He knew who Ruby was. She’d told us that she’d visited him before. So far, Larry had refused to roll over on Theodore Mathias. Surely he must know that Ruby had no loyalty to her father.
Or did he?
I had no idea. I had never faced Larry Wade on
my own, but maybe I could get some information.
“All right,” I said to Ruby. “Don’t go too far.”
“I won’t. I’ll be outside when you’re done.” She got up and left the visitors area.
“All right, Larry,” I said. “Do your damnedest. What can you tell me?”
“Nothing.”
“Come on. I got rid of her. You can talk now.”
“I know who she is.”
“Yeah, I figured that out. You didn’t seem to recognize her at first, but she’s visited you before.”
“He speaks highly of her, you know.”
“Who does?”
“You know who.”
Damn, this man was a pain in the ass. He still wouldn’t say the motherfucker’s name. It didn’t matter. We already had proof that he was the one we were looking for. And he obviously had something on Larry Wade.
“Does he?”
“Yes. Says she’s smart as a whip. Said he’s had to work twice as hard the past eleven years to stay off her radar.”
“She’ll get him,” I said. “Don’t ever doubt that.”
“She won’t,” he said, wincing. “He wins. He always fucking wins. Never gets caught. Never slips up. Simpson got lazy. But not him. He’ll never surface.”
“I can assure you, his days of winning are numbered. You’re locked up. Simpson is dead. My father is dead.”
He arched his eyebrows slightly.
“Or am I incorrect about that? Is my father not dead?”
Chapter Nineteen
Ruby
I was just as glad to be out of Larry Wade’s presence. This was far from the first time I had spoken with him, and he never remembered who I was. At least that was what he claimed. He made my skin crawl more each time. Clearly he feared my father. He had seemed to fear Simpson too, when he was alive. He had systematically refused to roll over on the two of them to either me or the Steels, no matter what we offered.
Maybe Ryan would be able to get the information out of him while I was gone.
No. Why delude myself? That wouldn’t happen. Larry was a game player first and foremost. He would never roll over.
But there was something he did do. He gave hints. I had heard the whole story, about how Melanie had figured out where to find the information about the future lawmakers club. His mind didn’t work like a normal human’s. He dealt more in riddles.
And what if…?
What if that was why he’d hired Jade to be the assistant city attorney? What if that was why he had given her the assignment to research the Steels?