Chapter 71 #20
Beth blinked. Apparently, Captain Forrester did, too, because Colin handed her the phone when someone knocked on the door.
“Food’s here,” Colin said.
“Destiny Park as a halfway house,” Forrester said. “Is that what you think?”
“Colin hasn’t had a chance to tell me where he was, so I can’t say if his assessment is accurate,” Beth replied. “But I did pick up that he was in a neighborhood that had no cell phone service, no internet, and no pizza. The hotel has all three.”
“Well.” Forrester’s laugh sounded relieved. “You’re both all right?”
“We spent several hours in a car with a man who hadn’t bothered with any kind of hygiene in weeks, but other than that, we’re okay.”
“Should I set everything on this table?” Colin asked.
“I’d better let you go if you want your share of the food,” Forrester said, obviously hearing Colin’s question. “The general feeling is I was already out of town when this whole thing sparked, and I should stay out of town with the family. But I’m available if you want to talk.”
“Thank you, sir. Good night.”
Beth set her cell phone on the bedside table and looked at the dishes filling the small dining table. “I didn’t order that much.”
“The guy who brought the food said the steaks and scallops are a dinner for two special tonight,” Colin replied. “The regular salad comes with that, along with the steak fries. The pizza came with a small antipasto.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Pizza is good for breakfast, and there is a mini fridge, a microwave, and microwaveable containers for leftovers.” Colin beamed at her.
The food was here and Colin was right about pizza for breakfast. Beth took a seat.
At least with Colin, she didn’t get the “you’re not eating enough” look.
He was more than willing to take one of the steaks and half the scallops and steak fries.
He generously gave her all the salad while he piled a couple of slices of pizza and half the antipasto onto his plate.
“So,” Colin said as Beth cut into her filet mignon, “I guess Lucas Frost is Wyrd’s Sorcerer King?”
Beth stared at him. How much did the boy know that she should know? “Eat first. Then we’ll talk.”
“Awesome.”
64
Grace Russell sat across from Sheina Kali at a table in the hospital cafeteria and considered what she could—or should—say to this young police officer whose husband was currently sedated and secured to a hospital bed. Comfort or truth?
“You should try to eat something,” Grace said gently. “There wasn’t much left to choose from at this hour, but it’s pretty good for hospital food.” She took a spoonful of the chicken noodle soup she’d ordered for herself, hoping Sheina would mimic her.
Sheina picked up her spoon but didn’t eat.
“He called me a bitch. He’s angry because he has to stay here overnight for observation.
He’s angry that he’s secured to the bed like a common criminal.
When the doctor asked him about his time in Wyrd, Yaron said he’s not saying anything, isn’t going to let cowards steal his research.
And he blames the boy for the cop focusing on him like he was some pervert and forcing him to come back to Destiny Park—and then letting those men hand him over to the cops who took him across the river before he’d completed this stage of his research. ”
Grace tried to keep her voice casual. “What boy?”
Sheina shrugged. “He didn’t know, didn’t ask. Just some boy who knew the cop—some boy who wasn’t forced to cross the river.”
Charles Forrester was still on vacation.
Had anyone on his team called to tell him about the boy?
Or would they wait until they could confirm the boy’s identity in case it wasn’t Forrester’s son?
Given the current turmoil in Penwych, the boy’s presence at Destiny Park might have gotten buried under the necessity of getting Yaron Kali to the trauma unit at the hospital.
“It’s standard procedure to secure an agitated patient, especially when they have spent time on Wyrd outside of Destiny Park,” Grace said.
“Yaron said one of the men who handed him over to the police told him he was penalized fifteen years for the trouble he caused.” Sheina dipped her spoon in her bowl of soup but still didn’t eat.
“I’m not sure what that means, but Yaron looks older than he did a few weeks ago, and not just because he hasn’t showered in days.
There’s a lot of gray in his hair and lines on his face.
” She looked at Grace. “He looks middle-aged. Is that possible?”
“It’s possible. There was an incident last year of a young man aging seventy years in a matter of hours after shooting three people with a ghost gun.
” Was that always the case—that you aged the number of years you owed the Arcana rather than having those years deducted from your potential lifespan?
Perhaps it depended on what you wanted—or what you had done to earn the Arcana’s wrath.
