The Price of Absence #2
“We don’t want you to force yourself to stay here if you’re not comfortable,” he hurried to explain before Daniel could totally disappear into his mind.
“If you wanted to go to Aidan’s for a few days or to my mum’s, that’s totally an option.
You just have to say so. Jack and I, we’ll do what helps you the most.”
He clamped his mouth shut. Judging from Daniel’s non-expression, his enquiry was going nowhere fast. His mother would no doubt take issue with his delivery.
But did she really expect him to slice himself open in a cheerful tone and with a smile on his face?
Was he na?ve to believe that family was better than that?
A thought to be examined later.
Gareth grabbed a knife and turned the diced pork on his chopping board into mince in record time.
Nico hadn’t come with Jack to measure the broken panes in the backdoor, but he sat beside him in the car when Jack headed into town.
Jack focussed on driving and didn’t push Nico to talk.
He’d done enough of that during the night.
Jack had drifted in and out, snatching half a sentence here and an idea there.
He remembered Nico talking about the escape route, and Daniel mentioning the security feed. And something about chocolate cake?
The glazier’s shop wasn’t busy, and Jack paid extra for the glass to be ready that evening. The DIY store was their next stop. Nico loved exploring the aisles, picking up items and wondering what they were for, but this time he said next to nothing as he followed Jack around.
When Nico was quiet, Jack paid attention. He bought iced coffees for them both on the way out, and once they’d stowed their purchases, he towed Nico to their usual bench.
“I’m proud of you,” he said, and the memory of Rio saying the same to him hit him like a sledgehammer. Please God Nico wasn’t as clueless as he had been. “You remembered everything we taught you and kept yourself safe.”
“I thought I’d enjoy it, using the escape route for real,” Nico told him, serious as a heart attack. “It didn’t occur to me I’d be so scared.”
For a long, bitter moment, Jack was speechless. “That’s… I think that was a good thing. Fear makes everything harder. If you’d been afraid all this time, you’d have tensed up when you needed to move.”
“Like… the dentist hurting more when you’re already dreading it?”
“Something like that.” Jack wrapped an arm around Nico’s shoulder, beyond all reason pleased when Nico didn’t flinch or pull away.
“What if we hadn’t built the escape routes?”
“That would have made it harder, no question.” Jack refused to dwell on that possibility. Nothing good would come of it. “Now that you have used your route in an emergency, would you change or improve anything?”
Nico slurped the last dregs of his coffee, along with an obscene amount of air. “I think I want boiling oil and poison needles on the stairs after all,” he said.
Jack squeezed him harder.
“And the next time Daniel feels he’s being watched—”
“Hold up—what? Daniel felt watched. When? Where?”
“At Rachel’s deli. It was only once, the day before Gareth’s birthday. Something spooked him and Rachel sent him home in a taxi. Nobody followed. He watched for that. And the next day, Rachel’s husband came to get us to do the shopping and drove us back home, and there was nothing.”
“You didn’t tell Gareth?”
“No. Daniel hadn’t seen anyone and—”
“I wish you’d stop doing that. I really do.
” Jack took Nico’s empty cup and tossed it along with his own.
“We will never doubt you. It doesn’t matter if your dance instructor gives you the creeps, or you feel watched while out in town.
You have a very sensitive kind of radar for danger.
We’ll never discount that, and you shouldn’t either. ”
Nico held up a hand, and Jack pulled him to his feet as if he were too feeble to rise from a bench. It was an apology as much as anything.
“It’s frustrating,” Nico admitted as they settled into the car. “I get these vibes, and then nothing happens.”
“Explain that.” Jack forgot all about starting the engine and driving home. Understanding Nico was far more important.
“Well, like Manville. We know he’s a danger, but we can’t do anything about it until we have proof.
And then Manville gets pushed aside by Mrs McTavish, and we work on that for a while.
And then Pavel comes after us and now we’re going to—I don’t know—try to work out how he found us.
I want to help you hunt and investigate, but everything piles up and nothing ever gets resolved, and my mind is just full of loose ends and—that’s a mess. ”
Jack sighed. “Welcome to the real world, where problems arrive in a mess and leave in an even bigger one. I can hear how frustrated you are, but if you want to hunt, you’ll have to make your peace with this.
Some hunts take years, and it’s not reasonable to expect that nothing else happens during that time.
In fact, I’m sure there’s a law that says just as you’re making progress on a problem, someone will call in an emergency. ”
“Like you being dragged to Japan to help?”
“Like that. And I had three things on the go before I went.” Jack sighed. “You’ll better get used to it right now and cultivate mental flexibility.”
“Aidan keeps saying that.”
“He’s right. Ask him what it’s like spending a day in court arguing three different cases.
Or better yet, go and watch him. I’m used to juggling jobs, and I don’t understand how his head doesn’t explode, or how he doesn’t mix up his facts and arguments.
Speaking of Aidan… we should make time to review his case.
Gareth said you’d spent a lot of time on it, and I want to hear what you found. ”
Nico brightened. “We told you last night.”
“Before or after I nodded off?”
“If you don’t remember, then probably after. So we keep working on this?”
“Of course. It makes for an uncomfortable head, but nothing leaves mine until it’s fully unravelled. Manville, Mrs McTavish, stuff from work, Pavel, anything you tell me about or need help with. Okay?”
Nico leaned across the centre console for an awkward hug. “Okay,” he said. “I will learn to do that, too. But now I understand why you get migraines.”