Page 29 of Devil and the Deep Blue Fish

“That was way too easy,” Ellery said as they climbed into bed. “Why didn’t you fight me on that?”

Jackson grunted. “We’re getting married in June—I assume we’ll discover more, better things to fight about by then. In the meantime, the person who shot Henry is running around free like a Tweety bird, and I don’t have time to be sick.”

Ellery scowled, only appearing partially mollified. “That’s very mature,” he said, snuggling up to Jackson like a magnet to a refrigerator. “Why has it taken you this long to figure that out?”

Jackson managed a reluctant smile in the dark, and he rolled to his back again, the skin only a little tender from a long, nasty wound inflicted before Thanksgiving.

“I’m stupid,” he said, letting Ellery rest his head on his shoulder, “but I’m notthatstupid. Thanks for the nurse-maiding, Counselor. It was kind, and I should have said something coherent.”

It was Ellery’s turn to grunt. “Given that you didn’t fight me too hard on backup, you’re completely forgiven. You’re, uhm, not planning to go back on your word, are you?”

Jackson recoiled as though slapped. “No.No! Geez, Ellery, has it occurred to you I have somebody suitable in mind?”

“Well, yeah, but you sent them to Disneyland,” Ellery snapped, probably irritated because he’d rather been counting on Sean Kryzynski himself.

Jackson chuckled, remembering the look on the young detective’s face when Jackson had, with Dex’s blessing, consigned the little party to the unexpected trip. Well, it wasn’t every night your once sworn enemy got you out of bed, shoved two fugitive witnesses into your hands, and said, “Hey, everybody, I’ve got an idea!”

But the timing would be perfect. By the time Shitbag Retty or whoever could track down exactlywhohad been shot that night and then looked up friends and contacts, Sean and Billy could be most of the way to the Grapevine. It would take some fancy computer skills—and a psychic, which Jackson understood did not come standard to most outfits, which was why he bought Crystal yarn and catnip tea and pastries as often as possible—to figure out where Isabelle and Cowboy had been placed and where they might have gone at the drop of a hat. And even then, tracking a group of people you didn’t know—and Jackson knew for certain Billy’s ID was problematic because he’d never legally changed his name from Guillermo Morales to Billy Carey, like many of the kids did when they wanted to reinvent themselves via Johnnies, although much of his ID was in that name.

Frankly, Jackson didn’t think Shitbag Retty had the master-criminal skills to navigate that wrinkle.

No, the more he’d pondered it—and questioned Cowboy and Isabelle and John and Galen—the more certain he’d become that their Retty hadstumbledupon Cowboy, and every move thereafter had been a decision of impulse. She didn’t knowwhoshe’d shot through that wall in Isabelle Roberts’s apartment, and she had no idea who she was dealing with.

Jackson smiled into the dark and knew the expression was unpleasant.

“What?” Ellery asked. “What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking she has no idea what she’s unleashed,” Jackson said, his voice hard and angry. Henry Worrall wasn’t just liked—he wasbeloved.He wasnecessary.And Shitbag Retty, whoever she may be, had tried to take him out of the world.

“Be careful,” Ellery murmured, stroking Jackson’s bare chest. “I’ve been where Lance is tonight. It’s… rather awful, knowingexactlyhow he feels.”

And Jackson had a very clear memory of waking from a bare doze at Ellery’s hospital bed and seeing an assassin preparing to take Ellery out.

His blood froze all over again.

“Same, babe,” he whispered, smoothing Ellery’s hair back from his brow. Any product had long since flaked away, and it was limp and smooth and soft. “Same.”

“Which is why….”

Jackson wanted to laugh, but outside the sky was lightening up just the tiniest degree, and the rain had all but stopped. He felt sleep weighing on him like a wet bag of wool, and what he managed was a mumble.

“He’ll be fine, baby. He’ll be fine.”

As his eyes closed and consciousness whispered out, he couldn’t decide if he meant his choice for backup or Henry.

In the end, he decided it was both, and for once his sleep went untouched by dreams.

Mama Said

JACKSON TOOKoff into the wild blue yonder in the haunted minivan shortly after breakfast. Ellery did some computer work at home and then left as well to be at the office by eleven thirty, still tired and irritable, not least because Jackson was spending all his immaturity points on not telling him who his backup would be.

It didn’t help that Jade and AJ seemed to know, and they wouldn’t share the secret.

“It was right there,” Jade said. “His name was even mentioned last night—don’t know why you don’t remember.”

Ellery stared at her. He couldn’t for the life of him think of who she was talking about. “Is it somebody I’d approve of?” he asked hesitantly, and now she was staring back.

“Who are you, his agent?” she asked, and he had a flashback to the days when he and Jade had loathed each other, before they’d bonded over the care and feeding of Jackson.

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