No Safe House Read Free Page B

you should be able to, too.”
    “It’s hard for me.”
    “You live in the past. That’s your problem, Unk. God, that’s what all this latest shit has been about. You have a hard time getting over things.”
    “I … I was just hoping you’d found her.”
    “I’m not giving up.”
    “But I can see it in your face. You think this is all stupid. You think it doesn’t matter.”
    “I didn’t say that. Not the last part. Look, I get why this is important to you, why she matters so much. And you’re important to me. You’re one of only two people I give a shit about, Unk.”
    “You know what I can’t figure out about you?”
    “What’s that?”
    “You understand people, you get how they think and how they feel, you’ve got a real insight into them, yet you’ve got no … what’s the word?”
    “Love?”
    “No, that’s not what I was going to say.”
    “Empathy?”
    “Yeah, I guess that’s it.”
    “Because I love you, Unk. Very much. But empathy? I suppose. I understand what makes people tick. I know what they’re feeling. I need to know what they’re feeling. I need to know when they’re afraid. I very much need to feel that they
are
afraid, but I don’t feel bad for them. Otherwise, I couldn’t get things done.”
    “Yeah, well, I’d be better off if I was more like you. I guess itwas empathy I felt for that damned Eli. He seemed like a lost kid—hell, he was no kid. He was twenty-one or -two. Something like that. I thought I was doing right by him, Reggie. I really did. And then the son of a bitch stabs me in the back.”
    “I believe he approached the other interested party.”
    “Shit, no.”
    “It’s okay. Just an initial contact. He was holding back details until there was a face-to-face, which, of course, won’t be happening now. I think he told us the truth about what was done with her, but lied about where. And the teachers’ house was a nonstarter. Also, I’m starting to wonder about whether any of the people know. Whether they’ve given consent.”
    “I don’t understand.”
    “That’s okay. But what I was going to tell you is, I’m going to need more people, and it’s going to take a lot more up-front money.”
    “Eli took all I’d set aside, Reggie.”
    “That’s okay. I can put up money of my own. The tax refund thing’s going well. I’ve got reserves. And when this is over, I’ll not only get back my investment, and your money, but plenty of other money, too. There’s a silver lining to all this, as it turns out.”
    “I still don’t understand.”
    “That’s okay. You don’t have to. You just let me do what I do best.”
    “I just can’t believe … after all these years, I finally win her back, and then I lose her again. Eli had no right, you know. He had no right to take her from me.”
    “Trust me, Unk. We’ll get her back.”

THREE
TERRY
    JUST because Cynthia was no longer living with Grace and me didn’t mean we were strangers to each other. We spoke daily, sometimes met for lunch. Her first week away, the three of us went out to Bistro Basque, over on River Street, for dinner. The girls both had the salmon and I went with the chicken stuffed with spinach and mushrooms. We were all on our best behavior. Not a word about our visit to the hospital, even though Cynthia couldn’t keep her eyes off Grace’s bandaged hand. The unreality of the meal was exceeded only by the end of the evening, when Grace and I dropped Cynthia off at her place and we drove on home alone.
    She really lucked into the apartment. Cynthia had a friend at work who was leaving the last week of June for a trip to Brazil and not planning to return until August, or maybe even September. Cynthia remembered her saying she’d tried to sublet the place for the summer, get someone who could take over the rent while she was away. She’d found no takers. A day before her friend was to fly out, Cynthia said she’d take the apartment. The friendcleared it with the