38
Jem studied Stephen.It was his first look at the other man since Tean had pointed out the relationship, and now it was easy to see the similarities.The laceration from the antenna had already scabbed.
The sap was a problem.
“Mckell,” Dean shouted.He took a step toward her and stopped to stare at Stephen.“What’d you do?”
“What the fuck’s going on?”Sawyer shouted.When no one responded, he tried again—aiming for angry, but his voice beginning to fray.“Hey, I’m talking to you!”
“Get in that bedroom,” Stephen said, “and shut the door.Maybe I won’t kill you.”
Jem didn’t look over his shoulder, but there was a rattling sound as someone yanked on a doorknob.Aiden, he guessed.Without taking his gaze off Stephen, he said, “Go.Put something in front of the door.”
“You need help—” Quinn began.
“Get in there,” Jem said.
Movement behind Jem told him the rest of the coaching group was leaving.Dean lingered the longest, wringing his hands as he stared at Mckell, but finally he slunk into the bedroom.The door clicked shut, and then came the muffled sounds of furniture thumping across the floor.
Stephen was still standing there.Behind him, the overhead lights picked out the silver and blond of Brigitte’s hair like she was standing under a spotlight, but it left her face in shadow.
“You’re making a big mistake,” Jem said.
Stephen shook his head.He took a step forward.
“Get lost,” Jem said.“Right now.”
“Give us the briefcase, Jeremiah,” Brigitte called from the hallway.“That’s all we want.Once that’s done, we can go back to being a family.”
In spite of himself, Jem laughed.“You two are a match made in heaven, you know that?What, now you’re working together?”
Stephen shifted his weight, but he stayed where he was.
“Or you can’t make up your minds?”Jem asked.“Yes, no, yes, no.I guess it’s hard.You need each other.You can’t trust each other.How long did it take before you started blackmailing her?”
A smile slanted slowly across Stephen’s mouth.
“I couldn’t figure out why you wanted me up here so badly,” Jem said, speaking past Stephen, letting the words carry to Brigitte.“At first, I thought I knew.Hey, we’re a family.Let’s get back together again, make things right.That’s what you wanted me to think.And it worked.”He couldn’t help it; his voice got thicker when he said, “People will believe anything.Especially if they want it to be true.”
“This is a complicated situation,” Brigitte said.“And wecanstill be a family.But you have to give us the briefcase.”
Jem ignored her.“Once Tean told me what was going on, though, I couldn’t wrap my head around it.Here you were, running this great scam.Why drag me into it?The only answer was that you needed me.But why did you need me?Because you were in trouble.And the only kind of trouble that mattered had to be something to do with stealing all that money.Then I thought about where we found the bank statements.They were incriminating.Why would Stephen keep them in his room, even hidden, unless he needed them for something?”No one spoke.“And then it landed: he needed them so he could hold them over your head with Gerald.I guess the whole keep-it-in-the-family thing didn’t work out the way you wanted.”
“This is taking too long,” Brigitte said to Stephen.
Stephen started to move forward, but Jem said, “She wanted me up here to distract you.That first night when you lifted my wallet in the bar.That was all about getting you out of your room and keeping you busy so that she’d have time to try to find those documents.What happened?Someone called you and said, ‘Hey, I’m your brother, and I want to get a drink with you in the bar?’Maybe someone sent you a picture of me?”When Stephen didn’t answer, Jem said, “I’m close, right?Something made you want to see if it was true—if it could be true.That’s why you came to the bar.That’s why you lifted my wallet.And you saw my name, and you knew, and then you ditched the wallet, and Maeve and Milo picked it up.”
“Something like that,” Stephen said.
“Your name’s not Stephen, is it?Sawyer looked you up.He couldn’t find you.You’re not real.”
“I’m real enough.”Stephen took a step.The sap bounced against his thigh.“The briefcase.”
Jem was grinning.It was like he’d taken all those addies he’d found, like he was skating.Like someone had turned up all the lights until the world was on the edge of being too bright, but in the best possible way.His heartbeat was higher in his chest.His skin was tight, and the snow-burn on his cheeks throbbed.Excitement made his gut tense, his balls draw up.Hours and days of wandering around in the snow, being lost in the dark, being so fucking helpless.And now, finally, something was happening.
“It’s Jacob, right?Jacob B.?It’s on your prescriptions.”
Something darkened in Stephen’s eyes.
