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My car pulls up outside Gavriil's house, there's a car already on the drive so I park on the curb. I've been here regularly in the few days since the poor man was shot. Caeo's initial conclusion that Nico held the gun has been confirmed. The police have proven Nico's fingerprints on the firearm used to shoot Gavriil. I don't want to believe it, but returning to the scene of the crime is yet to yield anything to the contrary.
Nico's fingerprints are now on police files; they confirmed them from items found upstairs in Gavriil's room. That alone has me concerned. They'll know the kid is here illegally, which makes his return even more complicated. He'll be damned whether he's guilty or not. I also want to know why the hell his prints are in the bedroom of a man old enough to be his dad. There is just a single bed in a single bedroom. A single toothbrush in the bathroom. Nico doesn’t live here. I feel like I let him down years ago.
I'm not worried about them having Gavriil's fingerprints. That man has a petty crime record as long as my arm. He's lucky he is so good at the job, and that I have such good lawyers.
The house is surprisingly small for what we pay the man. The downstairs is an open space, with a worn out sofa and outdated TV welcoming me as I enter. There's a dark and grimy feeling with the curtains closed.
I step hesitantly into the hall. Just a short walk takes me to the simple kitchen, passing over the blood stained carpet where Gavriil was found clinging to life.
"What are you doing here?" Caeo looks up from where he stands at the sink.
"Same thing I expect you're doing," I reply.
"Nico wouldn't have hurt Gavriil," Caeo insists. "There has to be something to point us in the right direction."
"There is no direction." There is nothing to work on. The ambulance took Gavriil, and the police took the evidence. Nico is currently their only person of interest, but whether he is the murderer or the witness, he seems to be very good at hiding.
So much has happened since I dragged Porter into my life.
I found the man of my dreams, and in the pursuit of my happiness, I uncovered the man who killed my sister, and Nico's mum as well. I was too busy making up with my father, after so many years of wrongly blaming him. If it wasn’t for Porter's kindness, I wouldn’t have sent Caeo to check on Nico. No one would have missed Gavriil until we next needed to question someone. Gavriil is very lucky we - or more accurately, Caeo - turned up in time. But Nico is very unfortunate. I doubt he planned this, so wherever he's gone, it was a spur of the moment panic. If we hadn't found Gavriil so soon, he could have found the strength to come forward, or had longer to run away.
"Nico would have stood here." Caeo moves to stand between the living room area and the kitchen. I'd agree with his position, based on how Gavriil was lying. Caeo lifts his hand, pointing two fingers like a gun towards me.
"He would have stood here, pointing the gun like this. Gavriil would have let him, he'd do anything for that boy."
"I can't imagine what frame of mind the kid would have been in. Gavriil was like a father to him." I walk to Caeo and raise his arm. It means he would make a head shot if Gavriil was standing where I am, but Nico is shorter.
"Did we test the trajectory of the bullet? It would show the upright angle if Nico fired."
I don't know what to say to Caeo. He so desperately wants a way for Nico to be innocent in this. I want that too; I just don't see how it can be possible. We matched Nico's fingerprints to the gun with our basic resources, but the police forensics confirmed it. They also found Nico's bloody fingerprints at Gavriil's throat, and around his pockets where both his wallet and phone were gone. I want the kid to be innocent - if he isn’t, then it's my fault - but I don’t see how we can change the evidence. I am praying for a miracle for Nico, but if he didn't do this, then where is he?
"We need Gavriil to wake up and tell us." Caeo turns around with a huff.
"I have a translator on standby."
Not that I'll need her, Gavriil is in a medically induced coma in the hospital. We are not the first people who will hear when he wakes up. I have enough sway with the police to know what they know, but they aren’t letting me in that room when he starts talking.
When. Not if. I've got to stay positive here.
The guy had his chest cut open and patched up. My hand moves to my abdomen where I had my own close call. I was shot recently too, but the bullet embedded in my guts. I was lucky. Gavriil was hit at close range with a bigger calibre bullet. It passed right through his body. Tiny entry wound, massive exit wound. He lost a lot of blood, lost a lot of his lung tissue. If the bullet had hit a rib and stopped, it might be a different story, but there is a chance Nico's crime could become murder. It would be easier to tell if we were allowed to visit him, but the police are maintaining a strict no-visitor policy.
"Nico must have panicked so much when the gun went off. He must have somewhere where he goes sometimes," Caeo ponders. "Somewhere safe and secret."
"Where did his mum live when they first came over?" I frown. Maybe he'd go back there, but I'm reluctant to search for the kid. I want him to get away with this; we may be down one torturer, but I can't bring myself to think what would happen to him if he was caught.
"His mum had a little trailer. I remember her saving up for something better but she… Well, she never got time. The trailer could still be there." Caeo beams at the sudden lead, but I grab his arm as he moves.
"Do we really want to find him?"
My dad would skin the boy alive for what he's done. I'd rather leave him free to run and start a new life somewhere than let my dad get him.
"It could have been an accident," Caeo pleads.
"You know that doesn’t make any difference."
"Is there really no hope of forgiveness for him? After everything he's been through."
"He shot a member of the family and left him to die. We’re not talking a misfire into his foot and a panicked call for help. Gavriil will never be the same, and instead of coming to us, he ran. That is something Dad will never forgive."
