He sounded much younger than his late-forties, man of the world demeanor, and Liam had to smile, because he thought maybe the Salingers had to do with that too.
“They’re certainly not going to let this go, are they?”Liam asked with a smile.
“It’s good,” Leon said, smoothing his beard in an unconscious gesture.“I… my children had gotten to that point where talking to their parents was… passé.You understand?”
“I’m the oldest of six,” Liam said.“Oh yes.Suddenly this little person whose nappies you used to change is the most grown-up of grown-up little arseholes on the planet, and fuck you for changing their nappies in the first place.”
Leon chuckled.“Youdounderstand.”They both took bites of their sandwiches and chewed, and when they were done, Leon continued.“Getting to know my brother’s son, his family—it gave me the language of being young again.Not the slang so much, but the… the freedom of not thinking any idea was stupid, of looking at the world afresh.Suddenly I have a sister and brothers of all ages who can give me advice, or even give me an amusing anecdote so my children know that I wasn’t born old, Isoundthat way because I’m trying to keep them safe.”
Liam nodded.“I….”And he hadn’t confessed this to anybody but Josh.“I would like very much for my family to meet the crew.Lightfingers at the least, but all of them.They’ve grown up on my stories of this family, you know?And part of it was the job.”He grimaced.“One of my brothers and two of my sisters are already married.And there they are, starting families and lives, and all I had was Danny’s stories to share with them.But part of it is… the joy of it.We find the same joy.”He shrugged.He didn’t want to talk about Danny’s drinking or his own father’s—not with Leon anyway—but they were both outsiders there.Being here at the hospital was like being in the inner sanctum, and it felt right to share.
Leon chuckled.“It must be magical,” he said, wiping his mouth.“Because I am sitting at a table with a member of Interpol, and I’ve got to tell you, in my family that’s practically a crime.”
Liam gave a grin, tickled at that, and then they were interrupted by Danny, escorting a beleaguered-looking Josh, who now wore a sling.
“Bone bruise,” Josh muttered.“Go ahead, text it.Tell everybody I’m fine.Some anti-inflammatories, two weeks in the sling, and don’t forget my vitamins.Then log off and talk to me while I eat.Leon, you’re a nice guy, and I love you, but Danny thought maybe I didn’t have to know about my mom fainting, and I’m telling you, that doesn’t work for me.”
Danny shook his head.“Well, you made it work for your mom in November.I thought perhaps you owed us a little willful ignorance.”
The two of them took their places, Danny next to Leon, grabbing the sandwich with his name on a Post-it on top and a stack of napkins, while Josh slid in next to Liam.Liam snagged Josh’s sandwich and a plastic knife and started cutting it into pieces and setting the pieces on the tray.
“This is romantic,” Josh said, his tone absolutely arid.
“Would you like me to change your nappy and do your pigtails?”Liam retorted.“Because that could be arranged.Or maybe you could just eat and not be such a pain in my arse—”
Josh held up his hand, forestalling the “boy-o” they both saw coming.“I’ll eat.Leon talks.It’s been a long night, and it’s only eight o’clock.”
Leon’s story was short—and the salient point seemed to be that Julia had fainted when Kadjic had gotten suspicious of her, and Carl had filled in admirably—but still a little worrisome.
“She said it was hunger,” Leon told them, brow furrowed.“Which is understandable.She was wearing this ice-blue dress that all but cracked her ribs.”
“Very elegant,” Danny said proudly.“There were only two dresses of color tonight, Julia’s ice blue and that terrible scarlet macaw thing that Celeste had going on.”
Josh grimaced and swallowed his first bite of sandwich.“I tried to tell her that didn’t work like she thought it did.”
“Did you mentionThe Emperor’s New Groovething?”Liam asked seriously.“Because all I could think was, ‘Yzma?’”
Josh had to put his hand over his mouth so he wouldn’t sputter crumbs.“No,” he said behind his hand.“Because I put my age as twenty-nine on my résumé, and I didn’t want to sound ten!”
“Twenty-nine?”Liam asked, eyeballing him up and down.“And sheboughtthat?”
Josh scowled at him.“She did.She seemed to think I was the perfect age.”He shuddered.“My God, people should keep their hands off other people’s asses unless they have a sign and an arrow and a contract that says ‘I give consent.’”
“I’ll remember that,” Liam murmured, and Josh shot him a glance.
“We signed that contract on the balcony,” he said, and Liam’s eyebrows went up in surprise.
“Look who is clearly all out of fucks,” he said.
Josh flushed and turned back toward his tray.“I’m sorry,” he muttered.“I’m just… it’s been a night.”
“It has indeed,” Felix said, arriving just in time.“And if it’s okay, I’m going to call an audible.Leon, can our young Interpol friend here have your keys?”
“It’s the red Porsche,” Leon said.“It’s parked near Felix’s SUV.”
Liam extended his hand and tried not to drool.
“You know how to drive that?”Felix asked, probably because he’d loaned it to Leon while he was in Chicago.
