Page 46 of Caged
"I guess not. I thought she was just being nice. Trying to keep me busy."
"If you want the truth, I think she's trying to buddy up with you so she has a partner who knows how to bake so the two of you can drive us all crazy by not sharing your recipes. Honestly, she wouldn't be coming over if she didn't like your company." Marshall brushed a kiss over Danny's temple. "I'm looking forward to coming home tonight and seeing what you two make."
"I'm excited to find out too." Danny lifted off Marshall's lap even though he wanted to stay there. "So what else can you do to find Larry?" He glanced back at the laptop.
"Not a lot honestly. I keep hoping you'll remember something that might give us a lead."
Danny sighed, sitting back down in his own chair. "There's nothing. He was so private. You know about the videos and pictures. Um, he liked to call me teddy bear at first. That stopped after a few years, but then I noticed he called the boys that when they first got there too. Maybe I got too old for the name or something. I'm not sure."
"What else? Keep thinking. That's the kind of stuff that might help." Marshall started typing on a blank document on his screen.
"Did he order anything odd in the mail? Belong to some razor club or anything that sent monthly shipments?"
Danny tried to remember. "I didn't see the mail much, but I remember once a year he would order flowers for his mother's grave. He always usedFantasy Floristfor that. He said they were the best. He talked about his mother a lot, but I got the impression she died when he was little." He tried to remember everything. "He would lock me in the bathroom for a long time when he would go to his mother's grave. Longer than almost any other time. He'd be gone for what seemed like days, but I couldn't be sure. It was so hard to tell time without windows."
"That might help." Marshall made more notes on the computer. "Did he talk about his father?"
"No. He said once the bastard was dead, but that was all he said. I can't even remember why he said it."
"How did you get clothes, haircuts, and things like that?"
"He cut my hair. At first, he'd shave my head, but then he started to let it grow and would just trim it. Same with the boys. The clothes, he always came home with. Never in a bag or anything. He'd just carry them in and toss them at me and tell me to put them away. I don't think they were new. A lot of them had stains or rips."
"Did he ever talk about travel or going places?"
"Nope."
Marshall smiled. "The stuff you've remembered is good. It can help us. If you think of anything more, let me know. Did you cook all the time or did he ever bring home food?"
Danny shrugged. "He'd get chicken a lot. A big bucket of it. He wouldn't let us have any, but he liked it. He'd get burgers and stuff, but nothing fancy. He did buy a lot of oysters and pigs' feet. He loved those. I thought they looked and smelled horrible, but he would buy jars of them."
"And all you got was oatmeal?" Marshall shook his head.
"At times, very rarely, he'd give us canned soup. Always chicken noodle."
"Did he celebrate holidays or anything?"
"No, nothing. I never knew what season or month it was until I was upstairs, and then I only knew because he would have winter clothes on or come in with snow on his boots."
"He didn't work? How did he get money?"
"I have no idea. He never had a job. He was home almost all of the time. Mostly, he'd just sit and watch TV. He'd keep me busy cleaning while he watched stuff. Sometimes he'd lock me in the bathroom when there wasn't stuff to clean."
"I think the key is finding out where he got his money. No one can live like that without an income unless they inherit the money, and from what I can tell, his parents weren't rich. It looks like he grew up in a low-income area."
"Could he have worked in the room that was locked?" Danny asked. "He didn't spend much time there though. Not enough that I'd think he could make money doing anything."
"I don't know, but I'm going to dig and try and find out." Marshall closed his laptop. "Are you okay here for a bit alone if I go into work now?"
Danny nodded. "Sure. Jessica will be here soon enough."
"That thought makes my stomach growl." Marshall kissed him softly.
"Will you be home for dinner? I was going to make tacos." Danny hoped that would be okay. He still struggled to get used to being able to do his own thing.
"That sounds perfect. I might be a little late, but I should be home by six at the latest. I only need a few hours today. Tonight, you can feed me all your good baking and we'll watch a movie or something."
Danny hoped that meant a lot more kissing. He wasn't sure he was up to more than that, but he really liked the kissing. "I'd like that."
