even prettier?” Dropping onto the bed on all fours, Nate crawled to the far side of the twin bed and propped himself on his side, head resting on one end of the pillow. “If you lie down and watch it. The shapes look completely different from this position. Don’t take your eyes off it, though,” he continued. No chance of that. Tucker would stare at the thing until exhaustion overtook him. “Just keep looking at it while you slide down into bed. When you lie your head on the pillow like this—still looking at it, just like this . . . wow.” He manufactured an awed tone. “Looks just like Spidey’s web from here.”
He continued to speak in a soft litany, one that garnered no verbal response from Tucker. But after several long minutes, the boy began to move, just a little at a time, until he was peering at the light, head cocked at a right angle.
“Easier to look at it from the pillow. Won’t get a crick in your neck that way.” It took a lot more talking, but the boy eventually slid inch by infinitesimal inch to a prone position. His head on the edge of the pillow. His gaze still on the hot wax in the colored light, twisting and swirling into new shapes from one second to the next.
Not unlike, Nate thought, his sister, Kristin. Who’d tried, more times than he could count, to shape herself into someone who could hold a job. Stay sober and out of trouble. Care for her son.
“Doesn’t look like a web.”
The words were whispered, but they tugged a smile from Nate. Tuck could do that. Make him grin even when the world seemed desolate.
“Just keep watching,” he said nearly as inaudibly. And hoped like hell that just getting the boy’s head on the pillow would help nature take its course. He didn’t even want to consider how few hours he had before he had to get back to the station house.
Or that in all likelihood he’d have to get Tucker off to school first.
“Spider-Man, Spider-Man. Does whatever a spider can.”
Worries subsiding for the moment, Nate looped an arm around the boy’s waist.
“Spider-Man, Spider-Man . . .” He joined in the singsong, knowing from experience that the repetition would lull the boy to sleep.
In the end, it worked its magic on them both.
Chapter 4
“Thank you for coming.”
Risa stared at the man soberly. “Thought about saying no. But I’ve always had this innate subservience to the brass.”
A wry smile cracked Eduardo Morales’s face. “I don’t remember you being so easily cowed. As a matter of fact, you always said that interagency task force we worked had more brass than the Penn State marching band.”
Leaning forward to give him a hug, she said simply, “You look good, Eddie. How’s Renee? And the little one?” Searching her memory in vain, she tried, and failed, to come up with the child’s name. “He must be what? Eight now?”
“Almost. And he has two little brothers he spends most of his time leading into trouble.”
There was a sort of surreal air to the moment. Seven years and each of them had continued their careers. But unlike her, Morales had managed to continue a personal life, as well. According to her ex, that had never been her forte.
“That’s wonderful,” she said sincerely. Just because a normal home, a normal family life, seemed out of her grasp, didn’t mean she couldn’t appreciate what it meant for others. “Tell Renee I said hi.”
The sound of the door opening behind her had her turning. She recognized Chief Inspector Wessels as one of the two men entering, although he looked as though he’d gained fifteen years and forty pounds in her absence. She didn’t know the man with him, although it wasn’t difficult to guess his identity from the uniform and polished brass. A deputy commissioner. Maybe even the commissioner of police himself. Whichever he was, he was unfamiliar.
The mystery was soon solved. “Commissioner of Police Douglas Lawton.” At Eddie’s introduction Risa took the man’s outstretched
He continued to speak in a soft litany, one that garnered no verbal response from Tucker. But after several long minutes, the boy began to move, just a little at a time, until he was peering at the light, head cocked at a right angle.
“Easier to look at it from the pillow. Won’t get a crick in your neck that way.” It took a lot more talking, but the boy eventually slid inch by infinitesimal inch to a prone position. His head on the edge of the pillow. His gaze still on the hot wax in the colored light, twisting and swirling into new shapes from one second to the next.
Not unlike, Nate thought, his sister, Kristin. Who’d tried, more times than he could count, to shape herself into someone who could hold a job. Stay sober and out of trouble. Care for her son.
“Doesn’t look like a web.”
The words were whispered, but they tugged a smile from Nate. Tuck could do that. Make him grin even when the world seemed desolate.
“Just keep watching,” he said nearly as inaudibly. And hoped like hell that just getting the boy’s head on the pillow would help nature take its course. He didn’t even want to consider how few hours he had before he had to get back to the station house.
Or that in all likelihood he’d have to get Tucker off to school first.
“Spider-Man, Spider-Man. Does whatever a spider can.”
Worries subsiding for the moment, Nate looped an arm around the boy’s waist.
“Spider-Man, Spider-Man . . .” He joined in the singsong, knowing from experience that the repetition would lull the boy to sleep.
In the end, it worked its magic on them both.
Chapter 4
“Thank you for coming.”
Risa stared at the man soberly. “Thought about saying no. But I’ve always had this innate subservience to the brass.”
A wry smile cracked Eduardo Morales’s face. “I don’t remember you being so easily cowed. As a matter of fact, you always said that interagency task force we worked had more brass than the Penn State marching band.”
Leaning forward to give him a hug, she said simply, “You look good, Eddie. How’s Renee? And the little one?” Searching her memory in vain, she tried, and failed, to come up with the child’s name. “He must be what? Eight now?”
“Almost. And he has two little brothers he spends most of his time leading into trouble.”
There was a sort of surreal air to the moment. Seven years and each of them had continued their careers. But unlike her, Morales had managed to continue a personal life, as well. According to her ex, that had never been her forte.
“That’s wonderful,” she said sincerely. Just because a normal home, a normal family life, seemed out of her grasp, didn’t mean she couldn’t appreciate what it meant for others. “Tell Renee I said hi.”
The sound of the door opening behind her had her turning. She recognized Chief Inspector Wessels as one of the two men entering, although he looked as though he’d gained fifteen years and forty pounds in her absence. She didn’t know the man with him, although it wasn’t difficult to guess his identity from the uniform and polished brass. A deputy commissioner. Maybe even the commissioner of police himself. Whichever he was, he was unfamiliar.
The mystery was soon solved. “Commissioner of Police Douglas Lawton.” At Eddie’s introduction Risa took the man’s outstretched
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