Bone Secrets 03 - Buried

ringing. “
Thank God, you’re okay!
”
    “I’m sorry, but—”
    Michael made a cutting motion with his hands. “Save it! You have no idea—”
    “
You
have no idea what my life—” Daniel leaned forward, voice rising.
    “God damn you! Do you know what you’ve done to our parents? Couldn’t you have called? You forget which family you belonged to?”
    “No, I’ve known—”
    “Does Chris Jacobs even exist? Are both of you out here? Hiding from your families?”
    “Chris didn’t make—”
    “Does Jamie know you’re not Chris?”
    Daniel’s shoulders slumped. “She thinks I’m Chris. I am Chris. To her. And everyone else.”
    Pain shot up Michael’s spine. “Shit! I can’t find Jamie!”
How could he have forgotten her for even two seconds?
“I think he’s grabbed her. He’s been trying to get to
you
!”
    Daniel straightened, his brows coming together. “What? When? I just saw you two on a news broadcast. Are you talking about the Ghostman? Who grabbed her?”
    “The Ghostman? The tattooed freak?”
    “Yeah, that’s him. We always called him the Ghostman because he was so fucking white.”
    “Jesus Christ.
We?
”
    “Us kids.”
    Michael pulled out his cell phone. “You have a fucking lot of explaining to do, but right now we need the police.”
    He punched Spencer’s contact and held his phone to his ear, staring at Daniel.
    Daniel?
    His hand touched wetness on his cheeks. He brushed at it and looked blankly at the evidence of tears on his hand. A lot of tears.
    What the hell just happened?

I didn’t handle that well at all.
    Chris watched Michael talk on his phone. He didn’t know what to do. When he’d seen Michael on the sidewalk as he drove through town, he’d simply reacted. He’d known he had to reveal himself to Michael and Jamie. That’s why he’d come back to town. Once he’d seen on TV that Jamie was safe, and that she’d linked up with his brother, he knew he had to make contact.
    He was sick of hiding. And running.
    Did the Ghostman have Jamie?
    He closed his eyes. All the stress that had vanished after seeing her alive on TV came roaring back. One of his worst nightmares had just been confirmed by his brother.
His brother.
Chrismouthed the words. For two decades, he hadn’t let himself think or say the phrase. He’d insisted in his brain that he no longer had a brother. It was the only way he’d been able to stay sane and function in Jamie’s family. He’d had to believe he was no longer a Brody to protect them.
    The Ghostman had said he’d kill Michael and his parents if they ever found out that Daniel was still alive. During his captivity, the threats had been daily. Every day in that metal hole in the ground, the Ghostman had regaled Daniel and Chris with stories about what he would do to Daniel’s family.
    Daniel never understood the focus on his family. Why the obsession with his family? Why not threaten Chris’s?
    When Daniel managed to escape, he took on Chris’s identity. It wasn’t hard. After two years with Chris, he knew everything about him. The only activity to do in the bunker was talk and tell stories of their families and lives. And they were both walking skeletons by the time it was over. Their eye color was similar. His hair was lighter, but hair changes color. If Chris’s parents had ever doubted that Daniel wasn’t their son, they never said a word. Sometimes you overlook inconsistencies if you want something bad enough.
    He was Chris Jacobs now. He’d been Chris for almost twice as long as he’d been Daniel.
    The Ghostman wasn’t out to kill Chris’s family. Daniel had planned to just pretend to be Chris until he felt like it was safe. But after he’d received the Twinkies in the hospital…
    No one was safe.
    It was best if he just kept his mouth shut and kept his eyes down. Everyone was safer that way. And it worked. There were a few moments when he thought he was about to blow it, but nothing ever came of it.
    Jamie became his little sister. Her parents became his parents, and he grew to love them. He missed his real parents, but from what he could see in the newspapers, they were getting on with their lives. Cecilia still ran her hospital, and the senator still ran politics. And they had Michael. At least they hadn’t lost all their children.
    He’d followed Michael for years. Once the Internet blossomed, he read every article under Michael’s byline. The Internet had been his savior, allowing him to keep an