Chapter 9 - what ryan's father built)
Thomas Carter had been dead for four years.
Ryan had mourned him as a complicated but honorable man.
An architect.
A businessman.
A demanding father.
A grandfather who spoiled Ethan.
Now federal investigators believed Thomas Carter might have created the financial network Sarah uncovered.
Meridian.
Ruiz spread documents across the safe-house dining table.
"Your father's company started purchasing distressed properties twenty years ago."
"I know."
"Some were legitimate."
"Most were."
"Some weren't."
Ryan stared at maps.
Warehouses.
Apartment buildings.
Industrial sites.
"What's Meridian?"
"We're still determining that."
Ruiz pointed to several highlighted locations.
"These buildings transferred ownership repeatedly between shell companies."
"Money laundering?"
"Possibly."
"For whom?"
"That's the question."
Ryan looked at a familiar address.
His childhood home.
He frowned.
"Why is this here?"
Ruiz looked at him.
"Your father transferred ownership to Meridian Holdings eleven years ago."
"That's impossible. He lived there."
"Meridian owned it."
"Who owns Meridian?"
Ruiz paused.
"We don't know."
Ryan laughed without humor.
"You have federal investigators and you can't find an owner?"
"The records lead through four countries."
Claire entered.
"Lily is asleep."
Ruiz lowered her voice.
"There is something else."
Ryan knew from her expression he would not like it.
"Sarah accessed Meridian's internal accounting system six months ago."
"How?"
"Someone gave her credentials."
"Who?"
"We don't know."
"Could it have been Gavin?"
"Maybe. But Sarah's notes suggest she had another source."
Ryan looked through the documents.
A handwritten notation appeared repeatedly.
T.C.
Thomas Carter.
"My father?"
Ruiz shook her head.
"The messages containing those initials were sent after your father died."
Ryan stared.
"Then who is T.C.?"
"We hoped you could tell us."
Ryan thought of relatives.
Uncles.
Cousins.
Nobody.
Claire suddenly asked, "What about Thomas's brother?"
Ryan turned.
"My father didn't have a brother."
Claire frowned.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
She looked uncertain.
"I remember your mother mentioning someone once."
"My mother died when I was eighteen."
"I know."
"She never said anything about a brother."
Claire thought.
"It was at Thanksgiving. Your father had been drinking. Your mother said something like, 'You're becoming just like Theo.'"
Ryan stopped.
Theo.
The name struck a buried memory.
He was nine years old.
His parents arguing downstairs.
His mother shouting.
You promised Theo would never come near Ryan again.
Ryan's skin prickled.
"I've heard that name."
Ruiz leaned forward.
"Who is Theo?"
"I don't know."
That afternoon Ryan called his aunt Margaret from Ruiz's secure phone.
Margaret was his mother's older sister.
When Ryan asked about Theo, silence filled the line.
"Aunt Margaret?"
"Who told you that name?"
"No one. I remembered it."
Another pause.
"Ryan, some things were buried for a reason."
"My daughter is being hunted because of something my father was involved in."
Margaret inhaled sharply.
"You have a daughter?"
"That's not important."
"It may be."
Ryan's pulse increased.
"Why?"
"Because if Thomas's people know about her..."
"What people?"
Margaret began crying.
"Ryan, listen to me."
"I'm listening."
"Your father had a twin brother."
Ryan stared at the wall.
"No."
"His name was Theodore."
"Why have I never heard of him?"
"Because Thomas made sure you didn't."
"What happened to him?"
"We thought he died."
"When?"
Margaret whispered, "Thirty-one years ago."
Ryan's mind moved quickly.
He was thirty-seven.
He would have been six.
"What do you mean thought?"
"There was a fire."
"What fire?"
"The house fire at Lake Mercer."
Ryan remembered photographs of the ruined vacation cabin.
His father had always said an electrical fault destroyed it.
"Was Theo inside?"
"Yes."
"Did they find his body?"
Silence.
Ryan closed his eyes.
"They didn't."
Margaret whispered, "Your mother believed he survived."
"Why?"
"Because six months after the fire, someone came to your school."
Ryan's blood turned cold.
"What happened?"
"You disappeared for three hours."
Ryan stood abruptly.
"What?"
"You don't remember?"
"No."
"When they found you, you were sitting at a bus station twelve miles away."
Ryan gripped the phone.
"Who took me?"
"You said it was your father."
May you like
Ryan stared through the window.
"But your father was with us the entire time."
