To be honest, Steel had no clue. Scar had been shoving MREs at him throughout their trip, but as far as Steel knew, neither of them had eaten since before they’d kidnapped Shaw outside that deli. Steel wasn’t even positive how many days ago that was. Two, maybe three? It all blurred together, and there was a more than likely possibility that he was dehydrated.
Cage put his hands in the back pockets of his dark jeans. “We didn’t just come for you, Steel. We came for Jenna.” His lips pressed together a moment before he added, “We came for Melanie.”
His girls. No matter what had happened, that would never change. Melanie might be gone from this world, but she was stillhis. His to remember, to mourn, to carry with him for the rest of his days. He’d failed her in life, but he would not in death. He owed that to her, and to her mother. Jenna hadn’t sounded good on the phone. He didn’t know what her condition was, if she’d recovered from her latest relapse. He was a shit father and an even shittier husband.
It didn’t matter that he was doing thisfor Jenna. Being absent from her helped him to stay focused, but that didn’t mean it helped her.
Ignoring the others, he pulled out his phone from his front right pocket and unlocked the screen.
Me: We’ll get through this.
He wasn’t sure how, but he knew that they would. They had to—because the alternative was unacceptable.
Steel didn’t expect an answer back, seeing as it was after midnight, but her response was almost immediate.
Jenna: You came back to me before. I have faith you’ll do it again.
“Holy shit!” At Keys’ exclamation, Steel pocketed his phone and turned to the Tech. Keys spun around in the chair, his eyes going anywhere but at Shaw. “I figured there had to be a reason that Shaw mentioned her. Like, very random if he made up a name and location where she lived and there just happened to be a professor there who just happened to have guest lectured at Melanie’s college. Right? So I looked into where she was on the night of Melanie’s…” His voice trailed off as he glanced quickly at Steel, and then focused mostly on Ghost. “But a credit card charge showed she wasn’t in Pennsylvania. She was in Bluefield,West Virginia. I thought, well maybe she gave someone else her card to give her a false alibi. So I looked further and checked the restaurant’s surveillance to see who actually used her card. And itwasher.”
Ghost did not look surprised at this news. “Meaning she didn’t murder Melanie and Shaw’s full of shit.”
But Keys shook his head. “No! That’s just it. Tracy Marigolddidn’tmurder Melanie,” his eyes danced over to Steel, “but neither did Griffin Shaw.”
Keys reached behind himself to pull out his computer. There on the screen, in black and white, was a middle-aged woman in a pretty dress with her hair done up sitting across from an older man in a long-sleeve polo and slacks. Steel watched as the woman laughed, cut a piece of cake with her fork, and then reached across the table to feed her companion.
The timestamp showed it was late, nearly eleven at night, and minutes before Melanie’s murder. Bluefield, West Virginia, was nowhere near Pennsylvania, Melanie,orher college.
Coldness washed over Steel like an ice bath. He felt no remorse or regret for what he’d done to Griffin Shaw, not after the way the man had terrorized Steel’s life for months. But the truth of his deathbed confession was right there in black and white. His blood froze, and his heart turned to stone.
The question tasted like acid in his mouth: “Then who the fuck killed my daughter?”
Keys claimedhe needed to move out into his van to work from the station there. No one argued, since the sight in the cabin was ghastly and the smell was even worse. Scar and Tally never returned, but no one was worried. Steel didn’t know where Scarhad parked his sled after he dumped the panel van they’d used to kidnap Shaw.
Starbucks and Cage worked to clean the rest of the cabin of any trace evidence. Without an accelerant, the cabin was too wet to burn. Steel honestly didn’t care. It could burn or be left to the elements.
Bulldog was working with Ranger to cover their tire tracks up to the abandoned cabin. There wasn’t a marked road, but a path that looked like it could have once been a drive. Since Steel doubted anyone had lived or been to that cabin before Scar and him in decades, it was doubtful any modern maps would even have the road marked. Steel didn’t even know how Scar had found the cabin or known it was here. He’d just been grateful for its existence because it fit his needs perfectly.
Ghost and Papaw stood over Steel as he ate a freeze-dried meal of coconut curry chicken and veggies. He didn’t taste a single bite, nor did he appreciate the men forcing the food on him like he was five years old. When Steel threatened to kick their asses for pushing him, Papaw just laughed, “Ha! In your condition, I’d like to see you try. You’d be more likely to knock yourself on your ass rather than kicking ours.”
It was a blow to the ego, but also a wakeup call. Steelwasn’tin any condition to fight anyone. He’d used up all his energy, all his efforts, on getting Shaw. Now… He didn’t know what now, because the possibility that Shaw wasn’t Melanie’s murderer had never occurred to him, or any of them until about fifteen minutes ago.
He didn’t know how to tell Jenna. How to tell her that their daughter’s murderer still lived, and worse, he had no idea who he or she was.
After he finished the meal and drank about a gallon of water, he started to feel more centered. Fuck Papaw for being sucha stubborn asshole. That was usuallySteel’sjob, but then, he supposed he had to learn it somewhere.
When Keys called Ghost into his van, it left Papaw and Steel alone on the front stairs.
“You certainly did a number on Shaw,” Papaw commented.
Steel didn’t hear any judgement in his voice, but it had also been a long time since he slept—and even longer since he sleptwell.“Are you saying he didn’t deserve it?”
“Oh, the fucker deserved it,” Papaw said with loathing. “And not just for what he put the club through recently, but for what he put you through thirty years ago. It still haunts me, you know. If you and I hadn’t been together, your entire life could have been spent behind bars for something you didn’t do. And all because Shaw came in second place.”
Though Steel had put the whole thing behind him years ago, he couldn’t argue that Papaw had a point. If Shaw had succeeded in framing him thirty years ago, none of his kids would have been born. The club would have never been formed. And Jenna… She might have had to watch his execution for a crime he hadn’t committed. Or maybe the Agency had pickedhimup instead of Shaw.
A chance encounter, a mere coincidence, had saved him that fate.
“You got your revenge, Steel, but at the end of the day, who did you end up hurting more? You look like shit. When was the last time you shaved or changed your clothing?”
