The Betas Keeper

Chapter 1

The drive seemed to last forever. Jamie shifted uncomfortably in the unfamiliar seat and tried to stifle his sighs. He was still a little unsure how he had come to be driving his brother's van with the entire family loaded inside. Jamie squirmed again and tried to figure out how to adjust the mirror. After a few seconds he realized there was no interior switch so he rolled down the window with the hand crank.

"Christ Jamie, roll that thing up I just had my hair done. Do you want me looking like one of those unkempt women?" His mother screeched from the passenger's seat.

"I need to adjust the mirror, " Jamie replied in a mild tone. "It will only take a second."

"Don't do that, " His brother said leaning forward from the first passenger's seat. "I'll have to fix it later if you do. Just use it the way it is."

"If I need to change lanes…, " Jamie began.

"Then I'll just tell you, " Michael told his younger brother. "Christ Jamie, don't be such a wuss." Jamie sighed.

"It is a nice day out, " Jamie said half-heartedly, hoping that if he could keep the window down he could surreptitiously adjust the mirror when no one was looking.

"If god meant for us to use outside air he wouldn't have invented air-conditioning." His mother pronounced. Jamie sighed inwardly again and began rolling up the window, bowing to the inevitable. He kept his thoughts about divine air condition to himself.

Personally, he thought the fresh air would have done wonders for the atmosphere of the van. Not only would it wash out some of the cigarette smoke scent that clung to his mother like a desperate lover, but also it would have blown white noise into his eardrums, blocking out the conversations going on around him. He glanced in the rearview mirror.

This mirror he had time to adjust after his brother had tossed him the keys. Center frame was his older brother, alternating between frowning at the gas gage and looking out at the long stretch of road ahead of them.

"How far is it out there anyway? I'm not made of money you know and gas prices are sky high these days."

"Don't worry honey, Jamie will chip in for gas, after all it is his errand we are running." His mother said patting Michael's hand. She pulled her purse into her lap and tugged out her half-empty pack of Virginia slims. They were menthol. Every time Jamie mentioned the dangers of smoking she pointed it out, the menthol somehow making them healthy cigarettes. Jamie had long since given up the argument.

The lighter was tucked between the shiny green back of the pack and the cellophane wrapper. She slipped it out with ease, tucked a cigarette between her lips and flicked on the lighter. The smoke quickly filled the air. Jamie dropped his left hand to his lap, continuing to steer with the right.

"We'll stop for gas on the way back so you'll have a full tank. Besides I'll need another pack by then, " she said around the cigarette as she lit it. Jamie blocked out the words, knowing he would be paying for the cigarettes as well. Slowly he slid his hand to his side. Out of the corner of his eye he could see his mother looking more out the window than at anything else.

He glanced in the rear view mirror. Michael was turned towards his mother. Next to him sat Michael's eldest, Jasmine. She had her headphones on and was staring out the window with a bored look only a fifteen-year-old could pull off. Michael's twin eight year old boys were likewise tethered to electronics although Jamie had his suspicions that these were more of the gaming variety than the musical ones. Jamie eased his hand forward and felt his finger tips brush the round knob of the window crank. Slowly he pushed it down, the window eased slowly open.

'Just a crack, ' he thought to himself. Not enough to muss his mother's hair or to arouse suspicions. Sometimes Jamie thought this was how he lived around his family. Just flying under the radar when they were around and staying as far out of their way as he could every other time. He hadn't actually seen them in several months.

Absence did not make the heart grow fonder.

The window eased open. Jamie released the lever and returned his left hand to the steering wheel. No one seemed to notice. A wisp of fresh air greeted his smoke-starved lungs and he turned slightly towards it as the smoke from his mother's cigarette was pulled towards him. Jamie knew from experience he would have to take a shower and throw the clothes he was wearing directly into the wash when he got back to his apartment. If he didn't the scent would linger.

"Well it needs to be a full tank." Michael said. Jamie wistfully thought of his own trusty Toyota parked across the street from his mother's house. He wasn't allowed to park in the driveway or even directly in front because she thought his beat up Toyota did not lend the air of dignity her domicile demanded.

