"Would I do anything to put Amathea at risk?"
"Not knowingly. But the whole point of a confidence game is to get people to trust inherently untrustworthy people. You don't know this man."
"Oh. And you do?"
"Well, not personally. But I've seen the reports. I know what he's capable of. An awful lot of people lost their life's savings investing in the fraudulent stocks and bonds he created."
"That may be, Ryan, but where I work, he's considered something of a hero. So cut him a little slack, okay?" She stepped back a pace, and turned towards Conklin. "Sorry about that, Peter. Did you bring it with you?"
He nodded, and kneeled beside his attache. Opening it, he extracted a large envelope and handed it up to her.
"What's in that," Ryan asked suspiciously.
"A present for Amathea. There's more to her name than just a butterfly." Conklin massaged his left calf for a moment before returning to his feet. When he did, he nodded towards the house. "Would you mind if we sat on the porch? I can only stand comfortably for so long at a go."
Ryan followed the others, feeling a bit out of place in his own home, and eager to do something to rectify the situation. While Cristall and Conklin were settling in on the padded bench that was built onto the house, he went inside and brought out a round of iced tea. Once the glasses were set out, he pulled up a wicker chair and joined them. "You were saying about Amathea?"
At the sound of her name, Cristall's daughter scrambled out from under the table and stood on the bench between the two adults. "Yeah," she said excitedly, what else am I?"
Conklin smiled at her, and laid his hand over the envelope. "No peeking until I've told the story, okay?"
She nodded gravely. "Okay."
"Well, besides being part of the name of the butterfly you're wearing, your name also has roots in Greek mythology. Have you ever heard about them?"
She turned to her mother. "Have I?"
"Sure. Don't you remember we talked about the pictures you can see in the stars? The constellations?"
She looked up into the hazy Los Angeles sky, smiled, and nodded.
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