“Thank you for doing this.” I couldn’t put into words what I felt, why it meant something that Tempest was here with me. I knew it was a big deal, the fact that she’d taken me to meet her grandmother, despite her protests to the contrary.
She looked behind her as she headed down the hall. “I’m glad you brought me here,” she said.
***
It wasn’t more than thirty minutes later that Tempest yelled from the other side of the house. “Silas,” she said. “I found what we’re looking for.”
I followed her voice to my mother’s bedroom, where she stood holding a small book. “What is it?”
“Your mom’s journal,” she said. “I just started paging through it, looking for what was around the time of her death.”
“Luke came through here and didn’t see anything,” I said. “Where was it?”
Tempest pointed to the wall. “I took the grate off the wall, there,” she said.
“How’d you know to look there?”
Tempest shrugged. “I figured if there was anything that might link the sheriff to something hinky, he’d have probably already been here and taken something if it were hidden in a place that was obvious, like under the mattress or in a drawer. The place doesn’t look like it’s been tossed, but if he’s smart, that’s what he would have done. The grate is where I’d stash something if I needed to hide it. Or under a floorboard. Or outside, under a crawlspace. Or -”
I interrupted her. “Okay, I get the picture. Did you read it?”
She opened to a page. “Only a little bit,” she said. “Just to see if there was anything there.”
“Is there?”
She nodded. “You probably should sit down.”
***
“Well, fuck,” I said. “So, Luke and I were right. There was something going on, and Jed and his dad are both dirty. That’s no big fucking surprise.”
“Now you have answers, at least,” Tempest said. “How do you feel about your mom?”
“You mean, reading her confession to killing my father?” I asked, shaking my head. “Pissed off.”
“I’m sorry, Silas,” she said.
“It’s not even the fact that she’s the one who killed him,” I said. “I mean, he’s been a dickhead my whole life. He beat on all of us. It’s the fact that she killed him now instead of years ago, when we were kids.”
“Back when he was terrorizing you,” Tempest said.
“Exactly,” I said. “I mean, he beat on us right in front of her, you know? You’re going to watch your kids get the shit kicked out of them, going to let that monster kick the shit out of you, and not do anything about it? But you’ll kill him over money? That’s fucked up.”
Tempest shook her head. “It’s a shit deal, Silas.”
I shrugged. “It is what it is, I guess,” I said. “I didn’t shed any tears for her before, and I feel a hell of a lot less inclined to do so now.”
“We also know what’s going on in the town,” she said. “And we have an idea of who killed her.”
“We should bring this to my brothers,” I said.
Tempest’s face looked drawn. “I don’t know if I should go with you,” she said.
I covered her hand with mine. “You think Elias hates you,” I said.
“I know he wouldn’t have been happy about what happened, Silas,” she said. “Me leaving and all. Yeah. I’d guess he hates me.”
I smiled. “And you care what he thinks?” I asked. “This Tempest who gives a shit is really endearing. This nervous Tempest is pretty cute too.”
“Shut up, Silas,” she said. “I didn’t even say I would go.”
“I have the car,” I said. “You’re going.”
***
“Where the hell have you been?” Elias asked, his voice loud. Then he looked behind me. “Who’s this? You have a girlfriend. Why didn’t you say that?”
I rolled my eyes. “Elias, this is Tempest.”
“Hi, Elias,” she said. I reached beside me, took her hand in mine. It felt cold, and I looked at her, biting her lower lip. I couldn’t help but feel happy she was nervous; it meant she cared enough to worry about what Elias thought about her.
“The Tempest?” he said. “I didn’t even fucking recognize -” He stood in the doorway, not moving or inviting us in. “What the fuck are you doing back here? And what the hell are you doing with her? This girl tore you to pieces when she left.”
Tempest’s face flushed, but she didn’t say anything.
“Elias,” I said through gritted teeth. “It’s not any of your business.”
“Screw that,” he said. “Of course it’s my fucking business. I’m your damn twin.”
“Elias Saint.” River’s voice cut through the tension, and Elias turned his head a fraction of an inch, still glaring at me. “Get out of that doorway and invite them inside.”
I glanced at Tempest and mouthed “it’s okay” while Elias turned around and walked down the hallway toward River, leaving the door open behind him.
