“They never found the murderer,” Nathan said.
Don shook his head. “No. There were bloody footprints all over the house.
Some of them mine. I’d run all over looking for the boys and confused the scene.
The police brought in dogs, but it began to snow and they lost the trail. It was a local sheriff’s department and by the time they got the big boys in, the crime scene had been trampled, evidence lost.”
“What do you think happened?” Nathan’s pulse raced.
“I agree with the official police report, that it was someone local. A man from Eagle’s Point out deer hunting was reported missing by his wife. He had a history of violence. This was a week after the killings. He’s never turned up and as far as I know, he’s still on a wanted list. Maybe the guy got away, maybe he’s dead, but I think he murdered my wife and son. He probably watched me drive to town and thought Elizabeth was alone.”
“Why?” Nathan had thought he couldn’t feel more pain about his mother, but he was wrong.
“Sex. She was beautiful. I think the guy raped her and butchered her to try and hide what he’d…” Don broke off.
“But why take Steven? Why not kill him and leave him like Jack?”
“Maybe he did kill him, but we couldn’t find him. Perhaps Steven saw what happened and ran into the forest. We looked for days in worsening conditions, but there was no trace of him. He might have got lost, frozen to death. Maybe the murderer abducted him and killed him later. Divers searched the lake in the spring, but found nothing. Could be Steven got away, but lost his memory. Maybe one day he’ll turn up here.” Don sighed. “Jack was no help in the investigation.
He was emotionally frozen, so traumatized by what happened he stopped speaking. He didn’t say a single word for months. When he did start communicating, all he could remember was nearly drowning.”
“It must have been terrible,” Nathan said.
“No matter what I’ve said about him, Jack was devoted to his mother. She was brutally murdered and he saw what had been done to her. He knew as well that I was sorry Steven died and not him.” Don paused, chewed at his lip. “I know how that makes me sound. Of course, I didn’t tell him that, but Jack knew. I wanted to love him, but he was impossible. Still is. I sent him to a private hospital. Hoopers.
He was better off there, away from me.”
Don ran his fingers through his hair.
“According to his doctors, he eventually made progress, but a week after he came home there was an…incident and one of my employees was hurt. He lost a finger. Jack claimed it was an accident, but he says everything’s an accident. His doctors backpedaled and announced he hadn’t made the progress they’d thought.
“I ended up paying for a collection of expensive labels and got no answers.
Disturbed, depressed, suffering from traumatic shock. He has a severe personality disorder, he’s a psychotic sociopath—an endless list. I eventually found a boarding school in San Antonio that would take a disturbed young man.
It confirmed my theory there’s not much money can’t buy.” Nathan wished he’d known this a long time before. He’d have treated Jack differently, maybe he’d have understood what happened a little better.
“The day before graduation, Jack was found in bed with the principal’s wife.” Don raised his eyebrows. “I told you he could be charming. To everyone’s surprise, his SAT scores were high enough for a good college, but he didn’t want to go so I allowed him to return home. I found him work several times, but Jack never stuck with any job more than a few months. He cost me a lot of money in a business deal by bad-mouthing a client and deliberately trashing two expensive cars. I gave him more second chances than he deserved, then one day, just after the incident with Alison, he pushed me too far. He was smirking over some stupid thing he’d done. We both said some terrible things. I’m ashamed to say I finally told Jack I wished it was him who’d died. He smiled as though he’d been waiting for me to say it. The next day he stabbed me in the back. If he’d done it while we were arguing I could have understood, but to wait…I’d have died if the maid hadn’t found me. That’s when I had him committed to Ashlands.” Nathan was struggling to process this. “He should have gone to prison.”
“He’s my son and I felt guilty. I hope you never know what that feels like. I had regular reports from his doctors. He was completely uncooperative at first and then he changed. He attended therapy sessions, started to behave. I didn’t want you to see him and set him back. I also felt guilty toward you. I could have warned you what he was like when you got in touch with him and I didn’t.” But you couldn’t turn back the clock, Nathan knew that.
