“That was my first thought as well, but there’s no denying my father was the boss. I’ve told you before what a sexist my father was. He kept my mother in the house, doing wifely things. She never fought him on anything. No one ever fought him until Marjorie got old enough to help on the ranch. She let him have it, and my father finally relented. She claimed she was as good as any boy, and she was right.”
“Still, it’s hard to believe that your mother would be willing to raise a child that wasn’t hers.” Melanie bit her lip. “Besides, didn’t Marj and Jade find all of your birth certificates? I assume Ryan’s showed the same mother and father as the rest of yours did.”
“Yeah, they did. But we already know that my mother’s birth certificate has been tampered with, changing her maiden name to Warren, when her real name was Wade. Whoever did that could have easily tampered with Ryan’s as well, putting my mother’s name on the certificate.”
She nodded.
“Somehow, someone hacked into whatever database they needed at the time. I mean, look at what they did just recently. Changing Larry’s fingerprints in the attorney database to whoever’s fingerprints were on that damned business card we found in Jade’s room. These aren’t your garden-variety hackers. It’s almost as if…”
“What?” she asked.
“I just can’t wrap my mind around it. Tom Simpson or Larry Wade or the other one… They can’t have that kind of knowledge.”
“It’s unlikely. But maybe. Or maybe they hired someone to do it for them.”
“Hackers of that caliber cost a lot of money, Melanie. Look at Mills and Johnson.”
She nodded again. “You don’t think…”
“That Mills and Johnson are working for Simpson and Mathias?” I shook my head. “No. I’m pretty sure they aren’t. I mean, it was the police who referred us to them.”
“That doesn’t always mean anything,” she said. “Tom Simpson had been a respected man in Snow Creek, and look who he turned out to be.”
I raised my eyebrows. Melanie had a point. A good point.
And speaking of Tom Simpson…
I owed Bryce a phone call. Of course, he might not answer. Who could blame him? But at this point, I could back up my claim. I wasn’t looking forward to telling my best friend that I now had proof that his father was a psychopathic iceman.
After we arrived home and let Lucy out, my phone buzzed in my back pocket. Speak of the devil. I looked at Melanie. “You mind? It’s Bryce.”
“Of course not. But are you sure you’re up to talking to him right now?”
“I’ll be fine. I need to see what he
wants.” I put the phone to my ear. “Hey, Bryce.”
“Hey, Joe.” His voice cracked.
“What’s up?”
“God… Where to start? I guess I’ll just start with this. I’m sorry, man.”
“You don’t have anything to be sorry about,” I said.
“But I do. I got some disturbing news from those PIs I hired. And I have only one question for you.”
“What’s that?”
“Why the hell didn’t you come to me, man? I had to hear this from PIs, when you were directly involved.”
I swallowed. “Hey, the way our last conversation went… Plus, I’ve been a little busy. I was kidnapped by a crazy woman.”
Bryce gasped through the phone. “What?”
“I’m good. I’m okay. It’s a long fucking story, man.”
“Well, when we’re both feeling better, let’s get together for drinks. For now, though… God, Joe, what the hell am I supposed to tell my mother?”