by H. P. Bayne
“I don’t want to go back there.”
“Neither do I. But it’s empty. We won’t have to worry about anyone seeing you or looking for you there.”
It was a good point, good enough to draw a defeated sigh from Sully. His years working there had largely been happy ones, the work honest and his boss Betty having become a friend. Then Betty was shot to death in the bar and Sully was nearly murdered himself. He hadn’t been back since that last bloody confrontation with Lowell, and he wasn’t eager to return now.
Dez couldn’t be much happier. After all, he’d been the one to find Sully, unconscious in a tub filled with water and blood. But he was right. They needed somewhere quiet, somewhere out of the way. A shuttered bar was as quiet and out of the way as you could get in Kimotan Rapids.
Sully led the way, Dez falling into step beside him as Pax trotted along behind, occasionally distracted by the various scents along their path.
They walked in silence the few blocks to the back alley behind the bar. The rear door came into view, its image hitting Sully with a heavy and unpleasant dose of déjà vu.
He stalled, drawing to an abrupt halt in the rear parking area.
Dez had continued a couple of steps, but returned once he noticed he was proceeding alone. “Sully?”
“I told myself I’d never come back here.”
“Me too.” Dez shrugged. “But it’s still our best option. Listen, we’ll stay out of the bar area and we won’t go upstairs.” He nudged Sully with a solidly muscled arm. “Come on. We’ll be okay.”
The door to the bar area was thankfully closed, preventing Sully from catching a glimpse of the spot where Betty had died.
But here, just feet from where he sat at the base of the stairs, he’d unsuccessfully fought the gunman. The gunman he now knew was his own foster uncle.
Dez sat in a chair Betty always kept in the back area for propping open the door, Pax reclined and snoring lightly at his feet. The sound of traffic floated past outside, but here inside, they remained locked within their own world.
Sully lifted his eyes, gaze fixing on the top of Dez’s head. He was slumped over in the chair, elbows on knees, hands cupped together in front of him. A man deep in thought.
Or trying hard to ignore the only other person in the room.
Sully wanted to say so many things, variations of apologies multiplying like rabbits inside his brain. But he knew Dez, knew he hated “sorry” on repeat. With no better way to repair their relationship, Sully looked for something else they could talk about.
He found it where he least expected it.
Until now, he’d done everything he could to avoid Gerhardt. Suddenly, an idea formed, one that might allow them to play one enemy against the other.
“Dez?”
Dez didn’t look up. “Hmm?”
“This Lowell-Gerhardt thing. I’ve been thinking. Hackman told us the two of them were in this together, at least insofar as the stuff at Lockwood with the drug. And they’re both in that Circle. We know that now too.”
“Yeah?”
“I’m wondering if the way to get Lowell might be to go through Gerhardt. He’s in there like a dirty shirt. He has to be. And he’s got to know who the guy in the mask is. Maybe he’s another in.”
That got Dez lifting his head, his eyes locking onto Sully’s. “What are you getting at with this whole ‘go through Gerhardt’ thing? You’re not thinking we’re going to find something to pin on him to get him to talk, are you? I mean, I know what he’s doing is really, really bad and even illegal, but sorry, man. Who’s going to believe a bunch of diagnosed mentally ill people over him?”
“No one. That’s not what I’m getting at. I meant we use him another way.”
“Which is?”
“His son. I don’t mean me. I mean his other son. The one who disappeared.”
“The one who he believes was kidnapped from his backyard. He was trying to get your biological mom to find him before….”
“Before she died. I know. And he asked me about him a lot too. When I was in the Blue Room, he asked me every single time, at the start and at the end.”
“But you never saw him?”
Sully shook his head. “Never. Maybe he wasn’t taken and killed. Maybe he’s still out there somewhere.”
“Or maybe it doesn’t mean anything. Could be you didn’t see him because it was the wrong place, wrong time—you being in that room in those conditions.”