“Come on in,” she said as Elias stormed past her. “Tempest, is it? It’s lovely to meet you. I’m thrilled to see Silas looking so happy. I’m River.”
Tempest smiled. “We watched one of your movies the other day,” she said. “Silas told me about you.”
“Good things, I hope,” River said.
“Only good things,” Tempest said.
River motioned us inside, led us to the living room. “Come in,” she said. “Ignore Elias. He’s all bluster. He doesn’t mean anything by it.”
Elias walked up behind River and put an arm around her, the gesture protective. “Hell yeah, I meant something by it,” he said.
“Elias,” River said, her tone warning.
Tempest blanched, and as skittish as she’d been about us earlier, I was afraid this would give her reason to leave.
“Shut the hell up,” I said. “My love life is none of your business, and I’m happy. So grow up. We didn’t come here to get grilled by you. We came because we found something important.” I set the journal in the middle of the coffee table. “Now. I suggest you start reading.”
***
An hour later, the room was silent, the discord between Elias and Tempest forgotten. “So, Jed was the one who killed her, then,” Elias said, his jaw set.
“It looks like it,” I said.
“Explain this like I know nothing,” River said. “We know that your mother killed your father.”
“The reasoning for that is laid out earlier on in the journal,” I said. “The mine in the back yard behind the house had been abandoned for years after my father lost the permit to blast there.”
“Because Silas blew it up fucking around,” Elias said.
“Yes, because I blew it up fucking around,” I said. “Anyway, to make a long story short, my father found something back there on the property, dicking around doing who knows what. He brought it down to the geology teacher at the high school, where he was still working as a janitor. The geology teacher got interested because it was europium and it might be worth a bunch if someone wanted to start digging.”
“And that’s when he told your mother he had a plan to make them rich,” River said.
“Yes, and reading between the lines it looks like the geology teacher went behind his back, talked to the Mayor, and -”
“I didn’t see anything in there about out mother and the Mayor,” Elias said.
Tempest looked at me. “It’s in there,” she said. “It’s a little earlier in the journal. She and Jed Easton senior had been hooking up for a while. It sounded like he was sweet on her.”
Elias grunted. “He’s married,” he said. “Boy she sure could pick quality men.”
“I don’t think she was as quite as enchanted with him,” I said. “Anyway, the asshole got drunk and told our mother they were going to be rich. She didn’t believe him at first, but then she talked to the Mayor.”
“Who would have already known,” River said. �
��Because of the geology teacher. Why didn’t the teacher just go direct to the mining company?”
“It looks like a lot of it is on private land,” Tempest said. “My grandmother got an offer on her place, outside of West Bend, but she said there have been other offers, mostly on places in town.”
“I don’t get it,” River said. “What would that matter? The mining company just buys the property and mines for it, right?”
“Well, first of all, they’re trying to get it for a song,” I said. “Without the residents knowing exactly what they’re sitting on. That’s the most important part.”
“And you can’t just set up a mine in town,” Elias said, turning toward River.
“Oh, right,” River said. “It’d have to be zoned for mining or whatever, right?”
“Exactly,” Elias said.
“So that’s where the Mayor comes in,” River said.
I nodded. “The Mayor and Jed would be able to grease the wheels,” I said.
“So if your mother was in on it, why would Jed kill her?” River asked.
“She laid it right out in the journal,” I said. “She was greedy. She didn’t just want to sell the land. She thought she should get a kickback from Jed and the Mayor. So she threatened the Mayor. He thought he could reason with her, but she said she was going to blow everything wide open - the affair, the fact that Jed and the Mayor were dirty, the mining company scamming the town residents out of a fair price on the land, the whole thing.”
“We’re assuming Jed killed her, though,” River said. “We don’t know that.”
“You’re right,” I said. “The journal only implies it. It doesn’t outright say. It just talks about the fact that Jed went to see her and threatened her.”
“Jed or his father,” Tempest said. “It was one of them.”
“So the question is,” River said. “What we do with what we know?”
“That’s definitely the question,” Elias said. “And I don’t know the answer.”
***
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
TEMPEST
“Are you okay?” Silas was silent the whole drive home, only speaking once we were back at his apartment.
