“Oh.” It was Diesel’s turn to hesitate. He wasn’t ashamed of his hacking, but he was loath to drag Michael into his business. The kid was pretty good at keeping secrets—he’d kept the one about Scott King killing his stepfather for more than a week, after all—but that didn’t mean Diesel wanted to burden him with having to keep a secret of this weight. What Ritz was doing was . . . illegal. And Diesel had designed the program himself, so he couldn’t blame anyone else.

Michael’s lips twitched. “I know what you do. Greg told me last night.”

Diesel put the sock down, brows furrowed in an involuntary frown. “He did?”

Michael’s smile broadened. “He didn’t mean to. I guessed and he didn’t tell me I was wrong. He tried to tell me I was wrong, actually, but he’s a really bad liar.”

Diesel laughed. “Good to know. How did you guess?”

“We were talking about video games. He was telling me that he was learning game design, that he wanted to go to school for it. He showed me the game he was working on. Just simple, you know. But cool. He said that Meredith’s grandfather was helping him. They Skype.”

Diesel smiled fondly at the thought of the old man. “Clarke Fallon is a legend in game design.” He’d also become the kind of grandfather that Diesel had never had before. He hadn’t realized Clarke was helping Greg, but it didn’t surprise him.

Michael’s eyes grew round with excitement. “I know! I looked him up and couldn’t believe Greg knows him. I’ve played some of the games Mr. Fallon designed. Then Greg said that you were also friends with Mr. Fallon, that you helped him beta test games.” He tilted his head, his eyes going cagey. “Greg said that you were good with all kinds of computer stuff and then he kind of . . .” He exaggerated snapping his mouth shut. “I watched you on your computer on Saturday, when I was reading and Dr. Dani was cooking. You weren’t playing games then. And you said you investigated for your lawyer friend, Mr. Clausing.” He shrugged his bony shoulders. “I asked Greg if you were a hacker.”

“That’s kind of a leap,” Diesel said dryly.

“Well, Greg already told me that he’d done some hacking. I asked how he learned and he said he had a mentor.”

“I think Greg and I need to have a talk about discretion.”

Michael laughed quietly. “Don’t tell him I told. I like him. He’s a nice guy.”

“He is nice. Has a really big mouth, unfortunately.”

Michael shrugged again. “I’m not stupid. I would have figured it out.” He pointed to the laptop screen. “You’re hash cracking.”