All he had done was try to be nice. After all they were family. It was better they found out family news from him than the newspaper, wasn't it?

"I hope it doesn't rain while we are gone, " Bella, his mother said. Her eyes turned up to the sky. "It looks a little cloudy." Jamie eyed the veil of smoke around her and wondered when the world around her didn't look cloudy. "And those gutters still need work."

'That's where it started, ' Jamie mentally reminded himself as he took the exit leading from the interstate to the state highway. 'The gutters.' He had been asked to clean them out as Michael was busy with the kids and Bella was worried about property damage if a heavy rainstorm came. Jamie had been on his way out the door when the call came and distracted enough to answer it.

"Besides, we don't want to look the property over in the rain. You can't really get a sense of the value that way, " Michael said, a heavy frown creasing his face. Bella gave an answering frown.

"I can't believe that crazy old man kept all of it to himself all these years and never thought to share. I mean, when your father died he could have at least given part of the estate to me. After all I was family and I was raising his two great nephews. We're all the family he had. Selfish man." Bella took a deep drag on her cigarette and puffed out another cloud. She smiled and looked at Jamie and Michael for a moment. "Still he's dead now. So it all works out in the end."

"Well, it all works out for Jamie, " Michael said sourly. "He was always Uncle's favorite. The only one invited to stay over the summer. And it looks like it has finally paid off for him."

"For all of us dear, " Bella said kindly, patting Michael's knee supportively and training her eyes on Jamie. He kept his face blank; still the sudden silence that descended into the van demanded someone fill it.

"You never did like summers at Uncle Albe's, " Jamie said into the void.

"Of course not, there was nothing to do except play those stupid games with that crazy old man. How could anyone enjoy it?" Michael snorted in disgust.

Personally, Jamie had loved being out at Uncle Albe's house, but saying so would only throw his brother into a rant about his being a suck up and too stupid to know a good time in the first place. For the first time, Bella looked annoyed with Michael.

"You should have pretended you liked it more. Someone had to go out there and keep the family connection alive. If you had put forth more of an effort then you would have been written into the will as well instead of everything officially going to Jamie." Bella smiled at Jamie and he hid his discomfort at the emphasis given to the word officially.

"I noticed you weren't written into the will either, " Michael muttered. Bella glared at him, then beamed a smile in Jamie's direction.

"He knew Jamie would see that I was taken care of." She responded. Jamie had been on his way to meet Jim McElroy at Uncle Albe's house when he answered his mother's call. Jim's family had handled Uncle Albe's estate for years. Albe's father had been great friends with one of the elder McElroy's and the connection stood. Of course Albe's father was also Jamie's great grandfather as well. Albe was technically Great Uncle Albe but had thought there were too many words for family he liked. Jamie had often been told to just drop it to Albe.

Albe had been the brother to Jamie's father's father. Jamie had been named for his grandfather and when he was younger he thought that was why Albe had taken such a liking to him. From all accounts Albe and James had gotten along and been friends as well as brothers.

Idly Jamie wondered what that would be like as he turned off on to another highway. The road sign was missing and had been for quite a while. Before it went missing it had been pock marked with bullet holes from local boys letting off steam with their 22s.

Jamie was pretty certain the road sign now adorned some teenager's wall. He had been out here enough times not to really need to look at the road signs though, so the absence didn't really bother him.

Jamie thought he reminded Albe of James until he had seen a picture. After all, that is what his mother routinely said when Albe picked up Jamie and not Michael for their summers in the woods. Jamie and James were nothing alike at least that Jamie could see when he found the photograph.

That afternoon Jamie had been no older than his nephews were at the moment and he had stood in front of the mirror comparing his image to the old photo he held in his hands of his grandfather and Albe when they were around his age. Albe had caught him and asked what he was up to.

Around any other adult Jamie would have stammered out a nothing, apologized for putting finger prints on the old photo and left the room as quietly and quickly as he could. But Albe wasn't really like any other adults Jamie knew. He was kind of like a friend who had accidentally been stuffed into an old man's body.

"Mom says you like me 'cause I remind you of my grandfather, " Jamie had told him.

