"I didn't know he claimed to be a psychic until today."
Hjalmar shook his head."He is a psychic."
"He said he'd mostly read bullet cases lately.Your doing, huh?"Isaac grinned at Hjalmar.
Hjalmar shrugged.
"The shooting down on Second Street?I heard you were all over that."
Hjalmar nodded."Yeah.They're moving up in the food chain."
Isaac whistled."I'd say let them take each other out, but there are always some poor innocent fucker getting caught in the crossfire."
Nikolai wanted to snarl at them.Why were they talking about some drugcase?
"I better go find Frode, though I suspect he's on his way home again.Can't say I'm sorry.I hate it when you dump murders on him."Hjalmar grinned at Isaac.
"Yeah, drug lords are so much better, right?Those casings had nothing to do with death."
Hjalmar grimaced."It's different."
Isaac laughed."Yeah?How?"
"Idiots having a shoot-out compared to some sick fucker sitting in his basement and jerking off to the idea of killing someone."
Isaac waved a finger at him."Which is why we need to catch the fucker."
Nikolai wanted to scream.They were both talking as if this were normal.As if Frode was a psychic who helped them solve their cases when Nikolai was convinced he was a fraud.
"You can't be serious."He hadn't meant to speak, but the words spilled out of him anyway.
Both Hjalmar and Isaac turned to him.
"About what?"Hjalmar looked confused.
"You're joking around when your brother is running some fucking scam."
Anger crept into Hjalmar's eyes."He's not.He was in his late teens when the powers started to manifest, then they sort of exploded in his early twenties and have been stable ever since.It's how it is for most psychics.Some powers manifest at a younger age, but most won't until the tail end of puberty, and thank fuck.It was hard enough as it was.I can't imagine how it would've been if he'd been twelve instead of twenty."
Nikolai had been eighteen when he started college and no longer saw Frode every day.He would've been fourteen then.But he'd seen him after.He and Hjalmar had been friends through college.He had seen Frode at sixteen, at seventeen, at eighteen.He believed he'd seen him when he'd been around twenty too.Maybe.
Though Frode did have a knack for avoiding him.He would glimpse him somewhere, and then he'd be gone.
"How come you never told me if that was the case?"
Hjalmar studied him, something close to confusion taking form in his eyes."He dealt with it on his own.Mostly.He moved away for college, remember?I never learned how much it affected him until...There were a few incidents, but I never understood about the day-to-day complications until he came back home."
Nikolai did remember Frode moving away.Hjalmar had been worried sick until Frode had started dating someone."Is he still with the boyfriend?"
"Chance or Declan?"Judging by the growl accompanying Declan's name, Nikolai didn't think he'd been the one Hjalmar had approved of.
"Eh...don't remember his name."He didn't think Hjalmar had told him his name because he was pretty sure he would've remembered.
"Nah, he's been single for years."
"Years?"
"Yeah, it's been like five or six years since Declan the fucker."
