Silver Falls - Anne Stuart [34]
7
Caleb looked into his baby brother’s guileless, pale blue eyes and just managed to meet his smile. “I didn’t touch her, I swear.”
“Of course you didn’t, Caleb. I trust you with my life.” There was no edge to the simple statement, no malice or hidden subtext. “It’s just that you’re so damned romantic, and always have been. The bad boy always gets the girl.” His smile was disarming. “But Rachel’s got a good head on her shoulders. I’m sure even if you do your best to tempt her she’ll be able to resist. She doesn’t have much of a sexual appetite.”
“Do you think I wouldn’t consider that a challenge?”
“You and I both know you’d never go out of your way to take what’s mine. The problem is it comes to you naturally. Every girl I ever liked was head-over-heels in love with you. Even that stupid mutt I found liked you better than me.”
“I remember,” Caleb said softly.
David looked sorrowful. “Such a sad, sad day. Who in the world could have done such a thing to a poor, helpless animal, no matter how stupid he was.” He gave a small shudder of distress. “I just don’t understand human nature, Caleb. Do you?”
Caleb didn’t blink. It had been twenty-six years since he’d found the only dog he’d ever owned hanging from a tree down by the river. He’d had enough time to get over it. The knot of grief was familiar, even welcome. “I think I understand it better than you think, David.”
He hadn’t expected his words to rattle his brother, and they didn’t. “Even my own mother preferred you, ridiculous as that is. She gave birth to me—you should have been less important to her.”
“David, she loved you.”
David smiled sweetly. “Of course she did. And I loved her. She just didn’t love me enough.”
Caleb felt the grief come again, tinged with the old anger, but he squashed it down. To do what he came to do he’d have to be cool and collected, as cool as his brother was. “Did you want to talk to me about something, David? You could come up back to the house…”
“That monstrosity? No, thank you. I just wanted to make sure my wife was all right. And that she heard about the body they found.”
“And why is that?”
David blinked. “So she’ll be careful, of course. Because just when you think you have all the answers, you find out you’re quite wrong.”
“He’s changing his style, isn’t he?” Caleb leaned back against his Jeep. “He never used to kill so close together. There was always at least a year between each death. And he never killed twice in the same place. He’s getting sloppy.”
“Yes, he is,” David agreed, as calm and measured as always. “But who can guess what’s in the mind of a sociopath?”
“You think that’s it? He’s a sociopath?”
“I’ve done a great deal of research on the matter, and that’s the only conclusion I could come up with. He’s simply without conscience. How else could he commit such atrocities?” David moved back to his car, a wistful expression on his face. “Do keep away from Rachel, won’t you? I’d hate to see anything happen to her.”
It took all Caleb’s self-control not to lunge for his brother’s car. But he’d spent years in war zones, or even worse, newsrooms, and he knew how to bluff and to watch his ass.
“You have my word on it, David,” Caleb said, as the rain began to sprinkle down once more. “No one’s going to hurt Rachel or her daughter. No one.”
David simply smiled. “Come for dinner tonight. We need to spend time together, and this way it’ll keep her mind off the new murder.”
“So we can be like a normal, happy family?”
“We are a normal, happy family, Caleb. Haven’t you noticed? All we needed was for you to come home again. And you did.”
“If you say so,” Caleb said. “What makes you think Rachel wants anything to do with me? Maybe she has other plans.”
David shook his head. “Rachel wants whatever I want. And she would never leave. She knows it would distress me, and she has very fond feelings for me. And besides, if she left I’d simply go with her.”
Caleb should have