“Go on.”

She ran a hand through her hair. “It made me remember Ronnie Cade.”

Louis felt something in his chest, like a sudden extra heartbeat.

“Ronnie used to come to the drive-in a lot in that old red truck,” Joyce said. “The guys laughed at him because the truck had that landscaping sign on it and dirt and bags of fertilizer and things in the back. Ronnie always smelled like that truck.”

“Did Kitty laugh at him?” Louis asked.

“No. But I remember he used to watch her and sometimes he used to stick around when we were closing and ask her to go for a ride.” Joyce’s eyes were steady on his. “Kitty turned him down.”

“Was he at the drive-in the night Kitty disappeared?”

“I don’t remember,” Joyce said. “It was awful busy that night.”

She was standing there, arms folded over her chest, staring at something off in the distance.

“Mrs. Novick!” The girl with the rollers in her hair was calling.

Joyce looked back at her. “They don’t know,” she said softly. “They don’t know how fast it all can change. One minute you’re singing along to the radio, then something happens and your whole life spins off in a different direction.”

Her eyes welled. “One minute you’re fifteen, the next minute your life is over. You know what I mean?”

But Louis didn’t hear her. His mind was racing, thinking about Ronnie Cade, Jack Cade and the broken connections between fathers and sons.

“I have to go,” he said quickly, starting away. “Thank you for your time, Mrs. Novick.”

“It’s Joy,” she said.

But Louis was already gone.

Chapter Twenty-Four

He drove like a madman, the Mustang racing as fast as his brain. He saw it now, saw it clearly. He saw the answer to the question that had gnawed at him from the first day he met Jack Cade.

Why did you take that plea bargain?

I figured it was the better deal. Blood is thicker than water, man.

The scrub land bordering the highway sped by in a blur. The drive from Immokalee back to Fort Myers would take about an hour. Too much time to think, too much time for his anger to boil.

God damn Ronnie Cade.

He had lied. Worse, he had run his own little con game. Conning him with that I lost my father for twenty years shit, conning him into believing his life was ruined because his father went to prison. His life had been saved, for chrissake.

Blood is thicker than water. Damn right it was, in ways that Ronnie Cade couldn’t begin to understand.

He cut across downtown and picked up 41 North. He was thinking about Joyce and Kitty swimming in the moonlight, thinking about how both their lives had ended twenty years ago, thinking about the man who in one instant, had changed everything for them.

It was near three by the time he made his way across the causeway to Sereno Key. He was trying to figure out how to approach this. He told himself to do it like a cop, put Ronnie on the defensive, confront him with evidence, play head games with him and get him to say something incriminating.

But he wasn’t a cop. And maybe for once that was good. He didn’t have to worry about privilege and Miranda. And the more he thought about Kitty and Ronnie, and the twisted branches of the Cade family tree, the more he was ready to throw procedure out the window and just beat the shit out of the pathetic asshole.

The sun was low in the sky when he pulled into J.C. Landscaping.

Louis shoved the Mustang into park and got out, looking around. The yard was deserted, the still, humid air heavy with the stink of fertilizer.

“Ronnie Cade!” Louis shouted.

Eric came around the back of the trailer.

“Eric! Where’s your father?”

“Around back.”

Louis started around the shed. Jack and Ronnie were working with potted palms, lifting them from small black pots into larger ones. Both were shirtless, their skin brown and wet. Ronnie looked at him, his hair matted against his forehead, his face smudged with dirt.

Louis was staring at both of them. Ronnie must have seen something in his face because he stepped toward him slowly, pulling off his gloves.

“You’ve found out something,” Ronnie said.

“I sure did,” Louis said.

Jack Cade reached in his back pocket for a cigarette. He watched Louis while he lit it, cupping his hand around it. “So say it,” he said.

Louis glanced at Eric, who was standing there, staring at all of them.

“Tell him to go inside,” Louis said.

Eric looked at Ronnie and Ronnie motioned toward the trailer. Louis waited until Eric was gone before he turned to Ronnie.

“Ever since I met your father,” Louis said, “I wondered about two things. Why he didn’t want to talk about Kitty Jagger and why he took the plea bargain if he didn’t kill her.”

Louis glanced at Cade. He hadn’t moved a muscle. “You want to tell him, Cade, or do you want me to?”

“I told you to leave it alone,” Cade said softly.

Ronnie moved toward his father. “What’s this all about?”

“He was protecting you, Ronnie,” Louis said.

“What?”

“Shut up, Kincaid,” Cade hissed.

Louis shook his head. “No, I’m not going to shut up.” He turned to Ronnie.

“You want to tell me what happened that night, Ronnie?”

“What night?”

“April 9, 1966. The night you asked Kitty to take a ride with you.”

Ronnie took a step backward. “What?”

“You cruised the drive-in with your father’s truck. You asked Kitty to take a ride with you. What did she say to you, Ronnie, when she turned you down. What did she say that made you snap?”

Ronnie was shaking, looking back and forth between Louis and his father. “I-”

Louis looked at Jack Cade. “You knew all about this, didn’t you? That’s why you took the goddamn plea, to protect him.”

Cade didn’t answer.

“Blood is thicker than water, that’s what you said,” Louis said. “You knew they could trace the semen sample to Ronnie if they looked. You knew it and you did it to protect him.”

“What is he talking about?” Ronnie said, his eyes frantic. “Dad, what the fuck is he talking about?”

Cade looked away.

“Dad?”

Louis hit Cade’s shoulder, spinning him around. “What happened, Cade?” Louis pressed. “What did Duvall have on Ronnie?”

“I don’t know, he never said,” Cade said, his voice flat. “He just said that if I didn’t plead he’d offer up another suspect that had the same opportunity and same access to the truck and to the garden tool.”

“Jesus,” Ronnie said in a strangled voice. He turned away, hands over his face.

“What was I supposed to do, Ronnie?” Cade shouted. “What was I supposed to do? I found those panties in the truck! I knew you took it out to the drive-in the night before! I mean, what was I supposed to think? You never brought home any girls. You never even seemed interested in pussy! Christ, I figured you were a fucking virgin or something worse!”

Cade took a deep breath, but he didn’t even see the stricken look on his son’s face.

“And then I see on TV about the dead girl. What the fuck was I supposed to do? What was I supposed to think?!” Cade yelled.

“You should have asked me! Why didn’t you just ask me?” Ronnie yelled back.

“Fuck. .” Cade jerked out of Louis’s grip.

“I didn’t kill her!” Ronnie shouted. “She was never in the truck! I swear! Why didn’t you just ask me?!”

Cade spun back to face Ronnie. “Because you’re my son! You hear me, you’re my son.” He stabbed a finger at his own chest. “Jack Cade’s son! You get it?”

Ronnie just stared at him.

“You got my blood in you,” Cade said.

Ronnie’s eyes darkened. His hands curled into fists at his sides.

“You want to hit me,” Cade said softly.

“That’s enough,” Louis said.

“Stay out of this, Kincaid,” Cade said. He took a step toward Ronnie. “You want to hit me. Go ahead.”