Before the Dawn(101)

"My mother died of a drug overdose." Anthony shrugged. "That happens with addicts."

"Just like it happened with Rowan Jacobs."

Another shrug.

"Bullshit." Anger seethed in him, but Tucker didn't let that rage out. He wasn't the one who was going to break in this interview. "You killed Rowan, when you were supposed to be guarding him. You were afraid the guy would be able to tell everyone that you were the one who paid him to shoot at me, so you got a needle and you pumped that kid's veins full, didn't you? Julia found the needle mark. She checked his blood, she knows-"

"So glad she survived her attack," Anthony murmured. "Always rather liked her."

"You liked her so much that you hit her over the head and threw her in a body locker."

Anthony's cuffed hands lifted as he rubbed his chin. "Why did Jason choose the freezers? I've always wondered that. Doesn't make sense... I mean, Louisiana is fucking hot. Why go cold with the kills?"

"Because our father left us in that heat. For days and days. We'd sweat and we'd vomit and we'd be sure that we were going to die. Jason talked to me during that time. He'd talk to me for hours-until his voice was gone. He'd tell me that we didn't really feel all that heat. That it was mind over matter. That we were in ice. Protected. Forever safe...in the ice."


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Anthony didn't blink. "Sounds like your brother loved you."

"He did, as much as he was able to love anyone."

"And you still killed him."

Tucker looked over Anthony's shoulder. A one-way mirror was there, and his reflection peered back at him. For a moment, he saw Jason.

Maybe I will always see him. "Yes, I still killed him." Time to take off the fucking gloves. Tucker leaned forward. His voice dropped. "Just like I would have killed you."

Anthony swallowed and his Adam's apple bobbed. "I heard...heard you saved me. You stopped me from bleeding out."

"Because Dawn didn't want me killing another brother. She thought I couldn't live with that on my soul." He smiled. In the mirror, his dimple flashed. Jason's dimple. "But I'll tell you a secret."

Anthony's eyes gleamed. "Please do..."

"I don't give a fuck about you. If I hadn't been so fixed on getting to Dawn, on saving her, I would have used my knife to cut your throat wide-open. I would have stared down at you and watched as you choked on your blood."

Anthony's eyes weren't gleaming any longer.

"You made a mistake. You went after Dawn. No one does that. She is my family. You really should have learned from Jason's mistake."

The guard was watching them. Tucker and Anthony were both still in their seats. It was hot in the room. Too hot.

Imagine we're in ice. Safe, so far away...

"You're going to spend the rest of your life in a cage." And, once more, Jason's voice drifted through Tucker's mind. You don't want me in a cell? A cage? We've both been in a cage before. We swore neither of us would go back.

It was Anthony's turn to go in the cage.

"We've got you on the murder of Detective Ronald Torez. We have you on the murder of Jinx Donahue and Rowan Jacobs. On the attempted murder of Dr. Julia Bradford. And thanks to your not-so-clever ass leaving your gloves and DNA at Heather Hartley's crime scene, we have you for her death, too."

"I wanted you to know I was out there. Another brother, hunting. Another brother, killing."

"Don't worry, I know. The whole world knows." He stood up. "Hope you enjoy them all knowing...while you're living in a cell. Though if I were you, I'd be watching my back. Once you get sentenced and head off to Angola Prison, you're in for real hell. The inmates there don't take too kindly to cops, especially the killing kind." Tucker turned away. 

"What the fuck was so special about you?"

Tucker rolled his shoulders and turned back to stare at the man who was his half brother.

"You got close to Dawn. You had his face and she still loved you. But I go to her...and she wouldn't give me the time of day. I was a cop, I should've been a freaking hero in her eyes...and she shut me down."

And that had been when the Iceman game began. Another piece of the puzzle fell into place. "I'm not special. I am lucky. A very lucky bastard because she loved me back then...and she loves me now."

"Fucker."

Tucker smiled. "I thought she was afraid of my darkness, but she wasn't. The first time I saw her, I wanted to protect her. She seemed so delicate and perfect. An angel in my hell."