by HELEN HARDT
I drew in a deep breath, let it out, and then rapped on the door.
A few seconds later the door opened, and Wendy Madigan herself answered.
“Yes?”
“Ms. Madigan, hi. I’m Jade Roberts from Snow Creek.”
She arched her eyebrows, but other than that, didn’t look overly surprised. “You’ve got to be kidding me. You came all this way?”
“It’s business, ma’am. You have information I need.”
“I’m not sure I do. I’d really rather not discuss the Steels with you.”
“Look, you can discuss it with me, or I can subpoena you to a deposition and force the information out of you under oath. I really don’t want to have to do that, Ms. Madigan.”
I was bluffing. Without a suit filed, I had no right to depose her. I still had no idea why Larry was pursuing this. At this point, I had my own agenda.
She let out a sigh, the laugh wrinkles around her eyes becoming more apparent. She looked old. Old and tired. “I guess I should’ve expected this sooner or later. Come on in. And call me Wendy, while you’re at it.”
I smiled, my panic finally easing. “I appreciate it. I really do. And please, call me Jade.” I stepped into the modest household.
“This is my mother’s home,” Wendy said. “I moved in a couple years ago when I retired. Her health is still good, but she needs a lot of help with things, considering her age.”
“I really don’t mean to intrude,” I said. “But I need to get this information.”
She nodded again. “Would you like anything? A cup of tea? Coffee? Bottle of water?” She paused for a few seconds. “Scotch?”
I let out a laugh. “Actually, a bottle of water would be perfect. Flying always dries me out.”
“Good enough. I’m going to have a stiff Scotch. If I’m going to talk about the Steels, I need it.”
“I assume that means this might be uncomfortable for you. I’m sorry about that.”
“Uncomfortable? I’m not sure that’s the right word.”
“What would be the right word?” I asked.
“Hell if I know. The Steels… They do carry their share of secrets.”
She was standing with her back to me, opening the fridge, so I couldn’t see the expression on her face. Her voice, though, indicated exhaustion. Exhaustion because she was fatigued or at the thought of discussing the Steels?
I had a hunch it was the latter.
Wendy moved to the counter, opened the cupboard, and pulled out a bottle. She poured herself a generous portion of the amber liquid. “Have a seat.” She gestured to the kitchen table.
I sat, and she joined me, placing a bottle of water in front of me.
She took a swig of her Scotch. “So what’s going on with the Steels?”
“Unfortunately, most of this is classified at this point, so I can’t tell you why they’re under investigation.” Especially since I didn’t know. The Steels were not involved in organized crime, as Larry claimed. I’d stake my life on it. “I can only ask questions.”
“I hope you understand that I can’t divulge certain stuff. A lot of it is confidential between the Steels and me.”
“Understood. But the more you can tell me today, the better off it will be for you and the Steels in the future.”
She nodded. “Understood as well. What you need to know?”
“Right now, my biggest question is why Talon Steel’s heroics overseas were covered up.”
“Ms. Roberts…err…Jade, let me be honest with you first off. Talon’s heroics being covered up is really a small part of what you’re dealing with here.”
I nodded, swallowing the drink of water I’d taken. “That doesn’t surprise me.”
“All I can tell you is that the story was covered up at the request of his older brother, Jonah Steel.”
“You mean Talon himself didn’t ask you to cover it up?”
“No. But if Jonah hadn’t, Talon would have.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Talon likes to keep to himself.”
Boy, was she right about that. “Why do you think that is? I mean, he was a hero of mega-proportions.”
“He has his reasons.”
“Do you know what those reasons are?”
“I’m not at liberty to discuss what his reasons might be.”
“But you do know what they are?”
Wendy pursed her lips and cleared her throat. She said nothing as she stroked her cheek with her index finger.
Yeah, she knew.
“Can you give me any information on those reasons at all?”
“It would help me a lot, Jade, if I knew why you needed this information.”
