The Bad Sister Read online

  He didn’t say anything else to his brother. He turned and asked Cheryl about her job behind the Enterprise Rent-A-Car counter at PDX. That kept her talking for the next thirty minutes. They turned off the highway onto a rural road, and then to a gravel trail that snaked through the woods.

  Nate listened to the pebbles ricocheting against the underside of the car. He noticed the turnoff to their closest neighbor’s cabin, which meant they had a half mile to go. It was getting dark, but Nate still spotted certain landmarks along the way—including an old metal Smokey Bear sign he’d nailed to a tree twenty years ago, and Gil’s initials carved in another tree closer to the cabin. Then there was their mother’s birdhouse on a pole that never stood straight: the Leaning Tower of Pisa Birdhouse, the family used to call it. The birdhouse was pretty dilapidated now.

  The vacation home—a three-bedroom log cabin with big windows and a porch in front—looked slightly neglected as well—at least, from the outside.

  Parking by the porch, Gil popped the trunk. They unloaded their overnight bags, some groceries they’d bought for the weekend, and a cooler full of perishables. While the women turned on the lights and opened some windows to air out the place, Nate went to the side of the cabin and got the water pump going. He noticed Gil at the end of the driveway, glancing up the gravel trail.

  Nate caught up with his brother as he started back toward the cabin. “What’s going on?” Nate asked. “Are you expecting someone?”

  Gil squinted at him. “What do you mean?”

  “On the way here, the way you drove and the way you kept checking the rearview mirror, I thought someone might be following us or something.”

  Gil chuckled and shook his head. “We’re fine. God, what an imagination. Y’know, you always used to get spooked out whenever we stayed here for the weekend with Mom and Pop. Nothing ever changes . . .”

  Once they stepped back inside the house, Gil switched on the porch light.

  Nate wondered why he’d turned on the outside light if they weren’t expecting anyone.

  * * *

  The plumbing in the cabin was ancient, but reliable. Nate could hear the pipes moaning. Gil was upstairs in the shower. Rene and Cheryl were in the kitchen, knocking off a bottle of red wine. The cabin had sufficiently aired out and was now getting chilly. Nate made the rounds from room to room, closing the windows again.

  He noticed that Gil had turned on all the outside lights—including the ones in back and two floodlights that were fixed on trees by the driveway. So everything was illuminated around the cabin. Beyond that, it was just a wall of trees—and darkness. The moon wasn’t out tonight.

  From his parents’ CD collection, Nate had James Taylor’s Greatest Hits playing on the old boom box in the living room. “Fire and Rain” was just the tune for his nostalgic mood.

  His brother used the family cabin a lot more than he did. Nate hadn’t been here since they’d lost their dad.

  Their mom had been the first to go—three years back. She’d died from pancreatic cancer at age fifty-nine. His dad remained alone in the Lake Oswego house Gil and Nate had grown up in. He started drinking heavily. Nate tried to intervene and even moved in with him for a while. But nothing he did seemed to help, so eventually Nate gave up and moved back into his own apartment in Portland. One Friday night eighteen months ago, their dad got drunk, slipped, and hit his head on the corner of the breakfast table. He lost consciousness and never woke up. When Nate hadn’t been able to get him on the phone the following Sunday, he swung by the house and found his father on the kitchen floor. He’d bled to death from the gash in his head.

  Nate was devastated and blamed himself for giving up on his father months before. In his job, he never quit on his patients. But his dad was so selfish in his grief. As Gil had pointed out to him, “The old man didn’t make any effort to be strong for us after we lost our mother. He just wanted to numb himself with booze and shut everyone else out.” At the time, Gil was dealing with divorce number two—and he was kind of bitter about everything.

  While Nate made the funeral arrangements, Gil had an estate broker go through their parents’ house. This guy cleared out the place before Nate had a chance to go through his parents’ things.