“When Jack was released, I found him another apartment in San Antonio, but made it clear he had to pay the rent. I arranged a job. I think he lasted two weeks in the first one. I gave him a modest car, some money and an ultimatum. I’d done as much as I was prepared to do. I told him I never wanted to hear from him again unless he could demonstrate he was a decent human being. There would be no inheritance unless he showed me he could stick with a job, get married, settle down and have kids. Prove to me that something good could come out of his life.”
“Now he’s disappeared.”
“And you think there’s something wrong?”
Nathan nodded.
Don shrugged. “You’re probably right. Jack thinks he’s clever and needs to prove it. With no brother to torment, he looked elsewhere for sparring partners.
Then you came along. You want to know why he’d slept with Alison? I’d look no further. Just to prove he was better than you. Once he’d achieved that, his point was made and he dumped her. It was never about Alison, it was about you. He probably knows you’ve been watching him since he was released from Ashlands.
He’s jerking you around.”
Nathan bristled. “Don’t you want to know what Jack’s doing?” Don sighed. “Not really.”
“Where could he have gone?”
“I have no idea.”
“Do you have any other properties?”
“A house in San Antonio. He isn’t there. It’s being used by a friend until next weekend. Another place at Hilton Head.”
“Is the house at Hilton Head staffed?”
“No. When I go, I take Maria and Ernesto.”
“Could Jack get in?”
“He probably knows the security code. He could have gone there. He’s not supposed to use it, though that wouldn’t stop him.” What were the odds, Nathan thought, but slightly better than him opening up a map of the States and sticking a pin in it. “What about Echo Lake?” Don tensed and then smiled. “It’s closed up. No one’s been there for years. No, he wouldn’t go back to Colorado, not after what happened. Leave it, Nathan. I don’t want you looking for him. He’ll turn up again when he needs something.
He’s not your problem. Get on with your life.”
***
Nathan’s mind whirled like a tornado as he drove away from the house. Had Don’s initial thoughts been right—Jack killed his mother and brother? If it couldn’t be proved then, what hope did Nathan have of proving it now? Why waste time and energy on a guy who wasn’t worth it? He could walk away now, leave Texas and get a job doing something less harmless, like alligator wrestling.
Forget he ever had a brother. He needed a fresh start. But something echoed, a thought that continued to spin in his head. Don didn’t want him to look for Jack, implying Nathan should stay away for his own good. Why would the man who took his mother away from him care what happened to him? And if Nathan was being honest with himself, he thought he’d caught the hint of a threat in Don’s voice and Nathan didn’t like being told what to do.
While he sat in a diner eating a tuna melt, his cell phone rang.
“Hey, Jeff. That was quick.”
Jeff Holden was an ex-cop who worked as head of security in one of the beachfront hotels on Hilton Head.
“No sign of him, Nathan. Neighbors have seen nothi
ng and the house is closed up.”
“Thanks. I owe you.”
Nathan was satisfied Jack wasn’t in South Carolina and if the house in San Antonio was occupied, that left Echo Lake.
***
Nathan slammed on his brakes. The eighteen wheeler had swerved into his lane with no indication.
“Bastard,” Nathan muttered.
The next exit was coming up. Nathan stayed right. Turn off and go home. As the wheels swallowed the yards, his heartbeat picked up. It was a simple enough choice. Continue north or get off the damn interstate. This was where he decided his future.
He accelerated, leaving the exit behind. That decision made, resolve set in.
This could be his last PI job and searching for clues about his mother’s death would be the right way to end it. He figured he could be in Echo Lake in a couple days. He didn’t really expect Jack to be there but it was time to put a ghost to rest.
Nothing urgent waited for Nathan in San Antonio. To his surprise, he felt a little sorry for his half-brother. Any kid would have been traumatized seeing their mother’s body ripped to pieces. God, just thinking about it made Nathan want to throw up. When he’d read the police reports, he had thrown up.
