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"I'm sorry-"
"No. Just the facts," I interrupt.
"His house is just trees. Like a kid who made a den and never left. He wanted to see Gavriil, to say goodbye. Live or die, he wanted to move on from Gavriil. We just had rotten timing."
"Did Nico speak English?"
"No. It was all foreign. I do know where he is. I just made out that I didn't to the policeman."
"You are very clever," I praise.
"Well, Mum calls it street smarts. I don’t have book smarts. That was more Annie's thing."
I'm not sure I like Annie's kind of smarts, but I owe her for bringing me Porter.
"Porter, you are amazing."
"We ran off and I let the cop follow me. Nico is hiding in a supply cupboard."
"Alright. What you say is that you were visiting Gavriil, and you met a boy here. You don't really know him, but you think he said papa. You don't know why you ran when he did, and you didn’t see where he went."
Porter nods and then walks towards Kelsey.
I step in his direction before my ringing phone distracts me.
"Caeo, have you found parking?"
"Worse. I found your dad." Caeo doesn't usually sound like a dead man when he phones, meaning his tone change is because of something my dad has said to him.
"Oh lord. What has he done?" I don't really want to know. I just want to grab both my boys and get them home safely. And hopefully Nico will sleep long enough for me to introduce Porter to a very special room in my house.
"He says he's killed two birds with one stone."
"What the fuck? What did he… hang on, I gotta rescue Porter from the detective. Tell me after."
Kelsey beckons for my attention, so I hang up on Caeo with the promise of calling him back.
"What is it?"
"I've had a call from the station. Two men have turned themselves in for this. It's odd. They've turned themselves in for killing the blokes that shot your man and took the kid. Apparently they have the bodies in the car and video evidence of the crime."
Two birds my arse. Dad is using the two numpties who killed the killers to get this case closed and dispose of the bodies.
"Thank you for all your hard work in the matter." I compliment. I'm sure he has a funny idea about the truth here. We caught and killed the bad guys, and we're getting rid of some rubbish workers at the same time, at the government's expense.
Kelsey offers his hand, and we shake before parting.
"What just happened?" Porter questions, slowly creeping to my side.
"My dad just sold out two idiots. Probably with the promise of lucrative positions for the family inside prison."
"Aren't you worried they'll talk?"
Porter frowns.
"They'll stick to the script until they're convicted. Then one of the family lifers will do them in. Once you've got one life sentence, the rest don't make much difference."
I can't let my father's actions bother me. Protecting Nico is as much his job as mine. We've both turned the poor kid into a substitute for Carrie, and his guilt is no less real than my own.
