Baltimore 03 - Did You Miss Me?

happened to Mitch. Cole had come home from school to find his brother sitting at the kitchen table, pale. He’d been reading an old book which he’d whisked out of sight when Cole came in the room for an after-school snack.
    The book and Mitch disappeared to the garage. Probably he came down here , Cole thought. Mitch came down to the bomb shelter to remember their mother.
    Cole didn’t need to come down here. The memory of this place was branded into his brain. I hate this house .
    The day after Cole had found him reading the old book, Mitch was a changed man. Calm. Happy. He’d even whistled. He’d gotten his HVAC license, bought some equipment and started a business. Gone straight. Or so Cole had wanted to believe.
    But he’d peeked at Mitch’s ‘license’. It was not in his own name or any combination of his names. His brother couldn’t get a license with his felony record, so he’d bought a fake ID. If Mitch got caught, he could go to jail for that, too.
    I’m so tired of being afraid . Of cops, of school, of the kids . Of my own family .
    ‘ I wish I was adopted,’ he muttered.
    ‘Not always an improvement,’ Kim croaked. ‘Do we have water down here?’
    ‘Yeah.’ He brought her a bottle and held it to her dry, cracked lips as she chugged it down. ‘Easy.’ He pulled the bottle away and capped it. ‘You’ll make yourself sick.’
    ‘Thanks. I was so thirsty. Can you untie me?’
    He hesitated. Then shook his head. ‘No.’ Not until I can figure out what’s true .
    She sagged back to the cot. ‘Have you at least been thinking about what I said?’
    Yes, and I still don’t want to believe you . Don’t want to believe my brother could do those things . That he could kill in cold blood .
    ‘ Why did you say adoption wasn’t always an improvement?’ he asked instead. ‘Are you adopted?’
    ‘Yeah. Me and my little sister.’
    ‘The one my brother kidnapped.’
    ‘Yeah. Her name is Pamela. We’re not really sisters but we were both born in China. I’m telling you, kid, your brother is not who you think he is.’
    His brother who went by Doug. Aunt Betty’s last name was Douglas. Cole knew that everything she’d said was probably true. Damn you, Mitch .
    Cole sighed. ‘He’s exactly who I think he is. I’m just not sure who you are.’
    ‘We’re wasting time. We need to get out of here before your brother comes back.’
    ‘Sorry, no can do. We’re down here until Matt tells me to come back up. Mitch won’t be back till tomorrow. He had a job in an office building. They do a lot of the HVAC at night.’
    ‘You still think he works an HVAC job?’ She coughed and Cole held the water bottle to her lips again. ‘Thanks. He worked with me, kid. We steal stuff.’
    ‘Like what?’
    ‘Guns mostly.’ She went on to describe every one of the guns in detail. They were the same ones Mitch had hidden in the basement storeroom. ‘We steal from cops.’
    Which actually made sense. Mitch hated cops. I guess most ex-cons do .
    ‘The HVAC job is a cover,’ she said when he didn’t say anything. ‘He’s got some plot to take down a state’s attorney. Montgomery.’ She spat the name.
    ‘That doesn’t make sense. He doesn’t even know any state’s attorneys.’
    Kim laughed which made her start coughing again. ‘He knows her . He hates her. I hate her too. That’s how he reeled me in.’
    ‘Why does he hate her?’
    ‘You’ll need to ask him that question. He never told me.’
    Cole wasn’t sure he believed her. ‘Then why do you hate her?’
    ‘Montgomery stabbed me in the back. Best deal she’d give came with a conviction. Now I’ve got a record and I can’t get a job. Bitch.’
    Okayyy . ‘ You said my brother killed people. How many?’
    ‘That I know of? One. Directly.’
    Cole swallowed. ‘Who?’
    ‘A cop who was guarding the guy I was with two nights ago.’
    ‘I thought you and Mitch . . .’
    ‘ Doug and I . . . Well, we were a couple. But never again. I was with the other guy – his name is Ford – only because Doug wanted him. At first. I was supposed to bring Ford to meet Doug, so they could talk. They were just supposed to talk. But . . . I didn’t want to do it.’
    ‘Why not?’
    ‘Because . . . Ford’s a nice guy. I started to feel sorry for him, not to want Doug to talk to him at all. That’s when your brother kidnapped my sister. She’s just a kid, about your age. I don’t know where she is.’
    ‘Did you set