A Stranger on the Beach(64)

Aidan walked around flipping on lights, checking things out, trying not to get distracted by the beauty of the place. This house was magic. It glowed with light and smelled of flowers. He wanted to protect it, to keep it safe, for when he could live here openly with the woman he adored. The windows and the terrace doors were locked, but there were no storm shutters and no boards up. He went to the mudroom and found some newspapers in a pile near the trash bin. It was the best he could do. There was no wood here, not even any cardboard boxes. He brought the newspapers to the kitchen and tossed them on the island, planning to look for tape and then cover the windows with newspaper. Then he heard a sound behind him, turned around, and saw his brother standing there.

Fuck.

“You fucking idiot,” Tommy said. “I knew it was you.”

Tommy grabbed Aidan by the back of the neck and forced him toward the door. In a second, they were out in the pouring rain grappling and wrestling, trying to force one another to the ground. They were the same height, but Tommy had fifty pounds on Aidan. Aidan was strong, Tommy was stronger. It had always been that way. Tommy shoved and kicked him toward his truck. He slammed him up against the truck bed and grabbed him by the hair.

“You get out of here now and don’t come back,” Tommy spat out, his face screwed up with rage. “If I find you here again, I’m arresting you and you’re going in. This is your last chance. Do you understand?”

“I was only—”

“I don’t care what you were doing. That call went out to every patrol car. You’re lucky I was five minutes away, or you could be dealing with Mike Castro right now, who thinks you’re a piece of shit and would love nothing more than to lock you up.”

“Fine,” he said.

“What?”

He raised his voice to be heard over the pounding rain. “I’ll leave.”

“Yes, you will. And you’re going straight to my house.”

“What?”

“You’re driving away from here, Aidan, and you’re not looking back. You’re going to my house to watch over Kelly and the kids. Ma’s down in Pittsburgh visiting Aunt Joan, and my family’s all alone tonight. With everything I’ve done for you, I think you owe it to me to look after them through the storm. And to give me the peace of mind that I know where you are. Don’t you agree?”

Aidan couldn’t quarrel with that. The storm was intensifying. He and his brother were soaked to the skin, and the sound from the ocean was like a roar. He was worried about Kelly and the kids, too, if he was honest with himself. Only, he couldn’t really feel that, because his worry for Caroline got in the way. It was so much bigger.

“Yeah, you’re right,” he said.

“Okay, then. Go.”

Aidan gestured toward the house, where the alarm still shrieked, and the door gaped open.

“We have to close up.”

“If I go in there and turn off the lights and the alarm, she’ll know we were here. I’ll have to file a report, the whole nine yards, and I’m not doing that, because it would mean lying on duty.”

“But the house.”

“Screw this lady and her goddamn house. She’s poison to you. We were never here. You got it? It’s for your own good. You understand me?”

“Yes.”

“Now get the hell out. Or I swear to God, kid, I’m done with you.”





41


Aidan felt the weight of the responsibility that his brother had placed upon him. He loved his sister-in-law and his niece and nephew. Their safety was in his hands. Tommy had caught him doing something he shouldn’t yet still took that leap of faith. He hadn’t given up on Aidan yet, and Aidan needed to live up to his brother’s trust.

Tommy’s house was five miles from the ocean. But Aidan worked like hell to secure the house as if it were oceanfront, facing a direct hit. Tommy had only had time to board up a couple of windows before getting called away, so Aidan finished the job up on a high ladder, lashed by wind and rain. Anything that wasn’t nailed down in the backyard, he moved into the garage. He put rolled-up towels along the bottom of the door to stop the water flooding in the crack. It was two long hours of work in the cold rain before he dragged himself inside, wet and exhausted.

Kelly gave him some clothes of Tommy’s to change into while she threw his wet things in the dryer. He gratefully slurped down the bowl of chicken noodle soup she’d left him on the kitchen table. They still had power, but that wouldn’t last with the winds like this. Too many trees to blow down onto the electric lines. He thought they ought to prepare. Kelly filled the bathtub with water in case the pump went out, and Aidan brought the camping gear down from the attic. Lanterns, a propane stove, coolers to fill with ice and food from the fridge if they lost electricity. It was past eleven by the time Aidan sank down onto the living room sofa with a sigh. Kelly came in, her arms piled high with blankets and pillows.

“Let me make up the couch for you,” she said, as the wind roared outside. “It would be nuts for you to drive home in this.”

Aidan was torn. He wanted to stay and look after his brother’s family through the night, but he had another place he needed to protect. Kelly and the kids were safe, their house secured. But Caroline’s house was right in the path of the storm. Not only had he completely failed to secure the windows before Tommy kicked him out; he’d made things worse. The front door was now wide open, exposing everything inside to the elements. He’d left Caroline that voicemail promising to look after her house, and he’d failed to follow through. He couldn’t leave things like that.