Shed said shed changed her mind about the divorce; shed had something important to tell him, something too important and too thrilling to discuss over the phone.
You want more money, dont you
Shed begun to sob. I wishI wish Id never met you.
Hed been about to apologize.
You are a bastard.
Bastard. Her tearful insult had pushed him over some wild edge. Hed been vicious, gotten her completely distraught. Shed slammed the phone down. Hed had a premonition that had taken him to a cold, dark place in his heart and terrified him. Desperately hed tried to call her back. Six times hed dialed that number hed known by heart.
Shed raced out and jumped in her car.
Hed jumped in his.
Hed been the first at the scene.
Marcie couldnt handle stress or fighting. She hadnt been the best driver under normal circumstances.
Luke imagined her racing up that narrow road that wound through limestone cliffs out to the lake and to the house in the hills theyd built together as newly-weds.
His house now.
In her fury, shed taken the turn too fast. Thered been an oncoming car in her lane. Shed swerved and lost control. He saw her slim body hurtling into unforgiving rock.
Too late, hed realized shed been coming to tell him about their baby.
She was a damn fool about you to the end, Sheila had said. She truly believed the babymy grand-babymight work the miracle she couldnt. Thats why she was so pathetically eager to attempt a reconciliation. Shed thought that if the two of you adored the same childWhy couldnt she see what a coldblooded bastard you are? This divorce thing was your fault! You killed her! She loved youpoor fool. Not that you can understand that. You murdered my daughter! And my grandson!
Marcie had loved him.
Which was the last thing hed wanted her to do.
Shed been several months along. Why hadnt she told him she was pregnant sooner?
Words from the mourners came back to him.
terrible accident! Not your fault
leaving him, you know
do you blame her
going to take him to the cleaners
nothing you could have done
Never as long as Luke lived would he forget holding her, watching Marcies eyes glaze, feeling her slim body go slack in his arms. When shed told him about the baby hed realized shed loved himnot his money.
If only.
Luke McKade didnt believe in second chances.
Nothing he could have done
Luke opened a drawer and slammed Marcies picture inside facedown. He wanted to forget her.
He flexed the fingers of his right hand. Nothing? Like hell!
He closed his eyes and saw Marcies beautiful face, so still and untouched by death as shed lain in her coffin. The image was etched like a brand in his brain. Hed taught her to lie still when theyd had sex.
Not your fault.
Wrong.
Hed married a vulnerable young woman for her classto improve his image, to add glamour to the lie that was his life. Everything about Luke McKade was a lie, including his official bio. There was no Luke McKade. The presss Man of the Year was a myth. Every word in every article, in every magazine and newspaper that had ever been written about him were fantastic fabrications that a poor, ambitious boy with a head full of dreams had invented so that nobody would ever know what he really wasa Pueblo Indian womans bastard born in shame and despair to a man
Cut!
Even in his wild, dark mood, Luke wasnt about to think of his rich, powerful fatheror the rest of that blue-blooded bunch he wanted to have nothing to do with in New Mexico.
He yanked Marcies picture out of the drawer and set it on his desk. He would keep it there until the sight of her beautiful face no longer made his gut clench. Only then would he put it away.
But he couldnt look at it. Not tonight.
When he sprang to his feet and headed toward the door, the phone rang.
Curious, he stopped to read his Caller ID.
Brandon Baines.
Baines wasnt calling about Marcie. Lawyers, who defended Mexican drug lords like Spook Rodriguez and Texas big shots kids gone wrong, didnt call old law school classmates just to be nice.
Five years ago, Luke had sent Baines a client, a very special client.
Baines had screwed up so royally, they hadnt spoken since.
The client had gotten five years in the federal pen with no chance of an early parole. At the sentencing, the eighteen-year-old client had screamed at Luke, You deliberately set me up.
This is good, Baines had said without missing a beat. Well appeal.
You think this is goodcause you charge by the hour. Ill tell you whats good, you slick, lying jerk. When I get out, Im gonna shoot myself a lawyer the boy had turned on Luke and a bastard.
Luke had lunged at him.
This is good, Baines had said, grabbing Luke, holding him back as three deputies stepped protectively in front of the prisoner.
Ill show you who the bastard is, you no-good, spoiled, son of a bitch, Luke had snarled.
