Page 64 of Destiny

“Yes, he does. Right now he’s concerned about our daughter. Your mother reached out to her, and she’s obsessing on why that is. Why didn’t she reach out to Ryan himself, or to our other daughter? Why Ava?”

“I’d like to know that as well,” I say.

“Who knows why my mother does anything?” Lauren takes a sip of tea.

“Has she told you anything about your father? Brad Steel’s half brother?”

“No. Not much. I didn’t even know who he was until fairly recently.”

“And you never met him?”

Lauren shakes her head.

“We found a copy of his birth certificate,” I say. “Under the floorboards of my apartment above the bar. The bar my dad bought from Jeremy Madigan, Wendy’s uncle.”

“And you think maybe Wendy hid some documents up there?”

I frown. “How else could they have gotten there? Unless Jeremy himself put them there. He’s long gone, so we can’t ask him.”

“Just let me have a look around,” Ruby says. “I’ll try not to be long.”

Lauren sighs. “That’s fine. Go ahead.”

Jack rises. “I’ll go with her, Mom.”

Lauren nods, and then I rise as well.

“Do you mind if we tag along?” I ask, gesturing to Dad.

“Not at all,” Jack says.

Ruby, Dad, and I follow Jack out of the living room.

“Where do you want to start?” Jack asks.

Ruby glances around the home. It’s a large ranch house, not unlike the one Ruby lives in, though not as sprawling. The layout is similar, though. “Do you have a basement or an attic?” she asks.

“No attic,” Jack says. “Just some crawl space. We do have a basement that’s partially finished.”

“Let’s start there, in the part that’s not finished,” Ruby says.

“You got it.” The door to the basement is off the kitchen, and we go down a long flight of stairs into a carpeted rec room with a big-screen TV and a pool table.

“You play pool?” I ask.

“Yeah, I love it.”

“How come you never come into the bar in Snow Creek? The Steels play pool there all the time.”

“Just never thought about heading over to the next town,” Jack says. “Once we get all this behind us, sure, I’d love to come hang out at your bar. I mean…Iamyour uncle and all.” He lets out a sound that I’m not sure is a laugh or a scoff. Perhaps a combination of both.

Jack leads us to the part of the basement that is unfinished, and Ruby scouts it out like the professional that she is, pulling back layers of fiberglass and then rubbing her hands together. “Yes, I should’ve worn gloves.”

“I can get you a pair.”

“Too late now. So far the walls are clean.” She looks around. “Do you have any electrical outlets down here? Other than the wiring going to these lights?” She points at the fluorescent lighting on the ceiling.

“Not sure there is, actually,” Jack says. “I never thought much about it.”

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