I got nothing,” said Lucas. “I guess I could’ve called and told you that.”

Ash showed Lucas in, and gestured toward a chair. This time of early evening, the sun was on the other side of the building, and his office had grown dark, except for the glow from his desk lamp. He liked it that way. Liked the way the shadows gradually stretched, cutting out all extraneous things in view. The dark helped him focus almost as much as the quiet did.

To focus, for instance, on the fact that Lucas was wrong. Of course he had something. Ash watched him closely.

Lucas glanced around him. “Nice digs.”

“It was decorated in happier times,” he said. He ran his fingers over the supple leather of his chair. “Back when it seemed like Cray Reliable was on the rise.”

“You seem to do pretty well for yourself,” Lucas said.

Ash nodded and pushed himself up from the chair. He was surprised by how tired he felt after the day of work, not invigorated the way he used to feel. “Certainly looks that way, doesn’t it? Appearances have a way of deceiving you. Can I get you a drink?”

“I don’t want to waste your time,” said Lucas. “Just wanted you to know I couldn’t find anything in my dad’s papers.”

Ash poured out two glasses of scotch. “Oh, sit down. You don’t have to rush out of here like one of my underlings.”

Lucas accepted the offered glass. “Figured you’d want me out of here as soon as possible.”

Ash slid back into his chair. “You looked through your father’s papers.”

“Everything I could find.”

“No mention of the deal.”

Lucas shrugged.

I don’t believe you.

In any negotiation, it was important to look for those hidden signals, those subtle messages that said more than words. Everyone had an agenda, and secrets were power.

If Lucas had found something, he could easily keep it from Ash. Hold it back. Wait to figure out what he could get in return. Except Lucas is too honest for that. He doesn’t lie.

He watched Lucas sip the scotch. Enjoyed the way Lucas’ nose wrinkled as it burned its way down his throat. His own drink remained untouched. Regardless of what Callum might think, he wasn’t sitting in his office all day drinking.

“Does that strike you as strange?” asked Ash. “My father knows more than he’s saying. Does yours? Why wouldn’t he know some details?”

Lucas studied his drink in silence. He looked uncomfortable.

Good. Ash wasn’t a sadist by any means, but he was willing to let a silence stretch out forever, if it made someone speak the truth by the end of it.

“My dad’s not interested,” Lucas said finally. “He just knows there will be money coming in.”

There was a truth, even if Ash wasn’t sure what to do with it. How could Jedediah Phelps be uninterested in what was going on? It didn’t make sense. Ash would have to file that one away for later. There had to be more. Lucas had to know something. Ash wondered how long he could keep him here.

“Sorry to waste your time,” said Lucas. “I’ll finish this and go.”

“I’m in no rush,” said Ash. “Who else am I going to talk to about this? Callum’s tired of hearing about it. Evan thinks we should sell everything and go live on an island drinking cocktails the rest of our lives. So…”

“Tag, I’m it.”

“Exactly.”

Lucas stared into his glass. “My friends have given me hell about whatever it is we’re doing here.”

Ash felt that old discomfort, that fear of being talked about. But it opened an opportunity, a line of attack. He kept his face still. “Friends. I can’t believe you still hang out with those guys. You know who I still see from high school? No one.”

“You’ve moved on, I guess.” Lucas sounded skeptical and wary.

“I have,” said Ash. He gave Lucas a significant look. “I’ve moved on from everything.”

“Except the feud. Because when something bad happened, you suspected me.”

He couldn’t help it, he laughed. “Very well. I put everything behind me but the feud. You haven’t even gone that far. Evan has told me about your…game nights, is it? Reliving past glories, old battles…”

Lucas tilted his head up, looking at the ceiling, and took a deep breath. “You’re obviously going somewhere with this. Would you just say it?”

“You and your pals spend a lot of time thinking about what you did to me and Callum at the quarry.”

“What we did to you? As I recall, Ash—”

He raised his hand to stop Lucas from going further. “Not interested. What I want to know is, do they know the whole story?”