I didn’t know or care why Larry was investigating the Steels. I wanted to know more about Talon Steel and why he was the way he was because I was in love with him, and I wanted to help him. But I couldn’t tell Wendy that, so I gave her my canned response. “I wish I could tell you, but it’s classified at this point.”
She nodded. “Of course. I understand. As a reporter and correspondent, I’ve used that line more times that I can even remember. I also know what it really means.”
I smiled and let out a little small laugh. “So I think you know where I’m coming from, then.”
“I do. I do. But I made a lot of promises a long time ago.”
“Promises to whom?”
“To Bradford Steel and his wife.”
“You knew Daphne?”
She nodded. “We weren’t close, but I did know her. She was a very troubled woman.”
“Just how far back does your relationship with the Steel family go?” Daphne had died soon after Marj was born, about twenty-five years ago.
“I’d known Brad forever.” She got a wistful look in her eyes, as if she were going back in time, to a happier place.
So that was how it was. She had been in love with Talon’s father. How could I get her to admit it?
“I see. What does that mean exactly?”
“We went to school together for years. I actually grew up on the Western slope.”
“I see. So you and Mr. Steel were friends.”
She nodded. “Very…close friends.”
I smiled. “I think I get the gist of what you’re telling me.”
“We were childhood sweethearts, but my family moved to Denver when I was sixteen and Brad was seventeen. We promised to stay together, but you know how that always works out. Long-distance relationships and all.”
“I actually do know. Been there.”
“Plus we were just babies ourselves.” She smiled. “I gave him my virginity before he left.” She shook her head and laughed. “Now why the hell did I just tell you that?”
“Because you’re strolling down memory lane, Wendy. Don’t worry. It won’t go any further than me. I’m interested in everything you can tell me about the Steels, but trust me, the fact that Bradford Steel took your virginity will not go into the report to my boss.”
She wiped one eye and sniffed. “I appreciate that. Anyway, we went off to different colleges, and Brad ended up married to Daphne. I’m not sure he loved her. She was smart and gorgeous but really troubled. She’d fly off the handle for no reason sometimes, or so it seemed, according to Brad. But she got pregnant with the oldest, Jonah. Brad was nothing if not gentlemanly, so he married her.”
“Are you saying the Steels were never in love?”
“My guess is that they weren’t. Or at least Brad wasn’t. When I started work for NNN, he found me after I did my first piece as a field reporter. He saw me in the news, and he got in touch with me.”
I had a feeling where this was headed. “Go on,” I said.
“Can I consider this off the record?” she asked.
I nodded. “Sure.”
“It didn’t take us long to pick up where things had left off.” She smiled, shaking her head. “Brad was so handsome, big and strong like his sons are. I had missed him. I’d had a string of boyfriends, but
none of them ever measured up to Brad, so I never married. Now and then when I met him again, even though he was married… Well, I’m not proud of it. But then again, I do treasure those memories.” She laughed a bit. “I really don’t know why I’m telling you all this. I’m not sure I ever told anyone, and here I am, telling my innermost secrets to an attorney who is investigating my onetime lover’s family.”
“Sometimes it’s nice to be able to talk to someone, even a stranger.”
She nodded. “I could never tell my mother this. She’d think I was some kind of Jezebel. She’d probably want to brand me with a scarlet letter.”
“So when was it,” I asked, “that you and Mr. Steel rekindled your affair?”
“About thirty years ago. All the boys had been born. Little Ryan was only a toddler. Brad gave me the old ‘my wife doesn’t understand me’ routine, and I fell for it because I was so crazy about him.”
I nodded. “Was he sleeping with his wife at that point?”
“He said he wasn’t, and I believed him. Until she got pregnant again with the daughter. He claimed it had meant nothing, of course. That she was going crazy, and he did it to calm her down. I didn’t believe that then, and I don’t believe it now. But he had a hold on me, Jade. I couldn’t let him go. So when he wanted to continue seeing me, I obliged.”
