Page 116 of Not Quite Dead Yet

‘But the thing is, if you weren’t anofficialemployee of Mason Construction, it meant you didn’t have access to workers’ comp or health insurance. You haven’t stopped me so far, Henry; am I on the right track?’

He opened his eyes.

‘And that means you would have had to pay the hospital for all of it, all the surgeries, the treatment, the overnight stay. And I can imagine that was an unpleasant surprise. A lot of money. And maybe it was only then that you realized just how much Luke Mason had screwed you over. That would make anyone angry, Henry. Angry enough to want revenge. You still haven’t stopped me.’

Henry shook his head, wouldn’t look at her. ‘No, I don’t know what you –’

‘– I guess you want your brother to die in prison, Henry?’ Jet’s voice dropped even deeper, sharpening the edges of the words. ‘Thought he was your best bud. That’s cold.’

Henry glanced at the cupboard to his right, then back to his lap, squeezing his own hand, so tight it must have hurt.

His eyes danced from Jet to the ceiling, chest rising, filling, too much, too far, his shoulders rising with it.

He let it all go. His hand. His breath.

‘Luke said it was just temporary,’ he said quietly. ‘While he was sorting something out with the company.’ Henry wiped his nose on his sleeve. ‘He said it was legal. I didn’t really realize what it meant until … until it was too late.’

Jet’s heart kicked up, back in her chest where it belonged.

‘So I’m right, about all of it?’

‘Yeah,’ Henry croaked. ‘It happened at that house, on North Street. Luke drove me to the hospital after.’

‘Why didn’t you tell anyone, Henry?’

‘Because Luke didn’t want me to.’ He glanced at the cupboard again. ‘He said he would pay me, that he would cover all the medical costs as long as I never told anyone. He’s been transferring money to me every month, so I can pay off my debt to the hospital, but it’s not enough, never enough. I told him I needed more. A lot more.’

Jet swallowed. ‘Did JJ know, about all of this?’

‘No. No.’ Leaning hard on that secondno.‘Luke meant it when he said I couldn’t tell anyone. JJ still believes the drunk-wall story. But he knows I have to pay the hospital back. He’s been helping me pay it off. I don’t know what I would have done without him. He’s been taking on more clients, working extra shifts at the gym, just working, all the damn time, for me.’ Henry’s eyes went back to his lap, to his empty hands. ‘He borrowed money until they wouldn’t let him borrow any more, because we couldn’t pay it back, because it was all going to the hospital, and it still wasn’t enough.’

‘Jet,’ Billy said, voice vibrating through the back of the couch, turning to her. ‘The loan JJ took out in your name. This is why he did it.’

‘What?’ Henry sniffed.

‘You didn’t know about that?’ Jet asked. ‘It’s part of the police’s case against him. He took out thirty grand in my name. Defaulted on the first monthly repayment. The police think that gives him motive for my murder.’

Henry’s eyes widened.

‘I didn’t know,’ he said, little more than a whisper. ‘I’m sorry, Jet. JJ wouldn’t … he wouldn’t have done anything like that if I hadn’t … we’re just desperate. Only got worseafter that other eye surgery. And it didn’t work. We need to find another eleven thousand or I’ll go blind, but we can’t – we can’t, we’re out of options.’ The words chased each other out, moving faster than his darting eyes. ‘Already in so much debt. Can’t pay our rent anymore. They’re gonna kick us out soon. And now JJ’s been arrested, and I can’t do anything for him. He took care of me, our whole lives, and I can’t do anything for him. Don’t have the money to bail him out of jail, if it comes to that. To pay for a lawyer. It’s all fucked. This is all my fault.’

He dropped his head into his hands, pressing his fingers into his eyes.

‘It’s not, though, is it?’ Jet said, treading carefully. Because Henry had talked himself out onto the edge, and he had a gun. He knew where it was, and they didn’t. ‘It’s Luke’s fault. He did this to you, put you in this position. You got injured onhiswork site. And now he’s the one paying you to keep quiet about it.’

Henry raised his head a few inches.

Jet kept going.

‘It’s Luke’s fault, Henry, not yours. He did this.’

Henry straightened up, looked at her eye to eye, though neither of them could see too well anymore.

‘Do you hate him, Henry?’ she said. ‘For doing this to you, putting you in this position.’

He didn’t answer.

‘Did you want to do something about it? Punish him?’

---