Chapter 9 - Ryan Chooses a Side
Ryan came to my hotel room carrying two paper cups of coffee and a question he could barely say.
"Did Dad help get Daniel killed?"
"We don't know."
"You think he did."
"I think his business choices may matter to what happened.
The people responsible for deciding that need evidence."
He set a cup down.
"Every time you answer carefully, I hear how reckless the rest of us have been."
I nearly smiled.
It wasn't forgiveness, but it was observation.
He sat on the chair opposite mine.
"At the ceremony I thought you were trying to steal something from me."
"You told me."
"I know."
He stared at his hands.
"When I trained, I kept thinking about the sister who used to wait up for me after late practices.
I told everyone I got this far because I learned not to need people."
"That's not true."
"No.
It isn't."
He handed me a folded photograph.
It showed us at fourteen and twelve, standing in the rain after his first football victory.
I was holding an umbrella over him and getting soaked.
"I found it in Dad's garage," he said.
"He threw out the box of your things."
The old anger returned, sharp enough to hurt.
"Why bring it to me now?"
"Because I don't want to be him."
My phone interrupted.
Reyes told me Andrew Mercer had agreed to meet voluntarily with investigators.
By the time they reached his office, he was gone.
His desk had been cleared.
His assistant said he'd left after receiving one call.
"Was the call traced?" I asked.
"We're working on it."
An hour later Ryan received a message from an unknown number.
It contained a photograph of him at Coronado, with my face circled in red.
Beneath it were seven words.
YOUR SISTER SHOULD HAVE STAYED IN THE SHADOWS.
Ryan's hand trembled as he showed me.
"This isn't about Dad anymore, is it?"
"It may have started long before Dad," I said.
May you like
Then I asked him to give the phone to the investigators.