Wow. I got it. Truly got it. Talon had a hold on me that I wasn’t sure would ever go away.
“So you saw him while Daphne was pregnant with Marjorie?”
Wendy nodded. “Like I said, not proud of it. But if you could only understand how he affected me. Those Steel men…”
I understood better than she knew, but I couldn’t tell her that, at least not yet. “I’m honestly not here to judge you, Wendy. I just want information.”
“If Brad were still alive, I wouldn’t be telling you all this.”
“Understood. But since he isn’t, I’m glad you feel you can talk to me.”
“It does feel good to get it out.”
“But none of this explains why certain things are going on that I can’t quite put together. For example, why Jonah and Talon would want to keep Talon’s heroics a secret. And why didn’t he get the Medal of Honor? It’s crazy that this wasn’t a big deal.”
Wendy quirked her lips. “He was nominated for the medal.”
I widened my eyes. “And?”
“And they squashed it before anyone ever found it. Didn’t want it.”
“Who squashed it? And why?”
“The Medal makes you a celebrity, and Talon didn’t want that. He wouldn’t have been able to handle it.”
I didn’t bother asking why. I knew I’d get the same response, that she didn’t know why, even though we both knew she did. I cleared my throat. “Moving on, there are a few documents I can’t make heads or tails of.”
“What documents are those?”
“One is a birth certificate for Marjorie, my…the youngest Steel child.” Don’t spill the beans, Jade. Right now, she needs to think of you as an attorney looking for information, not the best friend of one Steel and the lover of another.
“What about it?”
“I found it in some boxes of old documents at the Steel home.”
“Why would you have access to documents at the Steel home?”
Shit. And I’d just told myself to careful…
“They were…subpoenaed for discovery in a different case.” Good save. “Anyway, Marjorie’s birth certificate and the marriage certificate for Bradford and Daphne pose some confusion.”
“Why is that?”
“First of all, the marriage certificate is between Bradford Raymond Steel and Daphne Kay Wade. All the Steels remember their mother’s maiden name as being Warren, not Wade. What’s even more curious is that when I search the database of Colorado records, the marriage certificate has been altered. It shows Daphne as Daphne Kay Warren.”
“Maybe the one you found in the Steel documents was a forgery.”
“I’d thought of that. But why would someone forge a marriage certificate, and if they did, why would they change the bride’s maiden name? Seems more likely they’d forge a date, maybe for reasons of inheritance. Or forge the whole certificate itself, not just a maiden name. It doesn’t make any sense.”
“Let me think on that. What about the other document? You said it was a birth certificate.”
“Yes, Marjorie Steel’s birth certificate. It shows that she was born Angela Marjorie Steel, yet she was always told by her parents that she had no middle name and was just Marjorie Steel. Again, when I checked the Colorado records database, her birth certificate is shown just as Marjorie Steel. This is another change that makes no sense to me. If you’re going to forge a birth certificate, why not change the date or the whole name? But to take away a first name? I can’t figure it out.”
Wendy cleared her throat and stroked her cheek. “I’m afraid I can’t help you with either of those things.”
I didn’t believe for a minute that she didn’t know anything. I was pretty good at reading people.
“These are both pretty innocuous items. Why can’t you share any knowledge with me?”
“Maybe I don’t know anything.” She stroked her cheek with her index finger. Again.
“I don’t mean to be disrespectful, Wendy, but I don’t believe that.”
“Well, it’s immaterial whether I know anything or not. I made promises a long time ago.”
“To whom?”
“To Brad.”
She really wasn’t going to budge. The stern lines of her jaw made that more than apparent. So I’d have to do a little budging.
“Look, Wendy, I’m going to be honest with you. Yes, I am a city attorney, and yes, I am investigating the Steels for my boss, but what you don’t know is that Marjorie Steel is my best friend. She and I went to college together, and up until a week ago, I was staying with her on the ranch. I respect the fact that you made promises that you feel you need to keep. But if those promises were made to a dead man, what’s the harm in telling me the information I need now?”
