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“They are being protected. That’s not why we called you,” Alejandro said coldly.
“I just thought that you might have heard something,” she explained. “And that you should know in case he turns up elsewhere. I don’t want other people getting hurt.”
“But that’s the extent of Cat’s involvement,” Alejandro warned. “She won’t be helping you any further or going into custody.”
“Alejandro,” she warned.
“Do I want to ask what happened to these Sentinels who kidnapped you and Maeve?” Stubby asked with a sigh.
“Best not to,” she told him.
“Fuck, Cat. Do you know the position you’re putting me in?”
“I’m sorry.” Her smile dropped.
“Do not blame her,” Alejandro told him. “I just warned you to watch the way you speak to her. I knew this was a waste of time, Cat. We can take care of this on our own.”
“Wait!” Stubby said quickly. “Just hold your horses. Fuck. I can’t be seen working with you, but if you get any more information, let me know. If this fucker is creating Sentinels to go around kidnapping people, the FBI needs to know. But if they know about me talking to you . . . they’ll try to use me to get to you. So just feed me anything you have and let me work this end. Got to go.”
The call ended.
“So, that went better than expected,” she said.
Alejandro just shot her a look. Yeah, she didn’t believe that either.
29
“Come here and let me put your jacket on you, mi Pequeña.”
“Why woulds I need a jacket, Papi?” she asked, not looking up from where she was doing some sketching for her next wonderful creation. “I isn’t cold.”
She was thinking of doing a huge, lifelike clay sculpture. She’d need to order some clay, but first, she had to figure out what she wanted to create.
Poking her tongue out, she scribbled on the piece of paper. Since this was her first time, maybe she should do something simple.
Like a statue.
Ooh, she could do Papi. Wouldn’t that look great? He could put it in the foyer. And then everyone could see how amazing it looked. Darn it.
Hmm. It was going to be hard to get all those wrinkles, though.
He seemed to be gaining more every day.
He was soooo very old, after all.
“I thought we’d go out for ice cream.”
“Papi, how many wrinkles do you think you have?” she asked.
“What? Did you hear what I just said?”
“Huh? Ice cream? Papi, why would I needs to go out for ice cream when we has a whole freezer full? Doomy Gloomy just stocked up.”
Concern filled his face. Yeah, Cat was concerned too. Doomy Gloomy was being way too nice lately. She hadn’t felt any voodoo pinpricks lately. Even Rafael was being less McGrumpface and more McConcernedface.
Which was strange. And worrying.
She didn’t know why everyone was treating her like she was broken. She was the same as she’d ever been. But even Maeve and Immy looked at her strangely when they called.
“Do you think a hundred is in the ballpark?”
Alejandro ran his hand over his face and stepped into the playroom.
“Do I want to know why you’re asking me how many wrinkles I have?”
“That’s top-secret, sorry, Papi.”
“I definitely don’t have a hundred. Although I seem to be getting more by the day.”
“Hey, that’s what I thought too, Papi!” She smiled up at him before frowning as she saw the jacket he was holding.
It was red with fluff around the hood. He’d given it to her for Christmas last week. It was really cute. Christmas had been a bit quieter than usual this year.
Although she had convinced The Scot to dress up as Santa, so that had been fun.
He definitely had a belly like a bowl full of jelly.
Not really. But it had been fun to tease him.
“Come on, Pequeña. I know we have ice cream here. But it might be nice to go out for some.”
“But it’s cold out there, Papi. It’s been snowing.”
“All right, so we’ll go out for hot chocolate instead.”
“Ooh, Doomy Gloomy makes great hot chocolate. And if you give him puppy dog eyes and promise to be good, he’ll put whipped cream and sprinkles on the top.”
“I am not going to give him puppy dog eyes and promise to be good,” he muttered.
“Oh, don’t worry. You don’t actually have to be good.”
“Pequeña, we’re going out.”
A shiver of fear ran up her spine. “Why?”
He came over and crouched next to her. Then he ran his hand over her hair. “Because I’m worried about you. Because you haven’t asked to leave the house since you were kidnapped over a month ago. And you haven’t done any pranks or ordered anything outlandish online to try. There haven’t been any swings hanging from the stairs or giant murals painted on the walls or a Slip ‘N Slide through the house in months.”
“Oh, Papi, I didn’t realize you were missing the Slip ‘N Slide.”
