“Sometimes I don’t feel like they are my family.”
“You got over that long ago. You know none of it matters to any of them.”
“Right. And it never mattered to me either. But it does now.”
“It doesn’t have to.”
“How can she still be alive? She’s in her fucking eighties.”
“Lots of people live into their eighties and beyond,” Mom says.
“It was bad enough that the trafficking ring resurfaced and that whoever was behind it was trying to implicate our family. Thank God Joe and Bryce got that taken care of, but who knows what else is going on? Someone left those documents at Brendan’s place.”
“Yes, but they were hidden under the floorboards. I don’t think Brendan was ever meant to find them.”
“Yeah. God only knows how long they’ve been there.”
“My guess is,” Mom says, “they were hidden there when the building was built. Probably by its original owner, Jeremy Madigan.”
“Good old Uncle Jeremy.” Dad scoffs.
Uncle Jeremy? What the hell is that supposed to mean?
“Did you ever meet him?”
“Hell no. I never met any of them. Only her. And I hardly remember that. I mean, I remember meeting her later, when I was thirty-two years old. She gave me that sapphire necklace.”
“Bracelet, you mean.”
“Right. My mind is a fucking mess, Ruby.”
“I know, babe. It will be fine. And the bracelet is gorgeous. I loved it then, and I love it now.”
“I never should’ve given it to you. It’s tainted.”
“It’s a piece of jewelry, Ryan.”
“It always seemed like it was meant for you. It matches your eyes. I told myself it was meant for you. That it was never hers. But I was wrong. It’s a tainted piece of jewelry. Tainted with her evil.”
I swallow, lean against the wall for support.
Evil?
“You and Ava,” Mom says. “You put too much emphasis on things that have no basis in fact.”
“Ava had to get it from somewhere. You’re a cop. You deal in facts, evidence. But damn it, you’ll never convince me that the woman isn’t evil.”
“Isn’t… You’re using the present tense, Ryan.”
“She’s still alive. I know she is. You and I both know she is because we know what those messages mean.”
I push my palms flatly against the wall.
I shouldn’t be eavesdropping, but they’re about to drop some kind of bomb, and I need to be here to hear it.
But my phone buzzes in my back pocket.
Damn it.
Mom comes rushing out. “Ava?”
“Yeah. I’m here.” I glance at the phone. It’s Brendan. “Excuse me for a minute, okay?”
“Hi,” I say into the phone.
“Ava, I just realized something.”
“What’s that?”
“The second message. The one that makes no sense. It’s an acrostic.”
“An acrostic?”
“Yeah. The first letters of each word form a message.”
“What does it say?”
“Wendy Madigan.”
“Who’s Wendy Madigan?” I ask.
Mom’s eyes dart into circles.
“Jeremy Madigan’s niece,” Brendan says.
But he’s not telling me everything. His voice is slightly higher than normal.
My mother’s staring at me intently. “Brendan, I have to go. I’ll call you as soon as I can.” I end the call quickly.
“Mom,” I say. “Who the hell is Wendy Madigan?”
Chapter Eighteen
Brendan
Though I hate to do it, I leave the bar in the capable hands of Darby and Shaw and drive out to the ranch, to Ryan and Ruby’s house.
I don’t want Ava going through this alone.
She’s there, and she’s going to ask her parents some hard questions.
I don’t know what the relevant answers are, but I can guess, given what Ava truly believes about the cards she’s drawn, her world could be upended.
I need to be there for her.
I gun it, hitting a hundred miles per hour as I thunder through the rural roads.
Chapter Nineteen
Ava
“Were you listening to your father’s and my conversation?” Mom asks.
“Would it matter if I was?”
Mom narrows her eyes. “None of that was meant for your ears.”
“You haven’t answered my question, Mom. Who was—or is—Wendy Madigan?”
She doesn’t reply.
“You and I both know that you’re the best private investigator out there. You and I both know that you figured out that Darth Morgen refers to grandmother. It’s an anagram. And that other bizarre message? It’s an acrostic, and it refers to Wendy Madigan. If I hadn’t been waiting a week for your expertise, I could have figured it out myself. Who the hell is Wendy Madigan?”
“Jeremy Madigan was Wendy Madigan’s uncle,” Mom says.
I know that much. Brendan told me. “And that is relevant…how?”
Except…
I drop my jaw open. My father just referred to him as “Uncle Jeremy.”
“Ava…”
I stand tall, determined, in the face of my mother, who I respect but who I’m also determined to get answers from. “Someone sent me these messages, Mom. Someone wants me to know about Wendy Madigan, and someone wants me to know something about my grandmother. They can’t be referring to your mother. I remember when she died, and I remember when we buried her. But I don’t know anything about Dad’s mother. Only that she was mentally ill, and she passed away in her sleep at the facility where she lived.”
Mom sighs. “She did.”
“So why is someone telling me that my grandmother is alive? If it doesn’t refer to your mother and doesn’t refer to Dad’s mother—”
Mom bites her lip.
Yes, my mother—the cop with nerves of steel—is biting her freaking lip.
Ruby Steel doesn’t get nervous.
Ruby Steel doesn’t bite her fucking lip. That’s an Ava Steel thing.
“Damn it,” I say. “What the hell is going on?”
“Language, Ava.”
I draw in a long, deep breath, trying but failing to control my temper. “I don’t give a flying fuck about language right now, Mom. Something’s going on. I’ve known it for a while. Ever since I got that bizarre message about Darth Morgen and I drew a card. The hierophant. The fucking hierophant. I don’t know who I am anymore, Mom, and I need you to tell me why that is.”
My mother’s features soften. “Nothing will ever change who you are, Ava.”
I crunch my hands into fists. “Damn it! I’m so tired of cryptic answers. You were a police detective, Mom. A private investigator. You don’t do cryptic.”
“Ava, we need to let your father rest.”
“Fine. Let him rest. You and I can talk now. You look pretty darned healthy except for that incessant lip biting, which I’ve never seen you do.”