His father looked about to argue, then let out a sigh. “All right,” he said sadly. “Son of a bitch. Yeah, that’s ’bout how it happened,” he admitted, sliding a cigarette from the pack. “You’re right, son, and I guess, hell, I suppose it’s time you knew.”

“Well past time. So what happened?” He’d rounded the counter and stood looming over his father, who seemed suddenly a broken man.

“Your mother,” he said the words as if they tasted foul. “She was a piece of work, y’know.”

“I know how you feel about her. Cut to the chase.”

He swore under his breath and walked out to the back deck, where he lit up.

Jase followed, knowing full well what was to come. But he wanted to hear it from the old man’s lips.

Ed drew deep on his Camel and let the smoke drift out of his nostrils as he looked into the trees that separated this side of the building from the street. “Okay,” he admitted. “Marian, she did take off with the baby, but he wasn’t younger than you. Well, at least not by much. And his name wasn’t Edward Junior. You’re right about that. His name was Jacob, but I figure you already know that. Just like you already know that he was your twin.”

CHAPTER 28

CHAPTER 28

He drove like a madman. When he’d seen that his shots had missed, that Zoe was getting away in the pickup, he’d run back to the cabin, left that miserable Chloe locked in the basement, and jumped into the car that he’d brought from town. He’d ditched the van, hidden it in the garage until he could repair it, but he still had the car . . . Myra’s car. The 2001 Ford Focus had barely been driven and blended well with other vehicles.

The good news was that Zoe hadn’t gotten far. She’d been too stupid or delirious to realize that she’d doubled back. He doubted it had been a ploy to get him off the track; it was easy enough to get turned around with all the bends in the river and the forest blocking one’s sight. She hadn’t known that the river itself was like a snake, twisting and turning on itself, so she’d only ended up a quarter mile away from the cabin. He’d whistled to the useless dog, jogged back to the canoe, and had been in his car within fifteen minutes.

He’d even managed to make the call.