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"And what exactly did you find?" Russ asked, suddenly ured Ryan's fishing expedition had been as fruitless as his own Ryan's initial indignation no longer threatened the older ht

"The first thing I discovered was that Zoe's hunch about you was correct You'd visited the bus station a few hours before we did So I wondered, what in the world could you be looking for?"

"Ryan, surely you know I've always had your best interests at heart"

"I thought so Up until our search led us to the contents of Faith's locker"

"That's ihteous certainty in his voice "They told ht questions to ask," Zoe said, unable to contain her pride in Ryan

"It doesn'tbetween the everything that led up to her running away"

Uncle Russ walked to his side of the desk and lowered hie, leather chair "You can't possibly believe the ravings of a seventeen-year-old drug addict" That he was no longer eye to eye with Ryan, but gripping the arave away the ht now unless you knew for sure Faith's words were s"

"That's nonsense," his uncle said in return

A muscle ticked in Ryan's jaw "Still in denial?"

Tension radiated between the men and she sensed Ryan's disappointhout his life Even cornered, he wasn't h to own up to his actions

She had to clench her fists in order to prevent herself fro Ryan down He needed to do this and she needed to let him

"So tell me just what it is you think you know," Russ said dislittle boy

A pathetic old man's last bid to doht But she knew Russ's attempt to cause Ryan to back doas doomed to failure

"What do I know?" Ryan mimicked, then stormed across the room and braced both are "Dad already s that took place during the years Faith was most troubled Thanks to her letters, I know you were involved with organized cri schedules" His voice was filled with disdain "And I know that select vehicles with hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of electronics were hijacked"

"Coincidence"