The Fortunate Brother (25 page)

“Kyle!” Sylvanus's face was dark with worry, a strange light in his eyes. “What're you doing?”

Kyle backed up against the wall.

“She didn't do it, Ky.”

He nodded.

“What's going on? You hearing me? Your mother didn't do it.”

He held out the bloodied scarf, unable to speak.

“What's that—my scarf? What're you doing?”

“She—” He ran a dry tongue over parched lips. “It's…it's mine. She was wearing it. It's got his blood on it. Clar's blood.”
His father snatched the scarf and looked more closely, seeing the blood. He threw it to the floor and landed his hands heavily on Kyle's shoulders.

“She didn't do it. Your mother didn't do it. It was Trapp.”

Trapp.

“You hearing me? Trapp done it. I drove out fast as I could to tell you. Trapp done it.”

Kyle shook his head. She did it. She did.

“What's you gone deaf? She didn't do it, b'y. Jesus, would I be telling you this if it wasn't true? She'll tell you all about it. I don't know about the scarf, and it don't matter. You hearing me, now?”

Kyle's hands were held out as though they still held the scarf. His father smacked them away.

“What's you gone foolish? Ky? Kyle! You hearing me?”

He leaned his head onto his father's shoulders and started to cry. He felt his father's arms tighten around him, heard his voice hushed like a prayer. “Sin. Sin. I led you to think it—gawd-damn sin.”

Kyle pulled back, wiping at his face.

“You fine, now?”

Kyle kept wiping his face.

“Clar was after Bonnie. He was going to drown her. He had hold of her—had her bent over the wharf and your mother come out and caught him.”

Kyle rubbed at his temples, trying to see it. His father hunched down on the chopping block, shaking his head in the way of the old-timers when a thought is too hard.

“You taking it in, Kylie?”

“It was
my
scarf. I gave it to her that morning she left for the hospital. She was cold—”

“Kylie, Kylie, it don't matter. He was going for Bonnie, is all. He needed an excuse. He seen the scarf on me—or thought he
did, or some gawd-damn thing, and took it from her car. Blamed her for cheating and said he was showing it to your mother.”

“What the fuck did he do that for?”

“To get Bonnie here. That's all he wanted. He knew she'd come to stop him saying things about me and your mother, dirty fucker. When I picked Bonnie up earlier that evening, that's where she was going, to his place. Stop him from coming here, but he was already gone when she got there.”

“That's what she told you?”

“Just now at the hospital. I done what you was going to do—forced it from her and your mother, both.”

“How come they kept it secret, then? Jesus Christ.”

“That's another story. Your mother can tell you that one.”

“What happened with Bonnie, then—after you dropped her off?”

“When she seen Clar was gone, she come here. That's what he wanted her to do, come here. Get her down by the water. Nobody around. He wanted to drown her.”

“On our wharf. How'd he know we wouldn't be here?”

“I don't know, b'y. He took a chance. He would've liked it, drowning her on our wharf. He was sick like that. That's what Bonnie said. And she did come. She got here and the lights in the house were out and she was leaving again when she heard him coming along the beach. She hid right here, in the shed, thinking he'd go home if there was no lights on in the house. She stepped on the knife, she said. Figured it was God-given and took it. He sung out to your mother and that was it. Bonnie went after him. With the knife.”

“She was going to kill him.”

“I think she would've. She had that look when she told me about it. Guess only she knows that. Perhaps she don't know herself
what she would've done. Didn't matter. Clar was too fast for her. He shook the knife from her hand and he dragged her to the lower end of the wharf. He had the scarf around her neck, that's how he dragged her. Near choked her. She couldn't sing out, she was clawing at the scarf, and he was dragging her, she couldn't get on her feet. He had her over the wharf when your mother come out. She heard the dog barking; it woke her up. And that's when Trapp showed.”

“Trapp. Where the fuck did he come from?”

“He was up at the fire. With Kate. He seen Bonnie coming down the road and followed her. Luck. That's all it was. Perhaps a bit more than luck—he got his stuff going on, too. When your mother turned on the light over the door, first thing Trapp seen was the knife. He seen what Clar was doing and ran for the knife. Clar come after him, then.”