  Gil didn’t seem to understand why he was so incensed. His brother assured him that they’d split down the middle whatever the estate broker raked in from the sale of their parents’ earthly possessions. That didn’t include their mother’s jewelry. Gil’s second wife had made off with most of the valuable pieces the year before. In the end, Nate got a check from his brother for $2,300, which was probably less than what the dining room set was worth. Never mind all the other furniture in the house, the electronics, the silver, china, and various antiques. Nate wasn’t sure if it was the estate broker ripping them off or if Gil was holding out on him.

  Nate paid a lot more attention to the details when they sold their parents’ house. But by then, things between Gil and him were slightly strained. It wasn’t so much that he minded getting cheated out of the money—though he didn’t like being treated like a chump. He figured Gil was desperate for funds. He was always in some kind of financial trouble. No, what really bothered Nate was that he hadn’t been able to hold on to some of the things that reminded him of his mom and dad and his childhood.

  Since their dad’s death, the two of them had gotten together only a few times—for lunch or dinner. But for Nate, it was always sort of a chore. They both knew their relationship wasn’t the same. And they both knew it wouldn’t do any good to discuss it.

  But just a couple of days ago, Gil had the bright idea about this trip—with Rene and Cheryl in tow. He was adamant about it. As an extra lure, Gil said he had several items from their parents’ home, items the estate broker hadn’t wanted. Nate didn’t understand why his brother hadn’t told him about these rescued family “treasures” until now. In fact, the sudden urgency for this “birthday getaway” seemed oddly suspicious. Nate couldn’t help wondering if, for one reason or another, Gil needed to get out of town for a while. Perhaps things were so dicey he even needed to make sure his girlfriend and his brother weren’t left behind.

  At least he’d been telling the truth about the family treasures on display in the cabin—like the big oil painting of a Swiss chalet, which now hung over the sofa. The picture had been painted by their mother’s best friend. Nate had never liked it much, but he was happy it hadn’t ended up with strangers. The semi-kitschy painting had been in his parents’ living room for as long as he could remember.

  Gil had shoved most of the things he didn’t know what to do with into the small bedroom off the kitchen. The junk was still there in boxes. Nate figured he’d sort through all of it after dinner. He saw that Gil had placed some familiar knickknacks and framed family photos on the mantel of the river rock fireplace in the living room. Nate had always thought the room resembled a lodge with its hardwood floors, knotty-pine walls, and the high-vaulted ceiling. In one corner, there was a winding staircase to the other bedrooms and bathroom. Another corner had an alcove with a desk. When he was a kid, Nate used to spend his evenings in the tilt-back swivel chair, drawing. Sometimes, he’d imagine a bear emerging from the dark woods and crashing through the big window in front of the desk. As he grew a bit older, Nate’s imaginary killer bear was replaced by a man in a hockey mask, carrying a machete.

  Gil was right about his overactive imagination—back when they were kids, at least.

  Nate heard the pipes squeak and realized his brother was finished showering upstairs. Gil had mentioned starting a fire in the hearth after dinner. Nate stepped outside and gathered up some logs from the stack on one side of the cabin. During a second trip for another load, he thought he heard something moving nearby in the woods. It sounded like footsteps, twigs snapping.

  He stopped and listened for a moment. He didn’t see anything, just the tree branches swaying in the night wind. Nate gathered up the logs, brought them inside, and unloaded them in
the brass bin by the fireplace. He went back to the door, and closed and double-locked it.

  “Nate? Could you come in here and help us with this damn stove?” Rene called.

  None of the appliances in the kitchen matched—and each one was older and quirkier than the next. The “biscuit”-colored fridge made all sorts of ghostly noises. The dishwasher was a dull stainless steel, and left all the glasses looking cloudy. And the ancient gas range/oven was chipped white enamel—with a temperamental pilot light.

  Nate caught a whiff of shrimp when he stepped into the kitchen. A big bowl of them sat on the counter. Tonight’s dinner menu was garlic butter shrimp, steamed vegetables, and pasta.

  “We’ve used up a box of matches trying to get this stupid oven lit,” Rene announced. Moving over to the counter, she poured some more wine into her glass. “And speaking of getting lit, I’m having another glass of this cabernet. Cheryl, can I top you off?”

  “You don’t have to twist my arm.” Nibbling on a cracker, Gil’s girlfriend stepped away from the stove and held out her wineglass for Rene.

