"I had no choice," Bernard sighed, "so I told him: the day you can finally beat me,
I''ll tell you who killed my wife. I even promised to help him get revenge."
"He took it to heart," Bernard continued, his eyes distant. "He threw himself into
training, worked harder than ever. For a while, it looked like he finally had
something to live for. But..."
Bernard''s gaze drifted off to the horizon, and he let out a long, weary breath.
"The truth is, I still have no idea who the killer is. I''ve been trying to figure it out for
years, but they covered their tracks too well. There''s not a single clue left behind."
"If I can''t get to the bottom of it, there''s no way my brother could."
"So all I could do was keep my distance. I didn''t want to see him."
"Nothing goodes from us meeting. Only pain."
"If I don''t know the murderer''s name, I can''t let him win. But if he loses, he gets
angry and desperate. It''s a lose-lose situation..."
Tarquin and Evan listened quietly, neither of them interrupting. After a while,
Tarquin spoke up:
"You know, since you''ve been hiding out here, it''s not exactly easy for you to
investigate. But if you trust me, I can give it a shot. I can''t make any promises, but
I''ve got contacts overseas—old friends, people who owe me favors. It might be
easier for me to dig around."
Bernard turned to Tarquin, his brow furrowed in thought. He was silent for a
moment, then exhaled heavily. "Let''s talk about itter."
He didn''t know who the killer was, but he was certain it had something to do with
foreign fighters.
If Tarquin started poking around, he might get himself targeted.
Bernard didn''t want the younger generation getting tangled up in this mess.
"You just focus on living a good life with Elysia. Raise those kids right. Try to stay
out of trouble as much as you can."
Bernard''s eyes softened as he looked at Evan. "Now you know why I always tell
you—keep a low profile when you''re out there. If you need to teach someone a
lesson, fine, but don''t draw too much attention to yourself."
Evan scrunched up his little nose, frowning. He felt bad for Bernard. He even felt
bad for the old scarred man whose life had been torn apart.
Evan didn''t think Bernard was
wrong. And he understood the
scarred man''s pain. If anyone hurt
his mom, he wouldn''t care about
anything else but revenge, either.
In the end, the grudge between these two old men wasn''t their fault. The ones to
me were the killers.
Evan didn''t say anything out loud,
but he made a promise to himself: If
Bernard and the old man couldn''t
solve the case before they were
gone, he''d take over. He''d keep
looking. He''d never stop, not until he
found the truth.
Tarquin was thinking simr
thoughts, but said nothing. Instead,
he looked at Bernard and asked, "Is
that why you''ve been hiding out here
all these years? Because of all this?"
Bernard gave Tarquin a look that was impossible to read. He neither confirmed
nor denied it. Then he let out another long breath and abruptly changed the
subject.
"Come on, let''s head back and get something to eat. After that, we''ve got some
unruly rtives to deal with."
Clearly, the old man didn''t want to answer Tarquin''s question.
He got up, forcing a smile onto his face so the others wouldn''t worry.
"Evan, want me to give you a piggyback ride?"
Evan sniffed, but yed along. "No way! I want to race you home. First one back
wins!"
Before Bernard could respond, Evan took off running.
Bernardughed. "Hey, you can''t just take off before the race starts! Cheater!"
Evan nced back and stuck out his tongue. "All''s fair in love and war!"
"Oh, you little rascal! Trying to trick your old grandpa? I''ming for you!"
In an instant, the old man and the little boy disappeared from Tarquin''s view, their
Tarquin stood there for a moment, frowning thoughtfully.
He had a feeling there was a lot more to these old men and their life in the woods
than met the eye...