Liam gasped as though slapped, and remembered the Francis Bacon painting.Aladdin of the velveteen pantaloons was apparently in a dark place.
Well, Liam could go there with him.“That’s a shitty thing to do to the people around you, isn’t it?There’s got to be somebody out there who would miss you.”
Aladdin sagged into the bed and rubbed the back of his neck.“I… wow, copper, you don’t know it, but you hit me where I don’t live anymore.”He took the deep shuddering breath of a man who was trying not to cry, because menweren’tsupposed to cry, and kept his face averted.“What are you doing here?”
“I wanted to tell you that the boy—Tienne—is okay.I’d say fine, but—”
Aladdin swallowed.“He just saw his father practically beheaded in a back alley.No.Not fine.Poor kid.”
Listening to him now, Liam could hear the British accent he’d affected—fairly successfully—slipping.What remained was subtly American, although Liam wasn’t yet great at gauging from where.If it wasn’t a moviesque New York or Southern accent, he was at a loss.
“He thinks you’re a hero, you know.”Liam softened his own tone and, trying to appear non-threatening, sat down in the chair across from the reluctant patient and got a good look at his face.
He was breathing hard—Liam had heard he’d nicked a lung, although there’d been no pneumothorax, thanks to the quick treatment.But the flesh of his rib cage and concave stomach had beencarvedupon—literally aK,A,Dand the beginnings of aJ.
Liam could see blood seeping out through the bandages and thought with a sudden cold sweat that if he’d managed to get some scrubs and slip out the window—and it was obvious he’d been eyeing it the entire time as an exit—the young man might truly fulfill his wish and die.Quickly or slowly, it wouldn’t matter.
With a swallow, Aladdin dashed at his eyes with the palm of his hand.“He doesn’t know, though, does he?”he mumbled, almost to himself.“What a real waste of oxygen I am.”
“You saved his life,” Liam said.“And now we need your help.”
Surprised, the man glanced up, his eyes red-rimmed and shadowed with pain and exhaustion.The hand he moved to wipe more tears was shaking, and Liam had a sudden flash of insight.The boozy humor in the museum, the announcement of “trying to drink himself to death.”
He apparently almosthaddrunk himself to death.Now that he was coming down from the anesthetic, he was detoxing.
“I’m a wreck,” the man said, laughing bitterly at himself.“I’m not sure what I can do.”
“Do you know the boy?”Liam asked.
A shake of the head.“No.First time I saw him was in that alley.I tried not to pay attention when Kadjic was working.”
As long as the booze was good—the words remained unspoken, but the recrimination hung in the air.
“Well, we’ve got two options.One is to take him into custody as a material witness?”
“And sign the boy’s death warrant?”
Those puckish features suddenly sharpened, and Liam could feel it roaring out of the man: Protectiveness for a boy he’d never met.
“Or find someone willing to shelter him,” Liam said.Besides me mum, who would do it, too, but that’s a fine way to thank her.
“Shit,” Aladdin muttered.“Shit, shit, shit-shit-shit-shit-shit.Fuck.Goddammit.Fuck.”
Liam found himself chuckling in spite of the direness of the situation.“That was impressive.”
There was a roll of the eyes.“Is my bag of stuff still here?”Aladdin asked.Liam found it on the side of the bed and handed it over.Inside was a cell phone—but not a smart phone.This was a dinosaur, a Nokia, the tiny coffin-shaped one that needed shortcut keys and a degree in cryptography to text.
The charge was dying on the thing, but there was a cord—as ancient as the phone—and an adapter in the bag too.
And enough cash to rent a flat for a year.
And a small silver flask.Liam checked it for an inscription.
Danny, to grand adventures.Love forever, Felix.
Liam swallowed, and then watched as Danny—it had to be his flask—plugged in the phone and hit a number.Not a preset, from memory.
“Dearest?”he said in a voice one might use for a beloved sister.“No, no—don’t give him the phone.Don’t tell Josh either.Just… goddammit, I had no idea you’d all be eating breakfast.Get up, apologize to Fox, and hide in the office for a minute.I’ve got….”His voice fractured.“Julia, I have a huge favor to ask you, but it’s important.”
