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this was where he’d come.
    Not that he’d ever seen this place before. Gabe had bought it less than a year ago. Five miles north of town, on a back road that wound up into the hills, he had two acres of mostly vertical land and a house that had been built in the sixties by a group of hippies who’d wanted to commune with the land. As it happened, the land didn’t appear to have shared their desire to find total oneness. A mud slide took out the chicken house. A fire roared through two years later. It spared the house but incinerated half a dozen old pickups, a VW van and several outbuildings. The hippies retreated to San Francisco’s welcoming arms.
    In the thirty years since, the property had gone through a succession of owners, including one enterprising couple who thought it was the perfect spot for a marijuana plantation. Gabe bought it from the government after they confiscated it. Knowing how much his brother valued his privacy, Matt knew the isolation had drawn him more than the ramshackle house.
    Gabe stepped out on the sagging porch as Matt slid out of the Jeep. There was little resemblance between the two brothers. At six foot one, Matt was taller than average, but Gabe was a good four inches taller still, most of it leg. Where Matt’s hair was nearly black, Gabe’s was several shades lighter. Matt had once heard his brother say that his features must have been borrowed from several other faces, because nothing matched anything else, and Matt supposed the description fit. Gabe’s nose was too big, his mouth was crooked, and his eyes were deep set.
    Looking at him, Matt felt an odd little catch in his throat. If he had a home anywhere, this was it. Not the house, which, from what little he could see, looked as if it was a half step away from total collapse, but the man. Gabe had always been there for him, and he wondered suddenly if he’d ever told his older brother how much that had meant to him.
    “Well, hell, I guess I’ll have to mine the driveway after all,” Gabe said as he came down the warped steps. If he felt any surprise at seeing Matt, it didn’t show. “Otherwise I’ll have all sorts of riffraff turning up on my doorstep.”
    “If it’s any consolation, I think I lost the muffler in one of the ruts,” Matt told him. “You ever think about getting that road graded?”
    “Nah, I get a kickback from the muffler shop.” Gabe frowned when he got close enough to see his brother’s face. “You look like hell, bro.”
    “Thanks. It’s good to see you, too.” Matt reached into the back seat to pull out his duffel bag. Everything else could wait until tomorrow. “You still looking for some free labor?”
    “Sure.” If Gabe wondered why Matt had changed his mind about coming, he didn’t ask. He reached out and hooked the strap of the duffel bag, ignoring Matt’s halfhearted resistance as he took it. “You hungry?”
    “No. I stopped at Ernie’s on the way through town. Had a special.”
    “In that case, maybe I should call for a stomach pump,” Gabe said dryly, and Matt laughed.
    “I think I’ll live.” It was nearing twilight, and he could hear the musical rasp of crickets starting up their nightly serenade in the chaparral. “Saw Jessie.”
    “She’s making desserts for the new owner, I think.”Gabe opened the screen door, automatically lifting it up slightly to keep it from scraping across the warped spot on the porch floor.
    “Yeah, that’s what she said. In fact, I had a slice of some sort of cheesecake she’d just brought in. It was good. Seems funny, seeing her all grown up.”
    “She was all grown up before you left,” Gabe said.
    “Yeah, I guess.” He wasn’t sure why the idea bothered him.
    The interior of the house didn’t look much better than the exterior, Matt saw. The floors were warped, none of the window frames were square, and the stone fireplace looked like a rock pile waiting to happen.
    “Is there anything square in this place?” he asked,