Page 42 of Home Again

12

Sebastian was pissed that he’d been sucked back into his grandfather’s office so that Philly and Neil had already left for the evening before he’d had a chance to talk to her. So here he was, walking down to the carriage house. So he started down the barely used path that would take him down to the old pond.

His phone vibrated in his back pocket when the pond was in sight. It was Gideon.

“Hey. Any more info for me? I need something to sink my teeth into.”

“Yeah, well, I do have some more intel,” Gideon said. “I should be in front of your Granddaddy's house in ten minutes, because staying at the Gator Inn was a hard no. We need to get our asses up to Dallas to follow up on a new lead.”

“Fuck, I can’t believe you flew out here. Did you buy an apron and start baking cookies? Because you sure are acting like a mom, what with you coming down here to hold my hand and all.”

“And seeing how you’re choosing to flip me shit about it, I see you’re not mad. Instead, you’re doing the smart thing and you’re going to let me help.” Sebastian could hear the relief in his friend’s voice.

“I think you’re an overprotective dumbass who is blowing his leave on stupid shit, but far be it for me to have an opinion.” Sebastian was already jogging past the Carriage House. He needed to get back to his room and pack his duffel.

“Now you have as long as it takes for me to get there from the Gator Inn.” Gideon chuckled, and the line went dead. Sebastian shoved his phone in his back pocket and bounded up the stairs to the kitchen door. Nobody saw him as he made his way upstairs. He had his duffel packed and the front door to the house opened when he heard someone shout his name.

“Where in the hell do you think you’re going now?” Lazar came barreling down the hallway.

Sebastian shut the door and turned to look at Lazar. This time he really looked at him. He hadn’t aged well at all. For a man who was seventy-four, he looked at least a decade older. He might have a good set of lungs on him, but he moved slowly. Sebastian was around a lot of former military men. They kept in shape; the same couldn’t be said for his Grandpère.

“What are you staring at?” Lazar demanded to know when he was a foot away from Sebastian.

“You’ve been avoiding being alone with me. I want to know about the answers you promised me.”

“And we’ll get to that,” Lazar sputtered. “But we have to jump on your campaign, son. This can’t wait. The past is past. That’s old news. We have plenty of time to hash over that,” Lazar said as he rested his hand on Sebastian’s shoulder.

Sebastian shrugged it off.

“What do you know about my mother’s death? What happened to my father?”

Lazar’s eyes widened and he reeled backward. “That was a terrible year.”

Sebastian’s fists clenched. “No need to tell me, I lived it. You said my mom was nothing but trouble and then she was murdered.”

“I never said any such thing,” he blustered. He looked over his shoulder to where his office was, then gripped Sebastian’s arm. “Follow me.”

Sebastian followed his grandfather into the empty kitchen. “They closed your mother’s case. They figured it was something to do with drugs.”

“Are you out of your mind, old man?” Sebastian roared. “I’ve read the case file. They didn’t have shit, and nowhere in there did they say anything about it having to do with drugs. Hell, her purse and phone were left in the car. They worked the case for one damned week. One. Then they closed it because you didn’t want them to find out what really happened.”

Sebastian saw a flicker of fear pass over his grandfather’s face before he turned red and pushed his finger into Sebastian’s chest. “You have no idea what you’re talking about. Of course, I had that thing buried. It was all over the papers, it needed to be shut down, your dad didn’t need that kind of trash weighing him down.”

Sebastian grabbed his grandfather’s wrist and twisted, not caring about his cry of pain. “And that’s what you always called her. Trash. So her murder was just one more thing about her that you just wanted buried. Or was it even worse? Did you have something to do with her murder?” Sebastian felt like he was encased in ice, his voice a low hiss.

“Bastian, how could you even ask me something like that?” he trembled. “She was your mother.”

“Don’t you dare lie to me, old man, you wanted her gone. How many times did I hear you say to Dad that marrying her was the worst mistake he’d ever made?”

Lazar didn’t even try to wiggle out of Sebastian’s grip. His eyes stayed glued to his grandson’s. “I would never. Not ever, harm the mother of my grandson,” he choked out.

Sebastian shoved him away. “You lying old fool. My mom scrimped and saved to give me a good life, while the good old Durands lived the high life. You harmed her all right.”

Lazar threw back his shoulders. “I offered her good money to give your father full custody, all she ever had to do was hand you over and leave the state. It was her choice to live the way she did.”

The words hit him like a ton of bricks. “Did my dad know about that?”

“He knew that I didn’t want you to be living with that woman. You belonged here.”