There was obviously something wrong between Don and Jack. It made Nathan think about his own father. Something else he needed to sort out.
Three and a half hours later Nathan lay on a motel bed and called his sister.
“Hi, how are things?”
“Getting bigger hourly,” she replied. “Not helped by the fact that I can’t stop eating. I’ve just finished my third Butterfinger. Where are you? Still in Houston?”
“No, I’ve moved on. I’m going to take a break. I’ll be back in a few days.”
“Okay. Bob will call if anything happens. I don’t want you to miss the birth.
From the corridor of course.”
“You never could suffer on your own.”
“It’s more fun if someone suffers with you.” Nathan chuckled. “Bye, Elisa. Love you.”
“Love you, too.”
Nathan swung between being sure that he was doing the right thing, driving hundreds of miles to Echo Lake, and thinking he was an idiot. Every time he’d stopped for a break, he considered turning around, but after a coffee and something to eat, he always pulled back onto the road leading north.
He’d half convinced himself that he didn’t care about Jack anymore and that this journey had more to do with his mother. In a way, it was true. He wanted to see the house she loved which just happened to be the place where she died. Most of all, he wanted to say goodbye. He’d wasted enough time on the past. When he left Echo Lake, he was going to make a new start.
Chapter Twenty-One
Kate lifted her head and bit back a scream. My arm. She looked at her hand suspended above her head, every muscle and joint feeling as though she’d been taken apart and put back together wrong. She struggled to her feet and rubbed her fingers to get blood flowing. Tommy still slept in the tub, his hand on his blue monster. He looked so small and helpless. Her fault they were trapped. She’d let him down.
Turning on the faucet, Kate bent her head to the sink. The coldness of the water set her teeth on edge and another sharp pain started behind her eyes.
Grabbing the side of the basin, she knocked the soap into the bowl and realized she’d not been thinking clearly the night before. But after a few minutes struggling to force the metal over a soapy wrist, Kate gave up and sat down again.
Her wrist stung, but at least there was color in her fingers.
Tommy began to stir. A little face peeped over the edge of the tub.
“Morning, submarine commander.” Kate mustered a smile. “Had a successful voyage?”
“Is it time to wake up?”
“It is if you’re awake.”
“Is he back?”
She shook her head. Tommy climbed out of the tub and crouched down next to her. “Can I have pancakes for breakfast?”
“Sorry, not today. Do you think you can get your own breakfast? You could help yourself to cereal, just be careful pouring the milk.”
“Why did you hit him?”
Kate’s heart sank.
“You shouldn’t hit people. Just like I shouldn’t hit Kirin.” Kate thought about trying to explain. She couldn’t. “You’re right, Tommy. I shouldn’t have hit Jack.”
“You should tell him sorry.”
“Yes.” If he comes back. He had to come back.
“I’ll get breakfast,” Tommy said. “I’ll bring you cereal.” By mid-afternoon there was still no sign of Jack. The temperature dropped again. All they’d eaten were frosted flakes and an apple. She kept Tommy on her lap, wrapped them both in the comforter, sang songs and told him stories. Kate didn’t want him to wander around the house on his own and was relieved he didn’t seem keen to leave her side.
He understood she was trapped and tried to look after her. Once, when a few tears escaped, he put his arms around her neck and hugged her. He kissed the salty drops away and Kate guessed his mother had done that for him. She rocked him. Tommy looked a little like her around the mouth. Could he be hers? She’d always accepted what her parents told her. They’d taken her home before the doctors wanted her to leave and maybe that was to stop her asking awkward questions.
Neither of her parents had ever brought up the pregnancy or the birth. They didn’t just want to sweep it under the carpet, they wanted it buried under the house’s foundations. A tear dropped from her face onto Tommy’s. Kate wiped it away. Pretending none of it happened was as bad as the way they’d made her feel for being pregnant. She hadn’t asked to be raped. She hadn’t wanted to be pregnant. For months she’d cried every night, burying her face in her pillow, giving in to a silent out-pouring of emotion that left her exhausted. Why had she missed the bus? Why hadn’t she fought harder? Why hadn’t she screamed, made more noise?
