“How?”
I showed him the fine hairs in my hand. “We’re going to get a lock of Ryan’s hair and have a DNA test done. If it’s negative, he never has to know.”
Chapter Forty–Seven
Melanie
Bradford Steel had been the financial backer for the future lawmakers’ misdeeds. This was going to kill Jonah.
“The most I could get out of Rodney is that the future lawmakers club was founded by my father, and it started out as a legiti
mate business idea,” Ruby said, “though he wouldn’t elaborate on what the idea was. Then things went wrong.”
“Meaning?”
“I wish I could tell you. Rodney says the three of them—my father, Simpson, and Wade—got greedy. They decided to push the law a little. Steel didn’t realize what they were doing at first and continued to back them. When he pulled out, they never forgave him. Always felt he owed them.”
“Which could have led to their abduction of Talon.”
Ruby shook her head. “I don’t think so. Those three are a lot of things, but stupid isn’t one of them. They would have known better than to take one of Steel’s sons.”
“That corroborates what Larry says,” I said. “But Wendy Madigan says differently.”
“From what you’ve told me, Wendy Madigan is crazy,” Ruby said. “Of course, Larry is a sociopath. So who knows which one to believe?”
“As a psychotherapist, I should have an idea.” I shook my head. “But I’m at a loss. I’ve met Larry but not Wendy. They’re both crazy.”
Ruby took a sip of her drink. “It’s a crazy situation from all angles. We already know that the three of them are pedophiles and rapists. I’m not sure how they figured all of that out and decided to act on it, but I’m betting it began with money.”
“Money?”
She nodded. “While I couldn’t get much out of my uncle, what I did glean from him was the greediness of my father, Simpson, and Wade. They didn’t grow up rich like Brad Steel did, and when he was backing them, they got used to having a windfall of cash to do what they wanted. When he cut them off, they didn’t take it well.”
“So they found another way to make money.”
“Right.”
“By sexually molesting kids?”
She shook her head. “I have a working theory.”
“Yeah?”
“There isn’t much money in molesting kids,” Ruby said. “That part of it was just for their own fucked-up amusement. But there is money in selling kids.”
My stomach clenched as nausea overwhelmed me. “Selling kids?”
“Slavery,” she said. “Nice little American girls and boys to be used and abused.”
“But they killed Luke Walker…”
“True. So there’s a glitch in my theory. But like I said. It’s only a theory.”
“The others were never found…” I said, more to myself than to Ruby.
“Right. And I’ve pulled up the news from that time. Huge investigations were done. I mean, these were missing kids. No trace of any of them was ever found. Talon was the only one.”
“And Larry let him go…”