Too Close to Home: A Scarecrow and Mrs. King Continuing Story - Book 2

Chapter 17

Day 7 (Monday, late in the evening)

King House

Jamie sat at his desk and looked over at his brother trying to decide whether to speak or not. Philip had been so distant lately. He always had been the more hot-headed of the two of them – more prone to quick flashes of emotion and expressions of strong feeling. It wasn't that Jamie didn't have strong feelings – quite the opposite. His feelings were every bit as strong as Philip's, he just kept them more carefully tucked inside. He knew everyone thought of him as the calm one while Philip was the turbulent one; Jamie didn't think that was very fair to either of them.

Philip lay on his stomach, propped up on his elbows, and stretched out on his bed with his feet toward the headboard. He was reading a novel – or pretending to. He hadn't turned a page in five minutes. Jamie knew; he'd been watching. "Hey Philip," he treaded lightly. "You okay, considering?" Philip heaved a great sigh, laid his book down and dropped his forehead onto his quilt. Jamie back peddled. "Hey, I'm sorry."

"No, Jamie." Philip shook his head back and forth, not bothering to lift his face up. "It's not you, Bro." He sighed again, flipped over on his back, and stared at the ceiling. "It's just...everything." He rubbed his hands aggressively over his face. "I just keep wondering..." He stopped to fortify himself with a deep breath. "...if I had done something different, would she..." Another breath. "...would she still be alive?"

Jamie didn't know how to respond to that. Afraid of saying the wrong thing, he searched his mind for another topic. Any other topic.

"Mom and Lee are late tonight." Jamie pushed up his glasses as he verbalized the observation.

Philip didn't change position. "This surprises you?"

"Well, I just thought with everything going on..."

Philip's head finally swiveled to look at his brother. "I don't know, Jamie. I have a feeling they're working with the government on this for some reason." He waved his hand in the air. "I mean, more than just their lame excuse that IFF is doing a documentary."

Jamie sat up straighter. "You think so, too?" Jamie chuckled. "I thought maybe it was just my imagination."

Philip turned on his side and propped his his head up on his hand. "I've been doin' some thinkin' since Lee came to get me at the police station."

Jamie raised his eyebrows. "You? Thinking?"

"Yeah, geek-head. You're not the only one capable of using his brain."

"Whatever, Einstein." Jamie waited a moment for Philip to continue. "Well?"

Philip flipped onto his back again and stared at the ceiling. "Lee's not so bad."

"That's what you used to tell me."

"Yeah." Philip turned and looked at his brother again. "Have you ever felt like he was familiar to you? You know, like you've seen him somewhere before?"

Jamie got up from his desk and walked over to his bed. "You, too?" He stretched out on top of the covers. "I thought that was just me, too. But remember when dad got home from Estoccia? I've always thought Lee looked like that guy that beat-up the dude who tried to snatch us at school."

Philip sat up. "Exactly! And remember when Mom was in that really lame neo-something play?"

Jamie snorted with contempt. "How could I forget!" He assumed a stricken posture with his hand over his heart. "Mon Dieu, Mon Dieu!" He was pleased to get a slight chuckle out of Philip with that. "But that fight at the end was cool!" Suddenly, Jamie's eyes went wide. "No way! You think that guy was Lee?"