“That didn’t stop me from seeing all those other ghosts they wanted me to. Some people take other people’s kids and raise them as their own, right?”
“Rarely. In my experience, most people who take kids are in it for something far, far worse.”
“But not all.”
“I guess not. It’s a thought. Anyway, what are you suggesting exactly? How are you going to get Gerhardt on board without revealing yourself to him?”
“I haven’t figured that out yet.”
Neither of them spoke for a few minutes, but Dez broke the silence with a tentative question.
“You doing okay?”
“With what?”
“The Gerhardt thing. What I told you about him being… you know.”
“I’m not mad at you, Dez. I already said.”
“I didn’t mean that. I meant, how are you doing with knowing, with what it means?”
“I don’t know what to think,” Sully said. “I hate him. I hate him so much it scares me. And I don’t know what it makes me, to be born from that. From him.”
“You’re the same person you were before you knew. He’s a sperm donor, Sully. Nothing more. You’ve got three true parents, and every one of them would have given everything to keep you safe and happy. Lucky risked her life to protect you, just like you’re always risking yours to help others. You’re your mother’s son, man. Don’t you ever forget.”
Sully smiled, gratitude warming his insides. “That’s a really nice thing to say, given how pissed you are at me.”
“Hey, I can be pissed at you as much as I want. Doesn’t make me care about you any less. And it doesn’t change who you are, okay? None of this changes who you are.”
“Maybe I can use it to get to Gerhardt.”
Fire flashed in Dez’s eyes. “No. No, Sully. He can’t ever know about you.”
“If he knows, maybe he’ll talk to me. Maybe I can reduce the threat with him.”
Dez stood, his size adding power to his argument. “Or maybe you increase it. You’re not just his biological son, all right? You’re evidence—not just of his warped experiments, but of the fact he raped a teenage patient. You can’t reveal any of this to him, Sully. And you sure as hell can’t reveal yourself. Don’t you even think it.”
Dez, an exceedingly large man at the best of times, looked like a grizzly bear when he got like this. Arguing with a grizzly never paid off.
Anyway, he’d made a solid point.
“Okay,” Sully said. “I hear you. And you’re right. It was a dumb idea.”
“So you won’t?”
“I won’t. I’ll figure something else out.”
“We’ll figure something else out,” Dez corrected, before returning to his chair.
Sully studied Dez a moment. “Thanks, D.”
“For what?”
“For having my back even when you’d rather pound it.”
“We’re brothers,” Dez replied. “That means I can have your back and pound it at the same time.”
Dez finished with a smile, one Sully gratefully mirrored.
The ease didn’t last long. The sound of a vehicle driving through the back alley and stopping, the engine cutting, had them exchanging a look.
“It’s too early for Lachlan,” Dez said. He got up to crack the door open, bringing Pax to standing in the process.
He closed it almost immediately, face registering something between shock and rage.
“Who is it?” Sully asked.
The answer came out a growl. “L
owell.”
Sully’s stomach dropped out as he leapt to his feet. “What?”
“Get upstairs. Find somewhere to stay hidden.”
“Come with me.”
“No.”
“Dez.”
“I need to face him.”
“If you’re planning on confronting him, I’m not going anywhere. I won’t let you do anything you’re going to regret.”
“My only regret is spending all those years looking up to the man who destroyed my family. Get upstairs.”
“Not without you. If you’re staying, so am I.”
Dez growled, the sound as dangerous as it was frustrated. Sully braced himself for the unwanted reunion, for coming face to face with Lowell after two years in hiding.
As footsteps sounded in the parking lot’s gravel, Dez at last relented. Giving Sully a shove to get him moving, Dez, with Pax immediately on his heels, jogged after his brother up the stairs.
The door to Sully’s old apartment was partially ajar, the wood splintered along the lock where Dez had no doubt kicked it in the day he’d found Sully in the tub. Sully led the way inside, moving quietly as Lowell made entry downstairs. Bypassing the bathroom, Sully led them into the living room and signalled for Pax to sit.
