"Not from what I've seen," Nathan admitted.

Don leaned forward. "Did you know Alison's father and brother came here to talk to him?"

"No." Nathan swallowed hard.

"Alison confused lust with love. She thought Jack loved her and intended to marry her. I'm afraid she wanted your wedding to go ahead, but without you.

Same venue, same reception, different guests, well half of them anyway. Jack called Alison a cheap whore and a few other interesting names. He said he'd done you a favor. Better to find out before you married rather than after that you'd chosen a wife who'd jump into bed with your brother." Nathan clenched his fists and took a deep breath before relaxing again. The coffee arrived and neither man spoke until the maid had gone.

"He had a point," Don said. "Not that I approve of what he did, of course. It got rather ugly and blows were exchanged. Jack started it. It cost me, yet again. A vacation for Alison and a fresh start working for a friend of mine in California." Nathan's hand shook and he almost spilled the coffee. "You arranged that?" He'd wondered how she'd managed to get a job so quickly. It never occurred to him Don might have helped her.

"I've spent most of Jack's life sorting out his problems. Fortunately, money is usually the answer. Is that what you want?" Don regarded him evenly.

"No."

"You feel wronged, betrayed, and badly treated by your own brother. I'm sure money would help." He slapped a checkbook on the desk.

"I don't want anything from you," Nathan said. "I didn't when I was eighteen and I don't now."

"No?"

"There are more important things in life than money." Don laughed and the sound went through Nathan, setting him on edge.

"What could be more important than money? Revenge? You want to get even with Jack? Steal his girlfriend?"

Nathan made sure his face stayed blank. Shit, was he that obvious?

"That the plan? Once he'd got a girlfriend of his own, you'd step in and do to him what he did to you?"

Nathan felt like he was ten years old and telling on Elisa for knocking a flower pot into the pool. Outwardly, he maintained his calm, unruffled expression. He wished he'd managed to do that from the moment he walked in. He kept thinking of Alison coming here, talking to Don.

"Jack's incapable of sustaining a long-term relationship. I don't think I've known him go out with a girl for longer than a couple of weeks. He has no friends.

He's never had any. He couldn't be anyone's friend because he doesn't know how.

You're not good for Jack, Nathan. That's why I stopped you from seeing him when he was in Ashlands. You bring out the worst in him." Nathan bristled. "So it was my fault he slept with my fiancee?"

"In case you've forgotten, you sought him out, you invited him to your wedding. You were better off not knowing him. Why do you think I never encouraged the pair of you to meet? Let it go."

"Aren't you concerned he's disappeared?"

Don shook his head. "He'll turn up when he needs money. Forget him. Go back to your job and your family."

"Jack is part of my family."

Don sighed. "Look, Jack is not someone you want to know. He was never an easy child. As a kid, he was deceitful and controlling. Elizabeth was blind to his faults. Mothers always are. Although Jack was the oldest, he always seemed to be in Steven's shadow. When they were younger, Jack was slower than Steven. His brother could ride a bike while Jack still struggled. Steven devoured Lord of the Rings when he was ten, but Jack never got beyond the first page. When they played board games, it inevitably ended with the pieces all over the floor and Steven crying. Jack had no sense of decency or fair play. He couldn't bear to lose, not under any circumstances, so he'd do anything to win. Anything."

"Didn't they get along at all?" Nathan asked.

"They hated each other. We tried everything, from more attention to less attention. We devised a variety of punishments-no games, TV, pocket money.

Jack would apologize, his eyes watering, but he mimicked emotions to get what he wanted. Elizabeth couldn't see that. She believed him and forgave him. Every time. He can be incredibly charming if things go his way. I expect that side of him appealed to your fiancee, and the thought of the money he expects to inherit one day. But if Jack doesn't get what he wants, he can be-well, I guess mean would be one description, downright vindictive another."

"What did he do?"

"Once, when Jack found Steven had borrowed one of his computer games, we discovered a dead rattlesnake in Steven's room. Jack denied he'd put it there, but there was no way it got there on its own."

"Christ," Nathan muttered.

"We took him to see psychologists, psychotherapists, psychiatrists, you name it. We tried to keep the boys apart. My wife and I split our time between them.

She looked after Jack and I had Steven. We took separate vacations, encouraged different interests and enrolled them at different schools. And it worked. Jack calmed down. Then came the vacation at Echo Lake." He sighed. "I was in town when the intruder killed your mother, probably Steven too, and almost killed Jack." Don stood and walked over to look out of the window into the garden.

Nathan wished he'd known all this before.