“Jesus.” Kyle sat down by the wood tier, wrapped his arms around his knees, his legs shaking.

“Fierce,” said his father. “Something fierce.”

“Finish it.”

“No more to it. They fought and—who knows. Trapp says he didn't mean to—didn't know he got him till Clar let out that screech. That's when he fell overboard. That's when I got there, just as he was falling. I never seen Trapp. Only Clar falling. And Bonnie running. And then your mother.”

“What about the scarf? How did the blood get on it?”

“Don't know. Might be Clar's. He had it in his hands. Bonnie said he hauled it from around her throat and went for Trapp. Perhaps he was going to choke him.”

“Jesus, old man.”

“Might be Trapp's—he got his own hand cut somehow. Stabbed it himself, he thinks. Wicked stuff. Wicked.” Sylvanus
hove out a pent-up breath. He dropped his head, rubbing the back of his neck with weariness.

“Take 'er easy, old man. Good thing you never got there, could've been a whole lot worse. No sense in blaming yourself for any of that.”

Sylvanus gave him a sharp look. “Don't you worry now, cocky. I'm done with that, too. Taking on stuff. Like your mother says now, we're foolish mortals thinking we got all the power over everything. That young fellow out there, he got to figure that one out too. That's what your mother was doing by not telling—giving him time to figure it out. She owed him that, she said. She might be dead herself and Bonnie with her if he hadn't happened along.”

“Trapp. He never
happened
along. He's been lurking about.”

“That's it now, he got his stuff going on, like I said. You go on in the house, let your mother tell you that one.”

“Where is he right now?”

“He's on the run. Go on in, your mother tells you.”

“Tells me what? Go on and finish it, old man. This has been dragged out enough.”

“Another minute won't hurt. Your mother knows the rest of it better than me.” Sylvanus got up and bent by the wood tier, picking up a few sticks of wood. He looked down at Kyle. “You all right, Kylie?”

“Yeah, sure.” He pulled himself to his feet and walked the length of the shed, hands clasped behind his head, staring at the rafters. “Fucking mess.”

“Soon be over, now. I called the police before I left Corner Brook. We been through hell with this, but no more.” Sylvanus stood up, clutching his armload of wood. “Go in, talk to your mother.”

“Wait. He…Trapp was down by the bar a while ago.”

“I told the police he was in Corner Brook. According to Kate.”

“Kate? What the fuck do she got to do with this?”

“Your mother. Go see your mother.”

Sylvanus vanished out through the door. Kyle bent down, legs still quivering, and picked up a few junks. Outside the shed he watched the darkening clouds descend like a pot cover over the western skyline. A flicker of yellow star lit Kate's cabin window. He went inside his house. It was lit up like Christmas—hallway lights on, living room lights, kitchen, bedrooms. His mother's voice was coming from the bedroom, intermingling with Sylvie's and his father's. Woodstove cracking like corn popping and sending warmth straight through the rafters. Full. His life felt full again.

Ben came from Addie's room, eyes stoked with sadness. He sat at the kitchen table, looking out the window at the darkling sea the way Sylvanus did when he was feeling something too deep to figure. Sylvie came in behind him. She looked from Kyle to Ben, dazed and unsure of which one to go to.

“My lord, Ky. You kept all this to yourself, then.” She went to him, put her reedy arms around his waist and held on. Too thin, he thought. She's too thin. She's been through it. She pulled away and went and stood behind Ben, leaning herself against him, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing her cheek against the curls of his bent head. “He's always done the best he could for Trapp,” she said to Kyle. “You know it, don't you, Ben? You've always done the best for him. Despite all what happened.”

Ben nuzzled his cheek against her hand.

“What all happened?” asked Kyle.

Ben wiped at his eyes, shook his head. “All history, now, b'y. For some of us, anyway. Trapp took a rap for me back in Alberta, few years ago. Drug deal went wrong. My drugs, my fault. He
took the rap and done hard time. He was always a bit off, but that took a toll.” He looked at Kyle with a sad smile. “Not one for Mother's ears.”

