“Yeah, she cheated on him. He only took her back because she had cancer, so she could stay on his insurance, keep the same doctors,” I answered. Trevor was a saint and a great dad. I loved him like another brother.

“Right. I’m not proud of what she became. But she was my sister, and I had to protect her and the kids. Mostly Madison.”

“Explain. All of it. Now,” I demanded. How did Trevor and Tara have anything to do with all of this? Had Will known?

“Madison might not be Trevor’s. At first, Tara just didn’t want him to know. She would lose some of the child support—you know how she was.” He shook his head. “Then she found out she was terminal, and she didn’t want Madison to be taken from Trevor if he wasn’t her father. The prick she cheated with had been blackmailing her.”

“What does Trevor’s marriage have to do with me and Will?”

“I’m a police officer. My father is a detective. In Brighton.”

I shrugged. I didn’t know Brighton.

“It’s a tiny town about halfway between here and Tacoma?” He gave me another look.

“Yeah. So?”

He shook his head at me. “So we needed money to help Tara. We went to a local loan person.” He cast his eyes downward.

“You mean like a loan shark?” I asked, and he nodded. “You idiot,” I said. “You’re a police officer. You should know better. Mortgage your house, sell your car, or, I don’t know—arrest the blackmailer.”

“We did all of that. He kept wanting more and more, and Tara was desperate. She was dying and desperate. And Madison, she’s a little angel. She can’t be taken from Trevor.”

“I understand. But why am I here? Why did that guy try to grab my son? I have nothing to do with Trevor and Tara’s marriage, or you.” All his explaining hadn’t enlightened me at all. I was still confused.

“The guys who have us are the loan sharks. They figured out who Dad and I were, and then they didn’t want us to pay them back. They wanted to use us instead. They got ambitious, wanted to branch out, and who better to help them than two cops they could get dirty? We were in way over our heads. We couldn’t ask Trevor for help. First, because we aren’t close with him for obvious reasons. And second, we didn’t want him to find out about Madison. We asked Will for help. We figured he wouldn’t want her to be taken from Trevor either, so he might help us on the down low.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Will died over a year ago. Why is this happening now?”

“Will was working with us to bring these guys down. I’m pretty sure they killed him.”