Days went by. I hoped that Bear had decided to let go of the subject, but then Doctor Clark returned with a lawyer. Rei had a will. Years earlier, she had inherited money from her parents when they died. She had no living relatives. Her house was to be sold, and the money from the sale would be given to the Osha Conservation Fund. Her savings were to be divided among Bear and Amir and me. Amir and I would inherit the money whenwe were eighteen. Bear could collect his inheritance at intervals over the next couple of years so long as he was taking “good care” of us.
The lawyer frowned at Bear. “That’s a tricky thing, that part about taking ‘good care’ of your sister and your... ward. Rei didn’t specify what she meant by that.”
My heart hammered in my ears. I stole a glance at Bear. His face was impassive. I could not tell if he even understood what the lawyer was saying.
“But here’s where things get even trickier, I’m afraid,” the man continued. “There’s a small bank account with a bit of money in it, but her will states that she kept most of her inheritance at home in a box in her bedroom. When we checked the box, we found it empty.” He looked at Bear, waiting for his response. I was waiting for it, too, waiting for Bear to tell them that Amir had gone missing the very night Rei had died.
But my brother just gnashed his molars together and stared off into the distance.
“Money doesn’t disappear,” Doctor Clark said. “It will turn up as the house gets cleared out for the sale.”
I listened, afraid that if I spoke or even moved, Bear would break his silence.
“You keep looking,” Bear said. “We could use that money.”
The lawyer nodded. “Meantime, I’ll get your share of the money from the savings account over to you as soon as the estate has settled.”
Doctor Clark had me sit in the kitchen so he could take a lookat my calf before he left. “Just about good as new,” he said, rolling my pant leg back down. “Amir’s out working again?”
I nodded. As he gathered his coat and left, I stared at the floor, wondering how long I could keep pretending that Amir was at Horseshoe Cliff. Wherewashe, anyway? For a moment, I entertained an elaborate fantasy of Amir and Rei strolling through the front door, laughing off my worst fears as a ridiculous misunderstanding.
Instead, as soon as the doctor’s car pulled away, Bear stormed into the kitchen. Before I knew what was happening, he upended my chair and I fell to the floor.
“Amir killed her, didn’t he?” Bear said, standing over me, his chest heaving.
My pulse immediately thundered in my ears. “No.No.Of course not.”
“‘Of course not,’”Bear mimicked, sneering. “I bet you never thought Amir would run away and leave you here all alone, did you? Looks like you didn’t know him as well as you thought you did.Iknew who he was the second I saw him. Now you do, too. Wake up, Merrow. Amir isgone. Rei isdead. He killed her, and he took her money, and he ran.”
I opened my mouth to defend Amir, but my mind churned in darkness so thick I could not find the words. Had my actions pushed Amir to do something he never would have done in other circumstances? I had known that deep emotions boiled within him; in the face of Bear’s treatment he had grown angrier with each passing day. When I spent the night with the Langfords,Amir had to face Bear alone, and I’d returned to find him locked in the shed. What had that done to him? If he believed that I planned to leave Horseshoe Cliff without him, and that Rei encouraged me to do so, could his anger have pivoted toward her? Had I driven him to steal from her? To murder her? I did not want to believe this was possible, but I could not erase the memory of what I had seen that night at Rei’s house. The empty box. Rei’s awful, frozen fear.
Bear was watching me. His eyes narrowed. “You were there, weren’t you?”
I shook my head. I did not trust myself to speak.
“I need that money, Merrow. We need it. It’s ours.” Bear’s expression shifted, darkening. The air between us crackled with warning.
I crab-crawled away from him until my back hit the kitchen cabinet. “They’ll find the money. You heard Doctor Clark. It’ll turn up.”
“He also said Rei died in her sleep, and we both know that’s bullshit.”
He seemed as though he was going to walk away, but instead he suddenly crouched down and wrapped my shins in his huge hands. As he squeezed, I felt his fingernails through my pants.
“Stop,” I gasped. “Let go of me!” I thrashed on the ground and tried to push him away, to kick him away, but his hands were clamped tight. It was like the eight years when Amir had been the focus of his violence had never even happened; his rage winnowed on me. I’d nearly forgotten how it felt to be so terrified. This was how Amir had felt, alone with Bear while I had slept in comfort with the Langfords.
My hands were free. Bear’s hands were tight around my legs.
I stuck my thumbs into his eyes. He howled, but when his hand rose to hit me it froze in the air. I scrambled into the corner. He came after me.
I kicked out wildly. He threw my legs to the side. He could do anything he wanted—there was no one for miles in any direction. This was how it would be from now on.
“I hate you!” I screamed.
His face was inches from mine. When he spoke, spittle flew at me. “You better not run,” he said. “If you run, I’ll know you’re meeting him. I’ll know you helped him do it, and I’ll tell.”
Then he stood. His shoulders heaved; he was out of breath. He grabbed a six-pack of beer from the fridge and slammed his bedroom door behind him.
I stared after him. The only reason he hadn’t hit me in the face was that he wanted Rei’s money and the lawyer had said he was going to check on us. But it didn’t matter whether or not I stayed; the most Bear would ever see of Rei’s money was the amount in her bank account. Amir had taken the rest. Bear’s rage would only grow.