“Thought we knew everything around here.”

“There's the joke. He got worse after the accident. Few breakdowns. Sounds like he's having another one now. Fun stuff, hey? Christ. Calmer on the diamond fields of Sierra Leone.”

“Trapp always made things harder,” said Sylvie. She looked towards her father who was entering the room. “She all right, Dad?”

“Cup of tea, dolly. I'll make a pot.” He looked at Kyle, raising his brows in a surly manner. “What's you keeping her waiting for? She wants to see you.”

Kyle hauled off his coat, tossed it over the back of a chair, and went into his mother's room. She was lying back on a mound of pillows. Her face was peaked, her eyes feverish. More with excitement, thought Kyle, as she reached for him. Bonnie was hunched over the night table on the far side of the bed, a dozen pill bottles stretched in front of her, writing down information from their labels into a notebook.

He bent, kissed his mother's cheek.

“Time you shaved,” she said, patting his stubbled chin, and then whispered, her words tight with remorse, “What I just put ye all through. I should've told your father.”

“Should've told somebody. Christ, Mother.” He gave a relieved laugh and sat in the chair pulled up by her bed. “Why didn't you? What's with the secrets?”

He looked at Bonnie accusingly and was instantly apologetic, feeling his past judgment of her.

But her eyes held no resentment. “Wouldn't be my doing,” she replied firmly.

“She went along because I asked her,” said Addie. “She's put up with something too, everybody thinking she did it. Her family phoning her, the police. I put all of you through it, didn't I?” Her face twisted with sudden pain.

“It's soon time to take your pills,” said Bonnie. “Once the pain starts, it's no good.” She turned to Kyle. “We have to keep timing her pills so's to head off the pain, else she'll be back in the hospital.”

“She's being a tough nurse,” said Addie through a weak smile. “You tell him, my dear. I saves my breath.”

Bonnie looked at Kyle. “She didn't tell because she wanted to give Trapp time. He turned himself in to the hospital after—after he done it. The hospital knows him. He's been there a few times. He gets down. Breakdowns, you know. He told them he was going to kill himself, that's why they took him right away.”

“Did they know what he done?”

“No. He never told them that.”

“He's afraid,” said Addie faintly. “He was in jail once and he's afraid of going back. He's not thinking straight right now. He's run off. Kylie, something you need to know. About your friend, Kate.”

“What's she to do with all of this?” he asked, leaning closer.

“Bit of a shock for you. She's his mother. Trapp's mother.”

“What? Jesus, what're you saying?”

“That's why we never told the police,” said Bonnie. “Kate asked us not to. She wanted Trapp to get a handle on things. To turn himself in.”

Kyle sat staring at them both in disbelief. “That's not possible. She's too young…”
I was fourteen when I had him…

“Jesus Christ.” He got up, coiled around his chair, sat back down, fixing his eyes on his mother with astonishment. “You—
we—none of us fucking knows who she is—Christ!” He sat back, shaking his head. The psych ward, Kate slumped against the wall: she'd been visiting Trapp. “Why did she keep it a fucking secret? And you, the both of you”—he looked at Bonnie—“involving yourself with her…
in something like this?
Oh, man!”

“He's estranged himself from her,” said Addie. “She come here because
he
was always coming here. To see us. He feels he owes us for Chrissy. He just don't know what he owes us.”

“But it was self-defence! He'd get off! What's with all the fucking around? Did he think they'd never catch him?”

“Ky, he's a sick boy. I was giving his mother a chance to bring him in.”

“His
mother
! Jesus Christ. She been lying to us for months. Fucking lying! Jesus!”

“It's a hard one,” said Bonnie.

“Hard. They've been putting us through hell.”

“Because you didn't tell me what you and your father were thinking.”

“Because
you
didn't tell
us
what you were
doing
!”

Addie sank back on her pillow. “I was asked not to,” she said tiredly. “I didn't know it was going to turn into all this.”

“He's all paranoid,” said Bonnie. “Thinks everybody is after him. Kate asked for time to find him. She's afraid he'll hurt himself if the police find him first.”