Page 22 of Talon
“What?”
“Give me your feet.”
Madison frowned, but did as he asked, wondering what this was all about, but not ready to push it.Not quite yet.He picked up one foot and using his thumbs, began to work the soles of her feet.She resisted the urge to let her head fall back, close her eyes, and just enjoy.They were here for a reason and discussing something that they needed to talk about.She couldn’t just melt into a pool of goo, even if she wanted to.
“What’s all this about Billy being married?”she asked after a few minutes.
Talon watched her, not saying anything for long enough that she started to get nervous.
“What is it?Just tell me.The lead up is killing me.”
“So from what I can find.One William ‘Billy’ Morgan, age forty-seven, currently living approximately eight miles south of Edgemont, South Dakota, I have a phone number and P.O.box but those aren’t relevant unless you want me to give them to you as proof I’ve got the right person?”
Madison shook her head.“No.What you’ve said sounds right.”Was Billy married?If so, why had she never seen the woman?Why was he chasing her, insisting that she was his and that her father would want him to take care of her?None of this made any sense.
“From the records I can find, Mr.Morgan was married before he moved to the compound.Six years before.His wife, one Sally Fox of Billings, Montana, is shown to have changed her name to Morgan, and from what I can find, they lived together for approximately six years, until Mr.Morgan moved to the compound in South Dakota.”
Madison could only blink and stare at him.Billy had been married?He left his wife behind to move to the compound?Why?Why hadn’t she gone with him?Why had Madison never heard about her, much less met her?There were so many questions, she didn’t know where to start.And even if she did, would Talon have any way of knowing the answers?She didn’t think so.Billy would, but would he tell her, even if she were willing to ask him?She wasn’t but it was something to consider.Maybe this Sally would tell her what was going on?
“I can see all the thoughts speeding through your mind.Hold off on that a minute.There’s more.”Talon’s voice was gentle, but firm.
“More?”How could there be more?Wasn’t a secret wife and harassing her despite that enough?Had Dad known he was married?Did he know what was up with the missing wife?Not that his knowing would matter, but she couldn’t help but wonder.
“Yes.More.”Talon took a deep breath and let it out in a rush as if he didn’t want to tell her whatever was next but knew that she had to know.“From everything I can find, with a little help from my brothers this afternoon, that Mrs.Morgan went missing.From newspaper articles and copies of the police report, there seems to be no leads, no clues as to what happened.From all appearances, she picked up and left.The funny part is she took nothing.Not her phone, her purse, her ID.No credit cards and unless she’d been stashing cash for a while, no money either.”
She stared at Talon, not knowing how to respond to that.There was only one reason someone disappeared like that, at least that she could think of.And it wasn’t a voluntary disappearance.
Had Billy been responsible?She almost didn’t want to know.But she had to.And to happen so closely to her father’s death.It struck her as odd, but Dad had died of a heart attack.There was no way for that to be faked, was there?
“I don’t know how to deal with this.Tell me the rest of it so I can try to figure it out.”She frowned and shook her head as she struggled to figure out what all the new information meant.
“I’ve done a deep dive and found as much information as I can, at least in so short amount of time.I’ve got a couple of my brothers digging deeper.They may be able to come up with more, but let’s go with what we have now.”He took one hand off her foot to pick up a small legal pad she didn’t recognize.He must have brought it with him or picked it up when he went to the store.She shook her head and forced her mind back to the topic at hand.One by one, Talon flipped a couple of pages over the top, pausing to scan the page before moving on to the next one.It looked like he was looking for something specific.
“Ok,” he said after a moment, seeming to find the right page and going back to working the bottom of her foot.“I’m showing a marriage, in Billings, between the two in 2003.I’m not finding any children or any evidence of domestic violence.That doesn’t mean neither happened, just that if it did, I don’t have access to the databases where it might have been stored, if it made it into one.Then in mid-2009 Mr.Morgan moved to South Dakota.That seems to be your first encounter with him.”He looked up, watching for her reaction.
“That may be right.I don’t remember exactly when I first met him.I would have been nine or ten then.It seems a little early, but I don’t have any events that stand out in my mind to say it wasn’t then.”
“Okay.”He set her foot down and picked up the other.“From there it gets a bit more sketchy.Partly because of the nature of how you and the rest of the people out there live.”
Madison frowned, trying to ignore the nagging ache in the arch of the foot he was currently massaging.“Wait a second.What do you mean the way we lived out there?”It wasn’t that she thought he was trying to say anything negative, but she didn’t understand what he meant.
He took a breath and held it for a moment as he watched her, as if trying to figure out how to say something without offending or pissing her off.
“You’re aware that living off grid, in a converted munitions bunker, isn’t normal.I don’t feel like I need to get your agreement on that one.”
Madison nodded, waiting for him to go on.
“There are a lot of reasons to choose a life like that, off the grid and self-sufficient, and while it can be a great way to live, it’s not for everyone.Not everyone wants to live that way, much less could.You get where I’m going?”
“I think so but keep going.”
“All right.So, because of the off grid, self sufficient life style that is the norm there, there are several different kinds of people who seek that kind of lifestyle.You said your dad was a survivalist.That’s one of the kinds that typically gravitate toward the off grid type of lifestyle, but there are others.Some of the others that top the list are people hiding from something, another is what I call the conspiracy theorist extremist.There are others, but those are the ones I want to focus on right now.”
She shifted, trying to get more comfortable because she suspected this might take a while.
17
Talonkeptaneyeon Madison as he told her what he’d found out.Between watching her, and keeping one foot in his hands while he worked her sore muscles, it gave him an idea of how she was handling the news.Which all things considered was pretty well.
