[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.Not that he needed to explain himself to me.What with the no-strings-attached agreement.We heard a chain rattling from the inside; then the door unlocked.The man that opened up showed us his back at first while he shifted the weight of a child in his arms.I cataloged everything I could see of the young man: the blond tousled locks and the slender back straining under the weight of his bundle.It shouldn’t have, but it still came as a surprise when the young man turned to us with an apologetic smile on his face.“Alex,” I greeted.“J-JEFF,” Alex stuttered before he caught himself and went on more self-assured, “What are you doing here? Changed your mind?”My left eyelid started twitching.How could one person be that arrogant? “Excuse me?”A bit more hesitantly, he said, “Did you change your mind about giving me a chance to explain? How did you find out my address?”Unbelievable.Fucking unbelievable.“I didn’t even know your last name, and I’m not here for personal reasons.”“You’re not?”Alex’s self-confident posture crumbled in record time as soon as I explained, “This is a duty call, not a bootie call.We’re investigating something and have some questions for you.”Alex blushed as I stepped aside to show Parker standing behind me.He nodded at Alex.“Hey there, boy.How’re you doing?”Irritated, I glanced at my partner.Why the hell did he call him boy? Parker caught my glance and shrugged.I heard Alex saying, “I’d shake your hand, but I’ve got my hands full.This is Sean, by the way.”I turned toward him.“This is Sean?”A shrill, piercing whistle startled both Parker and me.Alex appeared to be the only one unperturbed.He smiled at the child in his arms and asked, “You wanna stand and say hello?”Another piercing whistle answered.This time Parker and I merely winced.We exchanged a worried glance when Alex shifted the weight of his bundle until the child stood on his feet.“Should he, uh, even try to stand?” Parker asked cautiously.“I’m holding him and he loves to stand and walk.” Alex wound his arms around the child’s torso and together, they maneuvered him around until he faced us.The boy’s movements were spastic and I hastily took a step backward, barely evading getting hit by his flailing limbs.The boy was as blond as Alex, but he bore not even a trace of Alex’s beauty.The skin on his face was stretched taut and saliva trickled from the corner of his mouth in a steady stream.The bandana he wore functioned probably as some kind of bib; it just looked more stylish.I wrinkled my nose.The sight of this kid was not pretty.Most definitely not.Alex’s smile faltered and he hunched his shoulders.I watched him take in a jerky breath and when he looked at me, I discovered a sheen of wetness in his eyes.Astonished, I deduced him to be close to tears.I just didn’t know why.The boy made another attempt at speaking, but only gurgling noises came forth.I stared at him and his flailing arms.He certainly tried to communicate with me.I just had no clue how to react to his attempts.Parker let out an exasperated sigh and clasped one of the boy’s hands in his own.“Nice to meet you, Sean, I’m Detective Trenkins.”Sean’s head bobbed up and down so fast I feared it would fall off.It didn’t, though.“The name Mr.Clark gave us was Samuel Fisher, not Sean Fisher.”“His full name is Samuel Sean Fisher.Everyone always calls him Sean.”“Wouldn’t it have made more sense to name him Sean Samuel Fisher?” The venom in my voice surprised even me.Parker cleared his throat loudly, while Alex looked at me dumbfounded.The dumbfounded expression didn’t hold for long.With equal acidity, he replied, “That’s none of your business, is it? What do you want from us? And why did you talk with Mr.Clark? Sean is doing well in school and we’ve got everything arranged.Don’t you usually bring someone from welfare with you?”Confused, I blinked.“Welfare? We’re running an investigation, or more precisely, we’re investigating if an investigation should be started.”“That doesn’t make any sense at all to me.Get to the point.”“The point is that we need to ask you a few questions.I take it that you’re Alexander Fisher, Samuel Fisher’s legal guardian?”“Yes,” Alex ground out.He swept his little brother up into his arms so briskly it set off all my alarm bells.If that wasn’t a protective gesture born out of pure fright, I didn’t know what it was.I almost didn’t get his next words.“I need to feed Sean.If you’ve got any questions, come in or come again another day.What is it going to be?”Alex’s eyes displayed his fright and anger.At the same time, his stance showed him ready to fight and protect.A rather disconcerting sight in my book.He shouldn’t be afraid of us.We were supposed to be the good guys.I doubted I had come across as a good guy during the last few minutes.I didn’t even try thinking about yesterday evening where I hadn’t given him a chance to explain about the phone call and Sean.“We’re coming in.” I kept my voice steady and confident.It had nothing to do with how I felt at that moment.Alex turned on his heels, one hand pressed against the back of Sean’s head, cradling it securely from flailing back and forth
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]