Chapter Five
O’Connor
Right on cue, Avery’s giggles of delight cross the street as she and Linden walk back to their house. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, they spend eight hours across the street.
I don’t need to check any of my logs. I’ve had their schedule memorized for weeks.
Avery goes straight to their backyard as I watch from the back door of my garage. Linden looks at her daughter, who is already busy blowing bubbles, and back into her kitchen through her back door.
“Stay right there, Avery. I need to turn the oven on and start your dinner. I’ll be right back.”
“Otay, Mommy.” She flings bubble solution into the air without producing a single bubble.
I step out onto my back porch and open the grill cover.
“Hi, Mr. Jack!” Avery yells across the fence.
I produce a hand in a small wave, only so she won’t yell my name louder to get my attention.
“What you doing?”
“Making dinner.”
“What are those?”
“Steaks.”
“What’s a steak?”
“It’s meat.”
“What’s meat?”
“Uh, from an animal.”
“Like a dinosaur?”
“No, not really.”
She blinks at me while she hangs on the not-so-sturdy fence.
“A dinosaur would eat a steak. We wouldn’t eat a dinosaur.”
“Ohh.”
I plate the first ribeye, and she watches closely.
“Do you want one?”
“Dinosaur food?”
“Yes.”
“Otay.” She surprises me by ducking under the portion of missing chain link and skipping towards me. Shit.
I didn’t mean to invite her onto my property. Not only will her mother panic, but I also don’t like setting a precedent that anyone is allowed over here.
I stab a fork into the meat and hand it to her. “Take it back over to your yard.”
“Why?”
“Because your mom will worry.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m a stranger.”
“Why?”
A grumble erupts from my chest, but she doesn’t react at all.
“Avery?” Linden’s voice calls from her back door. “Avery!”
She’s down her back steps with her head on a swivel, spotting her daughter within seconds. “What are you doing?” She screeches, beckoning her daughter back over.
“Mr. Jack has dinosaur food!” She holds up her giant cut of steak that has the tiniest little bite marks taken out of it.
Linden freezes, staring at her daughter and then glancing at me.
“She wanted some.” It’s the only thing I can think to say.
“You let her have a whole steak?”
I shrug. I never thought to ask if that was okay. Maybe kids can’t eat bone-in steak…
“Want some, Mommy?” Avery asks, joining her mother on their side of the fence with a bite full in her mouth.
“No.” She clears her throat. “No, thank you.”
She bends down to her daughter’s level, whispering something to her and shooing her away. Avery runs straight to their back door and disappears inside.
“How does my daughter know your name?”
“She asked what it was.”
“When?”
“I don’t know. One day when she was running through the yard.”
Linden looks at me closely like she isn’t sure she can believe me. Which is true; she can’t. But she also knows there is no logical reason that I would be lying… Not logical in her world anyway.
“I’ll go get your fork and bring it back to you.” She turns but glances back at me briefly before she goes, and I can see the questions swirling.
Unlike her, I’m a mystery that she doesn’t get to crack.
After a few minutes, she slips back out of her house and walks cautiously to the fence. “I’m sorry that she took your dinner.” She holds up the fork, making it clear that she isn’t going further than the fence line, which is fine by me.
“It’s alright, I was making enough to last a few days.”
“I don’t know if you like them or not, but I had mashed potatoes warming up in my slow cooker all day. I brought you some as a thank you.”
“For what?”
“Avery doesn’t eat.” Her voice cracks ever so gently, forcing my focus to her face without my consent.
“I mean, she has a really hard time trying new foods, or eating much of anything at all. Eating steak is huge, and I’ve been so worried about her nutrition.
The doctor says she’s only in the fifth percentile for her age, and I’ve been really stressed about it. ”
“Kids are picky.”
She laughs sadly. “Yeah, I know. This is my fault, though.”
“How’s that?”
She hands the container of potatoes to me, avoiding my question like she did the other day. But instead of walking away, she lingers.
“It took me too long to get away from her dad. My ex. She saw too much, and now I’m just trying my best to erase the bad with good.”
“The same reason you moved into a rental without signing a lease?”
“Yeah, pretty much.”
“Why don’t you keep looking? Go somewhere nicer.”
She smiles sadly towards the ground like she’s forcing herself to put on this fake face. “I would if that was an option.”
“Why isn’t it an option?”
She opens her mouth and then closes it like she’s surprised I asked the question.
I’m even more surprised when she answers.
“Short story is that my ex is withholding my personal belongings. I haven’t even been able to get our replacement Social Security cards because my ex’s family knows all the right people.
Which means I can’t get a new I.D. or birth certificate for either of us.
Longer story involves a messy divorce that isn’t finalized because I won’t do anything that will jeopardize my daughter. ”
“Ah, I see.”
“Do you, Mr. Jack?” She enunciates my name sarcastically. “Can you tell the lengths that I’d go to keep her safe?”
“I’m starting to.”
“Good.”
* * *
I know I screwed up. Trying to pretend to be some normal man wasn’t going to work on her. A mother’s instinct is to protect her young.
She might not know why she’s afraid of me, but she knows she can’t trust the man next door. Her ability to pick up on threats is a useful trait to have as a woman.
Curiosity eats at me about her as I watch her sleeping on an air mattress with her young child.
Her brown curls are piled above her pillow, and Avery’s blonde locks are scattered across her face and her mom’s.
They look comfortable, as if they’ve only ever slept this way, curled up in the center of a bed as one being.
It’s not her beauty that draws me in, though I can admit I’m not blind to it… It’s her pure nature. The warmth and safety she provides for her child. It’s almost unfathomable to see such good in my line of work.
I’ve gotten used to being surrounded by evil. Behaving like the beast.
It’s exactly why I need to stop seeking out the glimpses of their joy. Being near them is distracting me.
But not knowing everything about them is distracting me even more.
I should be doing recon at the mansion on the hill. I’ve studied the guard schedule, memorizing it down to the minute, and my next big task is to get inside undetected, but I can’t do that when I’d rather spend my nights watching my neighbors.
Linden has been on edge since she moved in, and I suspect her ex is the culprit, but it’s really none of my business.
I don’t belong near them.
Civilian issues don’t concern me.
My job is to take down the wolves hiding in sheep’s clothing. The ones that the government is too scared to handle. Or are involved in.
Like Edmund and Merrill Scott.
Do you know what your in-laws are doing, Linden?