"Is that so, " Albe had replied. There was a glint in his eye Jamie had not seen there before. It sparkled like anger, but before Jamie could ask if he had offended it was gone.

"But I don't look like him." Jamie concluded weakly, really not certain if he had offended.

"No I don't suppose you do. In all fairness, although not many a boy would care to hear this, you favor my older sister in coloring. She had your hair and eyes, Although it looks like you got some of your build from your mother's side of the fence." Albe reached down and gently took the photograph from Jamie's fingers where he was holding it carefully around the edges.

"And those hands remind me of my grandfather." Albe smiled. "Now he was a man to be reckoned with." Albe put the picture on a shelf. But he made sure it was a low one so Jamie understood he was free to look at it all he wanted; Albe just wanted it momentarily out of the way.

"If you want to know the reason I keep you around, it is because I like you." Albe winked at Jamie and smiled. "I'm old enough that I can pretty much do as I please without anyone to gain say me. I've earned that right at least. And I don't keep people I don't like around." The old man turned his head to the side a bit and smiled. "Well, any longer than I have to." Jamie smiled at the memory and took another turn.

"How long is this going to take, " Jasmine said, pulling one of the earphones from her ear.

"I wouldn't know, " Michael said. "I was only out here once before crazy Uncle Al sent me home." Jamie winced. Albe hated being called Al. He even preferred his given name of Albrecht to Al. He thought only mobsters and plumbers were named Al.

"We are almost to the edge of his land now, " Jamie replied. "It won't be too long until we reach the house."

"Land?" Michael said, his eyes honing in on the back of Jamie's head. Jamie could feel them trying to bore holes, as if they could dig for information like a drill. "You didn't say anything about land. You said house. He owned land." Michael smacked his lips around the word. Jamie winced at the past tense.

"Yes, " Jamie replied. "We're on the short side. It isn't a regularly shaped property." Jamie thought of the map hanging in Albe's library with the property's boundaries clearly marked.

The property lines followed natural boundaries such as rock formations and river and creek beds. The measurements had been written in meets and bounds. Albe had taught him how to convert those to more modern, conventional measurements. Learning at Albe's had always had some sort of practical application, yet always seemed like something you would never have a use for once you left Albe's property boundaries. Albe's land was a world unto itself with Albe's rules holding out against the rest of humanity.

"How much land?" Michael asked. Greed sparkled in his voice and without turning Jamie could imagine his brother licking his lips in anticipation, like a cartoon villain.

"I'm not sure, " Jamie said. "A couple thousand acres, maybe more. He had mentioned some kind of real estate deal a while back so I'm not sure how much of it he sold." Jamie couldn't imagine Albe ever selling land. He had been afraid of encroachment from the sprawlers, as he liked to call the pop up subdivisions and may have purchased more.

From snippets of conversation he had the feeling Albe had actually added a substantial bit more rather than whittling down his property holdings. He didn't mention the possible addition of new land to the old family holdings. That would lead his brother down roads of questions leading to the bank and how much cold hard cash was there.

Or more importantly, how much cash Michael could convince Jamie to give him. Jamie smiled tightly. He may occasionally get sucked into the vortex that was his immediate family, but the last time Michael had managed to get money from Jamie had been when Jamie was twelve. It helped that he could pull the starving artist card, although that wasn't technically true. He did a lot of corporate work and made a pretty decent salary.

But he lived pretty cheap, hoarding the bulk of his pay for the "Someday Jamie will leave corporate art behind and just paint what he wants" fund. Although he had to admit he was quite good at the corporate art and it beat making a living in other ways. The only annoyance was tailoring his vision to other people's visions and usage. And of course like the late great Theodore Geisel, he hated seeing his work disappear once the product had moved on to a new sales pitch. Although Jamie didn't think children's books were in his future.

"Did you hear that?" Michael said excitedly to his daughter who had already plugged back into her music.

"So, " she replied, not even bothering to unplug herself. He sighed and rolled his eyes.

"So, " he repeated. "So, land is worth a lot of money. Especially land like this." He gestured out the window.

"I don't see what is so great about this land, " she said dismissively. "There is nothing out here." In the rear view mirror he had seen she had bothered to unhook one ear to listen. Bella had also turned in Michael's direction, her full attention riveted.

