Page 118 of Reinventing Cato
“Someone told me there was a room free.” Cato’s brow furrowed. “A friend of mine. Brian Farrow. The four of us that had been displaced from Davy Road were at the pub, trying to figure out what to do. We all went after the same room but I got it. Sam and Pedro wanted someone quieter than their last flatmate and the others were party animals on occasion. On several occasions actually.”
“What does Farrow do?”
“Theoretical physics.”
“I want you to sit with me and tell me all you can about Sam and Pedro, and Max and Louise. We’re going to brainstorm. But first, we’re going to have something to eat.”
“I’m not hungry.”
“I don’t give a damn. You’re eating.”
Cato licked his neck. “I could eat you. You’re tasty.”
“Pizza is tastier.”
“Damn, you’re right.”
Vigge laughed.Tell me that NASA offered you the job.
But Cato said nothing.
The difference in Cato by the time he’d eaten, and he and Vigge had begun to pull information together, was heartening. Vigge had been worried Cato would just give up, but he should have known better. This was a guy who spent his time searching the vastness of space for the almost unfindable. Vigge drew up profiles of more people than those he had as prime suspects. Any friend of Cato’s could be an enemy. Any question Cato couldn’t answer, Vigge made a note to find the answer.
“I don’t want you to get into trouble,” Cato said. “If you overstep, they’ll suspend you.”
“I won’t know what’s happening in the investigation.” Even so, Vigge was already overstepping.
“All this information… Most of it’s irrelevant,” Cato mumbled.
“None of it is pointless. It’s not that dissimilar to what you do, gathering large quantities of data and looking for that one important detail. We just need one thing that will prove you had nothing to do with the murders.”
“And if it can’t be found?”
“Itwillbe.”
“I want to thank you for doing this, for standing by me when we both know you shouldn’t. My head is spinning.”
Vigge glanced at the window. “Get your coat and boots on, we’re going outside. It’s still snowing. A short walk will clear our heads.”Maybe encourage you to open up about the job offer.
They stepped outside into a world transformed by snow. It was like a scene from a Christmas card. Cato tipped back his head, put out his tongue and Vigge smiled. He locked the house, grabbed Cato’s hand, pulled him around to the back garden and through the gate at the bottom of the lawn.
“Where are we going?” Cato asked.
“Not far.”
Vigge’s feet knew the path even though it was hidden under the snow. Only a small hill, but enough to give a view over the valley below, though they slipped and slid on the way up there.
“Close your eyes,” Vigge said when they were nearing the summit.
“Are you going to push me over the edge?”
“Yes.”
Cato laughed and closed his eyes.
There was a bench at the top that Vigge had dragged up there within a couple of weeks of moving into the house. When he was home, he often watched the sunset from that spot. He brushed the snow off the bench and sat Cato down.
“You can open your eyes now.”
