The Lost Man(87)

Nathan, who couldn’t think where to start, looked at his brother and immediately pictured his dog Kelly lying dead in his hands. It had slipped to the back of his mind in the last couple of hours but now jostled its way forward once more. He opened his mouth, then with an effort, took a breath. ‘Nothing.’

‘Doesn’t look like nothing.’

Nathan shrugged.

Bub yawned and slid his eyes around the room. ‘Lots of people came, hey?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Do you think that many would come out for us?’

‘Nope.’

‘Me neither.’ Bub sounded resigned. ‘Bloody Cam. I don’t know how he did it. He was as much of a dickhead as the rest of us, he was just better at hiding it.’

‘That’s what you think?’

‘Yeah, of course.’ Bub stared at the wall for a minute. His voice was rough and his words still a little slurred. ‘It’s the truth, isn’t it? I mean, Dad was a dickhead, Cam was a dickhead. I am. You are.’

Nathan almost laughed. ‘I’m not arguing that, mate. But some things are a lot worse than other things.’

‘If you say so.’ Bub suppressed a small burp.

‘I do.’

‘Well, you would know.’ Bub hauled himself off the couch and over to the TV. ‘I mean, Cam could be an arsehole, but you left a bloke for dead.’

‘That was ten years ago. And he didn’t actually die.’

‘No thanks to you. But maybe that’s not your fault. Like I said: family of dickheads. Not much you can do about that.’ Bub stood over the TV, untangling the wires for his computer game.

‘People can change, mate.’

‘Okay.’

‘No. Listen. I am nowhere near as bad as Cam.’

‘Righto.’ Bub didn’t look up. ‘Try to remember that when you and Ilse are screwing me over with this place.’

‘Jesus, Bub, no-one’s trying to screw you over.’

‘We’ll see.’

‘Hey.’ Nathan lowered his voice. ‘What exactly is your problem?’

‘I dunno. Not knowing what’s going on with my own property for one thing. Never having a say, for another. Having you and Cam for brothers, for a third.’

‘Well, you’ve only got me now, so there’s at least some good news for you.’ Nathan could feel the anger building in him. He stood to leave. ‘By the way, you got anything you want to tell me about my dog?’

‘Which dog?’

‘You know which bloody dog. Kelly.’

Bub’s hands went still on the computer wires. ‘No. I dunno what you’re talking about.’

‘No?’

‘No.’

‘Nothing to say about some baiting happening around my place? Not ringing any bells in there?’ Nathan reached out and tapped Bub on the side of the head. Bub swiped his arm away.

‘Get fucked.’

‘No, you get fucked. Kelly was in a lot of pain at the end. I had to watch it happen. There was nothing I could do to help her.’ Nathan could feel the tears prickling behind his eyes and he blinked hard.

‘She was only a dog.’

‘I loved her. She was my best friend.’

‘Then you need to get out more.’

Nathan made himself take a breath. He felt a rage building that he knew wasn’t all about Bub. Still. Bub was right in front of him.

‘All right,’ he said. ‘That’s fine. But when you and me and Ilse sit down to talk about this place, I’m going to look at you and think about what you did to Kelly and then I’m going to think long and hard about how I can best repay you for that.’ He stepped closer to his brother. ‘You’re wondering why Cam didn’t bloody trust you with this place or money or anything else? Take a look at yourself. He might have been an arsehole – worse than that – but he didn’t have rocks in his head.’

Nathan didn’t see the blow coming until it was almost too late. It caught the side of his head and sent him stumbling backwards. He felt another hard jab under his ribs and Bub’s arm was suddenly tight around his neck.

‘Fuck you, mate. And Cam.’ Bub’s breath was alcoholic on his face. ‘You think you can turn up here and push me around and start acting like you know what’s best for everyone?’

Nathan felt the air knocked from him as they banged against the wall and lost their balance, hitting the floor with a thud. A loose fist connected with his cheek and Nathan put his hand up too late as another blow sailed through.

‘You and Cam always bloody think you’re better than me, but you’re not, are you? He’s dead and you’re a total fuck-up.’

Bub landed a sharp punch over Nathan’s eye, and his face was angry and slick with sweat. There was something reckless in his eyes as he pulled his fist back again.

‘You think if you take Cam’s place and start behaving like him people will respect you?’ Bub was saying.

‘No.’ Nathan tried to push him off, banging his head against the floorboards. He could see movement at the doorway.

‘You think they’ll suddenly talk to you in town?’

‘Get off.’ Nathan shoved back and they rolled over, hitting the couch and the coffee table. Something fell off and shattered against the floor.