“It’s been a long day,” I said. I was feeling pensive, mentally fatigued from all of the stuff that had happened over the course of the day. Holing up here with Silas, playing house and pretending like the real world didn’t exist was one thing; having the real world intrude and beat reality over both of ours heads was another thing entirely.
“Elias had no call to be talking like that,” Silas said.
“Actually, he’s right,” I said. “He hates me and with good reason.” I crossed my arms, leaned against the kitchen counter.
“He hates you for what you did to me,” Silas said. “It was a long time ago and he has no reason to be a dick about it now.” He stood in front of me, ran his finger down my arm, but I didn’t move.
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “What the hell are we doing here, Silas?”
Silas exhaled heavily. “Tempest,” he said. “Don’t let whatever my brother said fuck things up now. The past is past.”
Except when it’s not.
“The past is never really past, Silas,” I said. I’d been staying here, playing pretend house with Silas, but I was just deluding myself into thinking there was a possibility I might leave things behind.
“I never stopped loving you, Tempest,” Silas said. He put his finger under my chin, tilted my head up to his and kissed me on the lips.
“You hated me, back then,” I protested.
“But I didn’t stop loving you,” he said. “And I know you feel the same way about me.”
Silas’ cell phone buzzed loudly in his pocket and he groaned. “Perfect fucking timing,” he said. “Ignore that.”
“You should take it,” I said. “It’s probably Elias.”
“No,” he insisted. “Ignore it.”
It buzzed twice more and Silas cursed under his breath. “Fine,” he said. “But you and I aren’t finished with this damn conversation.”
I sank back against the counter, hearing bits and pieces of the conversation as he walked into the living room. Something about a fight. Silas sounded agitated, but when he returned, he smiled.
“I want you to stay,” he said. “Here, in West Bend.”
“You take a phone call and you suddenly want me to stay?” I said, shaking my head. “What the hell were you talking about, a fight?”
“There’s a fight in Vegas my friend Trigg called me about,” he said. “With a good-sized purse.”
“I thought you weren’t supposed to be fighting,” I said. “Doctor’s orders.”
Silas shrugged. “You saw me fucking fight in Vegas,” he said, crossing the room and sliding his hands to my waist. “I wasn’t supposed to fight then, either. But I did and it was fine.”
I put my palms on his chest and pushed him away. “Why the hell would you do something like that, Silas?”
“Simmer down,” he said. “Why are you getting all pissy about it? It’s a fight. It’s ten grand. I can get a better place, and you can stay with me. In someplace...not like this hovel. Besides, you can come watch me. You’ll be my good luck charm.”
Fear clutched at my chest at the thought of Silas fighting again. “What the hell are you thinking? You’re the one who told me the doctor told you not to fight again. You had a head injury. You take another hit to the head and you could die.”
Silas stepped back from me, clenched his fists. “Doctors say shit like that,” he said. “It’s what they do. Cover their asses in case of lawsuits.”
“You know, for someone so smart, you can be really fucking stupid sometimes, Silas,” I said.
“Why are you being such a killjoy about this?” he asked. “This is our chance. It’s easy money and we’d have something to get set up with, something for us.”
“Why are you being so impulsive?” I asked. “You could die. There’s no such thing as easy money.”
Silas cocked his head to the side. “Says the grifter.”
“Yeah, says the grifter, Silas,” I said, my voice getting louder. “So you should fucking listen to me. It’s a colossally fucking stupid thing to do. Besides, I have money.”
Silas furrowed his brow, made a sound under his breath. “I don’t want your money.”
“Because it’s grifter money?” I heard my voice getting higher pitched.
“No, because I don’t want to not be able to take care of you.”
“I didn’t fucking ask you to take care of me, Silas,” I said. “I never needed taking care of before, and I sure as hell don’t need taking care of now. And what the hell are we even arguing about, anyway? I didn’t say I was moving back to West Bend, or moving someplace so you can take care of me.”
Silas stood still, clenching his jaw. His presumption that I’d move back here so he could take care of me was pissing me off.
He groaned loudly, and stomped across the room to lace up a pair of sneakers. “Damn it. I can’t think in here,” he growled. “I’m going for a fucking walk.”
“Good,” I called loudly to his departing back. “Make it a long one. Maybe you’ll come back acting like less of a fucking caveman.”
I heard the door slam behind him.
***
Luke Page 65