“It’s for the good of the Steel children.” Her eyes misted up again. Did she actually have feelings for the Steel siblings?
I cleared my throat. I would have to go slowly with her. “All right. I can accept that. Can we at least talk about the birth certificate? Marjorie is beside herself. She feels like she doesn’t even know who she is.”
“That’s silly. The name on a birth certificate doesn’t say anything about who a person is.”
She had a point. But Marj also had a point. “She’s twenty-five years old, and she just found out she was born with a different name.”
“All right.” Wendy sighed. “I guess it wouldn’t hurt to tell you about the birth certificate.”
Thank God. I could at least go home to Marj with a tiny bit of information.
“Marjorie was born prematurely. At twenty-four weeks. She wasn’t expected to survive, so Daphne named her Angela Marjorie, Angela meaning ‘angel.’ Daphne was sure that Marjorie would be an angel soon. Then, when the baby survived, Daphne wanted the name changed. I told you she was troubled. She thought if the baby carried the name Angela, she’d become an angel.”
“I guess that makes sense in some convoluted way. Especially for a troubled woman. But how was Daphne able to have the birth certificate changed in the Colorado database? Normally, when you file a name change, your birth certificate doesn’t change.”
Wendy shook her head. “I don’t how that happened. Or why.”
She was lying again. She had a tell. She stroked her cheek with her index finger when she was lying or telling a half truth. Good thing I’d taken that course on body language in trial at law school.
“All right. The Steels obviously had an ‘in’ with someone who worked in the records office, and they were able to make changes in the database itself. Which might’ve had to be done manually back then. I’m not sure when the system became computerized. It was twenty-five
years ago.”
“They were just beginning to computerize everything back then.”
Yup. She did know something.
“Look, Wendy, I care about Marj very much, and I care about her brothers. Is there anything else you can possibly tell me?”
Wendy licked her lips, seemingly lost in thought. Then, “Maybe it’s time. I did some things at Brad’s request, things I didn’t necessarily agree with, but I loved him and I wanted him happy. I can only tell you this much. Around twenty-five years ago, something happened in the Steel family.”
Twenty-five years ago. That was about the time of the five-million-dollar transfer that didn’t make any sense in the documents. “What happened exactly?” I asked.
She closed her eyes for a few seconds and then re-opened them. “Something abominable, appalling. Between my clout with the media and Brad’s money, we were able to keep it quiet. I didn’t agree then, because it meant a lot of sick people got away with some really heinous crimes, but I agree with him now.” She regarded me, her blue eyes sunken and pleading. “Please don’t dredge up the past, Jade. So many people will get hurt.”
Chapter Fifteen
Talon
The next day I drove to Grand Junction to meet with Robert Prendergast, otherwise known as Biker Bob, who owned one of the top tattoo parlors in the city. Safe in a Ziploc was the photo of the tattoo that I remembered from my past. I’d put it in an envelope so I didn’t have to see it. Seeing it was…bad.
I had called Bob ahead of time, and he’d agreed to meet me at his shop. Of course, I’d had to promise to make it worth his while. Waive a few dollars around, and most people ended up exactly where you wanted them. Surreal.
This shop was state of the art, nothing like the little hole in Snow Creek. I walked in, and several artists were working in the back, their tattoo guns buzzing.
The receptionist, platinum blond and heavily tattooed, nodded at me. “Help you?”
“I’m here to see Bob. He’s expecting me. Talon Steel.”
She smiled and stood. “I’ll get him for you.”
The receptionist returned with a massive mountain of a man wearing a leather vest, a studded leather belt, and jeans. His hair was wrapped up in a do-rag, and a graying braid hung out from it all the way down to his ass crack, which was, unfortunately, visible when he turned to whisper something to the receptionist.
