“You know what they say about makin’ assumptions.” Brew gave me a hard look.
“I know,” I said with a sigh.
“And what’re you doin’ about it?” he asked.
I stood up. “I’m going to head back to the cabin and wait for Nyx.” I gave them both the best smile I could muster. “Thanks for listening.”
I knew they thought I’d talk to Nyx as soon as she got back, but as I made my way back to the cabin, I still couldn’t convince myself to do it. Not because I was too angry. Honestly, anger wasn’t my dominant emotion right now.
No, that was fear.
Fear that I would lose her, and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it.
Seven
Nyx
I’d made a huge mistake yesterday.
Leaving Bradyn without a note or explanation made me look like a thoughtless jerk while also making my actions look suspicious. I should’ve just said something like I wanted to pick up a few things at the store, and he wouldn’t have thought anything of it. And if he’d asked what I was getting, I could tell him it was a surprise for him.
I’d used that excuse today for this little trip.
When I’d gotten back to the ranch yesterday, he’d asked where I’d been, and I’d almost blurted out the truth. That would’ve been bad. Besides the fact that I was working during our vacation, I took client confidentiality very seriously.
At home, I would’ve just said it was something for a case, and he wouldn’t have pushed it because he understood privacy around things like this. But because of my promise not to work, I couldn’t do that. So, I’d lied.
I’d told him that I’d gone to see what’d happened to the building where the Check family once practiced law. That I’d felt like it’d give me some sort of closure, but I’d wanted to do it alone.
He’d accepted it without question, and the rest of the day had been pleasant. Well, aside from how fucking guilty I’d felt. Still felt. But even with his acceptance, something had been off, was still off. We’d worked so hard on being honest with each other that I actually felt sick to my stomach for deceiving him.
But I’d still lied to him again today when I heard back from a contact to tell me that they knew where Cru Baine was living. If I got Cru’s DNA today and took it to Rafael, then I’d pretty much be done. If I could be sure the DNA came from Cru, then Rafael would be responsible for sending in the paternity test, and the results would come to him. I wouldn’t have to do anything else on the case until I went back to New York and wrote up the final invoice. More importantly, I wouldn’t have to keep lying to Bradyn. I could just forget about it all.
I shoved that thought away, but the discomfort remained. I didn’t like keeping the truth from him. The sooner I got this done, the better.
The address took me to a part of Savannah I hadn’t been to before. According to my source – a friend of sorts I’d made when I’d been digging into the Traylor family’s past – Cru was in a foster home with three other minors. I’d checked the local school calendar and confirmed that winter break hadn’t started yet, as well as finding out what time the day ended.
Which meant I was parallel parking the car near the bus stop as the vehicle turned onto the street. I stayed in my car, phone in hand as I pretended to use it. Keeping an eye on the bus while also trying to look down at my phone made my head hurt, but I didn’t have to do it for long. About eight or nine teenagers got off the bus, and two split off to walk toward the house in question. One was a girl with shockingly green hair and a couple facial piercings. She was one of those people who could’ve been anywhere from thirteen to seventeen. The boy walking with her was fourteen, and I would’ve guessed he was Cru Baine, even if I hadn’t known where he lived. I did still need his DNA to be one hundred percent sure, but seeing him was enough for me.
His hair was dark brown rather than black, his skin a touch lighter, and I couldn’t see what color his eyes were, but the resemblance to Rafael didn’t leave much doubt in my mind. Sure, there could’ve been some weird non-related resemblance like Natalie Portman and Keira Knightley, that sort of thing, but this was one of those ‘look for horses not zebras’ situations. The whole Occam’s Razor.
Now, I just had to watch and wait for my chance to steal something with a tiny bit of DNA on it. I hoped it wouldn’t take too long. I didn’t want to be here too late or have to try again tomorrow. I couldn’t make up yet another excuse to leave Bradyn when this was supposed to be our vacation together. If he wasn’t annoyed at me yet, he would be if I did it again.
For once in my life, luck was with me.
As the bus pulled away from the sidewalk, the girl pulled out a cigarette and handed one to Cru. The expression on his face said he was crushing pretty hard on her…and that he didn’t actually like the taste of the cigarette he was currently putting in his mouth. He lit it and took a drag, then immediately tried to cover the fact that he wanted to cough. Yup, newbie trying to impress a girl. And hopefully, a foster mom who wouldn’t approve of them smoking.
Which I hoped meant Cru would leave the cigarette on the sidewalk in front of the house instead of taking it inside or even flicking it onto the property. Technically, if it was in the yard or porch, it was private property and wouldn’t be admissible in a court of law.
Fortunately, I didn’t have to worry about court since this was just a preliminary test to confirm what I knew. This wasn’t a custody case…not yet. Once we knew for certain Cru was Rafael’s son, he’d start the legal process of getting custody, and an official DNA test would be done.
Honestly, he probably wouldn’t even need to mention the first test since we had plenty of other circumstantial evidence that would be more than enough to get Child Protective Services to order a test. Still, I’d rather it be as legal as possible.
The kids reached the edge of the property line, and I held my breath. I let out a quiet but still triumphant, “Yes,” as both Cru and the girl dropped their cigarettes. They ground the ends with the toes of their shoes, Cru carefully copying how the girl did it. To my relief, they were both litterbugs too, leaving the cigarettes on the ground and going up to the house without them.
After they closed the door behind them, I checked my watch and waited until two minutes passed before I got out of the car. I took a small trash bag from Shadae’s glove compartment stash and folded it back over my hand so I could pick up the butt without putting any of my own DNA on it. Yeah, all the shit from the sidewalk and his shoe would be on it too, but I couldn’t control that.
I took a quick glance around and confirmed that no one was nearby. I couldn’t see anyone at the windows in the house either, and I knew waiting any longer just made it more likely that I would be seen. While I wasn’t doing anything illegal, I didn’t want to explain to anyone why I was picking up a piece of trash and putting it in a bag. I especially didn’t want to have to explain anything to the people who lived in this house. There’d be time for that once we got the results.
As I drove to Rafael’s hotel, I started going through ideas in my mind about what I could stop and buy for Bradyn so that my excuse wouldn’t be a complete lie. He and I both valued the meaning of a gift over cost, which meant I couldn’t just go get something shiny. That wasn’t what I would’ve wanted, anyway.