Chapter 2

“Your son, Vance.”

Charles Montgomery frowned as he looked the kid over. He was dressed in worn jeans and a tattered button-down shirt over a black T-shirt, from what he could see of it. His hair was too long but at least it was combed. When he’d come into the room, he’d been carrying a battered backpack over one shoulder that he’d dropped on the floor by the door. The more Charles studied him the more he could see their resemblance, but he wasn’t ready to buy into that yet.

“So tell me something about yourself to convince me this isn’t a con.”

“I was born April first, nineteen eighty-six in South Philly. Well, that’s where Mother said it happened. Since then I’ve lived more places than stray dog, mostly in trailer parks with her and whatever boyfriend she has at the moment.”

“That’s stuff anyone could find out. Tell me something they couldn’t.”

Vance frowned. “Anything someone else couldn’t know you wouldn’t either.”

“You might be surprised.”

A startled look crossed Vance’s face for a second before he shut it down. “Okay,” he said after a moment’s thought, “when I was twelve we were living with a man who had two kids. He tried to get Mother to marry him and he started whatever it takes to adopt me but dropped it when Mother decided to take off. She didn’t want to be married to anyone every again, she said.”

Charles nodded. “I know, but that’s still information someone could have found out, though it would have been harder since the papers were never filed. What else?”

“Damn it I don’t know. Man, I’m barely fifteen. It’s not like I have any big secrets I’ve kept from everyone. Even how she treated me is something everyone knows about who knew me.”

“Tell me about your twelfth birthday. What did you get?”

Vance thought and then snorted. “And new shirt, ice cream, and a beating.” He paused as he remembered something else. “And a book. That’s why she beat me, she though I stole it, but I didn’t. It was there on the doorstep when I came home from school. A package with my name on it. I thought Mother was trying to surprise me so I opened it and then went inside. I was going to thank her, but she took one look at it and went ballistic. She was drunk, of course. Or half way there. Even when I showed her the wrapping it came in she still didn’t believe me. She took it and the book, threw them in the trash and then used my belt on me.” Vance winced, remembering. “I couldn’t sit down right for three days after.”

“And you never told anyone about that?”

“No.” Vance shrugged. “Getting beaten happened so often that it never seemed worth talking about as I got older. No one cared. We were…itinerates?”

“Yes,” Charles said quietly, a deep frown on his face. “I didn’t know.”

“Know?”

“That she abused you. I tried to keep track of you as best I could, but half the time my checks went to post office boxes. It was rare that she let me know where she was living.”

“Good thing she did last time. That’s how I knew to come out here. I sort of stole the check so I’d have your address.” Vance pulled a much-folded piece of paper from his pocket and spread it out on the desk.2

“There were times when I had my doubts, but you made it through,” Charles said, gripping Vance’s shoulder hard in lieu of the hug he wanted to give him. He was well aware after three years that his son didn’t want anyone, even him, that close. For that alone he’d have willingly killed his ex-wife if she wasn’t already dead from a drug overdose.

“I wasn’t so sure I would either,” Vance admitted. “Or get accepted in college.” He waved at a couple of friends across the campus lawn, holding up two fingers to let them know it would be a couple of hours before he’d show up at the post-graduation party.

He became aware of someone standing next to him, too close for his comfort, and shifted to one side while turning to see who it was. A dark-haired woman about three inches shy of his six-one smiled at him before saying to his father, “So this is the much-vaunted son.” She held out her hand, introducing herself as Makie Long.

Vance did his best to be polite, shaking her hand quickly before letting go while admitting that he was indeed Vance Montgomery.

“I work with your father,” she told him, as if saying that was all it took for Vance to understand who and what she was.