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My father taught Dale and me the value of work. Even though we don’t have to, we have a work ethic that doesn’t quit.
Even before work ethic, though?
Comes family.
So when Mom asked me to come to work with her at the city attorney’s office, it was a no-brainer.
Dale doesn’t get it, and he probably never will. His work ethic is as strong as mine. Perhaps even stronger. But while he loves his family, he’s isolated. He won’t do something just because his family wants him to. He’ll weigh the pros and cons and then make an informed decision. Usually family wins, but sometimes, it doesn’t.
Perhaps being married will change that. Doesn’t really matter, since his chosen path kept him here on the ranch anyway, so he’s around whenever the family needs him.
I’m happy for Dale. He has someone who will help him be less isolated. But Dale will always be Dale. I wouldn’t have him any other way.
I don’t think about our past much, but sometimes it creeps in anyway.
I owe my big brother a huge debt I’ll never be able to repay.
Maybe that’s why I value family so much.
It began with my big brother.
But it’s also from the Steels.
Dad, Uncle Joe, Uncle Ry, and Aunt Marj, along with their significant others, have instilled in all us kids that sense of family.
I always assumed it came from their father, Bradford Steel.
Now I’m not so sure.
Why would Grandpa Steel quitclaim everything he owned to Uncle Ryan? Leaving his other three children with nothing?
Clearly, it wasn’t dated, and it had never been recorded.
But it was signed.
I suppose it could be forged. I’ll have to look at other documents Brad Steel signed to know for sure, but…
This is a mystery.
I sigh. Okay. I’m going to find out why we have a lien on the Murphy property, get rid of it, and then Brendan and his dad will give Dale and me those documents. We’ll destroy them, and our family never needs to know they exist.
They’d just cause problems we don’t need.
First, though, I’ll find the truth.
So…if I were a document pertaining to a lien on a bar in town, where would I be?
Nosing around Dad’s office feels all wrong. I could just ask him in the morning.
Of course, in the morning, I have to go into the office with Mom.
Why not have a look around now?
Dad has two file cabinets in his office, both of which are locked. No help there. His desktop computer is password protected, of course.
I stand.
Ethics take over. I can’t go nosing around Dad’s documents without his permission. I just can’t. I’m ready to walk out from behind the desk, when—
“Donny? What are you doing in here?”
Shit. Dad’s still awake, apparently. He stands in the doorway, clad in lounge pants and a white T-shirt.
“Nothing,” I say.
He chuckles. “Nothing? You sound just like you did when you were a kid and had done something wrong. What’s going on?”
“I didn’t look at anything.”
“No one’s accusing you, but you came in here in the middle of the night for a reason.”
“I just got back from the bar.”
“And instead of going to bed, you came into my office.”
I have no response.
“What do you want, Don?”
Fuck it all. “Murphy says the Steels hold a lien on the bar.”
He widens his eyes slightly and then nods. “We do.”
“What for?”
“Honestly? I don’t know. It’s been there forever. No one really thinks about it.”
“Dad, you expect me to buy that?”
“No, Don. I don’t.” He gestures. “Have a seat.”
I sit back down, but not in his chair this time. I walk out from behind his desk and sit in one of the leather chairs on the other side.
The office looks completely different from this vantage point—the one I’m used to.
“How’d you find out about the lien?”
“Brendan mentioned it tonight.”
Dad rubs the graying stubble on his chin. “Seems a strange thing to bring up over a drink.”
“Not so strange,” I say quickly. As a lawyer I know well how to bullshit. Whether it will work on my dad, though, is another story. “We were talking about our respective families.”
Dad clears his throat. “Oh? What about your respective families?”
What the heck? The death of Sean Murphy is no secret, is it? “Apparently Brendan’s great-uncle and your father were friends.”
Dad nods. “They were.”
I raise my eyebrows, expecting him to go on.
He doesn’t.
Why am I not surprised?
“Dad, what’s the story? With your father and Sean’s uncle?”
“I think you know,” Dad says. “I think that’s why you brought it up.”
Yeah. Should have known he’d see right through me. I can pull anything over on Mom. She’s a soft touch. Dad? Not so much.
“Did he really drop dead at your father’s wedding?”
“He did. It’s not something we talk about because, as you can imagine, it’s a horrible thing.”
“It is. But we just had another man drop dead here in our own backyard a week ago, Dad.”
