Read Online No One Needs to Know by Kevin O'Brien - Free Book Online

heart was still racing as she made her way into Joey’s room. The mobile of zoo animals swayed gently over his crib. If anyone else had just been in there or near the crib, the motion-sensitive mobile would have been swirling a lot more.
    She watched Joey breathe, no cough, no raspy sounds. Then she reached down and tucked his blanket under his chin. He stirred a bit, kicked his little feet, and went back to sleep.
    With his brown curly hair and cherub face, he looked just like Brian did in his baby pictures. If Tad saw him, maybe he’d finally acknowledge that Joey wasn’t his. But that wasn’t going to happen. She meant what she’d said.
    She wasn’t letting him get anywhere near Joey.
     
     
    Cle Elum, Washington
     
    “I don’t know about this.” Tad sighed. “I mean, she said she told the police about us.”
    “She’s lying,” his brother replied.
    Ryder sat at the table in the grimy kitchen of the McBrides’ farmhouse. The old Harvest Gold fridge and the avocado-colored electric range were relics from the seventies. The kitchen smelled of rancid cat food—thanks mostly to the four felines that seemed to own the place. The glass-topped wrought iron table was meant for a patio, but worked fine in this kitchen. It was especially good for snorting cocaine. Ryder was tapping a credit card against the glass as he made two lines of the white powder for his brother. “She’s a lying bitch,” he went on, over the tap-tap-tapping. “She lied when she said she cared about you. She’s been lying to you for the last year and a half about your baby. And now she’s lying to you about the cops. Believe me, she’s milking her war widow routine for all it’s worth. She’s not going to admit to the cops or anybody else that she was banging you while her husband got shot at in Afghanistan or wherever the hell he eventually bought it.”
    “I guess you’re right,” Tad muttered.
    He stood by the sink, which was stacked with dirty, mismatched plates and glasses. He was shirtless. One of Ryder’s girls, Dawn, was behind him. He heard her rip off another piece of duct tape. Then she slapped and pressed it firmly on the right side of his lower back. The tape held a leather sheath to his skin. And inside that sheath was a hunting knife with a sharp, serrated edge.
    “Of course I’m right,” Ryder said. “But you don’t sound too sure. Hell, if you want to chicken out, that’s fine by me. We don’t have to do this tonight. It’s not my kid. I don’t care. This was your idea, bro.”
    “I know it was,” Tad said, staring at his reflection in the darkened window above the sink.
    “You were too good for her. She treated you like shit, man. I know it was two years ago, but let’s face it, you’re still pretty raw about it. If your baby wasn’t involved, I’d just say fucking forget about her. She’s not worth it. But then she’s got your kid, your son . . .”
    Tad nodded. He felt his heart racing. “Damn it, I have a right to take what’s mine. We’re doing this tonight . . .”
    Dawn tugged at the knife sheath. It pinched and pulled at the skin on his back. “That’s on good and tight,” she said.
    “Come over here and get a little Dutch courage,” Ryder said to his brother.
    Taking the straw from Ryder, Tad bent over and quickly snorted up one line, then the other. Shuddering gratefully, he rubbed his nose. “More,” he murmured.
    Ryder shook his head. “You know how too much coke makes you sweat. Might loosen the tape, and you’ll want to have that knife tonight.”
    Tad picked at the remnants of white powder on the glass tabletop, and then licked his fingers. “I’m just going there to get my son. What do I need the knife for anyway?”
    Ryder gave him a tiny little smile. “For when that cheating whore gives you an argument,” he said.

C HAPTER S IX
    Thursday, June 5
    Ellensburg
     
    J oey let out a little cry.
    Laurie blindly felt around for the nightstand lamp and switched it on.