Danny didn’t like anything about Harvey Cox; not the rumpled suit, not the shabby offices, not the stink of bourbon.

Margaret said, “She’s off the rails, Harvey. I know there’s something going on.”

Harvey nodded from behind his desk, the years showing on his wrinkling face and gray complexion. “She’s, what, twenty-one?”

“Twenty-three,” Jonathan said, his body rigid in the little chair on the business side of the desk, sitting between his mother and brother.

“Well, she’s got rights,” Harvey said. “She’s probably shagging some guy. Doesn’t sound like much of a mystery.”

Margaret said, “Those were our feelings too, Harvey. But we need to know who he is, where they’re going. I can’t let her run around with some stranger I don’t even know! I’ve spent the last ten years trying to protect that girl, and she throws it in my face like this?”

Harvey cracked a withered smile. “I understand that you’re upset.”

“I’m not upset, Harvey, I’m furious! I didn’t work this hard just to let some interloper destroy my family! I want you to find out who this son-of-a-bitch is who’s got his hooks into my daughter!”

Harvey held out his hands, palms flat to calm her. “Of course I will, Maggie. It may take a little time, and I’ll need some money upfront — ”

“Of course you do, whatever you need. You want the best, you pay for the best.”

Harvey nodded, ignoring Danny and Jonathan’s disapproving glare. “I’m always at your disposal, Maggie.”

Margaret smiled, for the first time in Danny’s recent recollection. “God bless you, Harvey.”

* * *

“I guess we gotta do what we gotta do,” Danny said, shaking his head as the three rode the elevator down to the subterranean parking lot. “But why him?”

“I trust him,” Margaret said, “he was a friend of your father’s.”

“He’s a sleazebag,” Danny said, “I can’t believe you don’t see that.”

“Probably just what the job requires,” Jonathan said, turning to Margaret. “Though I gotta say, I also think we can do better.”

“I don’t give a shit what you think,” Margaret said. “We go to somebody outside the family, we risk scandal, and until we know what Amy’s up to, we can’t risk that. We’ve got hundreds of millions of dollars in play, boys. We’ve got overseas partners, deals in the works. Too much information in the wrong hands could scare off investors, wipe out our stock prices … no. We have to keep this in-house.”

Danny asked, “But what make you think we can trust him?”

“Whenever I need somebody, I go to Harvey. He’s never let me down before.”

Danny didn’t have to give it too much thought. “Maybe we should just leave her alone.” Reading Margaret and Jonathan’s harsh stares, Danny explained, “Amy’s a smart girl. She can handle herself. It’s wrong to keep hovering around her like this.”

Margaret repeated, “It’s wrong? It’s necessary, Daniel, you know that!”

“Do I? Didn’t you hear yourself up there, Mom? You’re just mad that she’s defying you.”

Jonathan said, “That’s enough, Danny.”

“No, Jono,” Danny said, “it’s not nearly enough.” Turning back to their mother, Danny went on, “Mom, you’ve done a great job stepping up after Dad died; with DeyCo, and keeping the family together. I know how hard it was for you to lose him, to face life without him and everything that went along with it, how frightening it was in those few days when we didn’t know what was going to happen — ”

Jonathan warned, “Stop, Dan.”

But Danny went on, “But now, all these years later, you can’t keep micromanaging everything and everyone. The company, the family, yourself too; it’s okay to loosen the reins a bit, Mom. It may even be … necessary.”

A troubled quiet filled the elevator before the doors slid open and Margaret stepped out into the subterranean parking lot, Danny and Jonathan on her heels. She handed the valet the ticket, standing in a long, simmering silence.

Finally, Margaret looked the two of them over, her face seeming to age years in just those few seconds. “You two are getting a bit uppity for my taste. You really should think about your futures.”

Jonathan was quick to say, “It’s not me, Mom, it’s Danny. If you have confidence in Harvey Cox, so do I. You haven’t let us down yet.”

Nice ass-kissing, Danny thought and wanted to say, though he didn’t. And he knew why. It sickened him, but it failed to inspire him to take a stand.

Margaret turned to Danny, her face bent in a mask of mean expectation. Jonathan joined her, the two of them staring Danny down. Finally, he threw up a defeated shrug. “Hey, whatever. I’m just trying to help.”

Jonathan said, “Then try harder and talk less.”

* * *

Danny retired to his bong in the pool house, looking at the double-decker pool, quiet and unused, the waterfall trickling. Danny couldn’t shake his melancholy, the pot only making him more reflective and more despondent.

Poor kid, Danny couldn’t help but think. They’ll never let her be happy. And what’s worse, they’re driving her to some extreme or another, hiding out and lying, running around in secret. Mom’s right, something is going on; but that’s our fault, not Amy’s.

Maybe I should tell her, let her know they’re spying on her, sending that sleazy private investigator after her. I should tell Isla and let Isla tell her.. do something!

But caution stopped Danny in his imagined tracks.

No, not caution, Danny instantly knew, fear; fear and laziness. They’ll cut her off, Margaret and Jonathan will cut her off without a penny. They may think it’s for her own protection, they might make a big show of that, but it isn’t about that at all. Neither one of them want to be defied or denied, not by Amy or me or by anybody. It’s as much a power trip for them as it is a campaign to keep Amy safe. They may not be ready to admit it, but I know they can see it. They know I’m right.

But they know things too, Danny had to admit to himself. They know they could cut me off too, and will. They’ve got the lawyers, the company, the paperwork. I never gave a shit about those things and now they have me over a barrel just like they do Amy.

Danny took another long toke, the smoke burning and dizzying and sending that trembling thrill through his body. But the deliberate haze soon disappeared and left a piercing focus on truths Danny could no longer avoid or deny.

No wonder Amy and I always got along. It wasn’t just because we were the two youngest, not just because we’re not running the family the way Mom and Jonathan are. We have more in common than that.

We’re both kept, like pets, led around like cattle. But Amy had the good sense to resist it, to see how dehumanizing and humiliating it is. She has the spirit, at least, the moxie to want to change it. I was happy enough just to sit and wallow in my own bong water …

Danny looked at the glass bong in his hand, dirty water, stained and smudged and filthy, stinking.

Danny pulled his arm back and hurled the bong across the yard, water spilling out as the thing disappeared somewhere in the posh landscaping on the other side of the upper pool.

I should tell her. I should find out where she is and tell her what’s going on … before something terrible happens.