"So they have money?" Knox queried. "They're rich?"
"Old money. The kind that has passed through generations," Ryan confirmed. "And I'm the son that broke the tradition. You can imagine how popular that makes me at Thanksgiving."
Luke whistled and shook his head. "I can see where that might ruffle a few feathers. We all had figured out that you had some tension with your folks, and we weren't going to pry in your personal business. I can understand how this case might be awkward for you."
"So that means you're rich," Knox said with a chuckle. "Did you think we'd stick you with the dinner check every time if we knew?"
"No, but it's a weird topic," Ryan admitted. "Some people are very put off by it. I don't live in a mansion or anything. I'm just like everybody else."
His friends exchanged glances, smiles playing on their lips.
"Not quite like everybody," Chris piped up, a grin spreading across his face. "That truck you drive is a limited edition with every bell and whistle that the dealership offers. It probably cost what my condo did."
"It's just a truck," Ryan protested, shaking his head. "It's utilitarian."
Knox pointed to Ryan's shoes. "And those? They cost at least a month's salary, and don't argue with me about it. I know my boots and shoes. I worked in a men's clothing department while I was in school. Let's face it, friend. We've all noticed that you have expensive shit but we weren't going to say anything about it."
His mouth open, Ryan didn't know what to say. They'd noticed?
"Why didn't you say anything?"
"Because it was none of our business," Chris replied quietly. "It still isn't. But yes, we noticed that you had a little extra cash here and there for clothes and trips and such. We wouldn't be very good investigators if we hadn't noticed, now would we?"
"Were you ever tempted to check out my finances?" Ryan asked.
He had to know the truth.
"No," Luke said firmly. "It was your damn business. I always assumed that eventually you might say something if the subject came up but frankly, the last thing I want to talk about is someone else's money. I was brought up to never mention it and I plan to stick to that."
The other guys nodded in agreement. Here Ryan had thought he was fooling everyone, but apparently he wasn't as average as he'd thought he was.
"I'm just like everyone else," he said again. "I'm not any different."
"Sure, you're one of the guys," Luke agreed, slapping Ryan on the back. "Nobody thinks of you any differently. Now tell us about this case because if you don't want to do it, I might want to."
"Me too," Chris said.
"I have to agree," Knox replied as well. "It sounds interesting."
Over their meal Ryan filled them in on what he knew, which wasn't much. They didn't even have a cause of death yet.
"So he walked into a bar and never came out?" Knox said as they finished up their meals. "And no one ever heard from him again?"
"No one," Ryan confirmed. "He was supposed to meet us at the airport the next day to catch a flight for Hawaii but he never showed. He didn't answer our calls and when we got back, we found out that no one had seen him since that night at the bar."
"His parents didn't call the police or anything?" Chris asked.
"Eventually they did when we all got back from our trip. They thought he was with us. They'd assumed that he'd gotten up early and taken a cab to the airport, which could have been the case. We didn't have any proof that he didn't go home after the bar closed down, and we didn't have any proof that he didn't go to the airport. We only know that he didn't make it to the flight. Or any of the later ones."
"Except that now he's been found in the lot next to the bar," Luke said. "So one could conclude that he never left that night."
"It's a reasonable assumption," Ryan agreed. "But there are still unanswered questions. If it was an accident, how did it happen? If it wasn't an accident...well...that's a whole Pandora's Box, isn't it? Who did it and why?"
Chris shook his head. "And you're telling us that you're not even remotely curious as to the answers? This was your friend and you don't want to know what happened to him all those years ago?"
It wasn't that simple.
"He was my friend but we had a complicated relationship."
Knox's brows pinched together. "So you don't want to know?"
"I do want to know. I just don't want what comes with this investigation."
"Your family," Luke guessed. "You think they'll take the opportunity to give you a hard time?"
"Every chance they get. I don't think they will, I know they will."
Knox had a strange look on his face, one that Ryan had never seen before.
"You look like you have something to say."
His friend shrugged. "Not really. Except to say that I've been a disappointment to my family all my life and that wouldn't keep me from finding out what happened to an old friend. My family has their opinions about my life and I have mine."
"And you don't care what they think?"
"Not particularly," Knox said with a smile. "They couldn't convince me when I was just a kid that I was a loser, so now that I'm a grown man I doubt that anything they say is going to sway me. I'm not that weak in my convictions."
"I'm not either."
"Okay, I was just making an observation."
Knox was always doing shit like this. Raising a question, getting everyone all riled up, and then stepping back like it was no big deal.
The thing was...no one was riled up but Ryan which meant that Knox had hit a nerve.
Am I weak in my convictions? Is that why I won't go back? Because I could be talked out of the decisions I've made?
Fuck no. I just don't want to go because my parents are a pain in the ass.
"Your observations suck," Ryan replied bluntly. "Keep them to yourself."
Knox shoved a fry in his smiling mouth. "Happy to."
Chris wagged a finger at Knox. "Just ignore him. He likes to act like he's so wise and all but he doesn't know shit."
That's exactly what Ryan was going to do. Knox couldn't possibly understand the pressure that he was under when he was around his family. They were never going to give up and let him live his life.
But he did want to know what happened to Brad. Could he risk a trip back home to find the answers? Did he dare delve into a past that was best left behind?
Then there was Mariah. She'd be there.
She was the one person he didn't think he could face.
4
O'Hare Airport hadn't changed since the last time Ryan had flown in - just as big and perhaps even busier. He grabbed a cab to his apartment while tapping out a text to Logan to let him know that he'd arrived.
After talking with the guys at lunch, there hadn't been much left for Ryan to mull over. He was going to take the case. He wanted to know what had happened to Brad all those years ago, and he was in the perfect position to do the investigation. He knew the players and - for the most part - he had their trust.