Luke Read online

  “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. �