Long Lost Read Free

the light of day for seven years.” His cheek muscles hardened. “Not that I knew how much time had passed. When I got out, it took me quite a while to figure what was what.”
    “But what have you been doing?”
    Petey looked tortured. “Roaming around. Working construction jobs. Driving trucks. A little of everything. Just after my twenty—first birthday, I happened to be driving a rig to Columbus. I worked up the nerve to go to Woodford and take a look at our place.”
    “The house had been sold by then.”
    “So I found out.”
    “And Dad had died.”
    “I found that out, too. Nobody remembered where Mrs. Denning and her son Brad had moved.”
    “We were in Columbus with Mom’s parents.”
    “So close.” Petey shook his head in despair. “I didn’t know Mom’s maiden name, so I couldn’t track her through her parents.”
    “But the police could have helped you find us.”
    “Not without asking me a lot of questions I didn’t want to answer.”
    “They’d have arrested the man and woman who kidnapped you.”
    “What good would that have done
me
? There’d have been a trial. I’d have had to testify. The story would have been in all the newspapers.” He gestured helplessly. “I felt so …”
    “It’s over now. Try to put it behind you. None of it was your fault.”
    “I
still
feel …” Petey struggled with the next word, then stopped when the waitress brought our beers. He took a long swallow from his bottle and changed the subject. “What about Mom?”
    The question caught me by surprise. “Mom?”
    “Yeah, how’s she doing?”
    I needed a moment before I could make myself answer. “She died last year.”
    “… Oh.” Petey’s voice dropped.
    “Cancer.”
    “Uh.” It was a quiet exhale. At the same time, it was almost as if he’d been punched. He stared at his beer bottle, but his painful gaze was on something far away.

4
    Kate’s normally attractive features looked strained when I walked into the kitchen. She was pacing, talking on the phone, tugging an anxious hand through her long blond hair. Then she saw me, and her shoulders sagged with relief. “He just walked in. I’ll call you back.”
    I smiled as she hung up the phone.
    “Where have you been? Everybody’s been worried,” Kate said.
    “Worried?”
    “You had several important meetings this afternoon, but you never showed up. Your office was afraid you’d been in an accident or —”
    “Everything’s great. I lost track of the time.”
    “— been mugged or —”
    “
Better
than great.”
    “— had a heart attack or —”
    “I’ve got wonderful news.”
    “— or God knows what. You’re always Mr. Dependable. Now it’s almost six, and you didn’t call to let me know you were okay, and … Do I smell alcohol on your breath? Have you been drinking?”
    “You bet.” I smiled more broadly.
    “During the day? Ignoring appointments with clients? What’s gotten into you?”
    “I told you, I have wonderful news.”
    “
What
news?”
    “Petey showed up.”
    Kate’s blue eyes looked confused, as if I was speaking gibberish. “Who’s …” At once, she got it. “Good Lord, you don’t mean … your brother.”
    “Exactly.”
    “But … but you told me you assumed he was dead.”
    “I was wrong.”
    “You’re positive it’s him?”
    “You bet. He told me things only Petey could know. It
has
to be him.”
    “And he’s really here? In Denver?”
    “Closer than that. He’s on the front porch.”
    “What? You left him
outside
?”
    “I didn’t want to spring him on you. I wanted to prepare you.” I explained what had happened. “I’ll fill in the details when there’s time. The main thing to know is, he’s been through an awful lot.”
    “Then he shouldn’t be cooling his heels on the porch. For heaven’s sake, get him.”
    Just then, Jason came in from the backyard. He was eleven but small for his age, so that he looked a lot like Petey had when he’d disappeared. Braces,