Besides the heavy layer of dust, the room was more or less as Sully had left it—not helpful as he’d left following a fight to near-death with Lowell and Hackman. Yet there was no sign of a struggle save a hole in the drywall. No doubt Lowell and Hackman had righted the place before leaving, eliminating any potential notions of foul play. Sully remembered that day well. Not for the first time, he wished the blow to his head at the end of the attack had robbed him of a little short-term memory.
He left his own thoughts in the past as he focused on Dez. His brother was vibrating, tension wracking his body as they stood side by side, listening to Lowell making his way through the bar downstairs. Sully slipped his phone from his pocket, ensuring it was on silent, before nudging Dez to do the same.
Dez’s hands shook as he flipped the ringer to silent and dropped the phone back into his pocket. “What’s he even doing here?” Dez hissed.
Sully shrugged, stepped closer to Dez to answer. “He owns the place. Probably needs to check it every so often for insurance purposes.”
They stood in silence a minute, maybe two, listening as Lowell’s footsteps sounded below, a creak on the old wood floors. Water pipes kicking in told Sully he was right about Lowell’s presence here. There was nothing to do but wait.
Waiting wasn’t a skill Dez had ever fully mastered.
“I can’t do this.” Dez’s voice was a low growl, teeth clenched around the words.
“You’re doing good,” Sully said, voice low.
“I’m not. I want to face him. I need to face him.” Even through the whisper, Sully could hear the emotion.
“Not now. You’ll get your chance, D, but wait until we have the upper hand.”
“We have it now. There are two of us and one of him.”
“You know where that leads. I don’t want to go to prison. Lockwood was pretty damn close to one, and I can’t live like that again. And I won’t let you put yourself there either. Anyway, I confronted him once, and it almost killed me.”
“Another reason we should deal with him now.”
“It all leads to the same place. You know it as well as I do. If you act on what you’re feeling now, it won’t come out anywhere good.” When the effect of that argument proved negligible, Sully tried a different tactic—one he knew his brother couldn’t ignore. “Kayleigh deserves a father in her life, Dez. Don’t let Lowell take that too. Your daughter’s more important than revenge.”
“Don’t you fucking do that, Sully.”
“You know I’m right.”
Dez took a deep breath, but the low growl that followed suggested calm hadn’t resulted. His hands balled into fists, and his eyes fixed on the wall in front of him as if wanting to punch through it.
The couch was within easy reach, and Sully pointed Dez toward it. Dez sat, hands white-knuckling his knees as they continued to listen to the sounds downstairs. It occurred to Sully Lowell might opt to run the taps in all the upstairs apartments as well. If so, they’d be screwed.
If Dez didn’t calm down, Lowell would be screwed.
Sully sat next to his brother, daring to lay a palm on his shoulder.
Dez shook him off. “Don’t.”
Sully didn’t try to repeat the move, nor did he say anything. Moments like this, words were neither necessary nor wanted.
Pax padded over, dropping his large head onto Dez’s knee. It was the sort of comfort Dez wasn’t as quick to push away, and he stroked the dog’s fur while his breathing gradually returned to normal.
They sat together, the three of them, until the sound of the back door closing suggested Lowell had gone. Sully released tension through a breath, relieved Lowell seemed to have foregone the full check.
Sully’s apartment didn’t overlook the back alley, so he tiptoed into the hall, keeping close to the wall as he edged up to a window on the landing that would provide a view of the rear parking area. He got there in time to see a car drive off, Lowell behind the wheel.
Dez and Pax were standing at the doorway to the apartment when Sully turned.
“He’s gone,” he said, to which Dez gave a tight nod.
Dez took two steps into the hall, turned, drew back a fist and drove a punch through the drywall.
6
Dez answered the rear door when Lachlan showed up twenty minutes later, signalling his arrival with a shave-and-a-haircut knock.