'Some apples don't even roll when they fall from the tree, ' he thought, taking yet another turn.

"First of all there are all these lovely trees. The lumber company would pay handsomely for the lot of them. Although we wouldn't sell all of them."

"Why not, " Bella demanded.

"Yeah why not, " her granddaughter echoed. "If they'd pay us for the stupid trees, " she continued.

"Because they'd pay more for the land if most of the trees were still here, " he continued basking at being the center of attention. "We'd strategically let them cut a few here and there to still leave the bulk of the property intact and looking nice. That's what they call environmentally logging."

Jamie tried not to roll his eyes, very certain his brother had either made up that term or strung the concept together from a couple of overheard snippets. He knew there was a way to harvest lumber in what would be called a green or sustainable fashion, but he was also pretty sure this wasn't it. Michael, however, was of on one of his dreams of easy money and mere reality wasn't going to get in his way.

"We aren't tree huggers Michael. There is no profit in it." Bella said dismissively as she pulled out another cigarette. Jamie wasn't sure if it was her second or third, but the thin little air vent his window provided was not cutting it. He figured they were tied up enough in one of Michael's schemes that he could risk widening it. Sure enough no one noticed the larger gap even though he could see the top of his mother's hair wiggle in the breeze like sea anemones in an undersea current. No one mentioned it.

"In this case it pays big, " Michael said.

"How, " Jasmine and Bella said together. Jamie tried not to shake his head.

"Think about it. We aren't that far from Denerton. And what is Denerton's biggest market?" Both Jasmine and Bella looked at Michael as if he had just asked them to recite the periodic table of elements. "Tourism, " he concluded. "Every year rich people flock to the high priced resorts in the mountains to ski and fish and be seen by other rich people."

Bella's interest peaked at the mention of the wealthy flocking to her. She had already gone through three husbands and was now looking to once again trade up the line. "Once we've sold off some of these trees and cleared a little space, we can easily capitalize on that market if we do a little tree hugging and keep it pretty. Then we get the big bucks."

Jamie could hear Albe ranting in the back of his head and while he agreed with Albe, Jamie had been well conditioned to keep his mouth shut. Besides, this was only the latest in Michael's get rich quick schemes and didn't have a hope of working.

As far as Jamie was concerned the land was Albe's. Albe had gone off for long stretches before. This was not a new thing. Just because he had been declared missing long enough to be declared legally dead did not mean he actually was. So Jamie would just hold the property in trust for Albe until he returned.

That was however a discussion Jamie was not exactly anxious to have inside an enclosed space without an escape route. In fact, Jamie didn't actually plan to have the conversation at all. He figured once they returned, he could find out a way to avoid his family, at least until Albe came home. He thought of his friend Mike who assigned several key people in his cell phone's contact list different ring tones.

'That might be an option to look into, ' he thought. Mentally he began running through song titles to see what he would assign to his mother and Michael. Jamie glanced in the rear view mirror and remembered his niece also had a cell phone. Perhaps hers would need a ring tone as well in case the family got sneaky. Jamie pulled the van to a stop and three sets of avarice filled eyes turned his way.

"This can't be it, " Bella said. "I remember a house, " she squinted, looking ahead as though she wasn't truly sure she remembered a house at all. Jamie recalled she had only been here once before as well. After the first time she dropped Jamie and Michael off, Albe had insisted on picking Jamie up himself at the start of each summer.

"It's the gate. I have to unlock it." Jamie told them. He opened the driver's side door and slid out. His paint spattered converse low tops sunk a little in the moist earth. It had rained recently and the air smelled like it had been freshly scrubbed. He took a deep breath inhaling the scent of pine and moist earth and the scent that all the dark places in the wild woods seemed to have. More than anything it was the scent of home. He deliberately left his door open, hoping to air our some of the van before his return. He walked over to the gate. The ground was moist, but not soggy.

'Beautiful People by Marilyn Manson, ' he thought deciding his mother's ring tone. It fit in both the tone of the song and the title. She was a very beautiful woman. Her body was built of long graceful lines and despite the smoking, she exercised ruthlessly and took good care of herself. She wouldn't go in for liposuction or tummy tucks because she was deathly afraid of the doctor, so as a last resort she turned to exercise.

