AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’m no kid.”
“Whatever. The right amount of money can buy anything. Trust us. We’ve seen it.”
“You’re saying my brother never went to law school?”
“It’s possible.”
“But he’s been practicing law.”
“So?”
“He’s good at it.”
“Doesn’t mean he didn’t go about it illicitly. I’m not saying he didn’t go to law school, but I’m not saying he did either. We’ve seen people wearing aliases like different color shirts this past year.”
“True,” I said. “What was Cade’s original last name? Do you know?”
“I’m not sure he ever told us.”
“And you didn’t think to ask?” I said.
“I was sixteen. I didn’t think past tomorrow.”
“What about your sister?”
“Same.”
“Marjorie says she wasn’t as nice as you were.”
“I told you. Alex comes on strong sometimes. She’s got one big chip on her shoulder.”
“Why is that? You said your dad was kind.”
“He was. You think a person has to be abused to have a chip on her shoulder? It doesn’t work that way.”
I couldn’t fault Dominic’s observation. Joe Steel had one massive chip on his shoulder, and as far as I knew, he hadn’t been abused.
Who the hell was Cade Booker?
“Can you find out his original last name?” I asked.
“I can try. My dad would have
known, but he’s dead.”
“Check his records. Did he leave any files?”
“I can look, but wouldn’t it be easier to check the state records? Aren’t name changes a matter of record?”
“Yeah,” I said. “If your brother actually changed his name legally. Some people just start using aliases.”
“Why would he choose to use our father’s name as an alias?”
“Kid”—this time I said it. I felt like I’d aged a generation in the past several months—“if I knew why a psycho did anything, I’d have figured out my father way before now. You can’t use logic to figure this out. Trust me. But we need to know his original name if we have a chance of tracing him.”
Dominic sighed. “I’ll see what I can do.”
“Do more than see,” Ryan said. “Don’t forget we can have you arrested for what you did to Marj, Colin, and Daphne Steel.”
