Page 49 of Brother's Keeper

Even the Lyle mansion struggled to contain this crowd. Every room was cluttered with guests chatting and sipping wine, and each hallway was lined with people commenting on the hanging art. Waiters milled around offering hors d’oeuvres that smelled divine but wouldn’t sit well on my nervous stomach.

My plan for the night was undefined. Make an appearance, wish Holland well, and leave early? Or get drunk enough to endure till the bitter end, overstay my welcome, and end up puking on the lawn? I wanted to believe there was a middle ground, but I also knew me.

Ducking out sounded like the better option. I didn’t want to be in the same building with Grimm any longer than I had to, and events like this made me uncomfortably sentimental. Everything was nearly right, yet wrong. Familiar enough to have stepped right out of the pages of my memory but missing all the best parts. It left me feeling lonely.

Thinking of ghosts from my past seemed to summon one. Willem Briggs and his wife loitered at a junction in the hallway ahead. Briggs must have seen me comingbecause he turned toward my approach and met me halfway.

Like Grimm, he thrust out his hand to clasp with mine. Unlike Grimm, I sensed no hidden meaning in his words when he smiled and said, “Nice to see you, Fitch.”

I returned his firm shake and smile. “Likewise.”

“Come say hello to Nancy, won’t you?” He gestured to his wife a few feet away. “She’s been asking about you.”

Nancy Briggs wore a conservative skirt suit and looked much the same as I’d last seen her, though a bit grayer in the hair. She was Briggs’s second human wife, after his first died of old age. It struck me how much Nancy had aged in the past twelve years, and I wondered how my mother would look if she were alive. How old would she be now?

“Of course,” I replied and let Briggs lead me to where Nancy waited.

I feared she would recoil at my approach. I didn’t often elicit positive reactions in people, certainly not matronly, middle-aged women who knew who I was.

When I got within reach of her, I offered a tentative hand before noticing the wet sheen of her eyes. I started to withdraw, but she opened both arms wide.

“Don’t be silly.” She laughed, and her face crinkled into smile lines. “Handshakes are for businessmen and acquaintances. We’re old friends.”

Without hesitation, she wrapped me in a hug that was soft and warm and smelled of the same perfume she wore a decade ago. I wanted to reciprocate but found myself unable to do more than stand awkwardly whileshe held on.

Briggs chuckled. “I don’t think he’s much of a hugger anymore, Nan,” he said.

“It’s fine, really,” I rushed to say as Nancy pulled away.

She smoothed my jacket lapel with a swipe of her hand, then stepped back and skimmed over me with a smile. “My goodness, you’re handsome. Always such a good-looking boy. I’ll bet the girls are all over you.”

Briggs shook his head. “Please, Nan, next you’ll be asking when he’s planning to have kids.”

“Oh, youshould, Fitch.” Her eyes widened with delight. “Imagine a whole passel of little ones like ducklings in a line. Blonde-haired beauties.” She laughed, melodic, then leaned around me in an obvious search for a plus-one. “Do you have anyone special? I’d love to meet her.”

Him,I thought to correct her, and the immediacy of that impulse struck me like a gut punch.

“Don’t rush him.” Briggs sidled up to his wife and draped his arm across her shoulders. “He’s a young man. Let him revel in his youth a bit.”

It was remarkably normal. No questions were asked about the years that stretched between the boy they had known and the man I was now. No comments made on my reputation, widely publicized court hearing, or right to be here tonight. Not a hint of condemnation or fear.

In my peripheral, a waiter bustled by. Briggs snagged a glass of wine from the offered tray and tipped it to his lips. Worry spiked about the poisoned champagne from the gala a few weeks back, but Ripley wasn’t here oranywhere I could find, and Grimm had no reason to start trouble tonight. He already had everything he wanted. The battle was won.

“So, how are you liking Capitol work?” Nancy asked after a pause. “Will tells me you’re helping the investigative team with a big case.”

A big case that I’d been tasked with sabotaging for the sake of my own survival. I had Grimm to thank for that.

“Not sure how much help I’ve been.” I shrugged. “But yeah. I’m there.”

Nancy’s light brown eyes glittered through another smile. She looked like she wanted to hug me again but settled to clasp her hands together instead. “I wanted you to know I’m so proud of you,” she said, holding my gaze intently. “It must be hard to face all that down. Very brave.”

Did she believe I was innocent? Surely, she wouldn’t look at me this way if she knew the truth.

Briggs swirled his wine glass while nodding along to everything his wife said. In the pause, he spoke up. “I probably shouldn’t say anything, but I heard Maximus talking earlier this week about bringing you on as an investigator.”

The pit that had been deepening in my stomach dug down another layer, dropping weight into my feet.

“What an honor,” Briggs continued. “And the opportunity to carry on your father’s legacy after everything that’s happened?” He shook his head. “Never thought I’d see it. But I’m glad.”

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