Mine (22 page)

“Jesus.”

“Get the fuck over it, it’s done.”

I nodded because I didn’t have a choice.

“Think now,” he said as he drove, slowing to a pace that would not alert highway patrol. “Who would want to hurt Landry?”

I had no idea.

“Are you thinking?”

“I am, but I don’t… I don’t know.”

“Okay,” he breathed. “What does Landry have?”

“He has nothing worth a ransom. He has a jewelry business, and he rents an apartment with me, for crissakes. He doesn’t have shit.”

“Yeah, but you said his family does.”

“Sure, and that’s who they want the ransom from, but—”

“But why would Landry factor in? How does he factor in?”

“I don’t—”

“You’re not thinking.”

I wasn’t, I was barely breathing.

“Trevan.”

“What, fuck, how the hell should I know?”

“C’mon, Trevan, use your brain. When Landry left, was there a trust fund? Did he have one? Was there money that got moved around? How many kids are there?”

“Four.”

“And did that become three and now it’s back to four?”

“Are you serious? I have no—”

“That’s motive, do you understand? Money is motive, the biggest one, always.”

“Money.” I had to wrap my brain around it. I had none; I grew up lower middle class, dipping into poor after my father died. There had never been enough. I didn’t know about money.

“You have to think; how much is enough to fuck someone over for?”

“That can’t be.”

“It’s the only thing it can be.”

I shook my head.

“Yes.”

“No,” I insisted. “It can’t be his family. You weren’t there, you didn’t see them. They all want him to love them so bad.”

“You’re wrong. Somebody doesn’t give a crap.”

I never argued with him, but this time I could because I knew what I saw and I knew love when it looked me in the face.

“Listen to me.”

“I am.”

“I think Landry was out of the will and now he’s back in and somebody’s pissed about that. Or someone used up their trust fund or borrowed against it and now it’s gone because Landry’s back. I dunno, but it has to be about cash either being gone or being smaller. Any way you slice this, it’s money.”

I just stared at him.

“What?”

“That’s a lot of fuckin’ scenarios.”

“And I’ve been the deal breaker on the end of all of them at one time or another.”

“Everything you just said—you’ve actually lived all those. Those all really happened.”

“Yeah. I’ve killed people because of all those things.”

“Jesus.”

“You don’t get it, but Landry’s been gone a long time. Eight years is long enough for things to have been changed, and now that he’s back, money will get redistributed. And probably his folks haven’t even thought about moving things around yet, but it follows that they will. Whoever did this is counting on it. Landry’s parents would want everything to be equitable between the four children.”

“You’re telling me that either one of his brothers or his sister arranged this.”

“Yes, that’s what I’m telling you.”

“That’s crazy.”

“That’s money. You have to think. What is some prodigal son when weighed against millions?”

“I just can’t believe it. I mean, I saw them with him.”

“Which is why seeing is bullshit, hearing is worse, just like the saying goes.”

“Then how do you know what to believe?”

“You follow your heart and listen to your goddamn friends.”

I took a deep breath. “I want him back. I need him back.”

“I know you do.”

I worked hard not to hyperventilate.

There were police cars in the driveway of the house when we reached it half an hour later. Conrad and I were allowed through the barricade, both of us given admittance without question. Someone had made sure my name was on the list, along with anyone who was with me. As the front door was opened by a uniformed policeman, I heard my name yelled from the opposite end of the room. I turned and Jocelyn ran fast to fill my arms.

“Oh, Trevan, I’m so sorry. You bring him to us after all this time and this happens,” she cried, hands on my chest. “I’m so sorry.”

I wrapped her in my arms and saw the looks of a pain and sadness on all the other faces in the room.

Except one.

Except the person I would have never suspected.

Neil, Landry’s father.

I had counted on Scott. Scott was the perfect choice. Scott was hard to like. He wasn’t warm like the others, and I had thought he wasn’t crazy about Landry. But the surface was one thing, and what was underneath was something completely different.

The look Scott was giving me was one of begrudging concern. He was sorry for me and worried about Landry; it was all over his face. What was on Neil’s face was surprise. He was absolutely stunned to see me.