And Jamie had to admit it paid off for her. She also had the snow white thing going. Her hair was cut in a chic style that framed her face with her black hair, like a setting for a jewel. She had pale skin like the Disney princess and bright blue eyes she could turn on any unsuspecting victim with great effect. Jamie had seen the act many times. Of course, she never bothered with family.

He took his keys from his back pocket and fitted the old key Albe had given him when he had become old enough to start driving himself out for his summer visits. He unlocked the gate and swung it open.

Michael's song would require a little more thought. Jamie had been cautioned enough times before to lock the gate back up before continuing down the road. No one in the van offered to drive the vehicle through the gates so he wouldn't have to get in and out of the car, but he hadn't really expected them to. With the gates opened wide, Jamie returned to the vehicle got in and drove through them.

"Good precaution, " Michael said. "Those gates. Keeps out all sorts of trespassers."

"Who'd want to trespass out here?" Jasmine asked with a sneer.

"Hunter's most likely, " Michael said absently as he looked around.

"So?" she asked.

"So you have to pay to hunt, " he responded in the same tone. Jamie was fairly certain the payment for the license to hunt went to someone in the department of fisheries and wildlife, but decided not to mention it. He stopped when the van was on the other side of the gate and then got out to lock it behind him. The airing out time had been good for the van, but it quickly filled back up with smoke as he closed the door and continued to drive.

"Not too far now, " he said, partially to the others in the van but mostly to brace himself. Silently he thanked whatever ancestor had positioned the house on the side of the property closest to the road. As he drove, talk in the van turned to how much money could be made from property sales and what each of them would do with unlimited funds. Even the two boys had caught on to the spirit of the game and called out things they wanted.

Personally he thought eight year olds had no business trying to build their own personal Nascar track with real cars, but as they were just wish listing he didn't comment. Perhaps he could get them some hot wheels and track for Christmas.

'God knows all of my other presents have been failures. That one can't be any worse, ' he thought. Last year he had been given a strict list and told not to deviate. Clearly marked at the top of the page had been NO MORE BOOKS. All of the letters had been capitalized. The words were underlined five times and had twelve exclamation points after them. Apparently there had been a family meeting.

At least Evangeline, Michael's wife, had not been a part of that holiday gathering. She had left Michael for a life she hoped to make more glamorous. She had aspirations. Personally he thought it was Michael's fault for marrying someone just like their mother. Jamie had never gotten along with Michael's wife.

Admittedly he had indulged himself a little at her expense. He had always avoided calling her by name when in her presence and signed every card sent to the family as 'to Angie' knowing she found the nickname vulgar.

She couldn't send any comments back on Christmas cards and such and since he refused to name her in person, she never had an opportunity to correct him. Michael had made several comments to him but was too self-absorbed to actually care whether Jamie listened or not. Michael often dismissed Jamie as a flighty artist and thought that his brother simply couldn't remember Evangeline's actual name.

Bella had despised Evangeline. After all, every hive can only have one queen bee and Bella was not about to give up her place. Jamie thought that might be the only reason she had agreed to take Michael and the kids into her home after Evangeline left. She wanted to reassert her dominance as the one in charge. Of course, Michael accepted since it was the path of least resistance.

That Christmas he had ended up putting a twenty-dollar bill in each card and called it good. He didn't think he even remembered to sign the cards. No one had mentioned it.

Somehow he was sure the hot wheels would be a mistake as well. In the conversation, only Jamie's voice was absent. No one asked what Jamie would buy with unlimited funds. He concentrated more on the road and tried to block the greedy conversation from his mind.

The road had been graveled, but much of the gravel had been washed away and it was very much in need of a new layer. He made a mental note to call for repairs. After all Albe couldn't be driving on this, he might get stuck with no one out here to help him.

Jamie avoided as many of the deeper ruts as he could, but the van still swayed and bucked like a small ship on rough seas. He slowed his pace to make up for conditions. From time to time he pulled his gaze from the road and flicked it to the tree line on either side; sure he had seen some movement.