Page 112 of Jace 4Ever
Nelson
“Sit. Down.”
Bridget’s sharp rebuke finally cut through my fog and I sat without thinking.
“You are going to wear a hole in the floor.”
She wasn’t wrong, but I didn’t really care since the whole house was a mess and there was nothing I could do about it. I didn’t even really care at that point. I wanted to know where my fiancé was, and I was trying to stay calm and not put a fist through the wall and make it worse.
“Let’s go over it one more time,” Smoke said.
“It’s not going to help,” Maddox said. “We’ve been through this five times. We’re not suddenly going to remember something. It takes time to process, and any eureka moments are going to need time to percolate.”
“I’m agreeing with that,” Aaron said.
“Me too,” Noah said.
Bridget nodded. “You’re all correct. We don’t need to go through this again. As much as Smoke likes to replay it over and over. Detective, do you have the reports?”
Griffith nodded and walked over. “I do.” He held out the tablet for her to see. “This is everything marginally related to Jace and Marilyn and anyone involved on the set that day. We’ve managed to get quite a few others from that day into protective custody. Edgars was shot, but lived. Goodwife was hit by a car that swerved into him. Denis is out of the country and plans to stay there until we can close this.”
“They want Jace most of all, don’t they?” Logan asked.
“Yes.” Griffith nodded. “They do. He called the cops. That's their problem with him.”
I ran a hand down my face. “If he hadn’t...”
“We’re not going there,” Bridget said. “Woulda shoulda coulda, don’t matter at all. He did the right thing and they want to kill him for that. The problem is them, not him. We need to find him. And we need to get you both out of the area until we can clear this up.”
“I don’t want to run.”
“You’re not running,” Griffith said. “You’re being smart and giving us time to clear this up.”
“Because you’ve done so well with that all along.” My words were sharp.
“Major, I need you to settle the fuck down,” Bridget said. “Detective Griffith is here to help us. We’re on the same side. Smoke is here to help us and can get us in touch with the FBI’s mob unit. We’re going to take it easy and we’re going to take our time and we’re going to get him back.”
Noah put a hand on my shoulder. “We all want him back, Nelson. We all do. We took him under our wing, and we’re going to get him back.”
Maddox sighed and leaned against the fireplace. “Do we think they took him?”
“He ran.”
All of our heads swiveled to the door where the new voice had come from. When I saw who was standing there, I shot out of the chair and wrapped my hands around his neck. “What the fuck did you do, Jerrod? What the hell did you do to your brother?”
“You’re bleeding.” Bridget was over to us in a flash.
“They shot me,” he said. “Yesterday. It’s mostly old blood now.”
Logan grabbed his arm and pulled my hands away from his neck. “Down. On the couch, now.”
“I’m fine.”
Logan, a petite man with a completely effeminate affectation, dragged Jerrod, who was six feet at least and made of equal parts fat and fit, to the couch and flipped him onto it. Even in my partly numb state, I had to admit that was impressive. “You’re not fine, you’re infected,” he snapped. “I spent three years in Afghanistan as a medic. I know what’s blood and what’s infected.”
“While he’s saving your life so I can kill you,” I said, leaning over the couch, “start talking. Why were you shot? How do you know that Jace ran?”
“I told him to run,” Jerrod answer quietly. “I told him to run. I didn’t know this was your place, and I didn’t know the hit was on him. I told him to run. I can’t kill my own brother.”
