Page 30 of Death is Familiar

“I didn’t want to go snooping around.”

“But you are snooping now.”

“Apparently.”

Todd waited, perhaps thinking I might change my mind and take the question back. When I didn’t, he replied, “He was poisoned. Badly.”

“Oh.” For some reason, my first instinct was cancer. I swallowed down the subsequent asks of ‘what kind’ and ‘how’, letting Todd continue.

“He made waves. The most wanted list success put him on the radar. Of the good. And the bad.” Todd held out his hands in a motion which told me I could fill in the rest of the blanks on my own.

“Were they⁠—”

“They were caught.”

I took a moment with my thoughts. Someone poisoned Jack. It was severe enough to land him in the hospital. For Todd to be at his bedside. I tucked that bit of information away for later, for when I could search poisons and see if they were connected to Jack’s perceived infertility. But something in my gut told me they were one and the same.

“Thanks for sharing this with me.” The subject felt heavy, and thick, like molasses. So, I teased, “Though I thought you might have been more tightlipped with Jack’s secrets.”

“It’s not a secret. If it was, I wouldn’t have told you.”

“I thought you were telling me, best friend to best friend.”

“Best friend to best friend, why are you asking?”

Well, that shut me right up.

I had not been prepared for the direct question behind my interest. And I hadn’t expected Todd to reciprocate the best friend comment. Even if it was true.

“I was curious.” I shrugged, focusing my gaze off in the distance. We were close enough to the bridge that I could make out the green paint on its iron beams. “You and me. People see our scars. They stare. They know we’ve been through things, even if they don’t know what they are. They expect us to be hard, and I think I’m just trying to understand what Jack—you know what, it doesn’t matter.”

Our walk led us inside a large outdoor amphitheater. Layers of grass knolled ledges faced the river. We had reached our destination. I was about to sit down on one of the ridges, but soon found Todd’s hand warm and heavy on my shoulder.

“It does matter. What you think. What you feel. It’s important. Very.” His words poured over my frayed edges like a tonic. “Jack… is very good at what he does. He is a great agent. A great ally. A great friend… But Jack also likes shiny things.” Todd used my choice of words from the night before. “Challenges.” Then with a directness that buried itself beneath my skin, he added, “People.”

His look prompted a question. “You think I’m shiny?”

“The shiniest.”

I opened my mouth to unpack Todd’s comment when I spotted a large grey blur hurtling towards me. Any words that came to mind flew out the window as I braced myself for impact.

Legs steady, muscles tensed, I was rocked backwards. Nails burrowed into my shoulders. I grabbed fistfuls of fur. There was a mouth at my face, something hot and wet streaked over my cheek.

But I remained upright. There was no pain—so at the very least I wasn’t being mauled.

When I opened my eyes, I found a full-grown wolfhound lapping contentedly at my face. Todd, whose fists clenched in fight-mode, quickly schooled his features and his temper as I giggled at the sopping wet kisses.

“Dog!” Jezebel called. “Hey, get down.”

Dog listened, releasing my shoulders.

“Sorry,” Jezebel clipped the leash back on Dog’s collar. “He must have really missed you, D.”

I wiped the slobber from my face with the hem of my shirt. “Only because I was heavy-handed with the treats.”

Todd swung his gaze from me to Jezebel and back again, before folding his arms across his chest.

I had some explaining to do. But he’d get the picture soon enough.