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“But if one of your brothers, or both, knew how much they had to lose, it could have thrown them into a rage, am I right?” Cantor said.

Thomas shrugged.

“Danny’s too weak, as much of a tough guy as he likes to think he is. Jack never had any use for Danny, to tell you the truth. Or for the rest of us, for that matter. He thinks he’s one of those strongman types. But now he wants Danny’s help, and mine, to take down Jenny.”

“You pick a lane yet?” Cantor said.

“Not until I have to.”

“Even though she just upgraded you?”

“Even though.”

Cantor walked over to the drinks setup and grabbed one of those small bottles of soda water.

“It sounds like you think Jack could have done it, especially if he knew your father was going to put Jenny in charge of the newspaper.”

“From the time we were kids,” Thomas said, “Jack was the one who would do anything, and I meananydamnthing,to win whatever competition Dad had set up for us. If he needed Danny on his side, he’d get Danny. Same with me. The only one who wouldn’t ever go along was Jenny.”

“Kill or be killed,” Cantor said.

“So you know the family motto.”

“Sounds like an interesting way to grow up.”

“Interesting would be one way to describe it,” Thomas said. “Boot camp would be another. Or military school. Or reform school.”

Cantor said, “Say somebody did do it. They’d have to swim back to shore, correct?”

“Unless they rowed out, climbed up the ladder, got it done, pulled up the ladder, and jumped back down into the boat.”

“Who said the ladder was up?”

Thomas didn’t hesitate. “The world’s greatest detective agency.TMZ.”

“Your brother Jack was on the rowing team at Stanford,” Cantor said.

“Wasn’t he, though?”

There was another silence. But they never lasted very long with Thomas Wolf. Cantor got the idea that if Thomas went too long without saying something, his whole body might begin to cramp up.

“Who wouldyourmoney be on?” Thomas said to Cantor.

“Maybe you.”

With that, he stood up and headed back up the stairs. Thomas followed him.

“How come you didn’t take any notes?”

“Trust me,” Cantor said. “I’ll remember this conversation just fine without them.”

Twenty

I FELT LIKE Ihad a very weird, very split football personality going. My kids on the Bears, they wouldn’t lose. The Wolves? They just refused to get me a win.

We lost to the Seahawks as badly as we did—as if they’d thrown us down a flight of stairs—because our coach decided to bench Ted Skyler and replace him with his rookie backup, Chase Charles, who proceeded to throw three interceptions. By the end of the game, Charles had me wondering from my seat in the stands if it might be time for him to consider a change in vocation.

I waited an hour after the game had ended before I made my way down to Coach Rich Kopka’s office, adjacent to our locker room.