“Kelly, is Lila still sleeping?” The boy’s head whipped around to look at Owen, and he glanced down, then back up, nodding. “Wake her up sweet and slow for Miss Alace? She needs to change her diaper before they leave.”
“Awww. They gotta go already?” His pout was different from the guarded child Owen had described, and even as Alace considered this, it faded, the boy’s expression changing to one that was stoic in the extreme. “Yes, sir.”
“We’ll be back soon, Kelly.” Alace caught sight of one disbelieving eye behind the hank of hair that always seemed to be in his face; then he bent over Lila, his soft sing-song voice barely audible. “Kelly?” He looked back up, his finger held tight in Lila’s grip as he shook her hand back and forth gently. Alace crooked her pinky finger at him. “I promise.” She turned back to Owen, and his broad grin was immediately annoying. “What?”
“Nothin’.” He tipped his chin down, and she saw the flash of teeth before he schooled his features. “About Kuellen, he can wait. He’s just a distributor, probably one of thousands. Maybe I can find his suppliers if I look that direction. Up to now, I’ve been focused on the content on his servers. Let me attack it from a different vector for a little bit.”
“I’ll hold August for a day. We’ll see what the reporter gives us. Do you have names and dates I can copy down of the suspected deaths we’ll want to put in front of this Colleen?” She huffed out a sigh. “It’ll be fun to see how well she can keep up.”
“Take care she doesn’t lap you, Alace.” Doc’s cautioning words made her bristle, then she looked at Owen, who appeared even more offended on her behalf. “I’m not saying she’s smarter than either of you, but don’t discount her acquired skills as an investigative reporter. She will be accustomed to look for the story behind the story. Calling out of the blue will be a flag, and anything you bring up could look suspect. She’ll consider everything from a personal vendetta against Ashworth to collaboration, or even whistleblowing if she can draw lines between you and anyone on the force. As someone who has had his fair share of interviews, trust me when I say giving her an hour to prepare means every question has three different outcomes in her mind. How will you broach the topic?”
“Baby talk, introduce Eric, chat about books in general, segue to local history, news articles, allude to confidential interviews with male prostitutes, mention the community complaint without talking about the neighborhood, backed up by a calendar of events I can hand over. Followed by the family photo to accompany the article, a signed copy of my most recent book, and then Lila will need to feed which gives me a chance to bond with her via her sister, when she tells her sister I cut the interview short to tend to my child.” Tipping her head to one side, she gave him a real smile, the tiny quirk of her lips few people saw. “My strategy at a glance.”
He swore quietly and shook his head. “Owen, you weren’t kidding.”
“Told you she was scary smart.” Owen slapped Doc’s shoulder lightly, grinning and nodding like a maniac.
Alace withdrew the smile and instead turned her flat, cold stare on the doctor, pulling on decades of dissociation to generate one of her most useful tools.
“You ain’t seen nothing yet.”
***
Owen
“Still waiting,” Owen called out before Doc rounded the doorframe into the office. Since Alace had left earlier, even knowing it would be hours before they’d hear anything, he and Doc had both been antsy, waiting to hear how it had gone from her perspective.
“I know we are, you ass. I was coming in to ask about dinner.” Doc folded his arms across his chest, one shoulder leaned against the doorframe. “Kelly claims he’d like to have hot dogs, again. Wanna guess why?”
“Shiloh asked for hot dogs.” Heels against the edge of the desk, Owen rocked his chair back on two legs. “I’m not a fan, personally. What would you prefer?”
“Anything except hot dogs. I’ve got little in the fridge, though. What would you think about delivery?” Doc’s expression didn’t give anything away, but Owen knew the man was sensitive to their efforts to stay not just below radar but entirely off the grid. “Or, I could do a pickup instead. Pizza or chicken?”
“I’m glad I don’t have a normal office chair.” Owen let the front legs drop back to the floor, the thud shaking up through him. “Or I’d have tipped over backwards, no doubt.” Pizza can be delivered. He liked how Doc had given him options not only for the food but for the acquisition method. “You volunteering to actually leave the house. I’m shocked.” Doc seemed to have no desire to learn the city so far. Owen could relate. Beyond the required trips to the grocery store and other places, neither of them had done much exploring. “Chicken.”
“You got it.” Doc turned to the hallway but paused and turned back, looking at Owen over his shoulder. “I understand it now. I get it.”
“You get what?” Hands hovering over the keyboard, he waited patiently for whatever it was Doc felt he had to communicate right now. Doc was like that. A man who could hold his peace for hours and days, but once he’d come to an insight, he’d beat down a door to explain.
“How Alace can be good people, too.”
“Alace is good people. Never doubt that. It’s truth, down to the iron in the earth. It’s my true north. I couldn’t do what I do without believing in her.” He turned his chair, legs catching on the rug he’d placed under the desk. Frustrated, he half stood and lifted the chair, placing it where he’d wanted. His gaze locked onto Doc the instant his ass hit the seat again. “If you believe in me, then you believe in Alace. There’s no middle ground, Darren. I thought you had my back already. Was I wrong?”
“No, no. That’s not what I meant at all.” Doc shook his head rapidly, staring at Owen, his expression filled with consternation. “I do. You’re not wrong. I absolutely do. I see my own role supporting everything you do, and nothing’s changed. Nothing. I just—” He eased into the room, one hand extended towards Owen. “Conceptually and intellectually I understood everything before I met her. I did. But now, meeting her. Did you see her in the kitchen? Did you see her at all? See how she reacted and instantly had a solution which is genius in design.”
“I saw her.” Owen rested his elbows on his knees, hands dangling between his thighs. “I know her, inside out.”
“She’s brilliant.” Doc scrubbed along his jaw with the edge of a hand. “Kelly told me how she was outside, too. She balanced her fears and desires for her own daughter’s safety and well-being against Kelly and the need she saw in him for affirmation of his caretaker role. She went with the kindhearted response. I think she’s empathetic to a fault, and yet clearly believes herself incapable of that same compassion.” His mouth twisted to the side. “I get it now, you know?”
“I do know.” Owen pushed out a heavy breath. “I do. Thank you. Means a lot, man.”
Doc stepped backwards, rapped his knuckles against the doorframe once, and disappeared up the hallway.
Owen twisted to face the computer, elbow hooked over the back of the chair as he awkwardly tried to type on the keyboard. Laughing silently at his own efforts, he shifted the chair around and settled into place. “Time to see if my efforts paid off.” Ten minutes later, he heard the car engine rumble from the garage. As it died away, he listened intently for the kids, not hearing anything in the house. A glance at his phone showed a text confirming Doc had taken them with him.