“I mean your other. Did somebody kill her?”
“Nuh-uh.” He began to pet Galahad, who'd deigned to stay and have his belly rubbed. “Sometimes she'd go away, and I'd get hungry. Sometimes she'd be nice, and sometimes she'd hit me. 'Smack the crap out of you, little bastard.'“ He grinned when he said it, but it wasn't a pleasant expression. “That's how her face looked when she hit. But my mom now, she never hits, and she never has that face. My dad either. Sometimes they get this one.”
He drew his eyebrows together and tried to look stern. “But mostly they don't. And they don't go away, and I don't get hungry, not like before.”
“How did they find you?”
“They came and got me from the place where you have to go if you don't have a mom or something. You get to eat there, and they've got games, but I didn't want to stay there-and I didn't for very long. Then they came and we got to go live in Virginia. We have a big house. Not as big as this,” he said, stringently honest. “But it's big and I have my own room, and Dopey came with us.”
Nixie moistened her lips. “Are they going to take me to Virginia?” She knew where that was, sort of. She knew the capital was Richmond because she had to learn all the states and their capitals in school. But it wasn't New York. It wasn't here. It wasn't home.
“I don't know.” Obviously intrigued, Kevin cocked his head and studied her. “Don't you live here?”
“No. I don't live anywhere. People came in our house and killed my mom and dad.”
“Killed them dead?” Kevin's eyes popped wide. “How come?”
“Because my dad was good and they were wrong people. That's what Dallas said.”
“That's the doom.” He gave her a pat, as he had Galahad. “Were you scared?”
“What do you think?” she snapped back, but the sympathy on Kevin's face didn't fade.
“I think I'da been so scared I wouldn't even be able to breathe”
The little flash of anger died. “I was. They killed them, and they didn't kill me, and I have to stay here for protection. Dallas is going to find them and put them in a goddamn cage.”
He slapped a hand over his mouth and slid his gaze to the door.
“You're not supposed to say goddamn,” he whispered. “Mom gets that look on her face if you forget and say it.”
“She's not my mom.”
When tears glimmered, Kevin scooted over and put an arm around her. “It's okay. She can be your mom, too, if you want.”
“I want my own mom.”
“She got dead.”
Nixie dropped her head to her drawn-up knees. “They won't let me go back to my house. They won't let me go to school. And I don't know where Virginia is, exactly.”
“We have a big yard, and we have a puppy. Sometimes he pees on the floor. It's pretty funny.”
She sighed, rested her cheek on her knees. “I want to ask Dallas if I have to go to Virginia.” She swiped at her cheeks, rose, and used the house scanner. “Where is Dallas?”
Dallas is in Roarke's office.
“You have to keep this.” Carefully, she unpinned the homer from her shirt, pinned it on Kevin's. “It's how Summerset knows where I am. I just want to talk to Dallas and nobody else, so you have to stay here and play games until I get back.”
“Okay. When you come back, we can look Virginia up on a map, then you can see.”
“Maybe.”
She knew the house, or at least the parts of it Summerset had shown her. To avoid the parlor, she took the elevator up a floor, then dashed down the corridor, and used the steps.
Part of her wanted to run away. But where would she go? She didn't want to be alone. She knew kids were sometimes. Coyle had told her there were places like Sidewalk City where kids nobody wanted lived in boxes and had to beg for food. She didn't want to live in a box, but it wasn't right, it wasn't fair that they were going to send her away. No one even asked.
Creeping past a door, she paused to listen.
She heard nothing inside, so eased around to look. It was Dallas 's office, and no one was there.
She crept to the next door.
“Gonna nail those sons of bitches. Look at the tenant list, two blocks from the Brenegan murder scene, and we've got a fucking revolving door.”
There was a sound in Dallas 's voice, Nixie thought. Kind of mean, and kind of excited, too. Like she'd heard one of the bigger kids sound at free-time in school when he talked about punching another kid.
“Two of those names are known aliases for Cassandra disciples. And one of them's a face sculptor-a dead one. Bet your excellent ass he's the one who did the work on Kirkendall and Clinton. The other's off planet doing life. I'm going to have to go squeeze him, and I hate going off planet.”
“We get lucky here, you won't have to. Every property or company I find is one away from pinning their base. Just give us some room here, Lieutenant.”
“Right, right.”
Nixie heard footsteps, crouched.
“And stop pacing about. It's annoying. Why don't you leave me to this for a half hour, go downstairs-or at the very least go hound someone.”
“I sent my team home. You're what's left for me to hound.”
“Just my lucky day.”
There was a beeping, an oath that would have gotten Nixie grounded for a month if she'd so much as thought it.
“ Dallas.”
Dispatch, Dallas, Lieutenant Eve. Compromised police seal, main front entrance, Swisher murder scene.
“Goddamn kids.”
Patrol dispatched. Acknowledge you have been informed of compromise.
“Acknowledged. Have the patrol hold at scene. Have officers in light armor as precautionary measure. I want to check it out myself. ETA, ten minutes.”
Acknowledged. Seal requires replacement. Dispatch out.
“If there's a patrol heading there, it seems unnecessary for you to go as well.”
“I chased a bunch of kids away earlier. Should've kicked some butt, but I didn't want to chance another chase. If they're inside, I want to correct that error in judgment, personally. If they're nearby, I'm going to take a few minutes of my time to round them up, and kick said butt.”
“I'll go with you, then.”
“Jesus, Roarke, it's a kid butt-kicking detail. I can handle it.” There was a long pause, a hiss of breath. “Okay, okay, no unnecessary risks. I'll catch Baxter, take him along. I need you to stay on this and coordinate with Peabody once she gets to Central.”
“Wear your vest.”
“Oh Christ!” There was a sharp thud, as if something had been kicked. “Yes, mommy.”
“And later when I take it off of you, you'll be calling me something entirely different.”
“Ha-ha. Ten minutes there, ten back, ten to kick teenage butt. Back in thirty.”
In the hall, Nixie streaked away. With her heart drumming, she raced down the stairs, found an elevator, and ordered it to take her to the ground-floor library.
There was an outside door there, and she knew which car Dallas drove.
Eve caught Baxter on the stairs. “I need you to ride with me. Seal's compromised at the Swisher house. I chased a bunch of teenagers away from it this afternoon. Looks like they came back. Trueheart, take the vehicle. I'll stick your partner in a cab when we're done slapping around a bunch of kids.” She tossed Baxter a vest. “Suit up. I take no chances.”
He started to take off his jacket.
“Upstairs. Jesus, you think I want to see what you refer to as your manly chest?” She took a small remote out of her pocket, tapped in a code.
“What's that?”
She felt the heat rise up the back of her neck. “It's a remote, brings my ride around on auto.”
“Sweet. Let me-”
She stuck it back in her pocket. “Just suit up, Baxter. I'd like to get this annoying little detail accomplished so I can get back to work.”
She took enough time to signal Mavis out of the parlor. “Listen, I've got to go out for a few, and I might be pretty jammed up when I get back. Can you keep everybody happy?”