  Nate chuckled. “I have a feeling you two will be hammered by dinnertime.”

  “You almost say that like it’s a bad thing,” Rene quipped.

  Nate kissed her shoulder as he stepped around her to the counter. He started to open the junk drawer where they kept the extra matches. That was when he saw something outside the kitchen window.

  He froze as two people staggered from the shadowy woods.

  “Oh my God,” Rene said behind him. She must have seen them, too.

  It took Nate a moment to figure out it was a man and a woman, both wearing dark jackets. They didn’t look like hikers or campers. At least, they weren’t wearing backpacks.

  In all the times he’d stayed at the cabin, Nate had never encountered a stranger anywhere near the house. It didn’t make sense that this couple had just come out of nowhere. The man was balding and about thirty. As he approached the cabin, he seemed to notice Nate in the window, staring back at him. The guy waved, and then started limping.

  The woman’s short-cropped dark hair was messy, and she had dirt on her face. She looked exhausted. “Help us!” she cried. “For God’s sake . . .”

  Suddenly Nate heard the back door being unlocked. He turned away from the window in time to see Cheryl opening the door for the two strangers. “Are you hurt?” she called.

  “We couldn’t get any goddamn cell phone service!” the man yelled. “Our car broke down—”

  “We started walking and got lost,” the woman spoke over him.

  The guy almost knocked Cheryl down as he staggered into the kitchen. He pushed the door open wider, and it banged against the wall. His companion followed him in.

  “We thought we were going to die out in those fucking woods,” he gasped. “We’ve been walking around for at least three hours . . .”

  “Are either of you hurt?” Nate asked. They’d never answered Cheryl’s question.

  “My ankle—I twisted my goddamn ankle,” the man said, plopping down in a chair at the breakfast table. He accidentally knocked over Cheryl’s wineglass. It hit the floor and shattered. Red wine spilled across the worn linoleum tiles. “Oh fuck,” he groaned, sounding angry. “I’m sorry, okay?”

  The woman half-collapsed in the other chair.

  “I’ll clean it up,” Cheryl said. “Where do you guys keep the mop and the broom?”

  Nate pointed toward the broom closet. “There, thanks, Cheryl.” He turned to the man again. “Where’s your car?”

  “I don’t know,” the man grumbled. He looked down at his foot and winced. “Hurts like a son of a bitch.”

  “He’s a physical therapist,” Rene said. “You should have him look at it. He knows what he’s doing.” She filled two glasses with water, and then stepped around the mess on the floor and set them down in front of the couple.

  The woman greedily drank her water. But her friend, still gasping, scowled at his glass. “Shit, don’t you have anything stronger?”

  Nate hesitated. Something was wrong. It wasn’t just the unsettling way these two strangers had barged into the house and wreaked havoc. Nate could have sworn that when he’d first spotted him emerging from the thicket, the man hadn’t been limping at all. And the dirt smudge on the woman’s cheek looked phony—almost clichéd. Nate wasn’t sure about the cell phone reception in the middle of the woods, but he’d always been able to get phone service in the cabin—and certainly on the highway.

  “Something stronger?” Nate repeated. He couldn’t believe the balls on this guy, turning down a glass of water and practically demanding that they raid the liquor cabinet for him.

  “I’ll get you some brandy,” Gil said.

  Nate swiveled around to see his brother in the doorway to the kitchen. He was dressed in jeans and a V-neck sweater. His hair looked damp, and he was barefoot.

  “We keep the hard stuff in the living room,” Gil explained to the man. “Nate, check out his ankle for him, okay?” He turned and headed toward the living room.

  Nate wondered why his brother didn’t seem the least bit wary of these two. Plus, he wasn’t exactly dying to look at this guy’s ankle.

  Rene was using paper towels to soak up the spilled wine while Cheryl, with the broom, swept the glass into a dustpan.

  Nate turned to the man again. “Let’s have a look. Which ankle is it?”

  The guy immediately pulled his foot away. “Don’t bother yourself. I just need to stay off it for a little bit . . .”

