of how nervous he was about what had happened, but when Ben glanced at him, he saw a flicker of suspicion—or was it knowledge?—in his eyes.
“Give me a hand,” Ben said. “We’ll carry him up onto the porch.”
Jeff and Tyler each took one of Fred’s legs while Mike and Ben each took an arm. The mist rolling in from the lake made everything wet, and they kept losing their grip. They almost dropped Fred a couple of times, and it took them a while to get into synch. Eventually they got Fred under the shelter of the porch roof. All of them were panting from the exertion.
“Does anyone’s cell work?” Jeff asked, panting as he leaned against the porch railing. Now was a good time to overpower Ben, but he was beat from the exertion.
They all took out their cell phones, but after checking for service, they shook their heads in disappointment.
“What d’yah expect?” Mike said. “We’re out in the goddamned willy-whacks here.”
Jeff turned to Ben, watching him closely, studying him and trying to read his reaction, but in the darkness under the porch, he couldn’t see Ben’s expression.
“This is so fucked,” Ben said, lowering his gaze and shaking his head.
Jeff was absolutely convinced Ben had something to do with Fred’s death. It couldn’t have been an accident or suicide. If he was perturbed now, it was only because he hadn’t been able to exact his revenge on all of them yet. Maybe he was getting nerved up to finish the job. If he planned to kill them, as Evan said, would he make his move now? Or was he confident enough to toy with them first?
“So what the hell do we do?” Mike asked, his voice shaking as much from the cold as fear. “We can’t just leave him out here all night. Jesus! The animals will get him.”
Jeff was angry at Mike for not holding it together better. He’d always been the tough guy of the group, and here he was, falling apart like a little kid. If Ben really intended to get revenge for his brother’s death, Jeff wanted to be able to count on Mike and Tyler to hold their shit together.
“I’m freezing my ass off,” Tyler finally said. “And it sure as hell won’t do Fred any good if we stay out here in the fucking cold and die of hypothermia. Let’s put him in the entryway.”
With that, he opened the door and bent to lift Fred. The others joined in, and before long Fred was lying on the floor just inside the building.
Jeff looked at the warm glow of the fire inside. It was so inviting he wished he could forget about what was happening and not have to deal with this stuff, but he had to find some way to get Mike or Tyler alone and tell them what was really going on.
Tyler went inside, but the others stayed outside on the porch, not saying a word. The wind had died down a bit, and when Jeff looked up, he thought the overcast looked like it was breaking up. Maybe the worst of the storm was past.
“How ‘bout you?” Ben asked Jeff.
“What about me?”
“We could all use a knock of rum to drive out the cold, don’t you think?”
Jeff grunted but made no move toward the door. He was hoping Ben would lead the way inside so he could grab Mike and tell him what he had found out. But Ben lagged behind, leaning against the side of the building, his arms folded across his chest as though challenging Jeff to make the first move.
Is this what it’s gonna be? he thought. A duel of nerves? … All right, then … I’m up for it.
“I think I might grab a smoke first,” Jeff said as he fished into his shirt pocket inside his raincoat. He was sure his cigarettes were ruined from the dampness.
“I didn’t know you smoked,” Ben said.
“Oh, there’s a lot about me you don’t know,” Jeff replied. Even in the darkness, he didn’t miss Ben’s reaction. He narrowed his eyes and practically glared at Jeff as if to say—All right, asshole, I know you know, but I’m gonna get you, don’t you doubt it.
“Mind if I join you?” Ben said.
Jeff hesitated a moment, then shrugged.
“I’d rather be alone, if you don’t mind,” he said. “I need some time to think things through.”
He wished Ben would get the hint and go inside so he could be alone with Mike, and he