things out.”
“What?”
“I’m not trying to cramp your style or anything, but in all objective reality, I can get down there and back faster and with greater ease than you can.”
“Raylene—”
“Just give me a few days,” I pleaded. “Time to go down there and poke around. There’s no real risk—hell, I could even go about it all formal-like, and it shouldn’t be a problem.”
He said, “But you don’t have a House. You’re unaffiliated, and there’s no one to vouch for you.”
“So? San Francisco and my old House in Chicago aren’t exactly best friends. I could probably show up and tell San Fran the truth, and make up some excuse for my presence. Nobody would bother me, I bet.” I didn’t have any intention of actually doing this, of course, but it was the kind of thing that might make him feel better.
“It’s a bad idea.”
“Not as bad as you marching down there and stampeding into harm’s way. And alone, too. You were going to go alone, weren’t you?”
“I was planning on it, yes.”
“No ghoul or anything?”
He folded his arms. “I told you, I still have friends. I could acquire a helper or a ghoul quickly, upon arrival.” This meant he’d been making plans and phone calls behind my back. For how long?I had no clue, and he probably wouldn’t tell me, no matter how hard I badgered him. Call that a hunch.
“Good for you. But I still hate it, won’t stand for it, and will attempt to actively impede you for your own good.”
Pepper and Domino nudged the bedroom door, and it opened far enough to show both of their faces. They gazed at us worriedly, the veritable picture of, “Mom, Dad, stop fighting!”
I cleared my throat. “Hey, um, you two.”
Domino was holding Pita, who squirmed until he was allowed to sit on the boy’s shoulder. Pepper leaned into the room and asked, “Ian? Are you leaving us?”
She couldn’t have possibly calculated a question more likely to inspire guilt and self-hatred in the pair of us. And it might’ve been calculated, for all I knew. The kid has always been a master manipulator. Or maybe she was only a little girl who’d found some semblance of stability for the first time in her short life, and she was watching its foundations crack beneath her feet.
In short, that kid did in five words what I’d attempted in ten minutes of hollering. She drove him to silence, and to something like contrition.
His only defense was to say, “I … well, I was thinking about taking a trip, that’s all. To California. I was going to visit someone.” It was a chickenshit way of spinning the truth. “I’d think you’d be thrilled with the idea—having no one around to bother you about your math skills for a few days.”
Oh no he
didn’t
. He wasn’t getting off the hook that easy.
I said, “He was going to take a very dangerous trip to California, yes. But I think I’ve convinced him to stay home with you guys while I go check things out.”
He glared at me with his silver, unseeing eyes. Actually he glared at a spot just to the left of my head, but hey. I give him anE for Effort. He set his jaw and said, “Raylene has offered to do this, yes. But it’s not a smart idea.”
Domino grasped the situation, and was kind enough to be on my side. “It’s a better idea than you going down there, ain’t it? Were you going to go by yourself? I’d go too, if you needed me. But you didn’t even ask.”
This was possibly the sweetest thing I’d ever heard the boy say, but now was not the time to pat his head over it. I didn’t even look at him. I made sure we were all three ganging up on the blind guy, who lived with the world’s guiltiest conscience.
And a few secrets, obviously.
Deeply buried secrets, and therefore dangerous ones. I filed this information away and resolved to consult it later, in the event that I began assuming I knew everything about everyone under my roof.
“Thank you, Domino,” Ian said. “That’s a very kind
“What?”
“I’m not trying to cramp your style or anything, but in all objective reality, I can get down there and back faster and with greater ease than you can.”
“Raylene—”
“Just give me a few days,” I pleaded. “Time to go down there and poke around. There’s no real risk—hell, I could even go about it all formal-like, and it shouldn’t be a problem.”
He said, “But you don’t have a House. You’re unaffiliated, and there’s no one to vouch for you.”
“So? San Francisco and my old House in Chicago aren’t exactly best friends. I could probably show up and tell San Fran the truth, and make up some excuse for my presence. Nobody would bother me, I bet.” I didn’t have any intention of actually doing this, of course, but it was the kind of thing that might make him feel better.
“It’s a bad idea.”
“Not as bad as you marching down there and stampeding into harm’s way. And alone, too. You were going to go alone, weren’t you?”
“I was planning on it, yes.”
“No ghoul or anything?”
He folded his arms. “I told you, I still have friends. I could acquire a helper or a ghoul quickly, upon arrival.” This meant he’d been making plans and phone calls behind my back. For how long?I had no clue, and he probably wouldn’t tell me, no matter how hard I badgered him. Call that a hunch.
“Good for you. But I still hate it, won’t stand for it, and will attempt to actively impede you for your own good.”
Pepper and Domino nudged the bedroom door, and it opened far enough to show both of their faces. They gazed at us worriedly, the veritable picture of, “Mom, Dad, stop fighting!”
I cleared my throat. “Hey, um, you two.”
Domino was holding Pita, who squirmed until he was allowed to sit on the boy’s shoulder. Pepper leaned into the room and asked, “Ian? Are you leaving us?”
She couldn’t have possibly calculated a question more likely to inspire guilt and self-hatred in the pair of us. And it might’ve been calculated, for all I knew. The kid has always been a master manipulator. Or maybe she was only a little girl who’d found some semblance of stability for the first time in her short life, and she was watching its foundations crack beneath her feet.
In short, that kid did in five words what I’d attempted in ten minutes of hollering. She drove him to silence, and to something like contrition.
His only defense was to say, “I … well, I was thinking about taking a trip, that’s all. To California. I was going to visit someone.” It was a chickenshit way of spinning the truth. “I’d think you’d be thrilled with the idea—having no one around to bother you about your math skills for a few days.”
Oh no he
didn’t
. He wasn’t getting off the hook that easy.
I said, “He was going to take a very dangerous trip to California, yes. But I think I’ve convinced him to stay home with you guys while I go check things out.”
He glared at me with his silver, unseeing eyes. Actually he glared at a spot just to the left of my head, but hey. I give him anE for Effort. He set his jaw and said, “Raylene has offered to do this, yes. But it’s not a smart idea.”
Domino grasped the situation, and was kind enough to be on my side. “It’s a better idea than you going down there, ain’t it? Were you going to go by yourself? I’d go too, if you needed me. But you didn’t even ask.”
This was possibly the sweetest thing I’d ever heard the boy say, but now was not the time to pat his head over it. I didn’t even look at him. I made sure we were all three ganging up on the blind guy, who lived with the world’s guiltiest conscience.
And a few secrets, obviously.
Deeply buried secrets, and therefore dangerous ones. I filed this information away and resolved to consult it later, in the event that I began assuming I knew everything about everyone under my roof.
“Thank you, Domino,” Ian said. “That’s a very kind
Similar Books
