Page 42 of Abducted

“I might have a small lead, but I’m not too hopeful. I was actually hoping to have Lana have a look at something.”

Cal nodded. “I’m sure she’ll be eager to help.”

When they arrived back at Nate’s, they walked in without ringing the doorbell. Quietly, Cal tiptoed to the spare room and set their bag inside the door in case Lana woke and needed something. Rufus weaved in and out of Cal’s legs on the way to the kitchen until he dropped down to greet him.

“She hasn’t woken at all?”

Nate shook his head. “We need to talk.” His tone was gravelly, his eyes hooded.

A fist curled in Cal’s stomach.

“You said you had a hunch about the stepbrother? Tanner?” Nate and Ethan sat. Dread clouded his mind in dark shadows.

He’d been right.

Cal rose from his crouched position and took the chair nearest him. Rufus rested his head on his lap as if he sensed Cal’s pulse ratcheting up. “Yeah. I saw the two of them in a picture, and he looked territorial. Enough so that I assumed he was her boyfriend and not her brother. Aside from that, he attacked her. I told you about that.”

Ethan made a fist on the table, matching Cal’s. Nate tented his fingers under his jaw, nodding that he remembered.

Cal’s patience thinned. “You going to tell me what you found out or what?”

Nate sighed. “I don’t know where to start. When Tanner was a minor, he was a suspect in a rape case.”

The bottom of Cal’s stomach dropped out. His breath came out sharply. “Motherfucker.” Blood thundered through him, making his head pound. He massaged his temples.

“He was charged. But he was a minor, so he got a slap on the wrist and it never affected him once he turned eighteen. But that’s not all.”

Cal looked up at him, and Nate’s mouth firmed a tight line.

“He was questioned about a murder.”

Cal dropped his hands to grip the table. “Questioned? What the hell does that mean?” He couldn’t think straight. He needed to stand, to blow off some steam before he imploded.

“It means he wasn’t a suspect, but a person of interest. It passed very quickly, before it even hit the papers, so no one knew about it publicly. My bet is his family had to pay a pretty penny to keep things quiet.”

“Whose murder?”

“Andrea Reid. She was a college sophomore, and he was a senior.” Ethan swore. Cal rose to his feet and paced the kitchen.

“What has Lana said about Tanner? Do you think she knew about this?” Nate asked.

Cal locked his jaw. Knew about it and didn’t tell him was what Nate was implying.

“Hold on,” Ethan said, extending his hand to Nate. “Give her the benefit of the doubt.” He turned to Cal. “And I’m sure she would have told you had she known, right?”

His neck muscles bunched. He couldn’t see her lying to him to protect Tanner. That didn’t make sense. He turned his attention to Nate to answer his previous question. “She didn’t say much about him. Except that he’s ‘intense’. Whatever the hell that means.”

“You didn’t ask?” Ethan crossed his arms.

“We got to talking about her stepmother, and I made a mental note about Tanner. This is more than I had expected, though.”

Ethan and Nate nodded somberly, their expressions hard. “Find out if she knows about his past. In the meantime”—Nate looked to Ethan—“start snooping around Tanner. Think you can hack into his social media? I’d ask the techs at work, but I don’t want to alert anyone that he’s being watched. We should tread carefully now that we have a lead.”

Ethan nodded. “I’m sure I can.” He reached into his pants pocket and pulled out his phone. “I’ve got something here. It’s not much, just a social media account under the name Will Andy. I’d love for Lana to look at his picture, see if he looks familiar.” He passed the phone to Cal.

Cal studied the blond-tipped young guy with a bottle of vodka in one hand and a cigarette in the other. His mouth hung open in a wide laugh, his pupils so dilated that it was hard to tell his eye color. He turned his attention to the man next to him, with his arm looped around Will’s shoulders. They had the same wide nose and outrageous smile.

Not a single light of recognition struck him. Shit. He’d hoped to hell Will would look familiar. That at some point he’d have met him through Stamos, or at least seen them together. Cal rarely forgot a face.

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