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“I can’t. We missed the turnoff.”
“There’s another one. Just turn north at Kreb’s Corners.”
“Where?”
“It’s still a few miles west. Smaller country road.”
“And it goes through?” She didn’t like the sound of this.
“Curves back a little, but yeah.”
“Is it plowed?”
“How the hell do I know?”
She tossed him a look in the mirror. “You seem to know a helluva lot.”
“But not enough.” He let out a beleaguered breath. “Come on, Kara, you’ve got four-wheel drive. It’ll be a piece of cake.”
Nothing about this was a “piece of cake.”
“So, let me get this straight: You want me to just leave you there? Even though you were at the murder scene.” She was thinking ahead, certain that what he was doing was illegal, whatshewas doing was nearly as bad. “I can’t. I’m meeting with the police.”
“Right after you drop me off at Hal’s.”
“They’ll find out.”
“Not if you don’t tell them,” he pointed out.
“It’s just not smart.”
“And talking to the cops is? Think about it, Kara. From my perspective.”
What she thought about was that he most likely had a gun. Would he really use it on her? His own sister? Then she remembered Merritt’s ashen face and the gory red gash across his throat. The horror of the night in the mountains. A jury finding Jonas McIntyre guilty of multiple murders. She swallowed hard, her fingers clenched over the steering wheel, her nerves stretched to the breaking point. What did she know about her half brother? How could she even imagine what he’d been through in the last two decades?
“All the cops are gonna do is railroad me, like they did before. Did they even look at anyone else?”
“I think—”
“No,” he cut her off, nearly spitting, he was so angry. “They didn’t. And there were plenty of other suspects, y’know. Marlie disappeared, right? So what about Chad, huh? The ‘love of her life’? The guy that didn’t seem all that broken up about her going missing. In fact, I’m pretty sure he had another girl, ya know, on the side.”
“Another girl?” Kara couldn’t believe it. “Marlie was so in love with him.”
“Yeah, but that girl who was his ‘friend,’ remember? She was his alibi? He ended up marrying her, right?”
“Right.”
“You think that happenedafterthat night? Come on, Kara. Grow the fuck up!”
“But . . . but she was only a kid then.”
“Fourteen.”
“They didn’t get married for years,” she said, trying to remember.
He let out a disbelieving breath. “Wow, are you naive or what?” And then, “Well, what about this, then?” Jonas went on, ignoring Kara’s argument as he was on a roll. “Maybe Walter Robinson? HehatedDad, y’know, for stealing his wife away? Dad and Zelda had a hot affair behind Walter’s back, and Dad got her pregnant with you. Besides, Walter had been in the military—would have been good with a sword.”
“But you didn’t see him?”