Darkest Fear

'Come on, Stan. Don't make me drag this out of you.'

'You've pretty much got it.'

'Then tell me.'

'I wanted to do a story on them. An expose, really. I even had a publisher all lined up for a book deal. But then the Lexes got wind of it. They warned me to stay away. A big man came to my apartment. I didn't catch his name. Looked like Sergeant Rock.'

'That would be Grover.'

'He told me that I could stop or I could be destroyed.'

'And that only made you more curious.'

'I guess.'

'So you found out about Dennis Lex.'

'Just that he existed. And that he vanished into thin air when he was a young child.' Stan turned to him. Myron slowed the car and felt something creep along the top of his scalp.

'Like the Sow the Seeds victims,' Myron finished.

'No.'

'Why not?'

'It's different.'

'How?' Myron asked.

'This is going to sound silly,' Stan said, 'but the family doesn't have that same sense of terror that the other families have.'

'The rich are good with facades.'

'It's more than that,' Stan said. 'I can't put my finger on it exactly. But I'm sure Susan and Bronwyn Lex know what happened to their brother.'

'But they want to keep it a secret.'

'Yes.'

'Do you have a guess why?'

'No,' Stan said.

Myron glanced back. The feds were following at a discreet enough distance.

'Do you think Susan Lex is responsible for that novel surfacing?'

'The thought has crossed my mind.'

'But you never looked into it?'

'I started to. After the scandal hit. But I got a call from the big guy. He told me that it was just the beginning. That he was just flicking his finger and next time he would crush me between both palms.'

'He can be a poetic fellow,' Myron said.

'Yes.'

'But I still don't get something.'

'What?'

'You don't scare easily. When they warned you away the first time, you ignored it. After what they did to you, I'd have thought you'd fight back even harder.'

'You're forgetting something,' Stan said.

'What?'

'Melina Garston.'

Silence.

'Think about it,' Stan said. 'My mistress, the only person who can back up my meeting with the Sow the Seeds kidnapper, ends up dead.'

'Her father claims she retracted that.'

'Oh, right. In some bizarre before-death confession.'

'You think the Lexes arranged that too?'

'Why not? Look at what happened here. Who's the lead suspect in Melina's murder? I am, right? That's what the feds told you. They think I killed her. We know that the Lexes have enough juice to dig up this novel I supposedly plagiarized. Who knows what else they can do?'

'You think they could frame you for the murder?'

'At the very least.'

'Are you saying they killed Melina Garston?'

'Maybe. Or it could have been the Sow the Seeds kidnapper. I don't know.'

'But you think Melina was a warning.'

'She was definitely a warning,' Stan Gibbs said. 'I just don't know who sent it.'

On the radio, Stevie sang out about a landslide coming down. Oh yeah.

'You're leaving something out, Stan.'

Stan kept his eyes forward. 'What's that?'

'There's a personal connection here,' Myron said.

'What do you mean?'

'Susan Lex mentioned your father. She said he was a liar.'

Stan shrugged. 'She might be right.'

'What does he have to do with this?'

'Take me back.'

'Don't hold back on me now.'

'What do you really want here, Myron?'

'Excuse me?'

'What's your interest here?'

'I told you.'

'That boy who needs a bone marrow transplant?'

'He's thirteen years old, Stan. He'll die without it.'

'And what if I don't believe you? I did a little research of my own. You used to do government work.'

'A long time ago.'

'And maybe now you're helping the FBI. Or even the Lex family.'

'No.'

'I can't take that chance.'

'Why not? You're telling me the truth, right? The truth can't hurt you.'

He snorted. 'You really believe that?'

'Why did Susan Lex mention your father?'

Nothing.

'Where is your father?' Myron said.

'That's just it.'

'What?'

Stan looked at him. 'He vanished. Eight years ago.'

Vanished. That word again.

'I know what you're thinking and you're wrong. My father wasn't a well man. He had been in and out of institutions all his life. We've always assumed he ran off.'

'But you never heard from him.'

'That's right.'

'Dennis Lex vanishes. Your father vanishes—'

'More than twenty years apart,' Stan interjected. 'It's not connected.'

'So I still don't get it,' Myron said. 'What does your father or his disappearance have to do with the Lexes?'

'They think he's the reason I wanted to do the story. But they're wrong.'

'Why would they think that?'

'My father was a student of Raymond Lex's. Before Midnight Confessions came out.'