Eden in Winter by Richard North Patterson Read Free Book Online Page A

prints at the promontory. But there had been drag marks in the mud as well, mud on the heels of the dead man’s boots, suggesting that someone had dragged him, perhaps struggling, through the wet earth near the point from which he fell. Worse yet, there were circumferential bruises on Ben’s wrists, heightened by his regime of chemotherapy, appearing to confirm that a murderer had grasped him by both arms. It was plain that the police and prosecutor believed that someone had thrown Benjamin Blaine off the promontory.
    Adam felt a coldness on his skin. His next task was to print these pages, mail them to Teddy’s lawyer, then erase the images from his camera and computer before getting rid of both. But he paused to absorb what he and the authorities now further believed in common – that Teddy had killed their father. The job Benjamin Blaine had lefthim was not just to undo a will, but to save his own brother.
    *
    And so he had, Adam believed now. But that Benjamin Blaine was not his father was far from the only surprise awaiting him after the break-in. Another was that Teddy was innocent of murder; Jack – his real father – guilty. But this did not change the risk to Adam himself. Now he, too, was guilty of a crime – obstruction of justice in order to save one member of his family, then another. All that was left him was the hope that, despite the suspicions of George Hanley and Sean Mallory – and now Amanda Ferris – no one could ever prove that. Another secret Adam carried alone.
    Ignoring the reporters’ shouted questions, he opened the door of the S.U.V. and slid into the passenger seat, beside his father.

PART TWO

The Devil’s Pact
    August–September, 2011

ONE
    At the end of a long, silent ride, the Blaines arrived at a rambling white frame house once owned by Clarice’s parents, placed on a spacious meadow in Chilmark with a view of the Vineyard Sound through a cut in the trees overlooking the water. In his youth, this bluff had been Adam’s favourite place to watch the sun set with Benjamin Blaine. But now the site was marred by all that had come since, the most haunting of which was what had happened there the night Ben died.
    Touching Teddy’s shoulder to signal that he wanted a word, Adam walked with him across the rain-dampened grass to the guesthouse where his brother lived and painted. At the door, Teddy turned to face him, worry showing through his quizzical smile. ‘I know that look by now, Adam – the indecipherable expression that conceals a cool brain at work. So the problem is … ?’
    ‘A tabloid reporter, named Amanda Ferris: the
National Enquirer
’s gift to journalism, and now to us. She’s after me, which means she’s after you.’
    At once, his brother’s tepid smile vanished. ‘I don’t even know her. But it seems that you do. Would you mind telling me how?’
    Once again, Adam found himself regretting all he could not say, even to the brother he was determined to protect. ‘I’d prefer reminding you what to avoid – talking to anyone at all about our father or this inquest. If you hear anything about her, tell me. We need this locked down tight until the judge issues his report, and George Hanley decides what to do.’
    Doubt clouded Teddy’s eyes. ‘You think they believed Jack’s testimony?’
    ‘Not really. Their problem is that they can’t disprove it.’
    Teddy looked at him more closely. ‘Do you believe it?’
    ‘I know
you
didn’t kill him.’ Adam paused, steeling himself to follow this simple truth with yet another lie. ‘And why would Jack volunteer this story if it weren’t true? Easier to say he was home in bed.’
    Slowly, his brother nodded. ‘I owe Uncle Jack a lot.’
    ‘You do.’ Briefly, Adam smiled. ‘But then what is family for? Even this one.’
    *
    Pausing outside, Adam took fresh stock of the house he had salvaged for his mother despite Ben’s malice. It had been built in the 1850s; in the 1940s, a then-wealthy couple