“I gave the cops your name so you could come right in,” he told me.

Because he never thought I’d make it there.

My eyes locked on his face. He shivered hard.

“Folks,” a man said, walking over, looking at Neil and Cece, “it seems we have a development and something we all need to discuss.”

They looked at the man as he pointed to me.

“Are we free to talk in front of these men?”

“Oh God, yes,” Cece told him. “Detective Baylor, this is my son’s domestic partner, Trevan Bean, whom we told you about, and his… friend?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Conrad told her. “And Landry’s as well. I’m Terrence Moss.”

I turned to look at him, confused for a minute until it hit me. This was a police detective that he and I were being introduced to. It had never even crossed my mind, how close Conrad himself was standing to danger. And he was doing it for me, there for no other reason.

“Thank you for being here, Terrence,” she told him. “We appreciate you coming all the way from Detroit with Trevan.”

“Yes, we do,” Jocelyn nodded, tears leaking from her eyes as she clutched at me.

“So, what?” Scott demanded, annoyed. “Jesus, do you have news? We need to do something… he could be really hurt and… what?” he barked at the detective.

He turned to Neil. “Two men, Joshua Beatty and Topher Jones, were just found dead on Highway 15.” And because he was looking at Neil, I knew he was already aware that Neil knew them. His fixed regard, the squint of his eyes, was not good.

“Joshua and Topher.” Scott said the names, trying to think of something, trying to dredge something from his mind. “Joshua and…. How do I…? Oh, I know. Dad, aren’t those friends of Brendon?”

“Who’s Brendon?” I asked.

Scott turned to me. “He’s our maid Christine’s son.”

I looked back at Neil. “The maid’s son. Does he live here?”

“Yeah,” Scott answered for his father. “He lives in one of the larger cabanas down by the lake, close to the one you and Landry were sharing. His mother used to live there, too, before she passed away.”

“Who is Brendon’s father?” Conrad asked.

I turned to look at him. Everyone did.

“Why is that important?” Scott asked him.

He turned to look at the detective. “I think it’s very important.”

“As do I,” Detective Baylor agreed. “So we checked. No father on record.”

“How did they die?” Neil asked the detective, his voice sounding almost robotic. “The two boys.”

“They weren’t boys, Mr. Carter, but to answer your question, they were both shot in the head with a small caliber handgun.”

He nodded and dropped down hard on the chair beside him, like he had just been drained of life—boneless, soulless, just empty.

“Mr. Carter?” The detective said his name sharply.

“He promised me no one would get hurt.”

The hair on the back of my neck stood up.

“Who promised what, Mr. Carter?”

He just started shaking his head.

“Mr. Carter?”

“My son.”

“Which son?” Detective Baylor asked him, and we were all silent.

Conrad put his hands on my shoulders, squeezing tight.

“Daddy?” Jocelyn said.

He looked up at his daughter. “Brendan.”

“Brendan?” She squinted. “What are you—”

“Oh God,” Scott groaned, sounding like he was going to be sick.

“Brendan is your son?” Cece Carter asked her husband. The look on her face went from horrified to furious in a matter of seconds. “You told me I was seeing things! You told me—ohmygod!” she shrieked.

Once she started screaming, it quickly became a howl that wouldn’t stop. Scott went to her; Jocelyn got on her cell phone and called the doctor even as the wail went on and on. It was horrible to hear, and I watched Neil Carter’s life end right there in front of me.

“Mr. Carter!” Detective Baylor yelled, ordering the officers to take Mrs. Carter away. Jocelyn went with her, squeezing my hand before she left, making me promise to come to her mother’s room the minute I heard anything, the minute I knew the whole story.

“I promise,” I said without turning to look at her, my eyes locked on her father.

“Mr. Carter,” Detective Baylor barked again. “Tell me what happened now.”

“This wasn’t supposed to happen.”

“Where’s Landry?” I roared at him.

“I don’t know.” He looked up at me with broken eyes. “He took him, and he was supposed to give him back the minute the ransom got paid.”

“But there’s been no ransom demand,” the detective reminded him.

He turned his head to the policeman. “I know, and that’s troubling.”

