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Angus claps his hands. “Mad respect, kid. That was brutal.”
Grey continues to look uncomfortable. “Listen, Ben. I’m sorry about surprising you like this. We had year end business in Denver and decided to make this a quick side trip after getting that call. We know you’ve got a few more months left of high school but you are legally an adult now and we wanted to let you know that there’s a place for you if you want to take it now.”
“You mean a place in the Drexler Group.”
“Sure.” Grey finally smiles. “If you’d rather go to college first you can do that but there’s no need. You’ll start small but the doors are all open for you and you’ll be near the top in no time.”
“I’d rather make a living shoveling shit in a hole until I die.”
“Fuck.” Angus shakes his head and stands with a scowl. “I don’t care what Dad said. If the kid’s happy living in filth and fucking with low class sluts then let him stay here.” He fixes the collar of his overcoat and gives me a cool nod. “You always were a stupid little shit but if you ever wise up I guess we can let you fetch coffee for minimum wage.”
The wisest move would be to keep my wits and avoid playing my hand too early.
Instead I exhale and tense my muscles. “You depraved son of a bitch. Did you look him in the eye before you pulled the trigger?”
Grey is still on the sofa and he’s confused. “What?”
But Angus knows exactly what I mean. The cruel glint in his eye is replaced with panic. It fades in a flash, traded for the cunning anger I remember seeing in him as a child when he liked to execute seagulls and torture cats. He’s far more dangerous now.
“Your fucking crazy mother told you that.”
I shake my head. “You’ve got it wrong, Angus. I’m the one who told her that.”
“Ben.” Grey is standing now but gives his brother a frustrated look before turning to me. “It’s been a long time since we’ve seen you. It’s pretty clear someone’s been filling your head with a lot of lies and-“
“FUCK THAT AND FUCK YOU!”
Grey holds out his hands, a nonthreatening gesture that begs for calm. A movie screen of old memories flashes through my mind; Grey and Angus, always together, a matched set since birth. They were not identical and telling them apart was easy. Angus was always bigger, always stronger. Angus was widely acknowledged to be the smarter and better looking of the two and when carrying out whatever misdeeds the twins cooked up, Angus was always the leader. The instigator. It was Angus who held a gun while my father pleaded for his life as the other Drexler men looked on.
Except for Grey.
I never saw Grey there that night.
There’s a long shot possibility that Grey might not even know.
Grey still stands beside the couch but Angus has taken a handful of critical steps to his right, effectively cutting me off from the front door. If I were easily frightened then his calculating stare might make my stomach drop. But I’ve already seen the worst he can do and I’m not going to run and hide this time.
I turn my attention to Grey. “My father didn’t commit suicide. They killed him. Your brother, your father, and Uncle Layton.”
Grey’s expression changes to pity. “Ben, I know it’s difficult to accept what your father did but-”
“It has something to do with the Marshlands and those activists who disappeared. He used to cry about it. I heard him. He was planning to go public with what he knew.”
Angus explodes with laughter. “Bat shit crazy just like his mother.”
I level my gaze at Angus now. “He said, ‘Please don’t. We’re family.’ It was your father who replied ‘Not anymore’. And it was you who pulled the trigger.”
Angus is unimpressed. “That’s some kind of fairy tale you’re peddling, you poor brainwashed little fuck.”
“I saw you. That night at Uncle Layton’s house. I saw you, Angus.”
He’s not expecting this. There’s visceral hatred in his face now. “You didn’t see a fucking thing.”
Grey is frozen in place. He could never be a good poker player. He does a piss poor job of hiding his thoughts. The look he’s giving his brother is sorrow mixed with loathing. Even if no one has ever spoken the truth to him out loud he’s always suspected.
I have nothing more to say to Angus. Maybe Grey can still be reasoned with.
“My mother ran away because she was terrified. She thought if I told the truth about what happened to my father then I’d be killed too. Maybe both of us would have been killed. It doesn’t matter now. I’m finished hiding. I’m reclaiming my identity. And I’m telling my story.”
