Turn on a Dime - Blane's Turn (25 page)

“Thanks for telling me,” Blane said. “I’m sorry—”

“Don’t apologize,” Kade interrupted. “This is new for you. I get it. But listen to me when I say this.”

Blane glanced over.

“Man, it’s not your fault.”

And Blane realized this was Kade’s gift to him. A ten year old boy was providing absolution and forgiveness for things that never should have happened to him. He didn’t know what to say, how to react to this child, his brother. He just knew he’d do anything to protect Kade, the fierceness of his love a revelation.

Blane forced a smile. “You’re a good man,” he said. “A better one than me, that’s for damn sure.”

Kade grinned. “Does that mean I can drink with you now?”

Blane laughed. “No. But we can go sneak some of those cookies Mona has set aside. I won’t tell if you won’t.”

It was late that night and Kade couldn’t sleep. The scene earlier today with Blane still weighed on his mind. He hoped Blane had understood why he’d told him that story. It wasn’t to make him feel worse. Kade just couldn’t stand to see the guilt in Blane’s eyes when he looked at him. Yeah, some bad shit had happened to him, but things were looking up now, thanks to Blane.

Restless, Kade got out of bed and headed downstairs. Another couple of cookies sounded good. Mona might have a fit, but puppy dog eyes and a smile went a long way toward forgiveness with her.

Kade was munching on the cookies when he stepped into the library. To his surprise, Blane was still up. He opened his mouth to speak, but a second glance had him keeping his silence.

Blane was sitting on the couch looking at something he held. He didn’t seem to notice as Kade eased closer.

Blane sniffed and swiped a hand across his face, then seemed to notice Kade for the first time.

“Hey,” he said. “Is everything all right? Did you need something?”

“What’s that?” Kade asked, motioning to the framed photo Blane was holding.

Blane glanced down. “It’s my mother,” he said, handing the picture to Kade.

“Did she die?”

“Yeah.”

“When?”

“A few months ago,” Blane said, sniffing again and clearing his throat. He got up and went to the sideboard, pouring himself a drink.

Kade studied the photograph. The woman was pretty. Long, blonde hair, blinding smile. She looked delicate somehow, and not just because she was petite.

“She was pretty,” Kade said.

“That she was,” Blane sighed, taking the frame from him and setting it gently on the table.

It struck Kade then that he and Blane had something in common. They’d both lost their mothers. He remembered with vivid clarity the morning he’d woken to find his mother cold in her bed, her eyes open and staring at the ceiling. He’d sat beside her for hours. Until he’d been forced to answer the phone, its ringing incessant as his mother’s boss called asking why she wasn’t at work.

The pain, old but still remembered, struck him now and sympathy made him reach out and rest his hand on Blane’s shoulder. Blane was a big guy and Kade’s hand looked awfully inadequate, but he left it there despite the fear of rejection that clawed at his stomach. What if Blane laughed at him? Pushed him away?

Blane looked up in surprise when he felt Kade’s touch. He hadn’t ever touched Blane of his own volition, had only allowed the one touch in the doctor’s office, when he’d been so terrified, he’d barely known what was happening.

But Kade had lost a mother, too. The sadness in his eyes as he looked at Blane spoke of a grief they both now shared.

Blane managed a small smile, reaching up to squeeze Kade’s hand resting on his shoulder.

“You have me,” Kade said simply.

The words, so honestly given, made Blane’s chest constrict.

“No,” he corrected him. “We have each other.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

“Now what?” Kade said.

“She’ll go to her apartment. We can pick her up there,” Blane replied. Though how easy that was going to be, he didn’t know. Kat had looked terrified, running as if her life depended on it. This wasn’t exactly how Blane had planned on the rest of the night going.

He went upstairs and finished dressing, meeting Kade back in the den. “I’ll drive,” he said. A few minutes later, they were on their way to Kathleen’s apartment.

“So who is this girl and why are we treating her with kid gloves?” Kade asked.

“She got pulled into this by accident,” Blane answered. “She doesn’t deserve to be hurt or die because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Kade sighed. “You and your weakness for women. Some girl bats her baby-blues and suddenly you’ll bend over backward for her. You don’t know anything about this girl. She could be a plant, for all you know.”

“She’s not a plant, for chrissakes,” Blane retorted, stung.

“How do you know?”

“Because I know.”

Kade snorted. “So if she was supposed to be asleep in your bed, awash in post-orgasmic bliss, why was she hiding in the hall spying on you and how’d she have someone outside waiting for her?”

Blane didn’t have an answer for either of those questions. His lips thinned and they didn’t speak again until they reached Kat’s apartment.

“That looks like the car in the street,” Blane said, nodding toward a black four-door compact. “I bet it belongs to her neighbor.”

“I thought you said her neighbor was dead?”

“New neighbor.”

“And they’re BFFs already?” Kade asked. “No, that’s not suspicious at all.”

Blane shot him a look, but Kade was already getting out of the car. Doubt crept in. Had Blane been taken in by Kathleen? Had it all been a setup? A damsel in distress perfectly placed for him to rescue and protect? The very thought produced a sick feeling in his stomach.

No. It couldn’t be. Blane made his living off reading people and he hadn’t read Kat wrong. She was not a plant. She was the real deal. She had to be.

“I think we found our getaway car,” Kade said, his palms flat on the hood. “Engine’s still warm.”

