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“I joined because I wanted to be near your father. As for why he joined, you’d have to ask him.”
Perfect. “You know very well that I can’t do that.”
“Why not?”
“He’s dead.”
“That’s ridiculous. I just talked to him this morning.”
Ruby rubbed my arm again. “This isn’t getting us anywhere. She’s delusional, like Jonah and Talon said.”
Still, I wasn’t ready to go yet. “What did he say to you this morning?”
“He said he missed all of you kids. He said he missed me.”
“Really?”
“He said he’d come home as soon as he could. As soon as it was safe.”
Ruby rubbed my arm again. I pulled it away from her, not gently.
“What about the ring all the future lawmakers wore? I saw it in their yearbook picture. What was that for?”
“Oh that? I didn’t get one. I was only in the club for a year because we moved before my junior year in high school.”
“But the guys are wearing the rings in the photo you’re in.”
“Are they?” She closed her eyes. “I’m almost sure I didn’t have one.”
“What were the rings for?”
“Just a symbol.”
“A symbol of what?”
“Of their commitment to the club. And to each other.”
My blood ran cold. “My father financed their activities.”
“Yes, he did.”
“What were those activities?”
“They started out small. They formed a secret corporation to buy and sell certain goods for profit.”
“What kind of goods?”
“Goods that were difficult to get. Goods they could mark up substantially and sell to the highest bidder.”
“Illegal goods?”
“Not at first.”
Someone had kicked my stomach in. At least that’s what it felt like. She’d just basically confirmed that my father had been financing something illegal.
“What did they start out with?”
“They’d buy up certain toys that were popular with kids at the time and then sell them on the secondhand market for double the price. Later they got into gaming systems. With your father backing them, they could buy in bulk. They made a ton of money.”
