Kirk’s apartment was a dump. Clothes everywhere, empty pizza boxes and fast food bags, a stained futon and chairs from Goodwill. A single lamp cast dim light and shadows over the walls. At least he had a big flatscreen TV.
He offered us beer or whiskey—or tap water. Rachel and I took beers, Colin had a glass of whiskey, and Kirk drank from the bottle.
The box sat in the center of the floor.
“I started getting these emails about a month ago.” Kirk’s voice was low, emotionless. “From dad.”
“Around the time he died in prison,” Colin said.
Kirk held out his phone for me to look at.
Kirk—it’s me. You’ve got to find something. Dad.
It’s me. Dad. Ask grandma where it is.
You’ve got to find it. Before anyone else does.
Go to grandma. Ask her.
“I didn’t know what it meant.” He slurped some whiskey. “I mean, it couldn’t be dad, right?”
“Yeah, I got the same ones. From mom.” Colin sipped his drink. “Telling me to find you. And stop you—I guess, from finding that.” He pointed to the box.
“The rings brought him back,” I said. “Brought them both back. Your grandma took them from Bradley in the police station. She must have known something. Or done something. Maybe we should go back to talk to her.” I checked my phone for the time. Visiting hours were long over. “Tomorrow.”
Kirk shook his head. “I don’t think I can go back there.”
I shrugged. “Maybe she’ll talk to me without either of you there—
“Come on, guys!” Rachel shook her head. “We were just talking about it. The rings?”
Oh. She had a point. I looked at Kirk and Colin. “What do you think?”
He stared at me. At Rachel. Then at Colin. “You want me to?”
“I mean . . .” He rolled his eyes. “I’d like to find out what’s going on. But only if you want to.”
“I don’t know.” Kirk’s head drooped. He drank some whiskey. Rachel and I looked at each other. I sipped my beer.
Kirk’s head came up. “All right.” He drank more whiskey, then refilled Colin’s glass. “You want to tie me up? I’ve got some duct tape somewhere.”
“Let’s just make sure you keep away from any guns.” I finished my beer and went to open the box.
I gave the rings to Rachel. She held them in her palm for a moment, eyes closed, and shivered once. Then she handed them back to me. “Definitely magic.”
It pays to have a psychic girlfriend. Especially a hot one. I took the rings, looked them over, and handed one to Kirk. “I think this is the groom.”
He grinned. “Hard to think of him in a tux.” Then, after another swallow of whiskey, he slipped it on his finger.
We waited. Kirk’s body jerked on the futon, and one foot jumped up and down on the floor. Then he sat forward, like a cat looking for an escape. “What’s going on?”
“Bradley?” I kept my voice low.
He frowned. “Who are you?”
“My name’s Tom.” I pointed toward Colin. “This is your son.”
He turned his face. “Colin?”
“Dad.”
Kirk-Bradley looked at me again. He smiled at Rachel. He looked down at his hand and saw the ring, and moved his hand around to look it over.
He looked up at Colin again. “Put yours on.”
Colin hesitated. He looked at me, at Rachel. Then, with a shrug, he held out his hand. “Okay.”
I handed him the other ring. With a deep breath, he slipped it on and closed his eyes.
When his eyes opened again, he looked up at Kirk-Bradley, frightened. “Brad?”
He sneered at her. “Ell. You bitch.”
Rachel stiffened. I was ready to tackle Kirk and yank the ring off if he started anything. But Kirk shook his head and held up a hand.
“I’m, uh, sorry.” He looked away from Colin-Eileen. “About a lot of things.”
“You—you beat me.” He shuddered. “You hurt me. You have no idea how bad it hurt. It hurt so bad. It didn’t stop. You didn’t stop. Until—until it did. Everything stopped. Everything.”
“I was crazy.” Kirk-Bradley couldn’t look at her. “I thought about it every day. Every damn day.”
Colin-Eileen sighed. “It doesn’t make it go away. I hated you. Right then I hated you. And I still do.”
He nodded. “I know.”
They fell silent, avoiding each other’s face. It was time to ask some questions—while I had them here. I looked at Kirk-Bradley. “You wanted Kirk to have that money, right?”
He looked up, still confused about me. “I shouldn’t have—let them take him away. Mom was—she was always a little crazy. Never liked Ell. I wanted to do something—one thing. But I couldn’t when I was in jail. I had to wait—wait—” His voice froze.
I went to Colin-Eileen. “When you realized he was dead, you reached out to Colin. To help him get the money.”
“He’s my son. My only son. I didn’t—” He peered at Kirk’s face. “I never knew. Damn her.”
“What about the rings?” Rachel asked, digging an elbow into my ribs. “How do they do—this?”