That got him. Lucas blanched. It was a small victory for Ash, but he’d take what he could get. Throw an opponent off his balance, and he’ll give something away.

“Don’t worry, Ash, I’m never going to tell my friends I slept with you.”

There it was. It was like a great weight had lifted from Ash’s shoulders. Like he could breathe again. Even if it wasn’t directly related to the land deal, the fact that Lucas hadn’t told his friends was useful information.

“It’s strange to hear it spoken aloud,” he said to Lucas. “To have it out in the open like this. We’ve never talked about it.”

Lucas was trying to look nonchalant…and failing. “It’s not a big deal, Ash. People make dumb decisions when they’re young.”

“I’ll say.”

“I can assure you, whatever hormones sent me your way back then, they’re all gone now.”

“You say back then as though it never happened again.”

Was that a flicker of anger in Lucas’ eyes? It had always been so easy to get under his skin.

“Fine, whatever sent me your way a couple more times during college—”

“I wasn’t suggesting that you—”

“Come on,” said Lucas. “Why bring it up? Why dredge up something we both know was a mistake?”

Because it proves you can keep a secret. You could have told everyone. They would have laughed and laughed. But you didn’t.

If you can keep that a secret…what secrets about this deal might be tucked away inside your head?

Everyone talked about trusting your gut in business, but Ash knew that wasn’t true. Above all else, you had to trust the numbers, the calculations, the information. People misinterpreted things all the time, with all their hunches based on preconceived notions. But you couldn’t dispute cold hard numbers, and you couldn’t dispute facts. Like the fact that Lucas was keeping secrets.

That’s the only reason I brought up that we’d been together. For the information. Not because of anything else. Promise.

Ash pulled over his legal pad. He’d filled up half of it since this first began. Notes, thoughts, hypotheses.

“I’m glad to hear you never mentioned it to your friends,” he said. “They’re not like you and me. They wouldn’t understand.”

“You keep acting like we have something in common, Ash. I assure you, we don’t.”

He’d unbalanced Lucas. Time to reel him back in.

“We come from the richest two families in the county,” Ash said. “Yet we were both sent to the same schools as everyone else.”

“I don’t know why you went there,” Lucas said. “My folks sent me there because they didn’t want me taking on airs.”

Ash smiled. “Are you sure? Archibald was very clear with me. He wanted me to see how common people lived. Put the fear of God in me. Work hard, build the company, or else…”

“Damn, Ash, are you really that much of a snob?”

A sour note.

Did I misjudge him? I thought for sure he’d see himself as superior to the guys we knew in school. Why wouldn’t he? He’s better than any of them.

“I’m sorry,” Ash said. “I didn’t realize I was dealing with someone so humble.”

“Dude, I will never be as rich as you. Okay? My father made sure of that. He wasn’t as ambitious as your dad, and he sure as hell wasn’t as smart as your uncle. So no, I didn’t grow up thinking of myself as superior to everybody else.”

He doesn’t like his dad.

Surely that was useful information too.

Or maybe it only seemed important because it mirrored how Ash was feeling lately.

“Ambition isn’t everything,” Ash said. “It can lead people into some bad places.”

“Surprised to hear you say that,” Lucas said. “Maybe there’s hope for you yet.”

Ash flipped through the pages of his legal pad. “I’ve got calls in to all the developers in the county, putting out feelers. Whoever wants this land must want to do something with it…and that means permits, council meetings, a paper trail. Somewhere, someone knows who this is.”

“That’s it? Your big plan is to make a few calls?”

“What did you expect, Lucas? We’re not detectives. I was just hoping this would be easier.”

He couldn’t say what he thought: Something you told me about your dad is important here, and it’ll help me figure this out. I just don’t know what it is yet.

“Come back tomorrow?” he asked Lucas.

“Are you kidding? I was shocked enough when you asked me into the inner sanctum here. Now you want a return visit?”

Until I’m convinced I know everything you’re hiding, I need you close.

“We’re in this together,” Ash said.