Page 106 of Cryptic Curse
“What’s that?”
“It’s just… What if they just moved him?Or what if…”
“First of all,” Falcon says, “who wouldtheybe?You, Eagle, and I are the only people who knew about this.”
“Except for those two goons.”
“Who were stopped at the border and never heard from again,” Falcon says.“They probably got sent back across the border and were killed for their trouble.”
I shove my hands in my pockets.“Yeah, probably.”
He looks up at me.“What?”
“Well, there’s the contact at the EPA.”
He rubs at his forehead.“Yeah, you’re right about that.”
“And…” I shuffle my feet.
He glares at me.“And what?”
“And…Dad.”
Falcon shakes his head.“Dad doesn’t know.You can’t think that he has anything to do with this.”
“I don’twantto think it,” I say.“But something’s going on with him.I mean, he tried to kill himself.”
“Yeah.”
“And then he wouldn’t wake up, and there was no medical reason for it.I’m not saying he was faking it.I don’t think you can fake a coma.But it’s kind of like he willed himself into it.Like he didn’t want to face whatever he had to face.”
“Man,” Falcon says, “I don’t like thinking about Dad like that.”
No, of course he doesn’t.
Falcon was Dad’s right-hand man.His firstborn and his oldest son.
Falcon was everything to Dad.
It nearly killed Dad when Falcon had to go to prison.
I doubt he would’ve been that upset if I had been the one to cop to the killing of that young police officer.
But Falcon insisted.He was the older brother, and he felt it was his responsibility.
To be honest?I’m not sure I could’ve done it.
Not even to save Eagle.Because I’d be damned if I was going to confess to something I didn’t fucking do.It’s just not right.
“I know you don’t, Fal.I know how close you are to Dad.”I take a few steps toward my big brother.“But let’s face facts here, man.Something is eating at him, and now I think he’s trying to tell us, but the words won’t come out.”
“You think we should tell him about this?”
“For fuck’s sake, no.”I look around the barn, my heart beginning to thrum.“The fewer people who know about this, the better.”
He narrows his eyes at me.“But you seem to be insinuating that you think Dad knows.”
I look at my feet, shuffle my weight between them.“I’m not insinuating anything, Falcon.I don’t know.All I know is that eight years ago you and I buried a body here, along with some drugs.And while the drugs were still there, the body is fucking gone.”