“Mom.” Kirk-Bradley looked at the floor. “She told me to give her my ring, and I had Ell’s. She said she could—bring me back. If Kirk had it. Just Kirk. I told her where the money was, and she said she’d put the rings in with it. I didn’t know—I just put it in the garage, I don’t think the cops ever found it. I didn’t know where it was. I had to—tell Kirk. Tell him to ask her.” He groaned.
I looked at Rachel. “So Lillian is—what? A witch?”
“I told you there was something in the air when we saw her. Maybe she was a witch a long time ago, enough to do something with the rings. We’d have to ask her.”
Kirk-Bradley grunted. He reached for the whiskey and took a long swallow until the bottle was empty. It dropped to the floor and rolled under the futon.
He looked at Colin-Eileen. “I want to go now.”
He nodded. “Good. Stay there.”
“Yeah.” He stared at his son’s face, her eyes flickering, then abruptly pulled the ring off and threw it into a corner behind a plant.
Kirk gasped, leaning back, his eyes wide. “What—what happened?” He looked at his brother. “Colin?”
Colin-Eileen looked him over, tears in his eyes. “My son. My—son. I’m sorry I didn’t get to see you grow up.”
Then, with a sniffle, he slipped the ring from his finger and set it on the table next to his drink.
Kirk lifted the whiskey bottle and found it empty. “Damn it.” He stood and staggered to the kitchen for beer.
Colin looked at Rachel. “I sort of remember—but what happened?”
“Your grandmother did something with the rings,” she told him. “To bring your father back. He and your mother managed to communicate with both of you. We’ll have to ask your grandmother about it. If you want.”
Colin thought about it for a moment and shook his head. “No. I can’t. Not now. Not—” He looked down at the box on the floor. “What do we do with that?”
Ordinarily I’d have advised taking it to the police. The gun was evidence in a murder case. They’d never believe us, of course, but I’m used to that.
But the case was almost 20 years old. No one else had been harmed. There didn’t seem to be much point in digging up trouble now. No pun intended.
“I’ll get rid of the gun. You guys can split the cash. Just be careful about spending too much of at once—”
“I don’t want it.” Kirk slammed his beer can down on the table. “You take it.”
“I don’t want it either.” Colin crossed his arms. “You two should take it. I can’t pay you what I owe you for this anyway.”
Rachel and I looked at each other. “It would help pay for school,” I said.
She rolled her eyes. “I can’t exactly drop a wad of 20s to pay for next semester’s tuition.”
“We can work it out.” I know a little bit about laundering cash.
“And the rings.” Colin got up and removed the plant to retrieve Kirk’s ring. “Get rid of them. Both of them.”
“Yeah.” Kirk gulped his beer. “Melt ‘em down, or whatever. Just get them out of here.”
We gathered everything up in the box. Kirk sat with his eyelids drooping, ready to pass out.
Colin tapped him on the shoulder. “We’re going.”
“Okay.” Kirk lurched forward and stood up unsteadily. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to—at the house. I was just—a little crazy. With dad and all.”
“Yeah.” Colin stuck out a hand. “Brothers?”
Kirk grinned and shook it. “Brothers.”
Outside I put the box in the trunk of the Prius. Colin and I shook hands, and Rachel gave him a hug. “You okay?”
“I guess.” He shrugged. “A lot to think about.”
“Drive safe.” She kissed his cheek.
He glanced at me, embarrassed. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”
We followed his taillights most of the way back to Chicago. Rachel was quiet.
“You okay?” I asked as we pulled into our parking space.
“Just thinking.” She opened her door.
“About what? Homework? Dinner? What to watch on TV?”
“Families. They’re so—complicated.”
“It must be worth it to some people.”
“I suppose.” She yawned. “Whose turn is it for dinner?”
“I’ll find something in the freezer.” It was almost eleven.
“I want to watch Cobra Kai, since you did. No sharks tonight, sorry.”
I grinned. “Just glad to be home.”
Colin called the next morning. Rachel was at her desk. I waved her over.
“I got a phone call just now.” Colin sounded tired. “My grandma died last night. In her sleep. Her heart just—stopped.”
“I’m so sorry.” Rachel put a hand on my shoulder.
“Yeah, thanks. I don’t know how I feel. I guess we’ll never find out some stuff.”
“That happens,” I said. “But we found out a lot.”
“Are you okay?” Rachel asked.
“Yeah, just tired mostly. I think I’m going to miss class today. Take notes for me?”
“Sure thing.” She smiled.
We hung up. Rachel sighed. “That sucks.”
“I hope finding his brother helps. Did you get any read on him?”
“Angry. Confused. Drunk.” She walked back to her desk. “Typical guy.”
“I resent that.” I laughed.
She sat down and swiveled around in her chair. “Wait’ll I rescue you from the sharks again tonight, captive.”
I smiled. “Aye-aye, captain.”
# # #
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