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He lowered his voice, trying to soothe me. “Because I knew him, and I want to see justice done. Don’t you?”
Tension was tight in my neck. “I do, but it hits so close to home.”
“Ryleigh, I would never hurt you or your family, you know that.”
“I know. It just hurts.”
“I would be surprised if you said it didn’t any longer. Your father deserves justice. He was a good man.”
Tears threatened. I had to agree that he was a good man. He took care of all of us and didn’t deserve what happened to him.
“I miss him,” I sniffled.
“I know. You can always talk to me if you need a friend.”
“Thank you.”
Ty had been one of the few people I could talk to about how I felt. I knew how sensitive the issue of my father’s murder was to my family, and I kept my feelings to myself. After sixteen years, I still had many questions.
“Did you discover anything?” I asked eagerly.
“I just pulled the file a couple of days ago. There’s a lot of paperwork to go through.”
“Would you tell me if you did?”
“Of course. You’re an adult now.”
“Can you tell that to my parents?”
Ty chuckled, “What now?”
“They want me to return to Hudson Brook after I graduate.”
“But you already secured an apartment.”
“I know. I did it without telling them because if I didn’t, they would work on me until I gave in. Finley and Matthew moved out after they graduated. I want to do the same.”
“How are they, by the way? I haven’t talked to either one of them in a few weeks.”
“Matthew is busy with his new job. He’s making gobs of money in his new position. Sadie’s calling him a greedy bastard.”
“He’s not greedy, he’s smart. What about Finley?”
“Still begging the VCs for money. He’s missing my graduation to hold out his bowl for more porridge.”
Finley had been chugging along for the past year and a half, working on his software start-up. Now, it had several employees and a small office in midtown; as his applications gained traction and more seed money came in, so did the limitations of his time. He was a classic workaholic, just like my father.
“Sounds like Finley. He could always be found in the computer lab in high school on his off hours and after school. I guess it worked out. Why did he bother to go to college?”
“I have no idea. Probably to find employees. It’s like a nerd factory over there.” I sighed, remembering the last time I went to his office. “I hate visiting—they all look at me like they’ve never seen a woman before.”
Ty laughed, “It’s not that. It’s because you’re gorgeous.”
I ground my teeth because even though Ty and I had decided to be friends, it bothered me when he said things like this. I knew he wanted more, but I couldn’t give myself to him.
It wasn’t his looks that turned me off; he was very handsome, with his thick chestnut hair and cornflower blue eyes. It was his career. I never wanted to face what I did when I was six. If we got involved, I would always worry that two officers would show up at my door telling me Ty was dead. I couldn’t take it again.
“Stop embarrassing me. I’m sure it’s not that at all.”
