Alex sucked in a shaky breath. Kyle hadn’t been there. He didn’t know what Alex knew about the people in the cells. Or at least about the person. Michael’s mother. And they, in their rush to find answers, had gotten her killed. He nodded. “Yeah. Me too.” He didn’t think he’d ever be able to forget all the ways he’d failed Michael over the years and this was just the latest example. And his brother. His brother hadn’t even seemed to care.

So close to those kind of thoughts, the smile he shot Kyle when he was talking about samples and lack of insurance was feeble, but it was there. “You’re a good guy, Kyle. After you got over your asshole phase.” And most of the time that dickishness had been pointed towards him. He might not have had much of a backbone back then, but he’d used most of it to stand up to Kyle.

“Yeah, no brooding over that. Especially when you have my dad in the hospital. But you know, if you give me ten minutes with one of the computers, I can make sure that I’m listed as having power of attorney. It won’t last forever, but it might hold off my brothers for a little while. Enough for us to regroup and figure out what else he might have in place.”

He squeezed Kyle’s hand before letting go. “Come on. Let’s go try to figure out what’s going on.”