"Then you came here, a young man, in a new shirt and tie, carrying flowers for a mother you were never going to meet." He faced Nathan, his face drawn and pale. "When I returned and opened that door...there was blood everywhere.

Elizabeth lay in the living room. I didn't tell you how bad the murder had been."

But Nathan had found out later. She'd been butchered, almost cut in two. Her lungs, liver, kidneys, intestines dragged out of her. Some of her organs were missing, her heart included. They were never found.

"My first thought was Jack had finally snapped. But I found him by the lake, wet through and unconscious. He had a stab wound in his back and had either run out or been tossed onto the ice. It broke, he fell through and the murderer left him, thinking he'd drown. By some miracle, Jack managed to get to the shore."

"They never found the murderer," Nathan said.

Don shook his head. "No. There were bloody footprints all over the house.

Some of them mine. I'd run all over looking for the boys and confused the scene.

The police brought in dogs, but it began to snow and they lost the trail. It was a local sheriff's department and by the time they got the big boys in, the crime scene had been trampled, evidence lost."

"What do you think happened?" Nathan's pulse raced.

"I agree with the official police report, that it was someone local. A man from Eagle's Point out deer hunting was reported missing by his wife. He had a history of violence. This was a week after the killings. He's never turned up and as far as I know, he's still on a wanted list. Maybe the guy got away, maybe he's dead, but I think he murdered my wife and son. He probably watched me drive to town and thought Elizabeth was alone."

"Why?" Nathan had thought he couldn't feel more pain about his mother, but he was wrong.

"Sex. She was beautiful. I think the guy raped her and butchered her to try and hide what he'd..." Don broke off.

"But why take Steven? Why not kill him and leave him like Jack?"

"Maybe he did kill him, but we couldn't find him. Perhaps Steven saw what happened and ran into the forest. We looked for days in worsening conditions, but there was no trace of him. He might have got lost, frozen to death. Maybe the murderer abducted him and killed him later. Divers searched the lake in the spring, but found nothing. Could be Steven got away, but lost his memory. Maybe one day he'll turn up here." Don sighed. "Jack was no help in the investigation.

He was emotionally frozen, so traumatized by what happened he stopped speaking. He didn't say a single word for months. When he did start communicating, all he could remember was nearly drowning."

"It must have been terrible," Nathan said.

"No matter what I've said about him, Jack was devoted to his mother. She was brutally murdered and he saw what had been done to her. He knew as well that I was sorry Steven died and not him." Don paused, chewed at his lip. "I know how that makes me sound. Of course, I didn't tell him that, but Jack knew. I wanted to love him, but he was impossible. Still is. I sent him to a private hospital. Hoopers.

He was better off there, away from me."

Don ran his fingers through his hair.

"According to his doctors, he eventually made progress, but a week after he came home there was an...incident and one of my employees was hurt. He lost a finger. Jack claimed it was an accident, but he says everything's an accident. His doctors backpedaled and announced he hadn't made the progress they'd thought.

"I ended up paying for a collection of expensive labels and got no answers.

Disturbed, depressed, suffering from traumatic shock. He has a severe personality disorder, he's a psychotic sociopath-an endless list. I eventually found a boarding school in San Antonio that would take a disturbed young man.

It confirmed my theory there's not much money can't buy." Nathan wished he'd known this a long time before. He'd have treated Jack differently, maybe he'd have understood what happened a little better.

"The day before graduation, Jack was found in bed with the principal's wife." Don raised his eyebrows. "I told you he could be charming. To everyone's surprise, his SAT scores were high enough for a good college, but he didn't want to go so I allowed him to return home. I found him work several times, but Jack never stuck with any job more than a few months. He cost me a lot of money in a business deal by bad-mouthing a client and deliberately trashing two expensive cars. I gave him more second chances than he deserved, then one day, just after the incident with Alison, he pushed me too far. He was smirking over some stupid thing he'd done. We both said some terrible things. I'm ashamed to say I finally told Jack I wished it was him who'd died. He smiled as though he'd been waiting for me to say it. The next day he stabbed me in the back. If he'd done it while we were arguing I could have understood, but to wait...I'd have died if the maid hadn't found me. That's when I had him committed to Ashlands." Nathan was struggling to process this. "He should have gone to prison."

"He's my son and I felt guilty. I hope you never know what that feels like. I had regular reports from his doctors. He was completely uncooperative at first and then he changed. He attended therapy sessions, started to behave. I didn't want you to see him and set him back. I also felt guilty toward you. I could have warned you what he was like when you got in touch with him and I didn't." But you couldn't turn back the clock, Nathan knew that.

