Mad Dog was extremely private about his family: four daughters by three different wives. But the rumor going around the lake was that the girl I pulled out of the water tonightcouldbe his illegitimate daughter by one of the housekeepers who died years ago—and that the chauffeur might be raising her as his own kid. Who knew if that was even true, but if it was? If my mom found out that Eddie was messing around with Mad Dog’s youngest daughter while she fell off the watchtower and almost died—please, please, please don’t let her die tonight—and if Mad Dog found out Eddie had anything to do with her being out there?
My family could lose everything.
So I was lying for their sake—for my mom and the twins. Erasing Jane Marlow for them. Not for Eddie, who I resented tonight with a heavy blackness that sat in the pit of my stomach like a rock.
But it didn’t stop me from thinking about Jane’s face when I closed my eyes.
A light flicked to life in the arched doorway past the stairs. Ms. Makruhi, our nosy housekeeper. And was that the sound of twin feet above us?Please, no!I was on the verge of having a breakdown. I just wanted to get upstairs and go fall apart in the privacy of my own room without waking my father.
Was that too much to ask?
“My baby? My shining star?” my mom said, holding my face. “Fen-jan?”
“I’m okay, Mama.”
She nodded. “You’re a good boy. So honorable. Always thinking of others.”
That gutted me. Made me sick inside. Ihatedlying to her. My dad could fall in the dam for all I cared, but I did not enjoy lying to her. All I wanted to do was tell her that this was the worst night of my life, and that nothing was going to be okay again. But I said nothing.
“The family can always count on you,” Eddie said to me behind her back. The tone in his voice held something I couldn’t quite understand.
For a moment, I wondered if my brother wasn’t as dumb as I thought he was.
Condor Festival Freaks Private Messages
Eddie Sarafian:
What up remember me hozws it been girll
Jane Marlow:
Eddie?
Eddie Sarafian:
Ya haha its me, official checkmark and all wuzup
I saw yr name pop up on that thread in the app about band lighting
Thot id hit ya up. Howz LA? Been a few weeeks
Jane Marlow:
Wow. So surprising to hear from you. But good!
LA is the same. How’s Condor Lake? Hate that I missed the festival
Eddie Sarafian:
All good all good.
You recovered from the dam?
Heard u had speech therarpy??
Jane Marlow:
Small brain issues from being underwater so long. Not back in school yet