  Nate noticed, for someone who had been traipsing through the woods for three hours, his shoes didn’t look very dirty.

  Past James Taylor’s singing and the sound of Cheryl sweeping up the glass, Nate thought he heard Gil whispering on the phone in the next room.

  “So—you don’t have any idea where you left your car?” Nate asked—to distract the man.

  “Alongside one of the roads off the highway,” the woman answered for him.

  “And you didn’t walk back to the highway for help?” Rene asked, dropping a wad of soggy paper towels into the sink. She turned to them. “Why in the world did you go into the woods? You’d have had a lot more luck getting help by flagging down a car on the highway . . .”

  “Yeah, well, we were at least a couple of miles from the goddamn highway,” the man said impatiently—as if Rene were an idiot. “Okay? Jesus.”

  “Hey, pal,” Nate said. “I know you’ve been through a lot. But that’s no way to talk to us. We’re just trying to help you.”

  The guy gave him a defiant stare. Then his gaze shifted, and he straightened up in the chair.

  Nate turned to see Gil in the kitchen doorway again.

  “We’re all out of brandy,” Gil said. “What were you guys doing in the woods anyway? It’s private property.”

  The man frowned at him. “Oh shit,” he muttered. He slid his hand inside his jacket and glanced at his companion.

  The woman suddenly shot out of her chair and grabbed Cheryl, who screamed. The broom and dustpan dropped to the kitchen floor with a clatter. Shards of glass scattered across the tiles. It happened so fast, Nate barely saw the woman take the pistol from inside her jacket. She jabbed the gun barrel against the side of Cheryl’s head.

  The balding man jumped to his feet, knocking over the chair. He pulled out a gun, too—and pointed it at Gil. “Get your fucking hands up,” he growled.

  Glaring at him, Gil was obedient.

  Nate automatically raised his hands as well, holding them halfway up.

  “I know Mr. Hot Shot Detective has a license to carry firearms,” the man said. “So keep those hands up, Gil, and turn around, nice and slow . . .”

  Nate couldn’t believe this was happening. He stole a glance at Rene, over by the sink. She didn’t move a muscle. Tears welled in her eyes, and she looked terrified.

  The guy’s female companion still had the gun to Cheryl’s head. Cheryl was trembling. The expression on the woman’s
face was cold and passionless. Nate had a feeling that, without even flinching, she’d put a bullet through Cheryl’s head.

  Nate once again looked at his brother, who still had his hands raised. Following the stranger’s orders, Gil had gradually turned around until his back was to them. The handle of a gun stuck out of the waistband of his jeans.

  “Let the others go,” Gil said, his back to them. “They don’t know anything. You can send them on their way without their phones or the car. It’ll be at least an hour before they reach the highway. That’ll give you plenty of time to get away . . .”

  “I don’t think Nate wants to leave his big brother behind,” the man said.

  Stunned, Nate stared at him. The guy knew him, too.

  The man nodded at Nate. “Take the gun from your brother. Slowly.”

  With a shaky hand, Nate reached for Gil’s gun. Holding it by the grip, he pulled the revolver out from where it was tucked in the waistband of Gil’s jeans.

  “Now, drop it on the floor—in front of my feet,” the man whispered. “No fucking funny business.”

  Biting his lip, Nate bent over slightly and then let the gun slip out of his hand.

  The man kicked it to a far corner of the kitchen.

  As Nate straightened up, he saw the guy raise his gun over his head, but it was too late to react.

  The man slammed the grip of the gun against Nate’s face. He fell to his knees onto the kitchen floor. After the shock came the blinding, searing pain. Past a high-pitched ringing in his ears, he heard Rene scream.

  “Son of a bitch,” Gil yelled. “Leave him alone . . .”

  The second blow was to the back of Nate’s head.

  He collapsed facedown on the kitchen floor—amid the shards of wet glass.

  * * *

  Nate woke up on the floor of the small, darkened bedroom. Some light seeped in from the kitchen through the doorway. He was lying on his side. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been unconscious. His head throbbed, and it felt like one side of his face was smashed in. Blood dripped from the gash alongside his temple to the floor. Just opening his eyes hurt.