“You don’t say.”
The kid nodded. “I’m not scared of a stupid ghost. This is my fortress.”
“Does anyone know you’re out here?”
Benjamin’s face fell, and he got real interested in his shoes, scuffing them in the dirt. “Papa does.”
“Is that true?”
Freckles sprinkled across his nose as it twitched, and Gus knew the boy had a bit of the devil in him. He was a Boone through and through.
“Well, I told him I was going to play in the bunkie, and I promised that I wouldn’t go near the water.” Benjamin’s eyes widened. “Last year this kid drowned on the other side of the lake because he fell in, and the Green Hand got him.”
Gus chuckled. “They’re still telling that story?”
Benjamin frowned. “It’s true. The Green Hand waits in the water and gets you when you’re alone. He drags you to the bottom and then you drown, and the fishes eat you. My dad told me that and he doesn’t lie.”
It was hard not to smile at that. “Okay, bud. If your dad said it’s true, I believe you.” He paused and kept his voice casual. “Is he here with you? Your dad?”
Benjamin nodded.
Gus exhaled slowly at the news. It was Thursday, and the fourth week he’d been working at the Boone estate. Other than the chance meeting he’d had with Sunday the weekend before, he’d had zero contact with his family. Would today be the day he finally laid eyes on his father? His brother? Would they know him? Would they care?
The more important question being: was he ready?
“We should go find him,” Gus said.
Almost immediately, the young boy began to run down the path that led past the bunkie and on to the main house. With no choice but to follow, Gus hiked his bag over his shoulder andgrabbed his mirrored aviators. He pulled them on over his eyes and followed in Benjamin’s footsteps.
It took less than five minutes for them to break free of the treeline, and almost immediately, Gus spied two men on the top tier of a multi-level deck at the back of the main house.
His father, Porter, was easy to identify and not because he was obviously the older male with silver hair. It was the wheelchair that gave him away. A man stood a few feet from him, hands in the pockets of his light gray slacks, shoulders squared. He was tall and fit; the white dress shirt did nothing to hide his muscular arms and wide shoulders. His hair was a darker blond than Gus remembered, and as he and Benjamin approached the men, his gut churned, and sweat broke out on his forehead.
What the fuck? He’d been a trained Navy SEAL, for Christ’s sake. He’d faced situations in combat that would make a normal man shit his pants and keel over from fear.
This frail man in a wheelchair, and a long-lost brother, would not defeat him.
“Daddy!” Benjamin shouted as he made a beeline for the stairs. With the focus of both men now on him, Gus had no choice but to follow suit. By the time he reached the top deck, Benjamin was leaning against his grandfather’s wheelchair, his voice excited as he chatted away.
“I told him about the Green Hand.”
Both men turned, and for a strange moment, time stood still. Though the birds still sang. The wind still blew. The earth still turned. But in Fire Lake, it seemed to happen in slow motion.
Benjamin’s father cleared his throat as if under the same spell and stepped forward. “You must be the new carpenter. Great job on the gazebo. I’m not surprised they kept you to work on the cottage restorations. I’m Ford by the way. Haven’t been around the place much.” He flashed a smile. “I tend to stay in thecity but with summer break in full swing I’m going to be in Fire Lake for the next month or so.”
The men shook hands.
“Gus.”
It wasn’t until that very moment Gus realized he and Ford were the exact same height. The last time he’d set eyes on his older brother, he’d been a boy of seven whose nuts had barely fallen, and Ford had been a tall, gangly kid toying with early teenage peach fuzz.
“You’re not from around here.”
He shook his head, a well-practiced story already falling from his lips. “I’m from California by way of Boston. Served in the forces and found myself at loose ends when I didn’t re-up. Decided to do a bit of traveling, took a wrong turn off the interstate and kept going. Eventually it led to Fire Lake. Saw the job posting downtown and here we are.”
“Well, it looks like our needs are in good hands. We want to get the cottages rebuilt and hopefully next summer we can host a camp for inner-city children at risk. Get them out of their urban environment and to the country where they can have a safe place to be kids.”
“That’s . . .” It was unexpected, was what it was, but Gus hid his surprise. “That’s a real nice thing to do.”
