Reed began to pace again, the words pouring out of him. “She said she had to fake her death. Said there were people after her, after the WATCHDOG technology she created. She said if they found her, they would have killed anyone she cared about—including me.”
“So she let you believe she was dead to protect you.”
“That’s what she claimed. She said the technology is being used now. That people are dying. She had evidence, documents, everything laid out like some kind of corporate presentation.”
“And?”
“And what?”
“Reed.” Walker’s voice was patient but firm. “What did the evidence show?”
Reed stopped pacing and rubbed his face. “I don’t know. I couldn’t... I couldn’t focus on anything except the fact that she was sitting there breathing when I buried her five years ago.”
“So you didn’t actually listen to what she was telling you.”
“I listened enough. She came to me because she’s in trouble and she needs someone with resources to save her.”
Walker was quiet again. Then, with a trace of his old sarcasm: “And you told her to take a hike.”
“I told her I couldn’t help her.”
“Why?”
The question hit Reed like a physical blow. “Because... because she destroyed me, Walker. Because I spent two years in therapy trying to learn how to function without her. Because she let me grieve for nothing. Because?—”
“Because you’re scared.”
Reed cursed under his breath. “I’m not scared.”
“Brother, you just told me the woman you’ve been mourning for five years walked back into your life and asked for help, and you threw her out without even listening to what she had to say. If that’s not fear, I don’t know what is.”
“She left me,” Reed said quietly, the words cutting his throat on the way out. “She made the choice to let me believe she was dead. For five years.”
Walker was silent for a long time. So long that Reed started to wonder if the call had dropped.
“Bro,” he finally said desperately, “what should I do?”
Walker let out a light laugh. “Dang, bro. That woman … she messed you up for awhile.”
Reed didn’t want to talk about the years of pain that only his brother would know about. Pain that Walker had witnessed him going through. “Yeah.”
Walker sighed. “What do you want to do?”
“I don’t know.”
“Yeah, you do,” Walker said gently. “Deep down, you know what you should do.”
Reed cursed again, louder this time. “I have to go.”
“What are you going to do?”
Reed sucked in a long breath, his eyes falling on something he hadn’t noticed before. On his conference table, where Elena had been laying out her documents, was a single business card. “Track her down, then go talk to her.”
“Did she say where she’s staying?”
Reed grunted, moving closer to the table. The card was simple, expensive looking. No name, just an address for a hotel downtown. “No, but she left a card with an address.”
“Cool,” Walker said, and Reed could hear the approval in his brother’s voice. “Call me if you need anything.”
