Page 71 of The Drowned Woman
Nate finally met Jessie’s eyes. “He gonna die?”
“Not if I have anything to do with it.” She pulled back the dog’s gums, glanced at its eyes and ears. “He’s pretty sick and neglected, but he’s young, has some fight left in him, I reckon. Don’t you, Rex?”
The dog lifted its snout and gave a single wag of its tail. “Good boy,” Nate told it. “This lady’s gonna take care of you.”
“Sure am,” Jessie assured him. “Want to give him a hug before I take him?” Nate wrapped his arms around the dog, then let them fall away. Jessie carefully lifted the animal into her arms. “Honor to meet you, Nate. You should be proud, you saved a life today.”
Nate said nothing, just kept staring at the empty patch of grass and mud where Rex had lain. Luka escorted Jessie to her van, then returned to the kennel. Nate still sat in the mud, Emily standing over him, both hands on her hips, their backs to Luka.
“Nate, you gotta ask. If you want to keep Rex, you need to say something to Luka.”
“Can’t.” Nate sounded heartbroken. “Can’t ask for anything that will make him send me back to foster. Can’t risk it.”
“But you love Rex, I can tell,” Emily responded.
Nate stood, brushing grass and dirt from his jeans with swift, angry motions. “I don’t love anything. Never will. You love something, someone just comes along and steals it from you. You love someone and they just go and leave. I’m never gonna love anyone, not ever.”
He sounded so damn certain, as if he’d deciphered the mystery of the universe. Luka’s chest tightened because Nate’s words echoed in his own heart—a seventeen-year-old echo of a decision he’d made after Cherise was taken from him. Better to live alone than risk the pain of letting anyone get too close.
Emily wrapped her arm in Nate’s, leaning her head against his arm. Their backs were to Luka and the silhouette they formed made him blink—yet another echo of Cherise.
“Nate, Nate,” Emily said in a tone that implied worldly wisdom. “I know it hurts. But you can’t go your whole life trying not to love.”
“Sure I can,” Nate snapped. But he didn’t move away, allowed her to lean her weight on him.
“No. You can’t. Because who wants to live a whole life full of nothing?”
Nate shrugged one shoulder. Luka sniffed and the kids both turned to him, surprised a grownup was paying attention. “You know, Nate,” Luka said. “I’m very proud of what you did today. Once they get Rex better, he’s going to need a good home.”
Nate stared at Luka as if searching out some hidden trick Luka was trying to play on him.
“Taking care of an animal is a lot of responsibility and hard work. You up for that?”
Emily tugged at Nate’s arm as she jumped up and down, splashing mud over them all. “He is, we are, yes, sir, please, please!”
“What do you say, Nate?”
The joy filling Nate’s face was answer enough for Luka. “Yes, sir. I’d like that.”
“Okay, then. You two go find Ruby. She’s going to take you home.”
“You’re not coming?” Nate asked.
“I’ve got to get back to work. But tomorrow, a special breakfast, just the two of us, okay?”
Nate scuffed the dirt with his heel but nodded. Luka returned to his car and steered around the other official vehicles, heading back down the lane. He decided that he didn’t care if he had to work overtime tonight, he wasn’t going to miss his promised breakfast with Nate.
He stopped at the end of the lane, ready to turn right towards Cambria City, when a white van with the familiar Keystone Shale logo drove past him and turned down Old River Road. Luka wondered at that—there was nothing down there except for an old pumping station. The small station had never been able to keep the area drained enough to protect the train tracks, so the railroad had finally built a bridge over the marshlands that were periodically flooded. Keystone probably used the station to monitor water quality—otherwise why else would Jack O’Brien be headed down a road no one ever used anymore?
The van’s passenger seat had been empty. Risa was probably still tied up with Leah, finishing her interview. Luka tried to call Leah but it went straight to voicemail, confirming his theory. Next he called Krichek.
“Congrats, boss,” Krichek said. “Heard you nailed the Homans for our hit and skip.”
“Still figuring out which Homan exactly, but it’s a start.”
“And you found us one of Chaos’ victims in Smithfield. Ahearn’s going to let me act as liaison with the feds, work with their profiler.” Excitement filled his voice. “Oh, and I heard back from the Indiana PD—not much left of our landscaper, but they found enough to do DNA testing. So that’s another kill confirmed.”
The thought didn’t make Luka feel better—he would have preferred Chaos to have lied about his other victims. Although, the more bodies the more potential evidence. Chaos might be smart, but he wasn’t perfect. Sooner or later he’d screw up and leave something of himself at a crime scene.
