A set of wheels rolled past the window.
Upstairs, a door banged open. It was an outside door, I could tell by the sound.
Liam’s face was only a blob in the near dark. A terrified blob. He really was sort of a wimp. Or else Austen had him thoroughly brainwashed.
My dad’s voice shouted, “Anybody home? Liam, where are you?”
Liam stumbled up the stairs. I followed. I knew it was going to be awkward. Dad stared at us both, at Liam for being in the basement and at me just for being.
I said, “Hi, Dad.”
When he didn’t answer, I explained, “We were besieged.”
“Besieged?”
“The goons. Austen and company.”
“They were here?” Apparently I didn’t need to tell him who they were.
“Outside,” I said. “But they wanted to come in.”
Dad and Liam exchanged looks.
I said, “I brought your camera. I didn’t know if you meant to leave it.”
Mrs. Mulvaney greeted me with a nod, Mei with a hug. Dad mumbled some thanks for the camera and said he’d planned to stop by in a few days. No hugs, no kisses. And he was my dad. So sweet and loving. Not.
Liam had disappeared. The rest of them began to scatter. I stepped outside, looked both ways, didn’t see any goons, so I sprinted to the car and locked myself in.
My brother? It still seemed incredible. I should have known, if I ever got one, he wouldn’t be the brother of my dreams.
It was sickening, the whole thing about Johnny Kinsser. I couldn’t believe that either. My brother involved in a murder. Even if Aus did the actual killing, Liam must have had some sort of inkling. Aus must have told him something, like where to park. And then sat in back, which probably wasn’t typical. With Aus’s personality, I couldn’t see him taking a back seat to anyone unless he had a reason.
Did Liam try to stop him? Or give Johnny some warning? Or report it after it happened? Instead he let all the blame fall on himself, just the way Aus planned it.
I’d heard Aus’s voice, but had no idea what he looked like. I couldn’t help being a little afraid of him. And a little curious.
My watch said I had a half hour before Grandma’s bingo game. It would take me a while to get home and Grandma a few minutes to get to the game, but I just had to see Ben. Too much had happened. It couldn’t wait.
When I reached Frosty Dan, Ben was leaning across the counter, talking to a customer. She wore shorts and a tight-fitting black tee, and sat idly swinging her stool back and forth. It was her hair that gave her away—short, blond, and fluffy, like a dandelion gone to seed. Stacie Marr.
Neither of them noticed me. They were too busy with each other. And he’d given me his ring. I let the door close slowly behind me and just stood there.
I waited for one or both to catch sight of me. They couldn’t be bothered. So I opened the door and slipped out.
Forget telling Ben anything. He wouldn’t care. Not even about my new-found brother.
Forget calling Maddie, too, and interrupting her pesky project. She wouldn’t want to spend the time listening to an account of my day.
What was I going to do about Liam? He couldn’t go on this way. He was in danger and so was his mom. And my dad. And Mei. What was Dad doing about it? What could he do, unless he knew some legal beagles? Had he tried the police? It would have to be the Hudson Hills police. I could do that myself. But even if I told them everything I got from Liam, why should they take my word for it? They’d have to check it all with him and he would kill me, if Aus didn’t.
I turned off my engine and looked around. There was our house and I was in the driveway. Holy cow, I’d driven all the way from Frosty Dan and didn’t even notice. Almost as bad as being asleep at the wheel.
Grandma came out, dressed for bingo in a hot pink pantsuit and humongous pearl earrings. “Nice to see you again.” Grandma could be sarcastic, too.
I apologized. “I didn’t mean to cut it so close. All sorts of things happened.”
“Like Frosty Dan?”
“No, that only took a second. I was hiding from some Mafia goons. With my brother.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I mean it.” I tried to hand her the keys. “Hey Buddy is my brother.”
“Say what?”
“Hey Buddy. He’s my half-brother. I’ll forgive you for not telling me if you really didn’t know.”
“Honest to God.” Belatedly she took the keys from my hand. “Are you sure?”
“That’s what he said. When you get back from bingo I’ll tell you all about it.”
“You tell me now! I can be late for bingo.” With her hand on the back of my neck she pushed me into the house and onto the sofa. “Now, then.”
I scarcely knew where to begin. “It’s going to take awhile,” I warned her.
“It’s going to take as long as it takes from whenever you get started.”
I started with the camera. And then Liam. And the goons, and the basement.
“Son of a gun,” she said. “That’s your brother we’re talking about?”
“He wasn’t one of the goons,” I told her. “He’s a victim, too. And you don’t need to say anything. I already bawled him out for being an accessory after the fact.”
I went to the kitchen and took a long drink of water. My mouth still had the taste of that basement.
She followed me. And then back to the living room. “Jules had a kid and he never told us? Son of a gun.”
“You must have had some idea,” I said. “When we were talking about it, you said there was a possible relationship I hadn’t thought of.”
“It did flit across my mind.” Grandma sat down on the coffee table, facing me. “But I thought he would have mentioned it.”
“Don’t count on him mentioning anything,” I said. “He’s big on secrets.”
“Yeah, especially like having a kid out of wedlock. He didn’t want to get your mother put off.”
“If Liam was out of wedlock, then he’d have his mother’s name. The goons called him Penny.”
“Anybody can call anybody Penny,” Grandma replied. “Who knows what’s what, the way they do things? Anyway, if the kid’s having cop trouble, your dad might not want people to know, namely us.”
Cop trouble was putting it mildly. “He not only might not, he didn’t want.”
“He underestimated you,” Grandma said with a grin.
“That’s because he never bothered getting to know me.”
She wanted more details, so I went over it again. My stuffy little office room. The capo with his gang of two. I thought it was two from the voices. And Liam had named two others besides Aus. I tried to remember those names, but I couldn’t. And then my long talk with Liam in the basement, and the goons banging and shouting.
“The whole time,” I said, “all I could think of was getting the car back to you.” It wasn’t a complete lie. I had thought about it now and then.
“Thanks for reminding me.” She jumped up from the coffee table and made for the door.
I said, “What am I going to do?”
She whirled around. “Why do you have to do anything? It’s not up to you. Let the cops handle it. That’s what they get paid for.”
“They can’t handle it if they don’t know anything and Liam won’t tell them. He’s more afraid of Aus than of going to prison. I’m the only one who knows, besides the goons.”
“Want to bet your pop knows something? What do you think he came for?”
“We don’t know how much Liam told him.”
“He told you a lot.”
“I beat it out of him. Well, sort of. He didn’t know how much I already knew from the Internet.”
“And that’s where you’re gonna leave it, kiddo.” She put her hand on the door.
I stopped her. “What would you do if you were me?”
“What would I do? I’d let the cops handle it.” With that, she took off.
Oh sure, let the cops handle it. What did they have to go on except the body in Liam’s car? I could bet they didn’t even know about the other guys.
So Liam would go to prison. It wasn’t fair. I hated when things weren’t fair. I hated what they did to Johnny, who I didn’t even know, and hated what they were doing to Liam.
That is, if Liam had told the truth, and I kind of thought he did. With my personal experience, I knew lying when I saw it. Or heard it, I guess is what you do with it. And I couldn’t forget those tears.
I—hated—Aus. I supposed a psychopath couldn’t help being one, but they really should try to control it. The trouble is, they don’t see anything wrong with themselves. Maybe they don’t know what it is they’re supposed to control, or how to do it.
So, aside from being on the lookout, what choice do the rest of us have except to wait until they commit some horrendous crime and then lock them up?
Okay, Austen had done that. The only thing now was to prove that he did it.