Come with me if you want answers.

I knew better than to trust my father. Unfortunately, I had already taken my gun out of my ankle holster and set my phone down when he came through my hotel room door uninvited. But I desperately wanted answers, and even though leaving with him might turn out to be the stupidest thing I’d ever done, my curiosity won out. I didn’t stop to think how he’d gotten a key to my room, how he’d come into the hotel unnoticed.

While I didn’t trust him—not even a little bit—I didn’t think he’d hurt me. It seemed to be a game with him. He’d stay just out of my reach, and he’d also leave me alone.

For once, he wasn’t wearing a ski mask or the blue contacts. But he was wearing a Colorado Rockies skullcap, which covered his black hair, and black pants and a hoodie. I guessed he was going for gangsta hood.

We didn’t go far. Just to another room in the same hotel. The top floor. I sat, uneasy, on one of the chairs in the room.

“Wine?” he asked.

“No, thanks.” No way was I going to risk getting even slightly inebriated.

“Mind if I have some?”

“Suit yourself.”

He poured himself a glass and then sat down across from me. “You look good.”

“Am I supposed to say thanks?”

“That’s up to you. You were always a beautiful girl, Ruby. Why you’ve been hiding it behind those masculine clothes all these years is beyond me.”

Maybe because you tried to rape me and instilled an irrational fear of men in your teenage daughter.

I stayed silent. Then, “You said you had answers.”

“I do. But first I need you to guarantee me passage out of the country.”

“No can do,” I said. “Are you forgetting I’m an officer of the law? I could arrest you right now.”

“Without a gun? I don’t think so.” He unzipped his hoodie to expose a shoulder holster and Glock.

Though my stomach lurched, as it always did when I encountered someone who was armed, I wasn’t shocked. “If you wanted to hurt me, you’d have done it long ago.” Still, I began devising ways in my mind to disarm him.

“Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe I’ve been amusing myself watching you try to catch me all these years.”

“Seems you’ve found other ways to amuse yourself, Pops. You know…raping and torturing people? Kids? Then selling them into slavery? Must be really amusing for you or you wouldn’t do it.”

He laughed. Actually laughed! “I do it for the money, kid.”

“Don’t give me that bullshit. Maybe you sell them for the money. The raping and torturing is just for fun. Admit it, you shit-eating psychopath.”

“Is that any way to talk to your father?”

“It is when he’s a shit-eating psychopath.”

He didn’t respond. And then I saw it. On the ring finger of his right hand. The ring, identical to Tom Simpson’s. I couldn’t help staring. Was the symbol the same? I couldn’t get a good look from the angle where I was.

“You promised me answers,” I said again.

“Would you believe anything a shit-eating psychopath told you?” he asked.

As much as I hated to admit it, he had a good point. My heart was beating like a bass drum, but I couldn’t show my nervousness. I needed him to see that I was maintaining control, that I didn’t fear him.

“Your ring,” I said. “May I see it?”

“Of course.” He removed it and handed it to me. “It will belong to you someday. You’re my only child.”

“Thank God. You certainly shouldn’t be allowed to reproduce.”

“Believe it or not, Ruby, I never meant to reproduce. I told you a long time ago that your mother was a one-night stand gone wrong.”

I ignored his heinous remark and fingered the ring. It was identical to Simpson’s, right down to the enigmatic symbol. “What does this symbol mean?”

“It represents an old club I belonged to a long time ago.”

“Yes, the future lawmakers club in high school. I know all about that.”

“You’re a good investigator. A good cop, Ruby. I’m proud of you.”

Say what? “I haven’t brought you down yet.”

“True. But I’m uncatchable. I’m careful, very cautious.”

Delusions of grandeur. I’d have to ask Melanie if that was a symptom of psychopathy. If I ever got out of here, that was.

“Back to the ring,” I said. “What does the symbol mean?”

“It symbolizes our commitment to each other and to the club, among other things.”

“What was the club about?”

“What do you think? We were future lawmakers.”

“And what laws would those be? All you’ve done is break the law.”

“Think about it. You’re smart. You’re my daughter, for God’s sake. Oh, and if you’re thinking that maybe you’re not, that maybe the whole thing is a hellacious mistake, give it up. I had your DNA tested when your mother flew the coop. I figured the whore might have been lying on your birth certificate.”

I stood, fear raging through my veins, but I was not going to let him speak badly about my mother. Flew the coop? The woman had died. “Don’t ever mention my mother again.”

“Fine by me. But you should know this. Your mother gave you to me. She’s the reason you were sent to me.”

Keep calm, Ruby. He’s just trying to distract you from the ring. I breathed in deeply and let the air out slowly. I said nothing.

He continued trying to bait me. “She phoned me and told me she could no longer afford you, and that it was my turn.”

“She died. That’s why I was sent to you.”

“Your mother didn’t die, Ruby. When I refused to take you, she abandoned you and you became a ward of the state. When officials called me, I had no choice but to take you. But rest assured, I made sure you were truly mine.”

No. My mother loved me. She did the best she could. Grief overwhelmed me. My father’s face blurred, and I blinked. Had to stay cool. Had to. “You’re lying, you son of a bitch.”

“I’m not.”

“Oh? Where is my mother then?”

“I have no idea. Do you think I give a shit where she is?”

“I do. Where is she, you asshole!”

“She didn’t want you. It’s no use trying to find her.”

“You’re lying! My mother loved me. She loved me.” I choked back tears. “I’m out of here.” I stood and turned toward the door, but he yanked me back.

“You’re not going anywhere.”