Easy. Little Reds your half brother, McKade, said Baines.
The hell he is. Nobody can know that. Understand? Nobody!
Luke McKades official bio didnt mention a pampered little brother gone wrong, didnt mention Big Red Longworth, the famous ex-governor of New Mexico who was their biological father. Luke had deleted those folders from his database. They didnt exist. Hed deleted them from his heartan organ that didnt exist, either.
Killer instincts. Baines didnt give up easy. When the phone wouldnt stop ringing, Luke slammed out of his office.
Little Red was due for parole any day.
Im gonna shoot myself a lawyerand a bastard.
Maybe the kid was already out. Maybe he was in Austin.Maybe Baines was calling to warn him.
Luke was on his way home.
If the kid was here or on his way, Luke decided hed leave the doors unlocked tonight. That way hed be easy to find.
It was time he and the kid had it out. Way past time.
This is good.
2
The temperature was still ninety degrees when Lukes Porsche leapt the last cedar-clad hill. Wheels spinning, the Porsche took the drive on two wheels, skidding to a halt. As the garage door lifted, he saw the empty space on the right side of the garage.
Marcie.
She was never coming back.
He parked on her side and got out. She was everywhere, almost a living presence tonight. If their sprawling one-story showplace with its tall chimneys, numerous balconies, and the impressive copper roof had been built with his money, it reflected Marcies taste and exquisite beauty. Adjoining the house were guest cottages. Beneath the mansion were the maid, Lucindas quarters. Marcie, who had loved to entertain, had thought of every comfort, caring even about Lucindas.
Marcie had loved stunning views and had chosen this lot to build their modern dream palace a thousand feet above shimmering Lake Travis. Windows that lacked lake views looked out upon lush gardens with fountains, reflecting pools and bird feeders.
These barren limestone hills covered with cedar and live oak on the outskirts of Austin with their vistas of the jewel-blue lake were fast becoming Texass answer to the Mediterranean. Or at least they had been Luke McKades answeruntil Marcie had walked, taking her furniture and that hideous cat of hers, Mr. Tom. Without her and that spoiled beast shed been so devoted to, the place felt as cold as a tomb.
These barren limestone hills covered with cedar and live oak on the outskirts of Austin with their vistas of the jewel-blue lake were fast becoming Texass answer to the Mediterranean. Or at least they had been Luke McKades answeruntil Marcie had walked, taking her furniture and that hideous cat of hers, Mr. Tom. Without her and that spoiled beast shed been so devoted to, the place felt as cold as a tomb.
Not that there werent any number of computer jackals with money to burn whod made offers on the house the minute Marcie split. Lake Travis was the place to live among his set. Every day more trees were cleared, more castle sites started, each castle having to be bigger and more impressive than the one before.
He wasnt about to sell. The house was image. Hed live here, in desolate splendor even if it reminded him of herif it killed him. Hed buy a second car or maybe a new boat first thing Monday, so he could quit staring at that empty spot in his garage.
When Luke pushed open the immense brass-studded, teak front doors, he heard his phone. He raced for it. Brandon Baines was on his Caller ID.
Baines was persistent as hell. He took what he wanted or kept pushing until he got it. He wouldnt let go of anything or anyone he considered his. He was especially ruthless with women. When theyd been in school hed gotten a law student, a friend of Lukes, pregnant. Even after her powerful daddy had made a stink, Baines had considered the girl his property to do with as he pleased.
When Baines had offered her money for an abortion, shed refused. Her father had thrown her out then. In the end, Luke had let her move in with him for a couple of months until she could get on her feet, a fact that had infuriated the possessive Baines, whod wanted to run things. When the baby was born, Baines had come to the hospital and tried to force the woman to give up her little girl and come back to him.
When shed taken her daughter and vanished, Baines had blamed Luke. Because of you, Ive got a little bastard out there. The bitch could turn up with her brat at an awkward time.
Because of me, your kids alive.
You would be partial to bastards
Lukes fist had slammed into that golden jawline before he could finish his sentence. They hadnt spoken for a year. After that run-in theyd graduated, gotten jobs and been on opposite sides of a case.
The phone started up once more.
