Page 65 of In Cold Blood

“Oh, don’t give me that bullshit. You just want to control my life. You always have. Every single one of us.”

“Stop making this about you!”

“See, you’re doing it again. You always turn it around and make it our problem. Just like when mother died.”

Seething, Hugh jabbed the BBQ prongs at him. “Don’t you dare talk about her!”

“Why? Why Dad? She’s gone and neither I, you, nor anyone else was to blame. When are you going to accept that?”

His words lingered.

Hugh went back out and switched off the BBQ. He returned shaking a clenched hand at waist height, teeth gritted. For a second, Noah thought his father would strike him but that ended the instant they heard a vehicle alarm blaring.

They looked at each other for a second, then Noah set his drink down on the table and darted out of the house. His eyes widened. His jaw dropped at the sight of his vandalized truck.

“What the hell?! Son of a bitch!”

His black truck had been immaculate when he went inside.

Now it had the words “GO HOME OR YOU’LL JOIN YOUR BROTHER, PIG!” spray painted down the side. The front windshield was shattered, and the head of a white-tailed deer was perched on the passenger seat, fresh blood dripping onto the floor.

Tires screeched; an engine roared.

Noah took off, all fury and rage.

“Noah!” Hugh shouted in fear as he and Axel dashed up the long driveway just in time to see the red taillights of a truck disappear around a bend in the road. It was too dark to see any more than that.

Noah twisted back toward the garage, thinking of giving pursuit in his father’s vehicle, but his truck was blocking the garage, and the tires had been slashed.

Noah balled his fists.

17

Despite Hugh protesting, Noah contacted High Peaks Police Department and they said they would send over an officer. Hugh didn’t want to cause a scene. He was worried about what others would think of him and his family. In his mind, it was par for the course in light of all that Luke was involved in before his death. “They see you as a threat. That’s all. It’s nothing. It’s to be expected,” Hugh said.

“But it doesn’t have to be accepted. Local PD needs to know,” he said, peering out the window as he waited for them to arrive.

“I really wish you hadn’t called them,” Hugh said, topping up his drink. “I don’t want my neighbors talking.”

“That would require you to speak to them.”

“I speak to them.”

“Sure you do.”

Finally, Hugh shifted from orange juice to the strong stuff, opening the alcohol cabinet and pouring two fingers into a glass. All that talk about not drinking went right out the window.

“It’s my truck today. Your house tomorrow. We don’t know when this will end. They need to know and you need to think about security.”

“Oh, nonsense.”

Hugh grumbled.

As he continued to mutter in the background, Noah placed a call to the rental company to update them and see if they could get him a replacement vehicle. He wasn’t worried about the cost of repairing the truck or the legal repercussions of the incident as he’d taken out the best insurance.

“Just borrow my truck. I can use the BMW. It will save you some money.”

“Until it gets wrecked like this, then you’ll have another thing to hold over my head.”