Ed snorted and raised an unruly, disbelieving eyebrow. “Yours, too, boy? You gonna start tellin’ the truth from now on? Or is it just me that’s got to bare my damned soul?”

“All of us are, old man.” Jase didn’t hesitate. “You. Me. Prescott. A clean slate.”

“All of it?”

“Every last lie.”

Their eyes met. Clashed. Silently accused.

“I don’t know about Pres,” said Ed. “He might not agree.”

“He might not have a choice.”

“You’re up on a pretty high horse, son. Careful now. That’s how the mighty fall.”

“Fuck you, Dad.”

Jase’s cell phone pinged again. Another text. He yanked the phone from his pocket and read the news, from Kennedy in his office.

Assume you saw this about Donovan Caldwell. Guess the guilt finally got to him.

A link was included with the message. Jase clicked it open and quickly skimmed a breaking story about the death of the 21 Killer whose life had ended early this morning in his jail cell. “Son of a bitch,” he whispered, and for a second his father and all their family drama was forgotten as he searched for more information about Caldwell’s death. Did Brianna know? What did it mean about the Denning girls? Had Donovan Caldwell been the 21 Killer and if so, who had abducted Zoe and Chloe? His only hope was that, if they hadn’t been taken by 21, if Caldwell had been convicted of a crime he’d committed, that the twins were still alive.

“Look, Ed,” he said, unwilling to give the lying bastard the title of father. “I have to go to the office. But we’re not done here. Just wait. Don’t go anywhere.”

His father found another cigarette in his pack and jabbed it between his lips. “That in there,” he said, nodding toward the kitchen where Jase had left the envelope with the check that he hadn’t mailed. The old man actually smiled and a light of interest flared in his eyes. “That for me?”

Jase didn’t answer. Couldn’t. The old bastard pissed him off too much. He made his way out the door and put thoughts of Edward Bridges and their sorry past behind him as he headed to the stairwell. He had enough time to go to the office, get more information about Donovan Caldwell’s death, and check in with Bentz at the station before he returned and dealt with Brianna.

His guts twisted a little at the thought.

But his anxiety wasn’t due to Caldwell’s death. No, he thought as he climbed into the cab and fired up the engine of his truck. His worries were from a far deeper and more intimate source. He rammed the truck’s gears into Reverse, backed out with a squeal of tires, and threw the truck into Drive.

How was he going to tell her the truth about her sister?