Ravenous - Helen Hardt Page 0,14
known you most of your life, Bryce, and I’d have bet my entire ranch that she’s not your type.”
“She’s not.”
“Then—”
“I was looking for a fuck, okay? Christ.”
“But you just said—”
“Right. And I changed my mind. Obviously.”
“She’s got a hot body. I’ll give her that.”
“Yeah. But she smokes dope, and she’s not…”
“Not what?”
Not your sister. Nope, couldn’t say that.
“Not my type, like you said.”
“How long has it been for you, man?”
“A while. I have a baby, remember? Wait until Melanie gives birth. The sex’ll go way down.”
“I doubt it.”
“You’ll have to stay away from her for six weeks after birth anyway.”
“I know.” He grinned. “We’ll make do.”
Oh, man. TMI again. I didn’t want to think about the bondage things he did to his therapist wife.
Joe signaled the bartender—Len, apparently—and got us two more drinks. He looked down the bar. Mike had left, so we were free to talk.
“I talked to Melanie last night about Rohypnol and its effects.”
“What? How did you bring that up without saying anything about this?”
“I said I’d read an article in the Post about date rape.”
“She bought that?”
“Yeah, since it was true. I’d been looking it up.”
“And she didn’t wonder why you were researching date rape?”
“Bryce, come on. I said I stumbled across an article, and I easily could have.”
“All right. All right. What did she say?”
“Pretty much what we already know. It can lead to retrograde amnesia for an hour or so before you take the drug. But more often than not, what it does is make you very malleable and suggestible.”
“And we were nine years old, so we’d believe anything my father told us,” I said quietly.
“Exactly. And while you can keep the memories, as we obviously have, they become so clouded that you never really think of them again. That’s why rapists use it. They get what they want, and the woman essentially forgets about it.”
“But the kid’s family… He couldn’t have roofied them into forgetting their kid.”
“Remember that these guys got away with everything. Wendy Madigan escaped a criminal mental hospital.”
“How?” I asked. “Seriously, how? How did my father do all of this while my mom and I had no fucking idea?”
Joe downed the rest of his second drink. “Money. You’d be amazed by what money can accomplish.”
A thought pierced my brain with a sudden jolt. “I need to ask you something.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. Did you pay off prison guards to beat up Larry Wade?”
He looked away, signaling Len for one more. Joe was a big guy, and he could hold his liquor, but that was three drinks in a pretty short time. Still, I didn’t say anything.
“You going to answer me?”
“Where’d you hear that?”
“Ted Morse.”
“That motherfucker.”
“Look. I told him you wouldn’t do that, that it was a lie. But I need to know. We need transparency here, man. Did you do it?”
“Does it matter if I did?”
“Hell no, Joe. You’re my brother. I’ve always got your back.”
He took a sip from the glass Len set in front of him. “I did. But I did not pay anyone off to have him killed. I sat through days of questioning with my lawyer to make that clear.”
I said nothing.
“You can’t clam up on me now,” he said.
“I’m not exactly surprised. I know you, and the guy had it coming.”
“Hell, yeah, he did. How the fuck does Morse know? I wasn’t charged with anything, and part of the deal was that the records of my questioning were sealed.”
“I have no idea. A friend in the DA’s office maybe?”
“I doubt it. This goes way deeper. The guy found out about Justin. Damn, what was his last name?”
“It was a Spanish name.”
“It was?”
“Yeah. I’m not sure why, but it just popped into my mind.”
“The kid was blond, wasn’t he?”
“No, he had dark hair. I think.” I tried willing my mind to churn, but the rotgut bourbon had taken its toll. It was on the tip of my tongue. Rodriguez? No. Martinez? No. Velasquez? That sounded really close.
“We’ll find out soon enough. The Spider’ll come through.”
“Yeah, but we’re sitting on pins and needles until then. I’m a single dad, and you’ve got a kid on the way. How do you deal with this shit?”
“I keep busy. I’ve been working like a dog.”
“I need to start my job.”
“Monday will come soon. And trust me, you’ll have plenty of work.”
I still wished I’d be working outdoors on the ranch, but I’d make way more as the new CFO for the Steels. Money was important. I had a son, and I needed to