Then he just stopped attending halfway through his third semester. After that he held down occasional jobs, most often mowing lawns and other menial work paid under the table. From the staggering number of purses and wallets found in his house, it was apparent that he also supported himself by stealing. Even the tags on the pick-up were stolen, and the pick-up itself from Vallejo in the early nineties.
He had never had a romantic relationship with anyone, to our knowledge. His body showed signs of sexual torture that appeared to be self-inflicted. As to his absent father, there had been no sign of him since he abandoned the family long ago. Whether he was long dead and unidentified or living off the grid was anyone’s guess. It was also a mystery where the Quell had come from. Laughably, the profile from the FBI turned up the day after John Macdonald’s death; I planned to read it soon and see how much of it jived with what we’d learned of his life.
But it still wouldn’t give us a satisfactory answer to why.
“All right, Tyler, collect the kittens and put them inside,” Brendan said, starting for the deck with loaded plates. Tyler scooped up Lion and Tiger, who squirmed happily in his hands and swatted at each other.
“I think she’s all right. She’s keeping my leg warm,” I said when he came back for Bear. Having slipped off my thighs, Bear was pressed up to me and fast asleep, ear twitching in a kitten dream.
Brendan plopped the plates on the railing and shook out a blanket, putting it on my lap. Without a break in stride, he set up the TV trays and delivered our meals. Tyler passed out napkins and glasses of sparkling water. At a small crash in the living room, he went inside to transfer the kittens to the upstairs bathroom where they could do less damage.
“They’re furry demons, those two,” Brendan said, sitting down in the armchair beside my loveseat. “Don’t let Tyler push Bear on you. It’s totally okay to say no.”
“I’m actually quite tempted to say yes,” I replied, tenting the blanket so the kitten under there could get air. “Work comes home with me too much. It’d be nice to have a little friend there to take my mind off it.”
“I heard what you said about it not feeling like winning,” Brendan said as he handed over utensils. “I get that. I do. Nobody wins in situations like these. But I hope you do feel good about it, Blue, even if just a little. I can’t tell you how much better I slept once I heard, knowing I didn’t have to worry so much the next time Tyler went out the door. All of Darby has to feel the same way.”
“Thank you.”
“And I should ask where you’d like to go to dinner tomorrow night.”
“Anywhere you want.”
“No,” Brendan said. “I’d really like to take you somewhere that you want to go.”
This was what I’d done wrong with JJ from the first date, and he had been more than happy to take over. I didn’t want to fall into these same patterns with Brendan. “There’s a new Italian restaurant downtown that I keep meaning to try,” I said. “Even our grumpy medical examiner says it isn’t too awful, and for her that means it’s practically a five-star joint.”
“Then that’s where we’ll go,” Brendan said. “The Italian restaurant that isn’t too awful.”
We laughed and ate.
THE END
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