“Maybe after some sleep, your husband will realize he was lucky to be found and brought back across the river,” Grace said. “Maybe he’ll be satisfied with the research he already has and will write about what he observed.”
“He’s going to go back. I know he is, and I…” Sheina pushed the bowl of soup away, giving up all pretense of eating. “What would you do?”
Grace thought about her father and the last time she saw him, waving to her from a ghost ship.
Would Yaron Kali make that kind of effort for his wife?
Somehow, she doubted it. “My recommendation? Think about what you want for yourself, not what your husband wants from you. Think about what you need to do to prepare yourself to live without him because it sounds like, one way or another, you’re going to be on your own. ”
Not much comfort in that. Wondering why Sheina had called her for help instead of turning to the cops in the Jackson precinct, Grace also wondered how much Sheina was already on her own.
65
Beth sat at a picnic table near the food stands, enjoying a mug of coffee and a small bowl of summer berries. The food stands weren’t open yet, but the hotel buffet had the basics for the staff and for other people who worked at the park.
She wasn’t looking forward to talking to Detective Gibson, but she understood why the other detective would want to talk to her. After all, Bonnie Wilson had been killed in her apartment.
Lucas Frost took a seat opposite her and gave her one of those assessing looks. “You look better than you did last night. You slept?”
Beth wasn’t sure she felt better, but she nodded.
“When I almost went face-first into the pizza, Colin steered me toward the bed. I don’t remember him clearing up the dishes or putting the remaining food in the mini fridge.
I don’t remember him going to his room. But I received a text from him just after sunrise telling me that the park’s residents can use the hotel’s swimming pool before official guest hours and could we go down?
So we purchased basic swimwear from the hotel’s gift shop and joined Kia Dance for a swim before returning to our rooms to shower and have leftover pizza for breakfast. I’m telling you this so I don’t have to explain it to Jack. ”
“Why would you?” Lucas reached for one of the berries.
“Because Jack is a mother hen.”
Lucas’s hand stuttered, almost dropping the berry. “I’ve heard Jack called many things, but never that.”
“Well, he is. And he’s got the hotel staff taking notes for him.
” She lowered her voice a little. “ ‘Is that all you’re having for breakfast, Detective Fahey? Just fruit?’ When I said I’d already warmed up leftover pizza, which everyone across the river knows has at least three of the essential food groups and is a breakfast staple, they looked horrified. ”
She admired Lucas’s ability to keep a straight face. “And you figure their reaction is due to Jack’s interest in your food requirements and not that they’re sufficiently horrified on their own?”
“If they want to be horrified, they should watch Colin cruise through the buffet. Teenage boys have a bottomless pit for a stomach.”
“But he did leave you some pizza for breakfast.”
“He did.” Beth ate a berry and braced for what she needed to say.
“He’d like to stay here awhile longer. At least until his folks get back from vacation.
He’s sixteen, and I’m not sure what the labor laws are on Wyrd, but he told me he’d worked at a friend’s trading post, so he knows enough about retail to work in the hotel gift shop, or if you think his being in sight might be a problem, he could help the park’s groundskeepers, since he’d be one of the gazillion people working, so who would notice him?
” She ate another berry. “And his being here for a while might benefit the youngest resident in the Teeth.” It was understood that Faulkner’s name wouldn’t be spoken in any public place, even if there was no one around to overhear her and Lucas.
“Colin could be a kind of big brother if a meeting place could be worked out. He’s smart enough to understand that some people need to disappear.
Maybe he could stay in one of the cabins you rent to guests who want to stay for a few days. ”
“No. If he stays, he stays at the hotel—because you’ll be staying at the hotel until the trouble across the river is settled. You should have time to consider which cottage you want as your home. Your home, Beth.”
“But he can stay?”
“Until Captain Forrester returns. Then we’ll discuss it again.
” Lucas took another berry. “I think having Colin work with Mia Skov in the park is a better idea. People may notice him when he comes in for meals, but he’ll be one of many.
I’ll consider your suggestion about Colin making contact with the Teeth’s new resident. ”
“Thank you.”
“Now to business. Detective Gibson will be arriving around nine o’clock to discuss what happened at your apartment while you were away.”
“It’s an interview, or an interrogation, not a discussion,” Beth corrected.