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"You're changing the subject. Whatever." Casey patted the bed. "Come, sit, tell me all about you and Special Agent Thatcher." Then she laughed, a strange little gravelly sound. "Is he as good as you thought he'd be?"
Je
Casey gri
Je
Casey grimaced. "Bitch." Then she brightened. "Can I be your maid of honor?"
Je
"But now you'll think about it." Her blue eyes widened. "You have been thinking about it."
Je
"Nothing. I finished my themes and left my grades in an envelope on Blackman's desk."
'The Crime and Punishment themes, you mean."
Casey's brow crinkled at the mention of the book's title.
"What?" Je
Casey looked troubled. "There's something important about those themes and I can't remember what it was." She bit her lip, then dismissed the thought. "It'll come to me. Anyway, I think I'd look good in blue. Satin. And if you pick a dress with a bow on the butt, you're toast."
Je
Casey patted her hand and said nothing.
Monday, October 10, 2:20 P.M.
He frowned and stowed the bottle of peroxide in the closet with the rest of his darkroom chemicals. Nobody ever checked his darkroom and if they did, all brown bottles looked the same in the dark. Thatcher was upping the ante. And getting a bit personal. He bared his teeth in the mirror on the closet door, a
He rolled his eyes. So monsters didn't always have fangs, huh? What a lame attempt at a sound bite. He really had thought more of Thatcher.
He smiled sweetly at his own reflection. He didn't have fangs. He had really, really sharp knives that worked even better.
Monday, October 10, 3:00 P.M.
Her first name was Evelyn. "Kasselbaum, Evelyn" read the chart outside the room where Mrs. Kasselbaum lay, still unconscious but stable. Je
He turned and his gaze focused in on her throat, covered in the turtleneck sweater. And in his eyes Je
"I'm okay, Dad," she whispered. "Really."
He said nothing. Just stood there and Je
"I'm sorry. I didn't want to worry you."'
He still said nothing. But his throat worked like he wanted to cry and Je
"Adam's car is wrecked. Dad. Totaled. Last Thursday." He flinched, grew even paler. She drew an unsteady breath. "Casey was driving and went off an embankment. She nearly died." She held her back rigid. "The brakes were cut. I was the one who was supposed to be hurt."
Seth lowered himself into the chair next to Mrs. Kassel-baum's bed. Trembling visibly.
Je
"To worry me?" Seth finished, his smile bitter and twisted. "I thought we'd settled that last week, Je
Je
Seth sighed. "You are so damn independent. You think you can handle everything and everyone yourself. You make decisions for people, Jen. And you have no right. You think you're a superwoman, that you can manipulate everything to be the way you want it to be." He closed his eyes. "And rob the rest of us of the privilege of caring about you."
Still she didn't know what to say.
"I made a promise to Adam," Seth went on, his throat swallowing convulsively, his eyes still closed. "He made me promise to take care of you. To make sure no one ever hurt you. He made me promise never to tell you, that you'd find some way of…" He faltered. "Of ducking me, he said. He said you were too accustomed to doing things for yourself. Of never trusting anyone to do things for you. Of taking care of you. Why is that, Je
Je
Seth opened his eyes and Je
Je
"But not enough to make your mother stop criticizing you. Not enough to take care of you. Not enough to make sure you knew you didn't have to do everything all alone." He fluttered his hand in the air. "Never mind why. The fact remains that he was right. I can't fulfill my promise to my son, Je
Je
He stroked her hair and said nothing.
"He put the knife to my throat. He tried to cut me open, but I got away and he cut the mattress instead. Jean-Luc bit him and he ran. And knocked Evelyn down on his way out."
His hand on her head trembled, then resumed stroking. "Je
Je
Seth studied her for a long moment. "He cares for you?"
She remembered the way Steven had held her the night before. Like rare china. "Yes."
Seth's eyes narrowed. "And he has a spare bedroom?"
Je
"Well, does he?"
Je
Seth smiled at her and she knew she was forgiven. "Can I come, too?"