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Lucien closed the curtain so that they had privacy. “Mr.Gates, I’m your attorney.”
“Go away,” Rick muttered. “I don’t want to talk to any lawyers.”
Val squeezed Jace’s shoulder. “Go ahead.”
“Rick?” Jace asked quietly. “Open your eyes. It’s me. Jace.”
Rick’s eyes flew open, wide and shocked. He looked like he wanted to shout, but Val put a finger over her lips. “Keep your voice down, Mr.Gates.”
Still staring at Jace, Rick nodded slowly. “What the hell?” he whispered. “What are you doing here? What are you wearing?”
“I’m here to talk to you and this getup is a disguise.” Jace pulled a chair close to the bed and sat down, wrapping his hands around the bed rail. “We don’t have much time, so I have to hurry. Corey made me leave you on Mr.Cardozo’s front lawn. Said he’d shoot me in the head if I didn’t. I’m sorry. I was afraid, so I did it.”
Rick patted Jace’s clenched hand. “It’s okay. Corey told me that he’d make you do it.” He shook his head. “Why are you here? How are you here? Who the hell are they?”
“I got away. I took a boat, then stole Dewey’s truck. I went back to Cardozo’s to find you, to make sure you were okay, but they caught me.”
Rick flinched. “Did they hurt you?” His eyes flicked to Val, then to Lucien, before returning to Jace. “Because of... me?” he whispered hesitantly.
Jace understood what Rick was afraid to say. Because of us. Because of what we did.
“No. No. They’ve been nice to me. And they know what I did. They know I was driving that night, but they’ve still been nice to me. I swear it, Rick. On Mama’s grave.”
Rick’s lips thinned, but he nodded. “Okay. Who are these people?”
“Val and Lucien. They work for a private investigator. And they’re bodyguards. They’re guarding Elijah, the little boy.”
Rick swallowed. “Is he okay? The little kid?”
“Yeah. And he’s nice, too.”
Rick’s eyes got glassy with tears. “I’m going to jail, Jace.”
“I know,” Jace whispered. “I’m sorry.”
Rick shrugged a shoulder and forced a smile. “At least I’ll get away from Corey.”
Jace clenched the bed rail harder. “That’s part of why I’m here. I’ve been worried about you, but we also need information. Corey’s up to something and it’s not good. He’s probably been doing it for a while. Remember all those times he disappeared and said he was working?”
Rick’s jaw tightened. “Yeah. I remember. Especially when he forgot to leave us food.”
“You wrote down all the dates on your calendar. If you give us those, we might be able to figure out what Corey’s been doing. You might get less time for helping stop Corey.”
“But they’re not really lawyers.”
“Lucien is.”
Val leaned close to Rick. “I’m not going to sugarcoat it, Rick. Only the prosecutors can give you a deal, and it’ll be a tough sell, since you tried to abduct Cardozo’s son. But if your brother Corey is a bigger fish and you help catch him, it’ll be several points in your favor.”
Rick grabbed her arm with the hand that wasn’t cuffed to the bed and for a second, Jace was worried. So was Lucien, who started to reach for Rick to pull him off.
Rick dropped Val’s arm. “Sorry. I’m sorry. I just... Will you really take care of my brother? Please? I tricked him into coming with me that night. He had nothing to do with it.”
“I know,” Val said. “I believe what Jace told us. He’s already helped us a lot, but you can help more. Your brother Corey is a killer.”
Rick frowned. “What do you mean? Aaron is the one who killed that doctor.”
Val shook her head. “Jace saw Corey kill Dewey.”