***
When Kate heard a car she was torn. If she shouted for help and it was Jack, he might hit her. If she didn’t shout and it was a stranger, he might think no one was home and drive away. In the end, fear silenced her. When the generator started up, she sighed in relief. Tommy woke when the bathroom shutters clicked into place and Kate blinked as light flooded the room. Tommy climbed out of the tub into her lap. Kate’s pulse rocketed. She had no idea what to expect.
“Daddy’s home,” Jack called from the other room.
“Daddy!”
Tommy ran out of the bathroom. Kate noticed the slight hesitation at the door and hoped Jack hadn’t. A few moments later, Tommy ran back in wearing a cowboy hat, brandishing a toy gun in one hand and a knife in the other.
“Look what I got,” he shouted. “Watch.” He pressed the knife into Kate’s leg and laughed when the blade disappeared. Kate held herself rigid as the breath caught in her throat.
“Doesn’t hurt, see.” He showed Kate how the soft blade slipped into the handle before running back to the other room.
Kate heard Jack moving around. It sounded like he was making the fire.
“Has Mommy been good while I was away?” she heard him ask.
“Real good,” Tommy said.
“What have you been up to?”
“I slept in the tub.”
“Not in your bed?”
“I looked after Mommy. I got her coffee.”
Jack laughed. “What have you been talking about?” A thousand butterflies danced in her stomach.
“The rabbit who couldn’t find his way home and he asked a chipmunk and the chipmunk didn’t know, so he asked a horse and the horse didn’t know and he asked an owl and—”
“I get the idea. Open those bags over there. I bought something for you.”
“More presents?”
“Yep.”
Jack appeared at the door of the bathroom. He’d dyed his hair back to what she presumed was the natural color. He looked older.
“Worried I wouldn’t come back?”
He bent to uncuff her. “Look what a mess you’ve made of your wrist. The key’s the only way to get out, Kate, unless you saw off your hand.” Jack pulled her up. Her legs buckled and she’d have fallen if Jack hadn’t caught her. He held her against him, his mouth inches from hers.
“What would you have done if I hadn’t come back?” He twisted a strand of her hair between his fingers and pulled until it hurt.
“Don’t know,” she whispered.
“What else can I open?” Tommy shouted.
“Anything you like.” Jack propelled Kate out of the bathroom.
Piles of plastic bags lay everywhere. He’d probably spent all her money and expect her to be grateful. But Kate really was thankful he’d come back because her plan had been to wait three days, let Tommy bring her a hammer and she’d smash the bones in her hand until it went through the cuff.
“There’s a present for Mommy, too.” Jack handed her a Wal-Mart bag.
Kate struggled to get the bag open, then wished she hadn’t. She took out a framed wedding photo. She wore a long white dress and carried flowers and couldn’t remember any of it.
“That’s Mommy and Daddy,” Jack told Tommy who’d come to see what they were looking at.
“Was I there?” Tommy asked.
“You were sleeping,” Jack said.
Kate stared hard at the photograph. Why couldn’t she remember? It was like a jigsaw puzzle in her mind with all the pieces there, yet she couldn’t fix them together. Her fingers felt for the ring. Why did he need to marry her? Why was it worth the risk of her saying or doing something to mess things up?
Jack made another trip out to the car. This time he came back with groceries and a scooter for Tommy who looked as though he could burst with happiness.
“Oh, just what I always wanted. Can I ride on it?” Jack locked it in the upright position and Tommy immediately took off around the room. When Kate saw the quantity of food, she wondered if Jack was preparing for a siege.
“Why do we need so much stuff?” Tommy asked, propping his chin on the table by her side.
book Page 16