"I wouldn't lie to you. He's here. This is his storage place, you know that. He's inside, waiting to see you."
Isaac's breath was so noisy in his chest. He had to make it go away, or at least be quieter. He inhaled, tried to hold it as long as possible.
"Isaac, you're going home to live now. You're going back to our house, back to school. Everything will be as you like it."
She was in the corn now. He could hear it crackling around her. He didn't want to say anything, because then she would know where he was. But he had to ask.
"And you, Mama?"
She must have stopped moving, for he no longer heard the rustle of the cornstalks. "What do you mean, Isaac?"
"Are you going home, too?"
She didn't answer.
"You have to tell the truth. You just said you would never lie to me. You said that just the other day."
"Yes, Isaac." She was moving again, getting closer.
"Yes, what?"
"Yes, I told you that. I won't lie to you."
"So tell me."
"Isaac-your father is waiting. Really, truly."
"No, tell me, Mama. What are you going to do? Where are you going to go?"
"I don't know, Isaac. I don't know what I'm going to do. But I know you want to go home."
With that she emerged from the corn, just a few feet from him. He could have turned and run in the other direction, but where would he go, what would he do? This was his choice. He could live in the house he had always known, with his father, or he could live with his mother and Zeke. But maybe his mother would change her mind, if he waited long enough, if he talked to her. Maybe she would love his father again, once she saw him. Or, as time went on, maybe she would miss them so much she would give up Zeke and come back to them.
His mother held out her arms to him, and he went to her, pressing his face into her stomach, smelling all her smells, letting her rub his head.
"You're a good boy, Isaac. I love you so much. Never forget that, okay? Your mother loves you."
"I love you, too, Mama."
She took his hand in hers. "Now let's go see Daddy."
Chapter Forty
TESS COULDN'T DECIDE IF SHE SHOULD BE RELIEVED OR in despair when she saw that Mark's Cadillac was the only car at the storage facility. What if I'm too late? What if he's dead inside? She drew her gun and entered a small anteroom, a makeshift office created by cheap plywood siding, a door in the center. Cautiously, she tried the knob, waiting to see if anyone would respond to that motion.
"Nat?" a voice asked. A man's voice, not unlike Mark's, but definitely not Mark's. Tess backed up and kicked the door, on the off chance that the man had positioned himself behind it, then crossed the threshold with her gun firmly in both hands.
"Put your hands above your head," she told the man, who stood no more than ten feet from her, pacing a narrow corridor with two heavy, vaultlike doors on either side.
The man complied, clasping his hands to the crown of his head, sizing her up as she sized him up. The descriptions of him in the random sightings had always been so vague that Tess had never been able to get a clear picture in her mind.
Why hadn't people mentioned how handsome he was? Of course, not everyone might have found him so, but even those who didn't care for this type-tall, lean, with dark skin and light eyes-should have noticed he was a striking man.
But the oddest fact of his appearance, by far, was how strongly he favored Mark. If Tess hadn't known otherwise, she would have taken them for blood relations. The coloring, the features, were all very similar. This one was taller, true, with the kind of body that a disciplined man can sculpt over a long prison sentence. His eyes were a cold, hard blue, whereas Mark's were brown and soft. But there was a resemblance.
"Nathaniel Rubenstein," she said, her gun aimed at his midsection. He kept his hands on his head, making no attempt to reach for the gun tucked into his waistband. She recognized the distinctive grip of Mark's SIG Sauer.
"I prefer to be called Zeke," he said.
"Where's Mark? Is he alive?"
"Well, he's either behind Door Number One or"-he jerked his head toward the other door-"Door Number Two. Are you ready to play Let's Make a Deal?"
"And the children? Are they here, too?"
"You the chick he hired? Lana told me about you." He smiled, sure of his charm even now. Oh, this one had been talking his way out of trouble for most of his life.
"Let him out."
"No can do."
"Excuse me?" She wondered if she could get away with shooting him while his arms were raised.
"I need to keep him there, just for a few hours. Him and the kids. This is a business deal, plain and simple. It doesn't involve you-or wasn't supposed to. I made him promise to leave anyone else out of it, including his private detective, and he was happy to oblige."
"Are they alive?"
"Absolutely. But since you showed up, I need to put you in there, too, for safekeeping. Really, it's just business. Don't take it personally."
"No," Tess said, backing away from him, making sure she was not within reach.
"Well, I guess it's a standoff, then." He flashed her a smile, then started to lower his hands.
"Don't," she said in her sternest voice.
He shrugged, backing up. Tess heard steps in the anteroom and pressed her back against the wall, so she had the best vantage point possible. Natalie appeared, hugging Isaac to one side and cradling a shoe box in the right hand. It was disorienting, seeing the human versions of the people Tess had been seeking, almost like meeting celebrities in the flesh.
"Good girl," Zeke crooned. "You found Isaac. Look, Isaac-I told you that your dad would be here."
He opened the door to his right, revealing Mark Rubin on the floor of a vault crowded with coats, the twins curled up in his lap, clutching him like little orangutans.
"Daddy!" Isaac threw himself at his father. Under different circumstances it would have been a touching reunion.
"Now I really need you to go in there, too," Zeke said to Tess.
"No."
"Do what he says." Natalie had dropped the shoe box to the floor and was now holding a gun on Tess. She didn't look particularly comfortable with it, but she seemed awfully determined.
"Good girl," Zeke said again. "Good, careful Natalie. You always have my back."
"I got nervous when I saw the strange car," she said, tossing her head like a teenager accepting a compliment. "I wasn't sure what was going on, so I thought I should get my gun."
"I'm afraid you're outnumbered," Zeke said to Tess with that same insistent, phony charm. "But it's really not so bad. You'll just be in there an hour or two, and then Lana will come to let you out. That's all. We just need a head start. Oh, and your cell phone. You do have one, right?"
When Tess hesitated, Zeke pointed his gun at Mark and the children. Tess threw him the phone with her left hand, keeping her gun steady in her right.
"I'd be more convinced of your good intentions if I didn't know you're a criminal who's already tried to kill your stepbrother at least once."
"That hurts my feelings, I admit. But at this point I can't really worry about what you think. Mark and the children are safe, as you can see. But if I have to kill you, then I'll have to kill them to keep from having witnesses. So please-" Again he gestured toward the vault.
"Let us go," Tess said. "Give us the head start. Mark is more trustworthy than you. He'll give you his word that we'll walk away and wait a day before we tell the cops what happened here."
"Mark lies, too. All Rubins lie. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree." Zeke looked at Natalie. "Right, honey? Like father, like son? Like father, like daughter, too, come to think of it."