Chapter Five #4
spat that he interrupted and they mistakenly shot him, thinking he was an
intruder,” Eddie said. “But how this is looking like it actually went down,
it’d be hard to stick murder one on them. Though, if the prosecutor got
creative, and there was something dark they’re hiding, darker even than her
covering for a lover, or other, that something being the reason she’s not
talking, they could get murder two and she could get hit with false reporting and
accessory.”
“So if this guy is found, and if she’s found out, they’ll go
down,” Georgie concluded.
“If the evidence is there, the prosecutor doesn’t screw it
up, no deal is struck, yeah,” Hank confirmed.
Georgie then looked to Dutch and there was a light burning
so bright in her eyes, he felt it scorching his skin.
But it didn’t hurt.
It was beautiful.
“How’s the kid?” Eddie asked.
Dutch tore his attention from Georgiana and looked to Eddie.
“Not good.”
“I can imagine, seein’ his dad
like that,” Eddie murmured.
Dutch’s blood ran cold.
It was Georgiana this time who wrapped her hand around his
wrist, but it was like a phantom touch, his focus was hyper-alert on Eddie.
“Seein’ his dad like that?” Dutch
asked, his voice sounding funny to his own ears.
Choked.
He felt both Eddie and Hank’s attention sharpen on him but
that was phantom too.
He was staring at Eddie like taking his eyes off the man
would mean he’d forget how to breathe.
“Yeah,” Eddie said slowly.
“Carlyle saw his father dead?” Dutch pressed.
“Dutch, honey,” Georgie whispered, squeezing hard at his
wrist.
He ignored her.
“Followed his dad,” Eddie said carefully. “Didn’t you know?”
Oh Christ.
Followed him?
“Followed him…how?” Dutch forced out.
“His mother tried to stop him, but he followed his dad to
his neighbor’s. He spoke to the police at the scene, said his dad was down by
the time he got up there. He wasn’t dead. When the police got there, the kid
was still pressing on the wound, but it was too late. The carotid was hit. The
man was gone,” Eddie shared.
Dutch dropped his head and stared at his lap.
“You didn’t know that?” Georgie asked gently.
“No,” he said to his lap.
Carlyle watched his father die.
And his father watched his son watch him die.
“Dutch,” Georgie hissed urgently.
They’d shared that moment when they both knew life was over.
Carlyle’s life as he knew it, with a good man who was a good
dad in his home, raising him up, molding the man he’d become.
And his dad knowing he’d never see that man because his life
was just over.
His body jostled and he came to seeing Georgie semi-crouched
beside him. She had a hold on his leg and his neck, and she was shaking both.
“Look at me, baby,” she whispered.
“I’m all right.”
“Okay, then humor me by looking at me for a sec, okay?”
He slid a hand along her neck and repeated, “I’m all right,
Georgie.”
She gave him a good once over, took her time, and only when
she was satisfied did she let him go and resume her seat.
Dutch cleared his throat and gave the men his attention.
“Sorry.”
“Understandable,” Hank replied.
He felt Georgie now in hyper-focus, but on him, and he made
a show of forking into his burrito.
But when he got it to his mouth, he didn’t taste it.
Because new thoughts were forming in his head.
Including the fact that the cops had come to the shelter,
looking for Carlyle.
Did they do that just to share the case had gone cold,
apologize they had to get on with other shit, pat him on the back and tell him
to keep his chin up and maybe get his ass home?
No.
They wanted to go over what he saw.
And now Dutch wanted to know what he saw.
But the bottom line was, they all needed to know
what he saw.
Because he fucking saw something.
But he was keeping it to himself, and Dutch got that.
Fuck him, he got it.
But as smart as Carlyle was, this was not his job. He was
too young, and he didn’t have the skills to see it through.
Making matters worse, if this was tied up with other shit,
and that woman knew that Carlyle saw what he saw, the kid was flat-out in
danger.
Which could be another reason why he refused to go home.
He was keeping his mother and sister safe.
Fuck.
“You got something for us?” Eddie asked.
Dutch had food in his mouth.
He chewed, swallowed, felt Georgie’s continued
hyper-vigilance on him, but he locked eyes with Eddie.
“Yeah, I do. But I got work to do on it so can you give me a
few days? Then I’m handing it over.”
“Chaos got your back?” Eddie asked.
“Nightingale does,” Dutch answered.
Eddie nodded. That worked for him.
Dutch looked to Hank.
Hank was eating like nothing was weird. It worked for him
too.
Dutch understood this.
Lee Nightingale, who owned Nightingale Investigations, was
Eddie’s best friend, Hank’s brother, and they both knew Lee, nor his team would
leave Dutch blowing in the breeze.
They finished their meals shooting the shit.
At the end, there was a brief but annoying discussion about
who was going to pay that Georgie did not participate in, but she won it by
walking up to the register and paying herself. Something which Dutch knew was
going to lead to another discussion about how she was never going to do that
again.
Hank urged Dutch to take Georgie to meet Tex.
Georgie looked intrigued.
They said goodbye on the sidewalk.
And Georgie called it when they were in his truck on the way
back to her place.
“Carlyle saw something.”
“Yup.”
“We have to find Carlyle.”
“Yup.”
“Shit,” she whispered.
Dutch drew a sharp breath into his nose.
Then he repeated, “Yup.”
They settled into unhappy silence.
Dutch broke it.
“You ever pay the bill like that again, I’m spanking your
ass.”
She said nothing.
Until she did.
And it was…
“Cute.”