Page 63 of Destiny

“Lauren,” I say, “thank you for agreeing to see us. This is Ruby Steel. She’s Ryan’s wife.”

Lauren shakes Ruby’s hand. “It’s good to meet you. I guess you’re my sister-in-law.”

“So it would seem. It’s nice to meet you, too.” Ruby stares at Lauren. “You have your mother’s eyes, but I see the resemblance to Ryan.”

Lauren takes a seat, stirs a tiny bit of sugar into her tea, and takes a sip. “What can I do to help all of you?”

“I was wondering if I might be able to have a look around your house,” Ruby says.

Lauren holds back a gasp. “Whatever for?”

“Please don’t take the request the wrong way.” Ruby smiles. “I’m just looking for anything out of the ordinary. Anything that might clue us in to what’s going on here. What your mother has put into motion. And the relationship between Jack and the Murphys.”

“I understand your curiosity, Mrs. Steel.”

“Please, call me Ruby.” She widens her smile. “We’re sisters-in-law, after all.”

“Very well, Ruby, but I can assure you that you won’t find anything here in this house. My mother and I are currently…estranged.”

Ruby nods. “I understand, and believe me, I don’t blame you for being estranged from her. Right now, your mother is in my home, staying in one of our guest rooms.”

Lauren’s eyes widen. “What’s she doing there?”

“My husband and my daughter have a lot of questions for her, and Ryan felt he could keep a better eye on her at home.”

Lauren lifts her cup of tea but doesn’t take a sip. “I’m not sure I see his point.”

“To be honest, I’m not sure I do either, Lauren. But sheishis mother. As well as yours.”

“I don’t want to see her.”

“I’m not here to pressure you into doing that.”

Lauren places her cup back on her saucer, forcefully enough that a few drops fly out. “But youarehere to pressure me into letting you look around my house.”

“No pressure,” Ruby says. “But I would like the chance. I promise you I won’t disturb anything, but my husband, and especially my daughter, are seeking answers, and they won’t rest until they find them. I’d like to help them if I can.”

“I have nothing to hide,” Lauren says with a sigh.

“We know that,” I say. “But Ruby—and my father and I—have a vested interest in finding out more about what yourmother’sbeen hiding all these years. The DNA results show that Jack and my father share paternal grandparents. It doesn’t seem possible, but DNA doesn’t lie. Jack can’t have come from my father’s sister, and we know he didn’t come from my grandfather, or he’d be a sibling. My grandfather only had one brother.”

“My uncle Sean,” Dad says. “Unless there’s another brother we never knew about, but it would have to be a full brother, not a half brother.”

“My father has always been convinced that the Steel family had something to do with his uncle’s death by lethal overdose sixty years ago. We haven’t been able to find anything linking the Steels to his death, but he did die at Brad Steel’s wedding, and he never did drugs, according to his brother and sister. Yet many drugs were found in his toxicology report.”

“And you think my mother had something to do with your uncle’s death,” Lauren says.

“I always thought the Steels were behind it,” Dad says, “but now that I know about your mother and her involvement with the Steels…”

“You won’t find anything here,” Lauren says abruptly.

“If I know your mother,” Ruby says, “she probably has hidden things in plain sight. If you would just let me have a look around. You can certainly accompany me or have Jack accompany me.”

“It’s not that I don’t trust you, Ruby,” Lauren says. “It’s not that at all. It’s just… I’d really like to distance myself from my mother.”

“Don’t you want to meet your brother?” Ruby asks.

Lauren picks up her teacup once more. “Does he want to meet me? He never knew I existed.”

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