for me."
"I will. It was nice to see you, too."
"You're such a terrible liar." She walked with him to the office door. "Seriously, do you think you'll find out what happened to Brad that night?"
"I'm trying. It won't be easy all these years later."
Although now he had a new avenue to look down thanks to Isla - Brad's dysfunctional family. There had been rumors years ago that Skip had been having an affair, and that Lilly was spending far too much time with her tennis pro. What else might be going on behind the curtain?
"What do you think happened to Brad?" he asked, his hand on the doorknob. "Do you have a theory?"
She didn't answer for a long moment, her gaze far away. "For a long time, I told myself that he just went off and started a new life. But I knew deep down he would never do that. He was devoted to his family. Eventually, I assumed that he'd been in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was probably mugged or got in a fight with someone who didn't have much left to lose. So that's what I think happened. If he had gone home with Caro or Theo that night, he'd probably be alive today."
Ryan bid Isla goodbye and headed back to the apartment to get ready for his mother's birthday party. It looked like he had more questions for Skip, Lilly, and Seb.
They hadn't been telling him the whole truth.
26
"You go ahead to the party," Ryan said, tapping away at the keyboard of his laptop. "I'll catch up to you in an hour or so. I really need to finish this."
Mariah exchanged a glance with Knox. Ryan had told her that he had apologized to his dad and that everything was better than ever with his parents, but now he was making an excuse not to go to the birthday party.
Knox just shrugged and stepped away so Mariah could talk to Ryan alone.
"You cannot skip your mother's birthday party. You'll hurt her terribly and Liza will be livid."
He looked up from the laptop. "I'm not skipping the party. I just need to do this research into the Harrington family. I'm pissed off at myself for not doing it in the first place, but I was just so focused on all of us at the bar that night. I'll be right behind you, just a little late. That's all."
"Doesn't your boss Jared usually do the computer research?"
"He does, but he's busy tonight."
"What about Knox?"
The other man must have heard his name even though he was on the other side of the room.
"I can do it, Ryan. You go ahead to the party. Your parents don't care if I'm there."
Liza had insisted that Knox join them tonight, and Ryan had even lent him a tuxedo from his Chicago closet. Knox had expressed his fascination that a person could own more than one tux. He'd joked that he was strictly a renter of formal wear.
"I'm really close to finishing. Just go ahead," Ryan insisted. "I swear I'll be right behind you. If I handed this to you, you'd just have to start over."
Mariah wasn't quite sure what to do. If she showed up at the party without Ryan she was going to get shit from Liza. But she knew Ryan well, and he wasn't going to budge here. He was in the zone, so to speak, and barely noticing that other people existed.
So much for my new dress and all the time I took with my hair and makeup.
"Fine," she finally said. "But if you're not there in an hour, I'm getting in the car and forcibly removing you from that chair and dragging you to the party."
"And I'll help her," Knox declared with a grin. "One hour, bro."
"One hour," Ryan agreed, not even looking up from the screen. "I promise. I don't want to upset my mother either. I'll be there. I'm already dressed. I just need to put my jacket and shoes on."
There wasn't anything left to argue about. Mariah dropped her lipstick and keys into her tiny handbag and checked her makeup in the mirror next to the door while Knox leaned down to whisper something into Ryan's ear. She didn't know what he said, but Ryan stopped what he was doing and stood up, striding over to where she was standing.
"Before you go, I just wanted to tell how goddamn gorgeous you look tonight, babe," Ryan said, enfolding her into his strong arms.