The Best of Me(83)

Abee had known Ted wouldn’t let things drop. But maybe it would be good for his kin to know that Ted was up and around and ready to take care of business. “And if he ain’t there?”

“Then he ain’t there. But I gotta know.”

Abee stared at him, preoccupied with the unanswered phone calls and Candy’s whereabouts. Thinking about the guy he’d seen flirting with her at the Tidewater. “All right,” he said. “But after that, I might just need you to do something for me, too.”



Candy held the phone as she sat in the parking lot of the Tidewater. Two calls from Abee. Two unanswered and so far unreturned calls. The sight of them made her nervous, and she knew she should call him back. Just do a little purring and say all the right things, but then he might get it into his head to come and visit her while she was at work, and that was the last thing she wanted. He’d probably notice her packed car in the parking lot, figure out that she was planning on clearing out, and who knew what that psycho would do.

She should have packed up later, after work, and left from home. But she hadn’t been thinking, and her shift was about to start. And while she could cover maybe a week in a motel and the food, she really needed tonight’s tips for gas.

There was no way she could park out front—not where Abee could see the car. Slipping into reverse, she pulled out of the lot and rounded the highway curve, back toward downtown Oriental. Behind one of the antiques stores at the edge of town was a small lot, and there she turned in and parked out of sight. Better. Even if that did mean she had to walk a bit.

But what if Abee showed up and didn’t see her car? That might be a problem, too. She didn’t want him asking too many questions. She thought about it, deciding that if he called again she’d answer and maybe mention in an offhand way that she’d had car trouble and had been dealing with that all day. It was troublesome, but she tried to console herself with the fact that she had only five hours to go. By tonight, she’d be able to put this whole thing behind her.



Jared was still sleeping at quarter past five, when his cell phone began to ring. Rolling over, he reached for it, wondering why his dad was calling.

Except it wasn’t his dad. It was his dad’s golf buddy, Roger, asking him to come and pick up his dad at the country club. Because his dad had been drinking and shouldn’t be driving.

Gee, really? he thought. My dad? Drinking?

Jared didn’t say that, even if he’d wanted to. Instead, he promised to be there in about twenty minutes. Getting out of bed, he threw on the shorts and T-shirt he’d been wearing earlier, then slid into his flip-flops. He collected his keys and wallet from the bureau. Yawning, he descended the steps, already thinking about calling Melody.



Abee didn’t bother to hide the truck on the road outside Tuck’s and hike through the woods like he’d done the night before. Instead, he sped up the uneven drive and came to a gravel-spraying halt directly in front of the house, driving like a SWAT team leader on a mission. He was out of the truck with his gun drawn before Ted, but his brother clambered out of the truck with surprising agility, especially considering the way he looked. The bruises beneath his eyes had already turned blackish purple. The guy was a human raccoon.

No one was around, just like Abee had expected. The house was deserted, and there was no sign of Dawson in the garage, either. His cousin certainly was a slippery bastard. It was a shame he hadn’t stuck around all these years. Abee could have found good use for him, even if Ted would have had a fit.

Ted wasn’t all that surprised that Dawson was gone, either, but that didn’t mean he was any less angry about it. Abee could see Ted’s jaw muscles clenching in sporadic rhythm, his finger stroking the Glock trigger. After a minute of seething in the driveway, he marched toward Tuck’s house and kicked in the door.

Abee leaned against the truck, deciding to let him be. He could hear Ted cursing and shouting and tossing crap around inside the house. While Ted was throwing his tantrum, an old chair came crashing through the window, the glass exploding into a thousand shards. Ted finally appeared in the doorway but barely broke stride, walking furiously toward the old garage.

A classic Stingray was housed inside. It hadn’t been there last night, another indication that Dawson had come and gone. Abee wasn’t sure whether Ted had figured that out yet, but he supposed it didn’t matter. Let Ted get this fit out of his system. The sooner it passed, the sooner things would return to normal around here. He needed Ted to start focusing less on what he wanted and more on what Abee told him to do.