Page 73 of Destiny

“I should’ve known. What is it?”

“Well…the lien isn’t technically held by my family. It’s held by something called the Steel Trust, which of course Dale and I assumed was one of our family’s assets. But…I can’t seem to find any record of it.”

“For God’s sake.”

“Believe me, Brendan, I want to resolve this as much as you do. Our family does have trusts, but nothing specially called the Steel Trust. This Steel Trust has a lot of transactions with something called the Fleming Corporation, which Brock came across recently. But no one knows what either of those entities are. Seems my grandfather died with a lot of secrets.”

“Wendy Madigan is still alive,” I say. “She probably knows a lot of those secrets.”

“Probably. But Uncle Ryan has asked that we all leave her alone.”

“Bullshit.”

“She’s his mother,” Donny says.

“I get that. She’s also Lauren Wingdam’s mother. I’m going to get to the bottom of this.”

I end the call quickly, and then I go downstairs and hop into my truck. I’m paying Wendy Madigan a visit.

I pull into the Steels’ driveway. Hmm… Ava’s truck isn’t here. It wasn’t behind the bakery when I left. Is it possible we drove past each other without noticing?

Probably not.

I knock on the door.

The housekeeper, Michaela, answers. “Mr. Murphy, what can I do for you?”

“I’m here to see your houseguest.”

“I’m afraid you just missed Ava. She’s not here.”

“I’m not talking about Ava, Michaela. I’m here to see Wendy Madigan.”

“Oh, I see.” Michaela shifts her gaze around. “You’ll have to talk to Mr. Steel about that.”

“Talk to Mr. Steel about what?” Ryan approaches from the kitchen.

I step inside the house. “Good afternoon, Ryan. I need to speak to your mother.”

“Whatever for?”

“I’m sure your wife clued you in.”

“My wife? Ruby went on errands today, and she hasn’t returned.”

“Did she happen to tell you what those errands were?”

“No.”

“She was with my father and me. We were at your sister’s home doing a search.”

Ryan’s eyebrows rise. “A search?”

“Yes, and I think you’ll be interested in what we found.”

Ryan blinks. “I am. Come on in.”

I follow Ryan into the kitchen.

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