The thrill of being referred to as “Ryan’s girlfriend” was superseded by the knowledge that this did indeed involve me. How I didn’t want to be reminded of all that. My esteemed father was the reason they were all in this mess. “I’m not sure,” I said. “My father—”
“None of us hold you responsible for your father.”
“I know that.” And I did. Objectively. “All right. If you want me there, I’ll be there.”
“I do. Come at dinnertime. I’ll phone Marj and have her cook up something good. Seven, okay?”
Chapter Twelve
Ryan
My father was alive.
At least, evidence seemed to point to that conclusion.
After a dinner of Marj’s famous beef Stroganoff, Ruby and Jade had presented their findings. Truly presented them, as only a cop and an attorney could. By the time they were done, I was convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that my father was alive somewhere, and that he had attempted to call me several days ago.
“So where do we go from here?” I asked.
Joe took charge. “We find Dad.”
I cleared my throat. “I guess that means a visit to my— Er…Wendy.” Calling her my mother out loud didn’t feel right.
“Yeah,” Joe said, “and I need to go with you.”
“Why you?” Talon asked.
“Because she has a soft spot for me. She thinks I look like Dad. And Ry, of course, because she’s his…”
Apparently I wasn’t the only one who had a problem saying those words out loud.
“Do you want me to go with you?” Ruby asked, touching my arm.
It was a sweet gesture, but I had to do this with Joe. “No. But thanks for offering.”
She smiled shyly.
I startled as Talon’s doorbell rang. His mutt, Roger, scampered to the front door, and Talon followed.
He came back a few seconds later with Joe’s best friend, Bryce Simpson, who was carrying his nearly one-year-old son, Henry.
“Hey, bud,” Joe said. “What are you doing here?”
“I have some news,” Bryce said. “Remember you told me to look through my dad’s stuff for a ring? Well, I found one.”
Marjorie stepped forward and took Henry from Bryce’s arms. “How are you, cutie?”
Bryce fished in his pocket and pulled out a man’s ring. “It’s eighteen-karat gold. All those years we lived a modest existence in Snow Creek, and my father had this stashed away.”
Tom Simpson had had a lot more than that stashed away if he was into human trafficking. I wasn’t sure how much Joe had shared with Bryce, so I kept mum.
Joe took the ring from Bryce and handed it to me. “You identified the rings in the photo, Ry. You take the first look.”
The large stone was black, probably onyx, but we’d have to get a jeweler to identify it. On one side were the initials T and S. But on the other side…
A strange symbol. An oval and an X, one corner of the X touching the elongated part of the oval. Nothing I’d ever seen before. “I’m not sure what to make of this image.” I handed it back to Joe.
“I couldn’t figure it out either,” Bryce said, “But my Uncle Chase is a Mason. He might be able to shed some light on it.”