Chapter 19 #3
“Change is hard. Families are… complicated,” I offered as we resumed our door-to-door knocking. “And with your dad being called ‘the ex’—”
“She’s having a baby,” she blurted. “With Raph. My step-dad.”
Another door opened, another shake of the little girl’s head coupled with my apology to the tenant.
“Makes sense now. Why you’re here. Why you don’t talk to your dad often.”
She took a shuddering breath, the corners of her mouth turned down. Great, now I made a kid sad. I had a lot to learn about dealing with children.
But there was one thing from my childhood that both prepared me for my future, and made for a great distraction. “We’ve got another two and a half floors, why don’t we play a game?”
The girl scoffed, “Games are for babies.”
“Games are an essential life skill,” I countered. “But, if you’re sure you don’t want to be a supercool secret agent, I can’t make you.”
“I know what you’re doing.”
“I’m not trying to hide it. Do you want to be a supercool secret agent, or not?”
“I want to be a supercool secret agent,” she relented.
“Don’t sound too excited now.” My response earned me an eye-roll. I needed to get things in gear, so I clapped my hands together. “All right, listen up agent, your first top secret mission begins now.”
For the next two-and-a-half floors, I assigned the girl various ‘missions’ ranging from pretending to be fluent in French, to guessing occupants’ jobs based on what was visible in their apartment from where we stood at the doorway—she was in no uncertain terms to enter an apartment other than her father’s—and provide me an explanation of her reasoning, to marking all the most direct escape routes.
To be honest, she took to marking all of the escape routes a little too well, and talked about teaching what she learned to her eight-year-old sister.
I really hoped her parents didn’t mind.
I don’t know where the time went, because suddenly we were turning down the only remaining unchecked hall in the building.
There were only two doors left at the end of the corridor.
Mine and Todd’s. I didn’t know how to break it to her that her father didn’t live in the two remaining apartments.
But I wasn’t about to cut her hopes short.
We were going to see our mission through, and then I’d call her mother, or the non-emergency police if all else failed, to ensure she got back to her parents.
“Don’t worry.” The little girl eyed the end of the hallways as we walked. “I know our mission is going to come to an end. I’ll keep my promise.”
“All the best agents keep their promises. I knew you wouldn’t let me down.” We were already halfway down the hall. “Don’t tell the other secret agents, but this has been fun. Although, I’m pretty sure my neighbors are going to have some questions about a certain mysterious French-speaking child.”
My attempt at lightening the mood didn’t work.
Instead, the strange child was pensive, a little furrow forming between her brows.
I was wondering what I’d said to offend her when she slowed her pace, wrung her hands together, then said, “Not a lot of adults would have done what you’ve done for me. So, thank you.”
For a kid, however old she was, she was showing a high level of maturity, coupled with a level of worry that rivaled my own. She was growing on me. “Not a lot of kids would talk to a woman with a scar on her face and not think she is scary. So, thank you.”
Then she emitted a strange sound. It was kind of like a happy choking. Laughter. The little girl was laughing. It was warm and bright, though she was most definitely laughing at me, not with me. “You’re not scary. My dad is scary.”
“I’ll show you scary, one of my best friends…”
Around the corner, the elevator bell dinged, followed by very fast, very heavy, foot falls. Whoever it was they were large, fit, and headed our way, in a hurry. A combination which, more often than not, meant danger.
I spun around, shielding the girl behind me.
Adrenaline thundered through my blood. It pounded in my ears. Fight mode was on the verge of activating, when a dark blur of a man bounded around the corner. His shoulders hunched, head down, body tense—the shape was different, but I knew his form well.
Though he was usually quieter on his feet.
I lessened my grip on the girl, knowing the person approaching wasn’t a threat.
“Todd, are you okay?” It took a couple more steps, before the grumpy tattooed wall of muscle stopped in his tracks.
His breathing came fast, his expression matched when I’d found him surrounded at the vamp gathering, so I repeated, “Everything alright, Todd?”
He looked like he’d seen a ghost. His eyebrows knit together, as he side-stepped me to get a look at the little girl peering around my shoulder.
Clutching his chest, relief flushed his features, then he signed something I was unfamiliar with. A question. A name.
I put a voice to the sounds Todd signed, “Remy?”
The girl ducked around me to get a better look at the agent, hands clasped behind her back, teetering on her toes, she said, “Hi, dad.”