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“They’re mercenaries. They go with the highest bidder. And I’ve had the feeling my father’s been having financial trouble.”
“We can out-pay your father.”
“Maybe they don’t know that.”
“Everyone knows about the Steel money.”
“True. But what if he could out-pay your family? What if he dried up his coffers to get them off the case?”
“I guess it’s possible. Our money is legitimate, from generations of hard work and solid investments. Crime can pay extremely well. Your father probably has billions in tax-free dollars stashed away.” He huffed. “And that’s what I just don’t get. Tom Simpson was obviously up to his eyeballs in this, yet he continued to live his modest life as the mayor of Snow Creek.”
“His cover,” I said. “It makes perfect sense.”
“Has the department dug up his stash?” he asked.
“Not t
hat I know of. I’m technically not on the case. I just follow it very closely. Plus, anything concerning the money will go to the FBI. They’re already on it.”
“He must have a shitload of money stashed somewhere.”
“Yeah, he might,” I agreed.
“Bryce could be a rich man one day.”
“Only if he’s interested in dirty money,” Ruby said. “If the Feds find it—if it exists—it will be confiscated.”
“Yeah. True.” Ryan finished up his plate. “I wonder…”
“What?”
“You don’t think any of the Steel money could be dirty, do you?”
I shook my head. “I’ve considered that, and I don’t think so. Your father and his father ran a legitimate business. If your father has any dirty money anywhere, he was smart enough not to comingle funds.”
“I hope so,” Ryan said. “It’s just…”
“What?”
“The Steel Trust is where we keep the bulk of our holdings. But the Shane ranch was deeded to the Steel Family Trust, which of course, none of us knew existed. Joe’s trying to get hold of the attorneys to figure it all out.” Ryan rubbed at his temples. “I just can’t wrap my head around it. My father had a trust none of us knew about. Could that be where he kept…?”
I heard the words he couldn’t form. Where he kept the dirty money. I couldn’t say them aloud either.
“Let me tell you,” he continued. “The four of us are going to be keeping a better eye on things from now on.”
“Why haven’t you always done that?”
“Because this was our father’s team of advisors, guys he trusted with his money. Consequently, we trusted them. And it’s not like we’re blue bloods or anything. We work our asses off at the ranch. We need the team to oversee the finances because none of us has the time.”
He sounded like he was trying to convince himself, and I understood why. He didn’t want to admit that any of them had been negligent in letting the team handle everything. But he knew they had. Not negligent so much as overworked and trusting in their father.
A man they no longer knew.
“And another thing,” he continued. “Now that Mills and Johnson are nowhere to be found, we need some new PIs. We’ve got to find my father.”
“So you really think he’s alive?”
“I think he has to be. We found the death certificate that was clearly tampered with, and none of us actually saw his dead body. Plus, my mother says so.”
