“You just called your father an asshole, Stephen,” I said.

“I don’t want to talk about him,” he snapped through taut lips. “If you’re interested in Paul, speak to Alexis or my mother.”

I wandered toward the windows behind the seating arrangement. “The downstairs galleries looked closed,” I said, buying time.

“We only open them occasionally,” Jayson said. “I own the building outright, so we’re free to use it as we want.”

“Are all the paintings here yours?” I asked fighting another round of sudden discomfort.

“Almost,” Stephen answered for Jayson. “Heather’s are mixed in.”

Alexis said Heather had talent and Alexis was right. There wasn’t a clunker in the bunch. I walked behind the sofa and looked down onto the roof of my car.

I stared out the window and casually asked, “You know what throws me? I just don’t see how your mother’s auto could have been destroyed without anyone up here knowing it.”

The moment Stephen tensed up behind me I knew I’d set the table badly and burned the meal. Didn’t even have to turn around. I felt angry and incompetent, thrown by how much Jayson Brook’s ravaged body knocked me off-stride.

“I thought you came here about the damn drive-by?” Stephen asked, his voice strained and defensive.

“I did. But when you look down at the street it’s hard not to wonder about the car.”

“Jayson can’t tolerate heat so we use air conditioning and keep the windows closed. No one heard a thing,” he said.

I turned away from the window. Stephen stood alongside Brook, holding his hand, glaring in my direction. Jayson’s eyes were closed, his chest barely moving.

“I still don’t understand how you missed it. I mean we’re talking demolition derby.” I didn’t have the chops to get in his face even though I knew he was lying.

“It doesn’t much matter what you understand, does it?” Stephen released Jayson’s hand and walked briskly to the elevator door. “I’m tired of your questions. Uncle Lou and my mother are completely safe so you can stop acting like a detective. Frankly, I have more important things on my mind.”

Stephen twisted the key and the elevator door slid open with a growl. I nodded to Jayson, stepped forward to enter the lift, then gave a final shot. “The car looked like it had been battered with a lead pipe. Hard not to hear—even with an air conditioner.”

Stephen shook his head impatiently, “There was a storm that night.”

My voice was loud enough to reach Jayson. “I know—so why did your mother wait outside?”

Stephen pushed my fingers off the sliding door and turned the key. “You’ll have to ask her.”

 

I sat in the car smoking, sorting through Stephen’s lies and my mishandling of the conversation. Maybe I did belong working malls. The only thing I kept discovering was more about the sad sludge of the Rowe/Brown family. Better to cut and run than sink any deeper into their lives. But then I reconsidered. If I quit now, I’d be burdened about Lou and buried by Boots.

I glanced toward the loft and spotted Stephen staring down toward the street. The macabre image of him throwing dirt on Jayson’s coffin flashed through my mind and mingled with my own memories. In my haste to depart, I flooded the engine.

 

It was shit-list time at the not-so-okay-corral.

“You were supposed to leave things be,” Lauren churned. We were standing in the kitchen but no one offered me a seat. Her eyes glittered, the clipped pronunciation a match for her rigid demeanor.

Lou sat stubbornly silent on one of the tall stools. He was uncomfortable with this scene, but was going to let it play. Maybe he hadn’t been given a choice.

“We don’t know each other very well, Lauren, but Lou and I are family. You’re important to him and that makes yours and his safety critical,” I tried, trotting out Boots’ line.

Her fist clenched, “I understand all about your relationship with Lou. What I don’t understand is why you bullied my son. I gave you explicit instructions to leave my family and friends alone but you turned right around and ignored me.”

Something Lauren apparently wasn’t used to. “I’m trying to make absolutely certain that no one connected to your life is behind any of this. I thought asking Stephen for help was a good idea. It wasn’t.” If I thought my admission would reduce her rage, I thought wrong. Though Lauren’s body didn’t move, her intensity threatened to blow the roof.