Troubling?

I started to shake, the desire to tear the man to shreds coursing through my body.

Troubling
, he said.

Detective Baylor grabbed a chair and put it down in front of Mr. Carter. “Explain this to me: you had your one son kidnap his brother?”

“Half brother,” Scott almost snarled. “Jesus Christ, Dad, what the fuck did you do?”

“I—”

“Please,” Detective Baylor almost yelled, hand up. “Any more outbursts from anyone and I will clear this room. Do you understand? If you can’t contain yourself, Scott, we will have you removed.” He turned and glared at me. “That goes for you as well, boyfriend, do you understand? Everybody shut the hell up.”

I nodded furiously and Scott seethed beside me, arms crossed, the energy just sparking off him.

“Now,” the detective began again, facing Mr. Carter. “Sir, what did you do?”

“I didn’t do anything.” He shook his head, and I saw his chin quiver with the control it was taking for him not to cry. “And that’s my crime.” His eyes lifted to Baylor. “He told me. My son told me what he was going to do, and I told him to wait. I didn’t want him to touch Scott or Christian because I was scared, but when Landry came home….”

I almost went down; my legs barely held me up. He wasn’t about to feed either of his good sons to the beast, but the prodigal, the prodigal could be led to the slaughter.

“Breathe,” Conrad ordered me, his voice cold and hard and quiet.

“When Landry came home, I thought he was the answer to my prayers because he probably wouldn’t get hurt, but this way—” He lifted his head to meet Scott’s gaze. “I couldn’t take the chance on you or Chris. I would have had to stop him. I would have had to tell.”

Landry was expendable.

“When he called me yesterday and said that he had Landry,” he said, eyes returning to Detective Baylor, “I was terrified, but I told him what to do. I told him to call for the ransom. He just needed the money I promised him, that’s all.”

We all waited as he took a shuddering breath.

“When Landry left, I changed the trust,” he explained. “I thought he was gone forever and didn’t want anything to do with us, so I went to Brendan and I told him that the money that I had set aside for Landry, his trust fund, now belonged to him.”

I heard Scott take a breath beside me, and I reached out and grabbed his bicep hard. I didn’t want him to interrupt again, but I also didn’t want him to get us all thrown out of the room.

Amazingly, his hand covered mine and he squeezed tight. Like we were in it together. When he stayed quiet, because no one interrupted, Mr. Carter continued.

“But when I went to change the trust this year”—he turned his head and looked at Scott again—“I found out that you had changed the terms.”

Scott was taking no chances of being removed, so even with his father staring at him, he stayed quiet.

“What did you do, Mr. Carter?” Baylor asked Landry’s older brother.

He took a breath. “When I became CEO of Carter Limited last year,” Scott told us all, letting my hand go, looking at his father, “I saw that Landry’s trust was up for review. And I thought about breaking it at that point and dispersing the money, but no matter what, he’s a Carter, and that trust was set up by my grandfather when he was born. I had to think of Melvin Carter’s wishes, and I realized that he’d want Landry to have what was his. So I changed the terms and locked it until he turns thirty. I figured if nothing changed by then, if he was still a no-show in our lives, if the silence continued, then the money could be allocated to wherever it was most needed or even given to a charity in his name. We could distribute it if Landry wasn’t home before he turned thirty, but no way was it getting touched before that.”

“I had no idea,” Neil whispered. “And when I found out, I said nothing. I figured that I could get Brendan the money from some other source, and I had time because he knew that the trust couldn’t be opened for a while, but then… then….”

“Then he needed the money,” Baylor offered.

“Yes.”

“And Brendan, who had been content to wait, not knowing that the trust was locked anyway, asked you for the whole sum.”

“Yes.”

“But you couldn’t get it.”

He shook his head.

“So Brendan decided that kidnapping one of your sons was the way to get it,” he said.

“Yes.”

“And you were in the process of stalling him when Landry came home.”

He nodded.

“Did Brendan also believe that because Landry showed up, the money automatically reverted to him?” Baylor asked.

“Yes.”

“Even though that was never the case because the money had never left Landry’s trust to begin with, you let Brendan believe it was.”