“That’s what the tattoo means, see?He’s got a good new life here.He’s a new person.Doesn’t have to be that way anymore.”
“Right,” Jem said.His mouth felt chalky.“Sure.”
“Is Kai here?”Tean asked.“Maybe we should talk to him.”
“No, honey.He and Zeb left a couple of hours ago.”
“That’s why Zeb called Rydel,” Jem said.He could see the shape of it now.“He heard us asking about a man with those scars.He knew it was Rydel.”
“Zeb—” Tess broke off.“He wasn’t thinking clearly that night.”With a forced laugh, Tess said, “Afterwards, Kai said we all should have known.Rydel was always coming up with excuses to disappear.His battery died, or he lost his wallet, or he had to work late.”
Jem barely heard her; he had to sit with the realization for a moment.The fact that Zeb hadn’t been trying to help Rydel or warn him changed a lot of things.Jem tried to run out the sequence of events for the rest of that night.What had Zeb been doing while Rydel had been taking potshots at Jem and Tean in the canyon?And what had happened after, when Rydel had gone back to the house?Had Zeb gotten there first and found Daniel?
There were too many unknowns.
In a strange voice, Tean said, “The dad treated Rydel differently than the others, didn’t he?”
Jem’s head snapped up.
Tess froze mid-stroke, coral nail polish glistening on her small toe.“Yeah.He did.How’d you know that?”
“He was harder on him.”
Tess looked like she might not answer.And then she said, “He hit him.He’d come to school with bruises on his face.On his neck.One time, he broke his arm.They said he fell off a horse.”
The anatomy model placed in the center of the dresser.
The scars on Rydel’s arm.
“He made Rydel work with him,” Tean said.“With the animals.”
“How’d you know that?”Tess asked, with a note of real wonder this time.But she didn’t wait for Tean to respond.“He said Rydel had to earn his keep.He’d tell anybody who would listen.”
“They weren’t brothers,” Tean said.“They were—what?Stepbrothers?”
Tess thought about it.“Cousins, I guess.They made Rydel call them mom and dad, but I think he came from a sister who couldn’t keep him anymore.”
“Fuck me,” Jem said.“He has a different last name.”
33
In the parking lot of the shiny new Burger King, they sat in the Subaru.The air was heavy and greasy inside the car.Jem picked at the fries and Whopper he’d ordered, but he couldn’t taste any of it.Tean’s chicken sandwich was still in its wrapper.Midday traffic ran steady on the road: a lot of trucks, a lot of Fords and Chevys.A big old Mack blasted its horn as it rolled past, and a cloud of dust tumbled toward them.
“How’d you know?”Jem finally asked.
“I didn’t.I mean, I don’t know.But something was so strange.The behavior she was describing from Rydel.Withdrawn.The picking.I wouldn’t be surprised if there was some self-harm happening.And the way he acted toward Zeb.”
“You mean that he raped him.”
Tean nodded.“A lot of that kind of sexual assault is more about the victim acting out what’s been done to them.The fact that it happened after the dad died, while Rydel was still bigger and stronger than Zeb.Rydel is male, and there’s a statistical link between male victims of childhood sexual abuse and adult sexual aggression.”Tean hesitated.“And there was just something strange about that house.”
“That house,” Jem corrected, “was seriously fucked up.”
“I don’t know,” Tean said again.“It was a guess.”
“It was a good guess.”Jem grabbed a fry but didn’t eat it.“Did you hear her?About the bruises on his neck?”
Tean nodded.
