Knight In Black Leather by Gail Dayton (ebook reader ink .txt) 📕

deep breath and let it out. "I know I'm no good for her, okay? But I promised her. Long as she wants me to, I'm staying. Until she tells me to leave, I won't. I can't."

"Oh." Kate sounded stunned. "I see. Well--um--"

"You still want me to have Marilyn call you?"

"Um--yes. That is--yes. Please."

"Sure thing."

He'd just hung up the phone  when Marilyn came out of the bathroom wearing that towel thing around her head. He liked when she did that. It made things feel all homey and domestic.

"Who was that?" She dried her ears with the end of the towel.

"Your sister. Kate. She wanted to tell me you didn't have any money I could get my grubby mitts on. And for you to call her back."

She sighed. "Later. Why'd you plug the phone back in?"

"I forgot we weren't taking calls. I did bacon, but if you want anything besides toast, you're going to have to cook it."

"I could go out for doughnuts or something."

"Maybe later." He sat in a dining chair and pulled Marilyn into his lap. She looked as if she needed to be held and he needed to hold her.

"Maybe I should unplug the phone again." She draped her arms over his shoulders and tipped her head against his.

"Would it do any good?"

"I figure there's a couple of calls still coming. I'm sure Mom enlisted everybody in her phone campaign. Probably it would just delay the calls, not stop them completely."

"So, is it better to go ahead and get it over with, or have another couple hours of peace?" He kissed her jaw where it curved into her neck. This part, holding her, being close, was almost as good as making love. More intimate, in a way.

Marilyn sighed and kissed his forehead. "Let's get it over with. With any luck, these are the last-gasp calls before I get disowned and they won't call any more after this."

"You might not like it as much as you think," he said, "if they stop calling entirely."

"Then again, I might like it even more." She shook her head. "The only time I've talked to any of them over the past six months, it turned into a lecture on how I needed to stop acting crazy and go back home. Except for Joey, of course. I'm tired of it all, Eli."

"Okay."

"You're restful."

He wanted to laugh at that. Restful? When he'd kept her out all night hunting a murdered woman? When he'd kept her up all the next night making love--not exactly restful either. But if that was what she thought... "Okay," he said again. "So rest."

"After breakfast maybe." She got up from his lap. "I'm hungry, too."

Breakfast over, Eli made a call downtown to ask what would be done with Teresa's body. He was told it would be at least a week before the full autopsy was done, given the backup of deaths. Every homeless person found frozen on the streets got one, to be sure they actually had frozen. Since he and Pete were Teresa's only relatives, they would release the body per his instructions once everything was finished.

Oh, shit. Eli hadn't yet told Pete. He hadn't even thought about it since the police found her. Probably because he couldn't think of anything he wanted to do less than tell a boy his mother had died.

He dug out his re-charging cell phone and hit the speed-dial. "Yeah, Fitz, it's me. Pete around?"

Fourteen

***

Marilyn heard him and came over to join him on the sofa. She put her arm around him and held him while he talked. It didn't make what he had to do any easier, but he didn't feel so alone while he did it.

"What's happened?" Fitz demanded, using that "trouble radar" of his.

"Pete's mom is dead. I have to tell him."

"Oh, shit. Overdose?"

"Murder. Look, I know this was supposed to be temporary, you keeping him, but--"

"Hell, boy, I'm old. I can't keep up with a kid his age, not for long. Not anymore. Not since I lost Sunny. You know I don't mind it for a while, but just for a while. You're his father. You ought to--"

"I know that. You don't think I know?" The responsibility scared him shitless. "Just--keep him for me a while longer, okay? Till I can figure out what to do. It's not safe here, yet."

Fitz sighed, a drawn-out raspy sound. "Okay. Let me get him."

Eli waited, wondering what kind of conclusions Marilyn was drawing from what she could hear.

"Hey, Eli." Pete's cheerful voice came over the phone.

"Hey, kid, how's it going?"

"Okay, I guess. Fitz is making me go to school. School here sucks."

"Not as much as being stupid."

"Why can't I come home and go to my school? You could stay with me while Mom's in rehab, like you did last time."

Eli blew out his breath. Here it was. Crunch time. How did you tell a kid something like this? He shouldn't be doing it over the phone. This was something that should be done in person, so he could hold his son while he cried. But he wasn't sure it was safe to go.

He shouldn't have let Marilyn take her car to look for Teresa. Flash probably knew it now. He probably couldn't track it to this apartment, or follow it to Erie if they went up there, but he wouldn't bet Pete's life on it. Or Marilyn's. She needed a new car.

"Come on, Eli," Pete begged. "It would be fun. And then when Mom gets out--"

First things first. He had to tell Pete now. The kid had already experienced a world of hurt in the nine years of his short life. Eli hated knowing he would add to it, but Pete had to know. "Is Fitz there, kid?"

"Yeah, you want to talk him? Tell him when you're coming?"

"No, just checking that he's there." He took another deep breath and let it out--the last breath had worn off. "Your mom's not in rehab, Pete. That's what I was calling to tell you."

"She's not? Where