his own death and start a new life. He'd actually talked about that once but I'm sure he was just bullshitting like we always did. He wasn't going to walk away from family and friends. He was - in current terms - living his best life, if you know what I mean. The guy was having a ball and with his family's connections his future was golden. I can't imagine that he'd want to throw all that away. No, I always assumed that he'd trusted the wrong person and got himself hurt. As wild as Brad was, he was always a little naive and trusting. He'd lived a sheltered life to a certain extent."
"As did you, I would imagine."
Ryan had always assumed that Logan, Jason, and Jared knew all about his family. They'd never said anything out loud but they knew how often a suspect ordered pizza and what Netflix shows they liked to watch. It wasn't a far stretch to assume that they also knew that Ryan came from big family money and had grown up privileged and wealthy.
"You could say that I did," Ryan conceded. "Not from choice, though."
"So what do you think about this?"
"I'm not sure what you're asking," Ryan admitted. "I think that it's going to be difficult to find out what really happened to Brad after all of these years if that's what you mean."
"It is going to be difficult which is why the Harrington family has requested that you work on the case. They want to know for sure what happened to their son that night, and if foul play was involved, who did it."
Charles "Skip" Harrington and his wife Lily were asking for him? How did they even know where he worked?
Of course...Ryan's parents. They were close friends with Skip and Lily. They had been even before Ryan and Brad were born.
"I doubt the Chicago police want me nosing around their case," Ryan said, trying to stall while his brain whirled with this new information. He needed time to digest all of this before he responded to any requests. "We don't even know if there is case to be investigated. According to this file that you gave me, the cause of death is still pending. It might have been an accident."
Logan nodded in agreement. "And if it is the parents still want to know how it happened. If it's not...they want to know who is responsible and have them brought to justice. Apparently, the family has a theory about a serial killer that was operating in Chicago at the time kidnapping college kids, murdering them, and then dumping the bodies. He was never caught. They've always felt that their son was one of his victims but the police didn't think there was enough evidence to tie it together with the other cases. As for the cops, I don't think they have any say in this. The Harrington family is well-connected, as you know, and they want a private firm brought in to assist."
"Our firm?"
"Yes, and you specifically. I have to say I think that they're right. You're the perfect person for the job. You already know the people involved in the case and you have their trust and confidence. I could send someone else but I don't think that they'll be able to do the job as quickly as you could."
"It's...but my family..."
"I also think that you might want to know what happened to your friend all those years ago," Logan said as if Ryan hadn't just spoken.
"I do want to know," he admitted. "But it's not a simple thing."
"Spending time with your family?"
"We don't have the best relationship. They don't approve of what I do or the life that I'm leading. They want me to join the family business."
"Parents can be that way." Logan turned to his laptop and tapped on the keys. "I can only guess as to your relationship with your family so I'm going to leave it up to you. If you want to do it, I'll send you out right away and then Luke can join you to help when we free him up here. If you don't want to go, I understand. We'll assign someone else. If I give you the night to think it over, can you give me your answer first thing in the morning?"
"I can."
He'd know what he wanted to do by then, right? All of his instincts were telling him to run far away from this case, but there was a part deep