Page 2 of A Deeper Darkness
They stood, wiped the girls down, tidied their things. Susan folded the blanket and tucked it into her backpack.
“Carry Vicky,” Donovan said, lifting Ally into his arms. There was no way he was going to chance losing one of them in this crowd.
They strolled to the Tidal Basin, where the cherry blossoms were in full bloom. Some had already begun to fall, slowly dying on the ground, creating a blanket of pink-and-white fairy-tale snow. The girls oohed and aahed, wriggling like puppies in their parents’ arms. Donovan and Susan set them down and they immediately rained themselves in the crushed petals.
Susan snapped photos, immortalizing their antics.
They were down by the paddleboats when Donovan’s cell phone rang. There was only one reason for Donovan’s phone to ring today, of all days, the day he’d arranged to take off in order to spend time with his family, as if they were regular people, in a regular world.
“Shit,” he said.
“Daddy, you owe a quarter!” Ally said.
Fumbling in his pocket, he pulled out a quarter and handed it to her, then, ignoring Susan’s basilisk glare, answered the phone.
He recognized the voice immediately. “We need to talk.”
“Now?”
“Yes.”
He clicked the off button on the cell and glanced at Susan. He resisted the urge to close his eyes to avoid forever being turned to stone, instead bent close, as if talking tenderly might help.
“Honey, I’m sorry. I have to go. You and the girls have fun, and I’ll see you at home tonight.”
“Eddie, you promised them.” She flung her hand to the right, where Ally was studiously avoiding his gaze, showing her sister the intricate bark of a weeping cherry tree.
“Don’t do that, Susan. Please.”
“You promised me,” she said, softer this time.
He heaved a breath in, his mind already five miles away. He didn’t do guilt. Guilt was for the weak. Susan rarely pulled it on him, either. He couldn’t help himself; his tone changed. He straightened up, the calm, cool demeanor back in place.
“I said I was sorry. I’ll be home as soon as I can.”
He leaned in and bussed her mouth briefly, then went to the girls.
“Daddy has to run an errand, chickens. But I’ll see you at home tonight. Why don’t we have…pizza!”
They danced in little circles, all disappointment forgotten. “Pizza, pizza, pizza!”
If only everyone were so easily swayed.
He gave them each a quick kiss, touched Susan on the cheek in apology and started off at a quick jog down Wallenberg toward Maryland, looking for a cab. His car was parked all the way back by the Air and Space Museum, on the meters at the top of the mall. It would be quicker to get a ride.
He was in luck. Within moments he caught the eye of a turbaned man who swerved to the curb to pick him up. The cab smelled of evergreen and cumin, and something else, that indefinable scent that all D.C. cabs seemed to have. Maybe it was fear. Or power. Or greed. Or envy. Regardless, it insinuated itself into the very fabric of the city.
He slid in the back. “Corner of Seventh and Independence, please.”
The cab darted from the curb, and deposited Donovan at his car five minutes later, having only been stymied by a single motorcade.
Eddie jumped in the Audi and took off toward Constitution, then swung back around and headed down toward the Navy Yard. The radio was tuned to 101.1, a song by one of his favorites, Nine Inch Nails, playing. He turned it up and tapped his fingers in time on the steering wheel.
The sun shone in the corridor today. Streams of people walked down to the Nationals stadium for the season opener. Baseball and apple pie coupled with naval history and pastel row houses.
Happy.
Safe.
