirt collar. “Who do we call in an emergency? Damn it, who?”
“I’ll take care of it,” he said and returned to his office.
Talon knelt down beside Ruby, his hands shaking. “What the hell happened?”
“Come on, damn it!” Ruby punched on his chest again.