Dez was surprisingly pleased about the presence of an outsider. Sully had been hovering since taking care of his two split knuckles, watching him as if afraid he’d run out on a murderous rampage.
Sully’s worry hadn’t been entirely misplaced. Dez had never wanted to kill anyone, not really, despite having used the words in exaggeration. But never had he experienced a rage like this, one that curled around his insides like a parasite, sucking every good feeling from him and leaving only anger. Knowing he’d been just a few steps from the man who’d drowned his five-year-old brother, who’d murdered his father and all but destroyed Sully, it set off inside him a burning desire to act on his fury. He’d been able to picture it in his mind, beating Lowell to death with his bare hands. He was ashamed to think he’d enjoyed the mental image.
“Why the long face?” Lachlan asked through a smirk.
Sully appeared at Dez’s left shoulder, fielding the question for his brother. “Lowell was here.”
“Jesus. You two didn’t kill him, did you?”
“No,” Dez said, slipping his wedding band back on and pocketing the keys and wallet Lachlan handed him. “Thought about it. Thought about it hard. But no.”
“So what happened to your hand?”
“Wall,” Dez said. He stepped aside to allow Lachlan to enter.
“We didn’t confront him,” Sully explained. “We kept out of sight. He didn’t even know we were here. Dez told me you wanted some help with your second ghost.”
“Sure, but never mind that now. You’ve got me sold on your Lowell problem. I want to help bring the bastard down. Now, I know it’s not going to be easy, but nothing’s impossible. Sullivan, take me through everything you know.”
Sully cast Dez an anxious glance before launching into it. Dez returned to the chair, hunched over to conceal most of his face as Sully took Lachlan through it, answering questions and providing detail, some of which Dez hadn’t heard in full. When he finished, Dez’s teeth were gritted and Lachlan was silent.
“Heavy stuff,” he said at last. “The usual solution would be you going to the police and providing a statement to that effect. Of course, I recognize that isn’t currently possible, and I can understand why—particularly now that you’re wanted on the Montague homicide.”
Dez raised his head at a growl from Pax and a sudden, sharp intake of breath from Sull
y, who glanced to his side and then quickly away.
“What?” Dez asked.
“Nothing.”
“No. What?”
Sully sighed. “It’s Montague. He’s been on me since after the shooting. He blames me for what happened to him.”
Dez repressed the shiver as his eyes went to the spot at Sully’s side, empty to all save his brother. “He’s here? Now?”
Pax was still growling, and Sully shushed him before answering Dez. “He didn’t follow me inside Ravenwood. The place doesn’t deal well with outsiders. But I saw him there the whole time, outside, waiting. I didn’t notice him after we left, and I’d hoped maybe he didn’t know and stayed behind. I guess he found me.”
“Crap,” Dez said. “You didn’t kill him though. You had nothing to do with his death.”
“He doesn’t believe that. All he knows is I was an intruder in his home when the shot was fired. He thinks I’m involved.”
“Why not go after the real killer?”
“He didn’t see him. People don’t become all-knowing just because they’re dead. He’s still limited to what he was aware of in life. I didn’t see the gunman and neither did he. So he blames me.”
“And he’s stalking you in the meantime,” Dez said. “That sucks.” He spoke to the air next to Sully, too pissed off at life to care about his fears. “Hey, Montague, after everything you did, maybe you should consider you had it coming.”
Two sharp barks from Pax coincided with a flinch from Sully, one that resembled a man about to get punched. “Dez, don’t. You’re just making him mad. It won’t help. It really won’t help.”
It helped Dez, but given he usually couldn’t see or experience the things Sully did, he sometimes forgot how severely they could impact his brother. No sense getting Montague riled up if it meant Sully paying the price.
“Okay, sorry,” he said to the empty space. “You didn’t deserve to be murdered. Justice is one thing but murder’s another. But Sully didn’t do it. He had nothing to do with it. You’re targeting the wrong person. You want someone to haunt, go find Lowell Braddock. He deserves all the torment you can provide.”