“Six weeks is a long time to figure it out,” Weston said. He looked back at the dog, who was now sleeping in front of the fireplace. “Why didn’t the dog come and greet you?”
“She greeted me on the other side of the house,” he said. “And then, when I came in, I just ordered her to go lie down, so she did.”
“That makes sense,” Weston said. “So why didn’t you go find the dog after she went missing in the accident?”
“How was I supposed to know where she was?” he exclaimed. “The truck went off the road, and I never heard any more. The dog was gone. My wife was dead, and so was my brother.”
“So, what you’re trying to decide is which one of you had more money? Then you would assume that life?”
“Not really,” he said, “I inherit anyway.”
“So, does your disappearance and trying to figure out which person you should pop back up as have something to do with that threatening letter?”
The guy blanched. “What do you know about the letter?”
“I found it,” Weston said. “We were looking into the accident, thinking the letter was about you, and I still don’t have any reason to change my way of thinking.”
“It wasn’t for me. It was for him, and I think the threatening letter was for real,” he said. “That’s another reason why I was trying to figure out which way to work this. If I’m alive, and they know it, then they’ll come after me again.”
“You mean, that’s the real reason why you’ve been hiding out here,” Weston said. “After they killed your wife and your brother accidentally, you figured you were safe, but only if nobody knew you were alive.”
Grant nodded. “Something like that, yes. And my brother would have come up to see me if I had died anyway.”
“Would he though?”
“If I had died and left my wife alone, yes. As it was, I was gone on a trip for quite a while, and he came anyway.” At that, the same bitter note could be heard in his voice.
“Did you know they were carrying on behind your back?”
“No,” he said, “I didn’t. But then again my brother and I look a lot alike. And I’m not sure, if my brother stepped into my shoes, if my wife knew or not.”
At that, the two men stopped and stared at him.
“You’re thinking your wife didn’t know it was your brother and not you?”
“No, I’m not sure she did,” he repeated. “When I came back, I stepped into the kitchen, and she ripped into me because I was supposed to have done something that morning and hadn’t. I just stopped her and said, ‘Whoa, hang on a minute there,’ and she wouldn’t. She just kept yelling at me. I stepped back out, not sure what I was supposed to do, when I realized my brother was driving in with his vehicle. I hauled him off to the shed, where I beat the crap out of him. Then he admitted he’d come in for a visit, and she’d thrown her arms around him, pretty hot and heavy, and he had succumbed to temptation.”
Weston stared at him.
Grant nodded grimly. “What the hell was I supposed to do then? At that point, I looked pretty stupid, but, then again, my wife would look bad as well. My asshole of a brother should have identified himself.”
“Your wife didn’t know?”
“I don’t know,” he said tiredly. “But, when the vehicle went off the road, it wasn’t me. It was him. I’d been trying to deal with how to get back into her life as it was.”
“Hang on a minute. How long were you gone for?”
“I was gone for three weeks, working at a mine, back for one, then gone for another four,” he said. “I was working up north. I saw the letter the first time I was here. I put it away in the drawer, not sure what to do about it. Then I was gone for the last four weeks and came back just before the accident. That’s when my wife reamed me out, and my brother and I had the big toss-up over it all. The next thing I know, they’re both heading out in the truck, and I never saw either of them again.”
“And where was Shambhala at this time?”
He looked at Weston in surprise. “I have no clue. Why?”
“Was the dog in the back of the truck?”
He thought about it for a moment, then shrugged. “She must have been. She wasn’t here. After they left, I came back into the cabin, determined to move back into my own house and have it out with them. That’s when I found out my wife was pregnant. She’d left a pregnancy test on the counter. And it was positive. Only I knew chances were, it wasn’t mine. It was my brother’s.”
The three men sat for a long moment in silence.
“Jesus,” Weston said. “If your brother did all that without you knowing, and without her knowing, that’s even shittier than—I don’t know. I’m at a loss.”
“It was the worst of the worst,” Grant admitted. “The thing is, I’m also not sure if that letter was for me or for him.”
“Why would you think that?”
“Because I’ve never done anything wrong,” he said. “I’ve been sitting here, trying to figure out what happened to my life. My pregnant wife just ended up dead. My brother is gone, and this threatening letter, which came while I was away, makes no sense
