Child of Fire

HAMMER ARRESTED FOR ATTEMPTED MURDER!

I took it from him and scanned the front page. It was a special edition, run especially to cover this story. The article was written by Peter Lemly and told the same basic story that Cynthia had been spreading. Cabot and Cynthia had a big argument; Cabot tried to shoot her but struck the mayor instead when he shielded her. Cabot was then subdued by a “visiting businessman.” For a few moments I was peeved that some other guy had gotten credit for what I did. Then I realized I was the businessman.

“Did you know,” Cabot started, talking to me like a friend-didn’t the guy have any friends?-“my brother could make people do what he wanted. My father, too.”

“Make how?”

“It wasn’t like he voodooed their minds or anything. And he never blackmailed them, as far as I could tell. He just wanted something and other people wanted him to have it. When he bid on a plot of forest, whoever was handling the parcel awarded it to him. It was like he made them want what he wanted them to want. He just bent them to his will, without any effort at all. And he always knew how to handle people. He knew how to use the Dubois brothers, and when to hold them off. He could play Reverend Wilson like a radio.”

I twisted that around in my head until I sorted all the wants. “Isn’t Charles the Third doing the same thing with his toy company? Isn’t he putting out products that people are snapping up?” I remembered what Able Katz had told us: Hammer’s toys weren’t supposed to be a huge hit, but they were. I could have gone further, talking about the way the local townsfolk defended him like he was their king, but I wanted to see Cabot’s reaction.

“Yeah. Yeah, I guess so. You know what’s funny? I never would have pegged little Charlie to be the tycoon type. Now he’s this reclusive business genius, spending all his time hiding in the tower, but I never thought he had it in him. He was such a fat, dorky little kid.”

I remembered the high, round room I’d seen at the top of the Hammers’ house. That must have been the tower. If I’d known, I would have slipped out of the library and confronted him. I made a mental note to tell Annalise about it. “Fat kids grow up,” I said.

“No, no, I don’t mean it like that. He wasn’t just fat. He was lazy and stupid. He never got a joke unless you explained it to him. Kids bullied him on the playground. He was that kind of kid. He used to talk about helping the poor or saving the whales, but he never had more than a vague idea how to go about it, and he never… okay. Once, he decided that he was going to help some of the older folks in town. You know, retired lumber workers and their wives, they get sick or property taxes go up, and it’s trouble.

“So little Charlie decided to start a food drive. He must have been fourteen or so, and he’s as big as a whale. Everyone jokes that he’s going to be eating half the food himself, though not to his face, of course. But most people like the idea and chip in. We stored the food right downstairs in this building. It was quite a stack-I was surprised by how much support the kid got.

“But Charlie lost interest as soon as it started to be successful. He spent his afternoons playing video games on the couch while the cans and stuff collected dust.

“In the end, I distributed it myself. Those folks were really grateful to get the deliveries, and a couple of them asked when there would be another. I had to tell them that I thought it was a one-shot deal. They were pretty disappointed. Poor folks. Stuck in this town. This fucked-up town.

“So, I didn’t think the kid had a successful company in him. But he’s just as good at it as his father.”

“Why didn’t you continue the drive yourself?”

“What’s that?”

“The food drive. If it helped so many people, why didn’t you take over?”

“Well… that’s not the point I wanted to make.”

“I understand your point. Your nephew was this big loser who suddenly turned into a successful guy, and you didn’t.”

“Well, not that I’m a loser… wait. Scratch that. I am a loser. I’ve always been one. But I’ve had my family to back me up. Until now. Crap.”

“What changed for him? What changed for your nephew?”

I didn’t expect him to say Must be that spell book his daddy gave him, but I hoped for something more than this extended bout of self-pity. Instead, he said: “God only knows. My kids certainly don’t have it.”

He was wearing a wedding ring. “You’re divorced?” I asked.

“No. No, I’m still married to their mother. We love each other very much.”

I wasn’t interested in that. “How many kids do you have?”

“Four. Ages eight through fifteen.”

“Cynthia said you live in a studio apartment.”

“Well, yeah, I do, but they don’t. They live on Whidbey Island.”

“Is that right?” I asked. Cabot shifted in his chair uncomfortably. He didn’t like the way I was looking at him. If he’d known what I was thinking, he’d be even less pleased. “When did this happen?”

“A couple years back after school ended. My wife has never been happy here, so I bought her a place up there. Everyone is transitioning nicely.”

“Why do they live so far from you?” I asked. I was pretty sure I already knew the answer.

He scratched at his chin. “They have a good school district there.” He shuffled some papers on his desk. “I want my kids to grow up in the best environment possible.”

I leaned forward. A dangerous spark of anger had caught in my belly. “Cabot, you want to know what you should never do? You should never lie to me. Especially when I have this gun in my pocket.”

He blinked a couple of times. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”