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“Raul.” Colin nodded.
“Colin.” Raul nodded back. Colin looked stressed.
Inside, the place was better than outside. It wasn’t full of knickknacks or overly precious. You could walk in a straight line for more than a few steps.
Raul had an aunt, Tia Matilda, who lived in an ancient house in LA and inside it was a nightmare clutter of things to trip over or knock over. He wasn’t clumsy, so he never broke anything, but it was always a miracle. Everybody hated going to her house except for the fact that she was a fantastic cook.
Colin’s space was open and not cluttered. He led them down a wood-paneled corridor to a bedroom-study. Bookshelves filled with books, mostly medical texts, a desk with two computer monitors, and on a couch, Toby popping to his feet.
“Toby!” Emma rushed forward and embraced him. He was her height, both of them short in comparison to Raul and Colin. Their coloring was different but they could have been siblings. Same height, slender build, super bright, vibrating at a higher level than most people, like hummingbirds.
Tears tracked down Toby’s face as he clutched Emma, more a gesture of desperation than affection. He was white-faced, shaking. “Thank you so much, darling Emma. Colin told me you went looking for me, wouldn’t give up until you found me.” His entire body gave a big shudder. “Who knows what would have happened to me if you hadn’t done what you did.”
Emma pulled back. She patted him on the shoulder, gently smiling. “I think you have Raul here to thank for saving you. I just found you. If it had been just me and Colin, I think you’d still be back in that place.”
Toby lifted his eyes, looked at Raul. Clearly, he didn’t remember him. “Thanks, man. Appreciate it. Who are you?”
“A friend,” Emma said.
“Emma’s friend,” Raul said firmly, making it clear that he was her friend-friend. More than casual. “Why don’t we all sit down and do a debrief?”
“Raul’s former military,” Emma offered.
“Sure.” Toby looked like he was happy to sit down because otherwise he’d fall down. He sat on the couch and Emma sat beside him. She kept her arm around his shoulders and he leaned into her a little. That told Raul a lot. Toby clearly felt that Emma was someone a person could rely on. Raul was, too. He didn’t like people who collapsed at the first difficulty. Emma wasn’t that kind of person. Neither was he.
Raul sat down in a spindly chair that looked like it could barely carry his weight. There was an office chair too but he imagined Colin would use it once he came back into the room.
Colin arrived immediately, angling sideways through the door, carrying a tray.
Raul’s head went up hopefully, but it was tea. He’d have preferred coffee but presumably Colin knew Toby and knew what Toby would like. Emma too, was happy with the tea.
Emma and Toby were the stars here. They were the ones who had to be comfortable.
Colin poured out four mugs. The tea looked strong and black – none of that straw grass nonsense – and smelled good. There was a serving plate piled high with scones, small croissants, fruit-topped pastries, looking good enough to be worthy of the Queens of IT back in his office. It had been all of an hour since he’d last eaten. Raul was hungry.
“Looks great,” Emma said enthusiastically, picking up something with a slice of kiwi on top.
“Thanks, babe,” Toby said, picking up a scone. His hand trembled.
Emma noticed, too. She looked at Colin. Their eyes met.
There was a rhythm to interrogations. Interrogating a terrorist was very rapid pace, quick-fire, never allowing the terrorist time to think, to make up plausible lies. This was the opposite. This was to elicit memory and it required time and finesse.
Emma’s territory.
Raul sat back and sipped.
“Toby.” Emma’s voice was very gentle. “What’s the last thing you remember?”
“Going to bed Friday night.” He met Colin’s eyes. “After we spent the evening at Heaven, remember?”
Colin nodded.
Emma leaned forward. “And nothing after that?”
“After that, what I remember is seeing you, Colin and that guy –” he nodded to Raul, “bending over me. I felt like I was swimming out to sea. Like I wasn’t even in my own body. Like I wasn’t even me.”
Colin’s voice was grim. “I told you guys I dropped off a sample of Toby’s blood to a friend of mine who has a lab for analysis.”
