Page 110 of Brazen Deceits

It’s only years of creeping through places I shouldn’t be that keeps me from jumping and running. You freak out in my line of work, you get hurt. Maybe dead. Best-case scenario is figuring out the problem, then talking my way out of it. Worst case, well, at least I’m closer to the window than the voice is.

I turn to find Clara’s dad hovering in the doorway, boxers and a t-shirt different shades of gray in the dark. He doesn’t seem angry to see me skulking in his daughter’s room. Or even very surprised. I glance down at the frame in my hand. “She looks, I don’t know, lighter than she is now,” I say.

He scratches the back of his calf with his foot. “She was. A pure light. Not perfect, but trusting, joyful. So full of life I felt more alive just by watching her.”

I set the frame back on the dresser. “And now?”

“Now she’s learned the lesson I’d hoped she’d never have to figure out. That not everyone deserves her trust.”

I tuck my hands into my pockets. Better to keep him at ease as I take a step closer to the window. “So I take it you’re calling the police?”

He runs his hands through his hair, glancing around the room. “I thought she’d come back herself. Maybe she’d apologize and things could go back to normal. Only, she’s not coming back, is she?”

I shake my head. “I don’t think so. And even if she wanted to, none of us would let her without a fight. Not that any of us could stop her. Not really.”

He sighs, his shoulders drooping with the weight of his loss. But he chose his side. He chose it year after year, because there’s no way what Walker saw was a one-time thing. He chose the wrong side, and he’ll have to bear that weight for the rest of his life. “Do you care about my Clara? You’ll keep her safe? Keep her away from another piece of shit like Bryce?”

I nod.

“Then I guess that’s all I can ask for.”

I want to tell him he can ask for a hell of a lot more. Twenty-plus years with Clara’s mom? There’s no way this man hasn’t taken some damage. Maybe not physical, but it’s there in the stoop of his shoulders, in his resignation to his lot in life. Because he could ask for some peace in his life, fora relationship with his daughter, for the kind of bravery Clara has in spades. But he doesn’t. And I don’t point it out. He’s a grown-ass man. He can figure out his own damn life.

We stand silent, bathed in moonlight. He clears his throat. “I take it you’re here for her stuff? I can go get some bags.”

“All she wants is her winter coat and boots. She forgot them when she ran out.”

“Then you’re in the wrong room.” He leaves Clara’s doorway and I follow him down the stairs, the both of us nearly matched for quiet feet.

He cracks open a closet by the front door, pulling out a worn puffer and boots with holes in the heels. “I was planning on getting her new boots for Christmas, but the pair I was watching didn’t go on sale,” he says, handing them to me.

I take the coat too, not sure what to say. I’m sorry your daughter isn’t going to be here for Christmas? Sorry the boots didn’t go on sale? Well, at least you didn’t waste the money? Yeah. None of those are great options.

“I guess I’ll head out now,” I say instead.

“Okay. I’ll lock up after you,” he says, following me to the back door. “Thanks for not breaking a window getting in.”

“I’m not an amateur,” I say, a second before I can stop my mouth from saying things it shouldn’t. Damn it. I was doing so well, too.

“No, I don’t suppose you are. None of your crew are, are they? Because I don’t want Clara caught up in some pointless police sweep.”

Air is tight in my chest as I look at the man across from me.

“Like sees like. I didn’t run these streets for as long as I did without picking up the signs of a well-run crew.I might be reformed, but I’m not blind. You’re all too careful with your words, with your glances, to not be on the wrong side of the law. This is just confirmation, son.”

But like I said, I’m not an amateur, so I keep my mouth shut. This time, at least.

“Keep her out of it, if you can. And if she’s just as stubborn with you all as she can be here, well, at least keep her clean. This isn’t what I wanted for my baby girl, and I’m not going to let a pack of pendejos take her future from her.”

His hand on the knob, he blocks me from leaving, his eyes black in the dark. “But no matter what, nurse her light. She’ll need it if she walks this path. She’s a smart girl with a good heart. You’ve got something to learn from her. So listen.”

“Yes, sir.” Nothing left to say, Clara’s dad swings the door open, leaving me to march into the bite of winter as he locks up behind me.

Well, that was weird.

Back in my car, I drive a few miles before parking under the glare of some parking lot floodlights. With a sigh, I look over the coat and boots that I got without a fight, but with way more conversation than I’d expected.

Yeah, the boots need to be replaced. And the coat is almost as bad.

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