Chapter 172
Chapter 171:
DANTE
“I didn’t say that p>
“You didn’t have to.” He exhaled, the sound of someone doing the same calculations I’d been doing but with more information that he didn’t have before. “Logan is in Chicago. He went back last week, I had someone who confirmed the return p>
“I know,” I said. “I know he went back. That doesn’t mean-” I stopped. “It doesn’t mean he didn’t leave something running before he left, he doesn’t have to be here to carry it out. What if he had someone spying while he went back home p>
The silence on Cameron’s end had a specific quality to it that showed that he had listened to what I had said and was taking it to heart with serious consideration than before because this was something that he hadn’t thought of yet and was also a possibility.
“I’ll look into it,” he said finally. “Quietly. I have someone who can check the school’s street footage if the school will cooperate with us, because some of them might cite privacy reasons and since no actual crime was committed, it would be harder to get them to submit it without an order from the court and I can talk to the neighbor on the east side who has a camera pointed at the street.” A pause. “Don’t change Drew’s routine. If someone is watching, changing the pattern tells them they’ve been noticed p>
“I know,” I said.
“And don’t tell Sedona,” he said.
“I wasn’t going to,” I said. “Not until we know something p>
“She has the attorney meeting next week,” Cameron said. “She has enough to manage. If this turns out to be nothing, she doesn’t need to have carried it.” A pause. “And if it turns out to be something, I want more than a child’s description before I put it in front of her p>
I agreed with that, which I told him.
We went through the practical things-what Drew had described, the times, the cars, as much detail as I could pass along from a four-year-old’s account that was good but was still a four-year-old’s account and wasn’t that good to be used but points us in the right direction which was better than nothing. Cameron asked questions with the precision of someone who’d been dealing with logistics and evidence since long before this situation, who knew what information was useful and what was ambient.
When we’d gone through it, he said: “I’ll be in touch p>
“Thank you,” I said.
“Don’t thank me yet,” he said. “It might be nothing p>
“It might be nothing,” I agreed.
I ended the call.
1:4
The Guilt 01-Not Being Aware
Stood in the hallway for a moment.
Clam
Lucian appeared in the kitchen doorway p>
“How did he take it?” he said.
“Calmly,” I said. “Which is either reassuring or concerning depending on how you look at it p>
“With Cameron it usually means he’s already thinking four steps ahead,” Lucian said. He came further into the hallway, his voice lower-Drew was still in the bathroom, I could hear the sound of the tap. “Is he going to do something about it p>
“He’s going to check the street footage,” I said. “Quietly. Without changing Drew’s routine p>
Lucian nodded.
I looked at the front door.
“I should have noticed,” I said.
“Drew was the one at school,” Lucian said. “You weren’t there p>
“At the house today I was right inside.” I looked at the door, “Twenty feet away. And Drew was out front by himself noticing a man in a parked car while I was in the kitchen p>
“He’s four,” Lucian said. “He was in the front garden in daylight. That’s not-you weren’t being careless. You were being a parent with a child who is safe in his own front garden on a Sunday afternoon p>
“He’s been safe,” I said. “The man hasn’t approached him. But the being safe and the feeling safe are going to be different things now.” I thought about Drew in the bathroom, doing the asked thing while the other thinking kept running. “He’s going to ask me more about it p>
“Probably,” Lucian said.
“And I don’t know what to tell him p>
“Tell him you’re looking into it,” Lucian said. “Tell him he did the right thing by telling you. Tell him you’re paying attention.” He paused. “That’s all he needs right now. He doesn’t need a full explanation. He needs to know you received what he said and you’re handling it p>
That was correct and I knew it was correct and it helped to have it said plainly.
“He’s so good,” I said, which wasn’t useful information but was what I had at that moment.
“He is,” Lucian said, without irony.
“He noticed three times and didn’t say anything until he was sure enough,” I said. “Four years old. He sat with uncertainty until he could say something accurate p>
“He’s your kid,” Lucian said.
I exhaled.
“We’re not telling Sedona,” I said. “No, Lucian agreed. Clains “Not because I’m protecting her,” I said. “She’d be angry if I was just protecting her. But because there’s nothing useful for her to do with the information yet, and she has the attorney meeting and the custody process and the things with Nick and-“I stopped. “She has enough p> “She has enough,” Lucian confirmed. “And if it turns out to be something, she gets told as soon as it’s something. Not before p> “Agreed p> The bathroom tap had stopped. Drew appeared in the hallway with his hands still slightly damp, which meant he’d done the washing but had rushed the drying, which was characteristic. He looked at me and then at Lucian. “Are you calling Cameron?” he asked me. “Already did,” I said. He processed this. “What did he say p> “He said you did the right thing by telling me,” I said. “And that he’s going to look into it p> Drew looked at me with the assessment quality. “Is he going to tell Sedona?” he asked. I looked at my son. “Not yet,” I said. “We want to find out more first p> He thought about that. “Because she has other things,” he said. “Yes,” I said. “Because she has other things p> He nodded once, the small decisive nod he had. “Okay,” he said. Then: “Is lunch still happening p> “Lunch is still happening,” I said. “Good,” he said. “I’m hungry p> He went to the kitchen. Lucian looked at me. “He’s something else,” Lucian said, quietly. “I know,” I said. We followed Drew into the kitchen. The Guilt a Not Being Aware Claim After lunch, while Drew was doing the quiet reading time he had on Sunday afternoons-a ritual that had started when he was two and that I’d never disrupted because it was one of the things he asked for without being asked to ask for it-I sat at the kitchen table with my coffee and thought about the situation properly. The man in the cars. Cameron had said Logan was back in Chicago. That was confirmed information, not speculation-Reeve had apparently been tracking the situation as a precaution and had confirmed the return. So Logan himself wasn’t the man in the cars. Which meant if it was connected to Logan-and I wasn’t certain it was, I was being careful about certainty -it was someone Logan had put in motion before he left. Comments LUCK DRAW > Vote 535 Florence A passionate storyteller who brings emotions to life through her words. When she’s not writing, she finds peace nurturing her garden.