what I would do if my sibling ended up dead.”
“I remember that.”
“I stopped at nothing to find the truth behind my brother’s death and didn’t even learn he was my brother until halfway through my investigation.”
“That’s why you’re helping me.”
Sasha sat back, willed her pulse to slow down. “That is why I started to help you. Now it’s personal.”
He dropped his hands to the table. “I don’t know what to say.”
He appeared genuinely concerned for her. Not that she knew what to do with that emotion. “Your turn.”
“What?”
“I told you my story. What’s yours?”
A puff of breath came from his mouth. “Nothing like yours.”
“Few are.”
He sat back in his chair, picked up his coffee. “My father is guilty of many things, but murder isn’t one of them. He loves his career more than his family. He chased his political life all the way to Germany, as you know. Bounced around every time the White House changed hands. He expected all of us to bounce right along with him. My mother has stuck with him, for the most part. I head butted authority, as you found out. Guilty of theft because I could, not because I needed what I stole.”
“Breaking and entering? Grand theft?” she asked, knowing that’s what she had read about him.
“Yeah. All to gain attention from Daddy. Which I did. He was six months from taking the position in Germany and he gave me an ultimatum. Richter, with my sister . . . or the military.”
“You didn’t do either.”
“No. I told him to screw off. Finished high school and went to community college for a couple of years.” He finished his coffee and pushed away from the table. He grabbed the pot warming on the sideboard and refreshed his cup and then hers as he talked. “I straightened up my shit.”
“You wanna start over with that comment?” Sasha asked, her question a warning.
“I got better at what I did,” he confessed. “Had a close call a couple years ago.”
“Why do you do it?”
AJ met her stare. “Same reason you put on wigs and flee the country with fake passports. Adrenaline. It’s never boring.”
“Stealing cars is nothing more than an adrenaline rush?”
He didn’t even attempt to look embarrassed about his choice of extracurricular activities.
“I’ve considered giving it up.”
She shook her head. “No, you haven’t.”
“I have. I just need something else to take its place and a good reason to find something else to do with my time.”
“Like searching for your sister’s murderer?”
Some of AJ’s smirk left his lips. “I haven’t stolen one car since her death.”
“How do you stay under the radar?” she asked. Because while they assumed AJ still had sticky fingers, she and Reed weren’t finding any concrete proof he was actively stealing anything.
He paused, his lips pressed together.
“It’s called getting to know you, AJ.” She used his words against him.
He smiled. “I work alone.”
“You have to have some contacts when off-loading . . .”
He shook his head. “Where is the fun if I tell you all my secrets?”
He had a point.
Sasha leaned back. “So Amelia went to Germany and studied at Richter, and you moved to Florida.”
“Yeah.”
“Why did Amelia go to Richter?”
AJ sat back down. “Dad said it was to keep her safe. As if the US ambassador to Germany was some great target,” he said with doubt. “He wanted Amelia contained in a boarding school so he didn’t feel guilty about being an absentee dad. When he moved on from his job in Germany, Amelia stayed her final year.”
“Did she ever tell you why she stayed?”
“No. We didn’t spend a lot of time together after she graduated. Holidays, that kind of thing. I should have gone to Richter with her.” He sighed when he said the last part of his thought. Guilt hovered in his eyes.
“It wouldn’t change the facts now.”
AJ locked eyes with her. “If you could go back and spend time with your brother, would you?”
A strange knot in her throat made her swallow. “You can’t go back.”
“Doesn’t make me stop wishing I could.”
“Waste of energy.”
“You’re right. So I do the next best thing. Make sure whoever is responsible for her death pays.”
Footsteps in the hall outside of the dining room interrupted them.
Neil appeared in the doorway, a laptop in his hands. “We have a new development.”
That’s never good.
He placed the computer on the table and brought up a news channel.
“The missing student from Richter, a private boarding school known for its program to help troubled teens.”
A picture of Claire in her school