Page 33 of Rogue’s Mark

"Couldn't sleep."

"Me neither."

She climbs the last few stairs to take a seat beside me on the cold concrete steps, and we look out the window at the dark loading area for a while.

"I keep thinking about your father’s story," she says finally.

"Yeah. Really something, huh?"

"And he just left? Threw in the towel?”

I shrug. I’ve never understood it but on the other hand, I don’t blame the decisions he made. Who knows how I would have reacted in the same situation. "Said he was tired. I think he meant he was done. Not tired-tired. Just done."

Vi’s quiet for a moment. "My father didn't reach that point, although maybe it would have been better if he had," she says. "Maybe he’d still be around."

"Different kind of loss I guess."

"Yeah." She pulls her knees up to her chest. "At least you know where your dad is."

After a while, she says: "Do you think we'll find them? Voss and whoever's above them, the people who screwed over Rothwell?"

I think for a moment. A few days ago, I would have doubted it. But after today, things look different. "Yes. I do."

"You sound confident."

"I am confident."

She looks at me. "Why?"

I think about it. "Because we have something they don't."

"What's that?"

"Anger. It’s one of the best motivators."

Vi leans her head against my shoulder, which she's never done before, just leans it there, and the connection lightens my load. A lot.

I don't move. I need this and don’t want it to stop.

20

VI

I find Mara in the old food court.

She’s in the main seating area that nobody uses but which she claimed this morning. I find her sitting cross-legged on an old chipped plastic table with coffee and a book, and she looks up when I walk in, like she was expecting me.

"There you are," she says.

"Here I am."

I climb up onto the table beside her and the table creaks under our weight. I steal a sip of her coffee and she lets me, because that’s how we are together.

"How’re you doing?" she asks. “Haven’t seen a lot of you lately.”

I think for a moment. "I'm okay. I think. There's a lot swirling."

"The dad thing."