“But you’re not convinced?”
“I think that he has more tricks up his sleeve. I think he might have his ID already, but he’s just too scared to use it.”
“Okay. Well, I can definitely look into it.”
“The cost is…well, it’s not inconsequential, but I can pay.” I had a savings account.
“I know what you guys make on those yachts, but I also want to help this kid out. So, five grand.”
“Deal.” I had thought it would be more than that.
“Now, tell me anything you know.”
“He’s from Brooklyn. His first name is Sawyer, and his father’s name is Silas Ryker.”
Iris inhaled sharply. “Well, I can see why he’d be careful.”
“What? Why?”
“You didn’t even google the guy?”
I chuckled without humor. “I felt…paranoid.”
“Well, what I can tell you outright is that Ryker is mob adjacent. Not a big deal, more like one of those too ambitious kind of mid-level crooks who try their best to rub shoulders with the big guys.”
“I’ve heard of the type,” I murmured.
“I’ll look around. There’s no chance he’ll find out. I’m just that good at what I do. But,” she paused for a moment. “Whatever I find, I don’t think it’s going to be super good if the kid ran away.”
“I thought violence of some sort for sure. I just can’t ask. He developed pretty severe agoraphobia after whatever happened to him, so…”
“Poor kid. Okay, I’ll text you whatever I find. And my bank account information.” I could hear a grin in her tone. “Forget about this call.”
“Will do,” I said, hearing the call disconnect before I got the second word out.
The next day, I got a series of texts from Iris.
There isn’t a missing person’s report, but I think your friend is right to say someone is keeping an eye on whether anyone looks into it—don’t worry, I didn’t trigger anything.
I used some connections and found out that there was an incident within Ryker’s inner circle right around the time his son went missing. One of his men was found dead and nobody seemed to care much. Rumor says that something went wrong with the son and that guy, but that’s all I could find out.
Oh, and Ryker has put money into his son’s bank account monthly since he went missing. I bet he’s keeping an eye on whether he’s withdrawing cash or using the card though.
The last message was her bank information, and I made the transfer from my savings as soon as I had my laptop booted up.
It bothered me, the whole thing. But I also couldn’t talk about it with Rey because he trusted me.
In some ways, his agoraphobia was very convenient, because it kept him from being seen by anyone. Not that I thought his father would have eyes everywhere, but let’s say he went to an event and his picture ended up somewhere…Stranger things have happened.
* * * *
I was still largely alone in the kitchen most mornings. Now that River and Ben were staying at the cabin, there wasn’t a sleepy River in my kitchen most mornings. Instead, Ben came in for the good coffee and because he knew I liked to make breakfast for anyone who wanted it.
While he woke up and I cooked, we started to slowly bond a little. We talked about inconsequential things, but also the important stuff, like our families.
I even told him about Alaska, and how that all had went, while he shared with me the story of his cousin whose death in a school shooting had changed Ben’s mother and wrecked Ben’s teen years completely.
We got to talking about how I’d always felt cold in Alaska, and that how it made me want to leave here by the time there was snow on the ground.