Blane took the stairs two at a time, pulling his gun from its holster before unlocking Kathleen’s door. Kade covered his six, weapon in hand as well. While Blane didn’t believe that Kat was involved in any of this, beyond the fact of being dragged in, he also knew she was scared. And people did crazy things when they were scared.

But she wasn’t there.

Standing in the living room, Blane holstered his gun, thinking. Where could she have gone?

“I can take a crack at the neighbor,” Kade said.

“No, I’ll go,” Blane replied. The last thing he needed was Kade hurting the girl. “You go wait in the car.” He watched as Kade retreated down the stairs.

CJ had said she worked nights, so Blane knew she was up before he knocked. Sure enough, it only took her a moment to answer the door. Unfortunately, she also had a gun pointed at him.

Blane slowly raised his hands, palms out. “I’m not here to hurt you, CJ,” he said, keeping his voice calm and level.

“Then why are you here?” she asked.

“I know you took Kathleen,” he said. “Is she here?”

“Why should I tell you?”

Kade pressed the barrel of his gun to the back of her head. “Because if you don’t, I’m going to decorate your apartment with skull fragments. Coincidentally, they’ll be yours.”

CJ froze, glaring at Blane as Kade took the gun from her hand. “I thought you weren’t here to hurt me,” she mocked.

“I told you to wait in the car,” Blane snapped at Kade, lowering his arms.

“I vaguely remember you saying that,” Kade replied with a shrug. “I assumed you were talking to somebody else.”

Blane huffed in irritation. “Is anyone else in the apartment?” he asked Kade.

“Nope.”

“Where is she?” Blane directed his question back to CJ.

“You think I’m going to tell you anything with a gun pointed at my head?” she snapped.

“You’re lucky I didn’t shoot first and ask questions later,” Kade hissed. “I don’t like it when people point guns at him. It pisses me off.”

“Who’s this? Your bodyguard?” she asked Blane. “This is breaking and entering, you know.”

“So call the cops,” Kade said with a shrug. “And I’m sure you have a permit for that gun, right?”

CJ didn’t answer that, her jaw clenched tightly closed.

“Listen,” Blane said. “We’re not going to hurt you.” He shot a look at Kade, who reluctantly lowered his weapon. “And we’re not going to hurt Kathleen. But we need to find her. Where is she?”

CJ hesitated, then said, “I dropped her off at a friend’s house. She said you guys would come for her so she couldn’t come back here.”

“What friend?” Kade asked.

She glared at him. “I don’t know. I’ve never met her and I stayed in the car.”

“What’s the address?” Blane asked.

“I don’t remember,” CJ said.

“I can help you remember,” Kade threatened, taking a step forward.

“Kade,” Blane barked, giving him a minute shake of his head. “Don’t stonewall us, CJ,” he warned. “Kathleen’s in danger. I want to help her.”

CJ seemed to weigh the truth of his words, then finally muttered an address. Blane quickly memorized it.

“Thank you,” he said sincerely. He jerked his chin at Kade, who followed him down the stairs.

The friend’s apartment was in a nicer complex and it looked like everyone was asleep. No lights burned in the windows.

“I can go check, make sure she’s there,” Kade offered.

Blane thought about it. He really needed to know she was okay. He didn’t wonder at why he needed to know so much, he just did.

“Can you do it without getting caught?” Blane asked.

“Please.” Kade rolled his eyes. “If she’s there, you want me to grab her?”

Blane shook his head. Kat had been through enough tonight. Now that he knew where she was, he’d come back later.

“No. Leave her be.”

Kade got out of the car and disappeared into the darkness. Blane waited, nerves on edge. Finally, after what felt like forever, Kade returned.

“She’s there and she’s fine,” Kade said, sliding into the passenger seat and shutting the door.

Relief filled Blane. “You saw her?”

“Sleeping like a baby.”

“Who’s the friend? Guy or girl?” Maybe the bartender? Blane knew he hadn’t kept the jealousy out of his voice, but he didn’t care.

Kade sighed, rolling his eyes at Blane as he answered. “Girl. And I don’t know who she is, but I’ll find out.”

Blane’s cell phone rang and he answered it blindly, his eyes on the file in his hand.

“Kirk.”

“So the friend is Gracelyn Howard, goes by Gracie,” Kade said.

Blane dropped the file onto the surface of his desk, giving his full attention to Kade.

“She’s enrolled in her second year at IU’s School of Medicine,” Kade continued. “Moved to Indy three years ago from Fort Wayne. Worked as a waitress for six months, then quit. However, she didn’t take another job, at least not one that’s on the books. She moved out of an apartment she shared with two other girls and into a more expensive place with no obvious source of income. She’s lived there ever since.”

“Maybe her parents?” Blane speculated.

“Dad works the assembly line for GM. Mom’s a nurse. Their income level isn’t such they could afford it, nor could they afford her med school tuition. Gracie also has no outstanding student loans. The one she had for her undergrad degree was paid off, in full, nine months ago.”

Blane rubbed his eyes with a sigh. “You thinking what I’m thinking?” he asked.

“That you should listen to your little brother more?” Kade said dryly. “She works for the escort service, and if your girlfriend is staying with her, chances are she does, too. She was a trap, Blane.”

Everything inside Blane rebelled at the thought. “I just can’t believe that,” he said.

“What else is it going to take for you?” Kade retorted. “A tattoo on her ass?”