few seconds. “He has a condition called vitiligo which causes his skin to lighten in patches, and he has severe skin contractures on both hands. He usually keeps them bandaged for protection—not always gloves—but usually covered.”
It all made sense. Horrible sense. Daniel moved his hand nearer Eli’s, but Eli moved his out of the way.
“What can you tell us?” Talon glanced up at Eli.
Eli took a few steadying breaths, but his hands were curled into fists. “Caffrey was a bastard to us all, but Mo was his punching bag. He used to have scrap metal brought in, clean it up and sell it. He used acid to get the rust off, and he’d make Mo do it without gloves. His hands were wrecked.”
“Vitiligo can occur because of stress,” Talon confirmed. “So, Moses is out to get Caffrey.”
“Sounds like it,” Daniel murmured, still wondering why Eli wouldn’t look him in the eye.
They all looked up as Cruz pulled in the parking lot in a blue sedan. He barely glanced at the shaded windows of Talon’s truck and hurried to where the paramedics were treating Jasmine McKinty.
Talon sighed. “I think we need to try and find out where Moses lives. There are no sightings of him with a vehicle in either instances, and I still think the first time we saw him at the store was a coincidence. If he was driving, his car would have been at the store. If he was walking, then he must live nearby.”
“Chris will want reports,” Daniel said. “How about Eli and I stay here and you go see if you can find anything on Moses?”
“What about Cruz? Is he a problem?” Daniel glanced at Eli as they got out of the car and told Talon they would head home afterward unless they heard from him.
“He’s a coward,” Eli snapped out. “He never stopped Caffrey, but he never actually joined in. It’s hard to remember.” Eli frowned. “He was cruel, but more because he was afraid to do any other, not because he enjoyed it.”
“He might recognize you.”
“I imagine he’ll know about me, and I have no idea if he was there that night.”
“He didn’t live on the premises?”
“No, just Caffrey and his brother.” Eli closed his eyes a moment, then blinked them open. “You know Talon had the names of four other kids apart from me?”
“Yeah, including the girl,” Daniel confirmed.
“Well, I don’t know what was going on, but they were wrong.”
“Wrong? As in they weren’t there?”
Eli shook his head. “No, as in there weren’t just four. It’s hard to remember, and Callum, Mo, and I were definitely there the longest. I don’t remember the girl, but I can remember at least four or even more boys. One Ramsay brought definitely.”
“And they stayed?”
Eli shrugged. “It was like one minute they were there, one minute they weren’t. Callum and Mark had their own room. Mo and I had another. I don’t know where the other kids slept.” He frowned. “That’s odd, isn’t it?”
“I guess going through your own hell didn’t make tracking numbers any easier,” Daniel said quietly.
Eli nodded to the receptionist. “I need to go talk to her.”
“Oh,” Daniel said, catching on. “You want to see if you can tell anything from her.”
Eli nodded. “Come on,” It seemed like everything was conspiring today to make Eli relive his nightmares.
Daniel stepped away from the wall at the same time as his brother stood up from crouching down talking to Jasmine. It was odd and strangely satisfying to see the disbelief on Carmichael’s face as he glanced warily between both brothers. “This isn’t a case involving an enhanced,” he clipped out as Daniel and Eli drew nearer.
“Well, if you ask Officer Dougal over there that Agent Stuart just saved from taking a bullet, I’m for sure he would damn well disagree,” Chris said in a disgusted tone. Carmichael flushed and hurried away.
Daniel ignored him as Eli had hunkered down in front of Jasmine. She was sitting down on a chair, dragging on a cigarette with shaky hands like her life depended on it. It explained why everyone was still outside.
Daniel looked over at the far end toward the unit that Eli had reacted to, and the row of trailers and RVs behind. He could see that Cruz had walked off toward them with two officers. Chris followed his gaze. “I need you to confirm what happened behind there.”
Carmichael pricked his ears up, and Daniel almost wished he would do something stupid so Daniel could make sure he