Page 25 of By Sin To Atone

“Yep. Thomas, or Lucky Tommy as he likes to be called these days, although Unlucky might be more apt, considering his current circumstances, is Blue’s father but not Wren’s. Bethany, however, was lucky. For a time. She’s in the paper for having won three hundred thousand in the lottery a few years back.”

“Well, good for her.”

“And, surprise of surprises, that’s when Tommy, who’d been gone for some time, moved back in. I guess the money made him realize how much he loved his wife and daughter.”

“Sounds like it.”

“A few months after that, Bethany disappeared. You catching on?”

“Yeah. Sounds like a gem. Where is Lucky Tommy now?”

“Prison.”

I glance at Jericho, my eyebrows rising. “What put him there? Did they find Bethany?” Jericho asks.

“No, she’s still a missing person. Someone called in a tip on an armed robbery and police picked him up at a strip club near their home. Timing is interesting. Wren’s brain injury came a few years ago. Evidence turned up out of thin air a few days after her mental condition was diagnosed. Poor kid. She’d been accepted to medical school before things took a turn for her.”

“Did she have an accident or something?”

“Or something. Blue took her to the hospital. There are photos of both girls. I’ll send those your way as soon as I can. Police got involved but Blue swore they’d fallen down the stairs.”

“Both of them?” Jericho asks.

“Mhm.”

“And did a window break Blue’s fall and give her that nasty cut across her face?”

He snorts.

My chest tightens, my hand clenches, unclenches.

“Anyway, Lucky Tommy was never arrested for it. Not even sure cops ever questioned him. At least, not for that. However, the night he was picked up for robbery, the girls disappeared. Took mom’s car and got out of town. They’ve been MIA ever since. Until now, of course.”

“How bad is Wren?”

“It doesn’t look like she’ll ever make a full recovery. I’ll dig into more details on her if you like?”

“Yeah. Do,” I say, not sure why. I ignore my brother’s raised eyebrows.

“There’s one more thing you need to know now, though.”

“What’s that?”

“Lucky will be up for parole soon.”

“How? Doesn’t armed robbery carry a longer sentence than three years?”

“Made a deal with prosecutors turning in an associate of his. Turns out Lucky wasn’t holding the gun.”

“But none of this answers the question of how this Blue Masterson or Thorne or whatever her name is got her hands on the information she’s using to blackmail my brother,” Jericho says.

“I’m still digging into that. I will tell you this. You’re not her first mark. She’s done this twice before and I am thinking it’s how she was able to pay for her sister’s medical care and house and feed herself at sixteen, seventeen, eighteen.”

“And here I thought I was special. Keep digging and send me everything as you get it. Send whatever you have on Lucky too, will you?”

“Will do. You boys should get some sleep,” he says more casually.

We say goodbye and disconnect the call. I pick up my whiskey and sip it.

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