extra power even though they weren’t very efficient, but now that the roads are clear we got some more PV panels and marine batteries. We ended up with more people than we originally planned for, so our power ran down close to nothing every day, but at least we had it.”
It was another mild warning, letting him know about the extra people, but she just didn’t feel a threat coming from him. It was sort of making her feel like an idiot, but she was a mother. Even before she’d become a mother, she’d been ridiculously overprotective of her friends.
“You sound like you’re from the city, but not quite. You mind me asking where you came from?”
“Not at all. I was raised in Muskoka, but moved to the city when I married at sixteen so my first husband and I both had a shot at having decent careers. When it came time to buy land, though, I wanted to be back here.”
“That explains it,” he said, nodding at her. “What family?”
“Thane,” she said curtly. “And if you know who they are, then I’m sure you won’t be too surprised when I say I didn’t remain close to them.”
“Funny how that works, isn’t it?” He was nodding again, thoughtfully, and with more than a little sadness. “We’re generally considered good people, and we tried to raise Gerry to follow that lead. As you saw for yourself, it didn’t work out very well for us. Or for him. You came from a family like the Thanes, who are not generally considered good people, and yet you and your daughter both seem to have turned into fine human beings. All the arguments about nature versus nurture don’t answer questions like that. Sometimes people are just good. Sometimes they’re not. And there’s no genetic or environmental reason for it.”
Mackenzie had nothing to add. She knew it was true. Everyone had to be taken for the person they were as an individual, not based on the circumstances of their birth or how they’d been raised. Sure, in many cases nature and nurture had a large impact, but the exceptions still baffled everyone and caught them by surprise.
There were a few minutes of bustle and awkwardness when Geraldine brought out the coffee. Then she sat down and pushed away all of that confusion with a single, bold statement.
“From what my husband says, your daughter most likely did the job that I was afraid to do, I’m sorry to say.” The blunt words from Gerry’s mother made Mac grateful she hadn’t tried to swallow any coffee just yet.
“Our son was an evil little shit from the time he was born. I’m sorry, Brian, for saying that, but you know as well as I do that it was true. In fact, it’s far more true than most people in this area realize. You know all those childhood symptoms they talk about on the true-crime shows? The ones for serial killers?” When Mac nodded, she went on.
“He had them all, except for the bed-wetting thing. He started out with animals. So we sold off our livestock and took him to therapy in North Bay. He started watching extremely violent and graphic sexual content online, so we got rid of the internet and got him to another therapist. When the situation developed with you, we actually hoped that they would catch him and arrest him before he managed to kill someone. The only reason we gave him a place to live here, was because we were trying to keep an eye on him. Otherwise we’d have told him to leave as soon as he turned eighteen.
“We couldn’t have pets, and he figured out a way to turn on the porn on our satellite service. One day, a couple of months before he started going after you, he came after me in a way I never thought I’d see my own son do. I had to stand there with a knife in my hand to get him to leave me alone, but even that wasn’t enough until I cut his hand when he tried to grab me. I knew Brian would kill him if he found out, so I didn’t tell him until a few weeks ago when he told me he was going to go looking for answers. As much as I wanted Gerry gone from
It was another mild warning, letting him know about the extra people, but she just didn’t feel a threat coming from him. It was sort of making her feel like an idiot, but she was a mother. Even before she’d become a mother, she’d been ridiculously overprotective of her friends.
“You sound like you’re from the city, but not quite. You mind me asking where you came from?”
“Not at all. I was raised in Muskoka, but moved to the city when I married at sixteen so my first husband and I both had a shot at having decent careers. When it came time to buy land, though, I wanted to be back here.”
“That explains it,” he said, nodding at her. “What family?”
“Thane,” she said curtly. “And if you know who they are, then I’m sure you won’t be too surprised when I say I didn’t remain close to them.”
“Funny how that works, isn’t it?” He was nodding again, thoughtfully, and with more than a little sadness. “We’re generally considered good people, and we tried to raise Gerry to follow that lead. As you saw for yourself, it didn’t work out very well for us. Or for him. You came from a family like the Thanes, who are not generally considered good people, and yet you and your daughter both seem to have turned into fine human beings. All the arguments about nature versus nurture don’t answer questions like that. Sometimes people are just good. Sometimes they’re not. And there’s no genetic or environmental reason for it.”
Mackenzie had nothing to add. She knew it was true. Everyone had to be taken for the person they were as an individual, not based on the circumstances of their birth or how they’d been raised. Sure, in many cases nature and nurture had a large impact, but the exceptions still baffled everyone and caught them by surprise.
There were a few minutes of bustle and awkwardness when Geraldine brought out the coffee. Then she sat down and pushed away all of that confusion with a single, bold statement.
“From what my husband says, your daughter most likely did the job that I was afraid to do, I’m sorry to say.” The blunt words from Gerry’s mother made Mac grateful she hadn’t tried to swallow any coffee just yet.
“Our son was an evil little shit from the time he was born. I’m sorry, Brian, for saying that, but you know as well as I do that it was true. In fact, it’s far more true than most people in this area realize. You know all those childhood symptoms they talk about on the true-crime shows? The ones for serial killers?” When Mac nodded, she went on.
“He had them all, except for the bed-wetting thing. He started out with animals. So we sold off our livestock and took him to therapy in North Bay. He started watching extremely violent and graphic sexual content online, so we got rid of the internet and got him to another therapist. When the situation developed with you, we actually hoped that they would catch him and arrest him before he managed to kill someone. The only reason we gave him a place to live here, was because we were trying to keep an eye on him. Otherwise we’d have told him to leave as soon as he turned eighteen.
“We couldn’t have pets, and he figured out a way to turn on the porn on our satellite service. One day, a couple of months before he started going after you, he came after me in a way I never thought I’d see my own son do. I had to stand there with a knife in my hand to get him to leave me alone, but even that wasn’t enough until I cut his hand when he tried to grab me. I knew Brian would kill him if he found out, so I didn’t tell him until a few weeks ago when he told me he was going to go looking for answers. As much as I wanted Gerry gone from
Similar Books