“I told you the reason I didn’t want you to interfere. Instead, you snuck behind my back. Did you think I wouldn’t learn about it?”

“Not much of a sneak,” I countered. “As soon as I realized how angry Stephen had become, I drove here to tell you myself. It wasn’t my intention to bother anyone.”

“Barging unannounced into their home isn’t bothering anyone? As if they don’t have enough to worry about!” she hissed. “The man is dying.”

“I didn’t realize...”

“That’s just my point! You intrude in people’s lives without knowing the first damn thing about them. And why did you start with Stephen? You seem to be great friends with my daughter, why didn’t you go to her?”

I felt my insides squirm, but forced myself to remain calm. “Stephen lives in town.”

“Bullshit, Matthew! You accused him of lying about my car; something else I asked you not to pursue. Don’t you have your own life?”

I tried holding my ground. “Once I saw his building I was surprised no one heard your car being destroyed.”

“Their windows were closed and it was thundering. You know what the weather was like. I don’t see what’s so fucking hard to believe.”

My life and body might be breaking down, but my shit detector still functioned. Lauren was lying. Something had happened in Stephen’s loft that she wanted kept secret. But I wasn’t going to get it by bulldozing. Certainly not with Lou sitting there.

“Stephen told me you even hounded him about my waiting in the rain.”

“Hounded is much too strong.” I felt like a matador dodging a bull; so much for holding my ground.

“Calling someone a liar sounds like hounding to me.”

“I’m sorry he felt that way,” I apologized. “I certainly didn’t want him to. He has enough to worry about.” I felt oily using Jayson, but I wanted to survive her charge and get in a shot or two of my own. “But why did you wait outside?”

“You won’t quit until you rip me apart, will you?” Lauren pulled at her hair, her anger mercurially transforming into sadness. “I didn’t go back upstairs because it kills me to see what’s become of Jayson, and what I expect will happen to my son when he dies. Once I left their apartment, I wasn’t going back. It wouldn’t have mattered if it had been a hurricane,” she asserted, tears in her eyes.

Lauren was good, real good, and now both of us had used Jayson Brook. Unfortunately, it didn’t feel any better to have company. And didn’t change the fact that she was still lying.

Lou cleared his throat and finally intervened. “Matty, It’s a difficult circumstance, the emphysema and everything. Lauren told me all about it.

Lauren jumped onto his words. “I would have told you too, only Stephen and Jayson keep their relationship private. It’s complicated enough without everybody knowing where they live. Jayson still attracts attention.”

I wasn’t an art groupie or a recruiter for hospice. “Look, maybe I went about it the wrong way, but it’s impossible to close my eyes given your situation. It’s damn near impossible to accept the car, the stalking, and the drive-by as simple coincidence.”

“Then offer your services to Ted Biancho. Find the gang that did the shooting.” Lauren’s tears were gone.

“The police don’t let civilians help, Lauren.”

“You’re a detective.”

“Matt works on his own,” Lou explained, “not for the police.”

“Then let him work on his own to find the goddamn gang. He doesn’t have to browbeat my family!”

“I’m not trying to beat on anyone, Lauren. Lou’s my family.”

“Then try to understand why I’m so angry. I’m working to calm things down, but I can’t if you rile everyone up. This has become a terrible time for my kids. They’re having trouble adjusting to the idea that I want to be with your father-in-law.”

“They’re just not used to Lauren having a partner, Matty,” Lou chimed in. “It’s been difficult.”

“I’ve hit them with another big change,” Lauren said. “I’m sure that’s why Ian did what he did.”

“There’s no reason to feel guilty, Lauren,” Lou insisted. “The kids are old enough to deal with our relationship.”

Lauren shrugged. “I don’t know what anyone can deal with, anymore. But I know this. I want you to return to your own life,” Lauren warned, looking me in the eye. “Lou says you have a fiancée, spend some time with her.”

It was the gut shot and I felt a clammy sweat cover my body. Lauren was holding Alexis in her hand, and I couldn’t let her flip the card.