Page 23 of Bears Behaving Badly
“That’s because you and Net aren’t paying attention. Why would I leave? What’d you think my endgame was?”
“Jesus, you’re a kid. Why do you evenhavean endgame?”
“Hey, everybody needs a plan.”
“Yeah,” David pointed out, “and you’ve usually got half a dozen.”
“All I’m saying is you don’t have to worry about me leaving. This is where I’ve been trying to get to.”
Oh, hell. The “maybe my juvenile advocate will adopt me and we’ll be a perfect family” fantasy.
Not that he could blame the kit. But at least now that he knew Dev’s motives, he could take him at his word (a rare and wonderful thing when dealing with Dev Devoss).
“Besides,” Dev was saying, “someone should stick close to Net, doncha think? People are after her, too.”
“Net?”
Shrug.
“What’s up with that?”
Dev took a breath and stared up at him. “I’ll tell, but only ’cuz you’re helping her. It’s a nickname some of us have for her.”
“Ah. ‘Net’ like you can’t escape? Because she’s always scooping you off the streets and tossing your delinquent butt into lockup?”
“No,” Dev replied, giving him a don’t-be-a-dumbass look. “‘Net’ like what trapeze artists fall into while they’re doing incredibly dangerous shit that could get them killed.”
“That’s…”Adorable. Literally adorable.“Don’t worry, I’ll take it to the grave.”
“You better. Or I’llputyou there.”
“Consider me warned. You think Caro killed Lund? Broke out, tracked him, finished the job she started last night?”
Dev snorted. “Yeah, that ‘I’ll do an abrupt subject change and surprise the truth out of him’ thing hasn’t worked since I was eight.”
“That’s a no?”
“Totally a no.”
“I’ll learn some new tricks. So you don’t think she did it?”
“I…don’t know. I really don’t,” he added, anticipating David’s next question. “She’s capable. I mean, you saw for yourself. And I get why you might think that. But she made her point last night. I think going back would’ve been overkill. No pun intended. Did I get that right? It’s a pun?”
“What point was she trying to make last night?”
“That she’ll put up with a lot, but there’s a line, even if she’s the only one who knows where it is. Cross it, and she’ll fuck you up.”
“Blunt,” he observed.
“Accurate. Look, before last night, I hadn’t seen her for a bit. I don’t know why she went for Lund. But she wouldn’t just, y’know, randomly attack someone. Whatever she did, she’d have a good reason.” He paused, gauging David’s reaction to his words. “Maybe even life or death.”
Or maybe you’re lying.He’d read the interview transcripts. Dev either didn’t know anything or he did, but was being deliberately unhelpful. First he’d said Lund had been trying to kill Caro for two years, but now it was “I don’t know why she went for him.” First they were siblings, but Caro denied knowing him. In other words, it was classic Dev, who was scrupulously honest with kids but never hesitated to lie his little ass off to adults. And there was just no way of knowing the truth without more info.
Which David intended to get.
“Go eat,” he ordered, and headed downstairs, already unbuttoning his shirt.
* * *