Again, Luke avoided it. He went to the window and watched a boat speeding across that brilliant expanse of blue. He picked up his binoculars. A man held a woman with golden hair in his arms as they raced across the lake.
Marcie and he had gone boating most evenings. He hadnt used the boat once since. Luke watched the white speedboat until it vanished behind an island. When it didnt reappear on the far side of the island, he knew theyd thrown an anchor out, probably gone below to enjoy each other.
High on his hill, Luke felt alone, cut off from every living being on earth. Suddenly, he felt restless in the big, empty house. He needed to talk to somebody. The phone rang again. Luke went to the kitchen, grabbed a beer out of the fridge and then the receiver.
Where the hell have you been? Baines demanded.
Funeral. Luke took a long pull from the bottle.
Bainess quick, inappropriate laugh was a little hollow. This is goodyours or mine?
My wifes.
Sorry. HeyI heard she left you.
Wed decided to get back together. Not that Baines cared.
Your brothers here.
Alert suddenly, Luke felt his hair spike on the back of his neck. Carefully he kept his voice casual. Give him my regards.
Hes got a gun.
So does every other macho Texan.
You know what I mean. He threatened
If youre scared, call the cops. Hes violated parole. Theyll send him back to prison.
Hes sick. Cancer.
Luke sucked in a breath. He was glad Baines couldnt see him, couldnt detectLuke felt cold, so cold. And it was a hot night.
Baines was still talking. But do you think the crazy little bastard went home to his old man or checked himself into a hospital?
Old man
Didnt he?
Hell, no. Says hes dying. The cocky little shit says hes gonna kill himself a lawyer first. You know whoyours truly. Baines paused. Hes after Spook, too. And thenafter he does us, guess whos next, old buddy
Luke stood unmoving, his hand frozen on his icy bottle. Cancer? Little Red?
You really want me to call the cops? Thatll mean publicity. I thought you said you didnt want anybody to know you had a piece of scum like him for a brother.
Scum? Once Baines and his rich white law school buddies had called Luke scum.
Cancer? The kid was barely twenty-three. Five years in prisonand now a diagnosis like that. Would he die young like Marcie?
A quietness stole over Luke. His computerlike mind raced. What the hell kind of cancer? Could something be done? Options? Doctors? Experimental treatments? M.D. Anderson Cancer Center?
He thought of the stacks of sealed manila envelopes in that locked safe in his bedroom closet. Reports in those envelopes told all about the kid whose existence Luke publicly denied, whom Luke had denied to himselfuntil the day the old man had barged into his office and said, I need a lawyer.
I would have thought a man with your connections would have any number of lawyers of his own.
I need a dope dealers lawyer. I hear youre friends with that piece of slime in the valleyBrandon Baines.
Friends? Call Baines yourself. Im busy. Kate, show thiserthis gentleman out.
You cant throw me out like Im nobody.
What exactly are we to each other? Are you my father?
Big Red had glared at him. Then hed looked away. Finally the old man had broken the silence.
Baines says hes too busy to see me.
Thats too bad.
Luke knew, as hed known that day, a whole lot more about the kid than he had ever let on. Oh, yes he knew a lot. Hed been keeping tabs for years. Even then hed had a secret filing cabinet bulging with information about the kid.
Not that Luke had personally set foot in New Mexico to get that information. He hated that state, the people and the culturewhat theyd done to him; what theyd done to his mother. Most of all what the old man had done to her.
Still, Luke knew the exact day, the exact minute, the exact place Little Red had been born. He had every school picture stapled to a single sheet of typing paper. He knew every basketball game the kid had ever won, knew every grade hed ever made, knew the kid could add like a computer the same as he could. The kid was lousy in English the same as he was, too. Knew the kid had had a complex in high school because hed been skinny and unattractive to girls.
Luke even knew the name of the first girl Little Red had screwed in college, knew theyd gotten high on pot and done it in the back seat of the brand-new, red Chevy the old man had given Little Red so he could make a splash in college.
Luke hadnt had a car in college or law school. Hed had jobs. He hadnt gotten to screw girls. At least not as often as hed wanted. Hed had to work too damn hard.
Every time Luke had read a report he had visualized the boy and his charmed life, trying to get into his head the experiences hed only dreamed about. He had wanted to know what it was like to be beloved and legitimateto be the pure-white son.