Free The Gillespie Five (A Political / Conspiracy Novel) - Book 1 (42) by T.K. Harris Page A

you if you don't believe me.  It's kind of hard for me to believe.  But it's better than thinking something else worse happened.  I mean…"  He trailed off, sticking his hands in his pockets and hunching his shoulders.
    Ken gave him a tight smile and held out his hand.  "Thank you, Ben. I understand how much it took for you to come here tonight and I really appreciate it."
    Ben looked at Ken's outstretched hand a second before reaching out to shake it.  Ken opened the door and watched as the skittish kid disappeared into the night.  He shook his head, Ben's words still ringing in his ears. ' It's better than thinking something else worse happened.'  
    The boy was right.
    Before closing the door, Ken darted a quick glance down the street.  Not seeing anything, he shrugged off his sudden paranoia, locked the door and headed up the stairs.
    "What did that kid mean, Ken?"
    He looked up with a start to find his pale wife standing at the top of the stairs, clutching the railing with one hand and holding her robe closed with the other.  Ken hurried to the top, suddenly afraid his wife would collapse.  "Karen, you shouldn't be out of bed."
    "Is our son okay?  Does that kid know where Tommy is?"
    "Karen, please. Let's get you back to bed."
    "I'm fine .  Now answer me.  Please."  She said the last in a desperate whisper.  Ken looked into his wife's eyes and was grateful to see she was staring back without the drug-induced stupor she had been in for the past several days.  She almost looked like her old self.
    He moved to steer her toward the bed only to have his hand slapped away.  Straightening her thin shoulders Karen said, "Damn it, Ken.  I am not a child!  Now tell me what the hell is going on with our son!" 
    Despite the situation, Ken smiled briefly.  He could see the strong willed Karen he'd first fallen in love with.  His Karen.  For what seemed like the first time in an eternity, he began to feel the first stirring of hope.
    Finally, he agreed to tell her everything if she would agree to at least sit down while they talked.  Reluctantly she turned to follow him, nearly collapsing after just a few steps.  Ken caught his wife and walked her to the edge of the bed, lowering her gently.  He held on to her until she shook his arm off impatiently.
    A brief smile turned his lips up as he sat beside her.  He raised her hand to his mouth, kissed it, and began to tell her everything Ben had said.  When he finished, they talked for a few hours more, discussing what the information could mean and what they could do.  There was no doubt that they would be telling the police about Matt’s dad, a little doubt about whether to mention Ben, but they decided to hold off unless the situation made it impossible.  And, they would also call the one person who would know if all this talk about possible FBI involvement held any credence or was just the result of a kid's overactive imagination. 
    First thing in the morning, Ken called his brother, Alex.

Chapter Nine
     
     
    Alex arrived less than thirty minutes after receiving the call from his brother.  Normally, the drive to his brother’s home in the foothills of southern Denver never failed to slow Alex down, as he admired the seemingly ever changing beauty of the Rocky Mountains.  There were days when he could just gaze out his car window at the passing mountains, fading into seemingly endless layers, and it wouldn’t matter how bad a day he was having or if he was in a hurry.  When you were faced with something so unimaginable in scope and depth and beauty, it was hard to think of mundane things.  Today, however, he barely noticed the view. 
    As he pulled into the driveway, he found the front door already open.  Parking the car, he walked inside, only to stop suddenly as he noticed Karen standing for the first time in days.  He noted the healthy color in her face and then looked at his brother, who nodded as if to confirm that what Alex was seeing was