"When Jack was released, I found him another apartment in San Antonio, but made it clear he had to pay the rent. I arranged a job. I think he lasted two weeks in the first one. I gave him a modest car, some money and an ultimatum. I'd done as much as I was prepared to do. I told him I never wanted to hear from him again unless he could demonstrate he was a decent human being. There would be no inheritance unless he showed me he could stick with a job, get married, settle down and have kids. Prove to me that something good could come out of his life."

"Now he's disappeared."

"And you think there's something wrong?"

Nathan nodded.

Don shrugged. "You're probably right. Jack thinks he's clever and needs to prove it. With no brother to torment, he looked elsewhere for sparring partners.

Then you came along. You want to know why he'd slept with Alison? I'd look no further. Just to prove he was better than you. Once he'd achieved that, his point was made and he dumped her. It was never about Alison, it was about you. He probably knows you've been watching him since he was released from Ashlands.

He's jerking you around."

Nathan bristled. "Don't you want to know what Jack's doing?" Don sighed. "Not really."

"Where could he have gone?"

"I have no idea."

"Do you have any other properties?"

"A house in San Antonio. He isn't there. It's being used by a friend until next weekend. Another place at Hilton Head."

"Is the house at Hilton Head staffed?"

"No. When I go, I take Maria and Ernesto."

"Could Jack get in?"

"He probably knows the security code. He could have gone there. He's not supposed to use it, though that wouldn't stop him." What were the odds, Nathan thought, but slightly better than him opening up a map of the States and sticking a pin in it. "What about Echo Lake?" Don tensed and then smiled. "It's closed up. No one's been there for years. No, he wouldn't go back to Colorado, not after what happened. Leave it, Nathan. I don't want you looking for him. He'll turn up again when he needs something.

He's not your problem. Get on with your life."

Nathan's mind whirled like a tornado as he drove away from the house. Had Don's initial thoughts been right-Jack killed his mother and brother? If it couldn't be proved then, what hope did Nathan have of proving it now? Why waste time and energy on a guy who wasn't worth it? He could walk away now, leave Texas and get a job doing something less harmless, like alligator wrestling.

Forget he ever had a brother. He needed a fresh start. But something echoed, a thought that continued to spin in his head. Don didn't want him to look for Jack, implying Nathan should stay away for his own good. Why would the man who took his mother away from him care what happened to him? And if Nathan was being honest with himself, he thought he'd caught the hint of a threat in Don's voice and Nathan didn't like being told what to do.

While he sat in a diner eating a tuna melt, his cell phone rang.

"Hey, Jeff. That was quick."

Jeff Holden was an ex-cop who worked as head of security in one of the beachfront hotels on Hilton Head.

"No sign of him, Nathan. Neighbors have seen nothing and the house is closed up."

"Thanks. I owe you."

Nathan was satisfied Jack wasn't in South Carolina and if the house in San Antonio was occupied, that left Echo Lake.

Nathan slammed on his brakes. The eighteen wheeler had swerved into his lane with no indication.

"Bastard," Nathan muttered.

The next exit was coming up. Nathan stayed right. Turn off and go home. As the wheels swallowed the yards, his heartbeat picked up. It was a simple enough choice. Continue north or get off the damn interstate. This was where he decided his future.

He accelerated, leaving the exit behind. That decision made, resolve set in.

This could be his last PI job and searching for clues about his mother's death would be the right way to end it. He figured he could be in Echo Lake in a couple days. He didn't really expect Jack to be there but it was time to put a ghost to rest.

Nothing urgent waited for Nathan in San Antonio. To his surprise, he felt a little sorry for his half-brother. Any kid would have been traumatized seeing their mother's body ripped to pieces. God, just thinking about it made Nathan want to throw up. When he'd read the police reports, he had thrown up.

There was obviously something wrong between Don and Jack. It made Nathan think about his own father. Something else he needed to sort out.

Three and a half hours later Nathan lay on a motel bed and called his sister.

"Hi, how are things?"

"Getting bigger hourly," she replied. "Not helped by the fact that I can't stop eating. I've just finished my third Butterfinger. Where are you? Still in Houston?"

"No, I've moved on. I'm going to take a break. I'll be back in a few days."

"Okay. Bob will call if anything happens. I don't want you to miss the birth.

From the corridor of course."

"You never could suffer on your own."

"It's more fun if someone suffers with you." Nathan chuckled. "Bye, Elisa. Love you."