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“See you tomorrow, boss,” he says.
She watches him put the key in the lock and walk inside. He never calls her “boss.” He was putting distance between them.
His message had been clear. Leave me alone.
CHAPTER
39
JESS IS STILL awake, sitting in bed, watching the news, when Griffin gets back. It’s the only light on in the room, casting her face in a white glow. He looks at the TV over her shoulder—the reporters weren’t slow to get to the woods. He sees Cara, Dr. Ross, and his own bulky silhouette next to the white marshmallowy figures of the crime scene officers.
“I thought you’d be asleep,” he says, discarding his wet clothes and boots in a pile by the door.
She looks at him with red-rimmed eyes. “I think I fucked up, Griffin,” she says, and she explains to him about the laptop and Facebook.
“It’s unlikely,” he replies. “But would it be so bad? You could clear your name? See your daughter?”
She shakes her head, a quick, definite movement, over and over again. “Not until you find something that proves it wasn’t me. Have you?” she adds, and he hears the desperation creeping into her voice. “Have you found out anything about the fire?”
Griffin frowns. “No, I’m sorry. I’ve done some initial digging, but there’s nothing new.”
Her face is marked with disappointment. Griffin feels the weight of her expectation, the almost palpable despair from being apart from her child.
He joins her on the bed, lowering himself down carefully. He’s been on his feet all day, and it does his back no favors. He sees Jess noticing his hesitation as he leans back on the pillows.
“Are you okay?” she says, and he nods, dismissing her concern. He knows that at some point he’s going to have to arrest her. He can’t hide her here forever.
“I promise I’ll look after you if you hand yourself in,” he says, but she turns away from him, ignoring his comment. “Cara would look after you.”
“Are you close, you and Cara?” she asks.
He smiles wearily at Jess. He knows she’s changing the subject, but he lets it go. Pushing the point will only highlight his own failure to find something to clear her, and he could do without the guilt right now. “I guess so. We have our moments,” Griffin says, “like most brothers and sisters. Growing up we’d be happily playing one minute, then screaming at each other the next. It helps now we’re adults.”
“More mature?”
Griffin smiles. “No. I’m bigger than her, so she doesn’t dare give me a dead arm.”
Jess laughs and Griffin appreciates the levity, however small, after the day he’s had. Despite the protest from his back, he leans toward her, resting his head on her shoulder. After a beat, he feels her head against his.
“After I was born, I don’t think my parents had much energy left, dealing with all my problems,” she says. “Nav’s the closest thing to a brother I’ve got.”
“Brother, huh?” Griffin says, more to himself than to Jess. He wonders whether that’s how the wonderful Nav sees it.
She moves slightly, now resting her head on his chest, and he puts his arm around her. The position feels slightly odd: a new level of intimacy despite the events of the night before.
“At university he was always the perfect gentleman. He’d never let me walk home alone from the pub. He once carried me to bed, up four flights of stairs, after too many cheap pints.”
Griffin looks down at her, raising his eyebrows. She laughs. “Not like that. We’ve never done that.” Her voice tails off and he wonders exactly why not, given Jess’s seemingly open attitude to sex. Two attractive people, years of drunkenness at uni? Perfect conditions for random hook-ups.
“I never made it to university,” Griffin says, slightly regretting it, especially in light of his recent thoughts about getting laid. “Cara did, so I think Mom thought I would. Until I got expelled.”
“What for?”
“Do you want to guess?” Griffin’s not even sure why he’s telling her this.
She pauses. “Fighting?”
“Got it in one. Punched my math teacher,” he adds, and Jess snorts. “But in my defense, he was a dick. I spent three months after that pissing about in front of the television and drinking in the pub, until Cara came home and gave me a good talking to.”
