Page 85 of The One Who Won’t Get Away
Chapter 36
Nick
THE DINER WAS ONE OFthose places that specialized in two things: serving people who wanted to be left the fuck alone and smelling like egg salad no matter what time of day it was.Sean and I picked the corner booth, but even here it was impossible to tune out the white noise of silverware on crockery and retirees arguing over who would die first.
“So,” he said.“They’re sure it’s her?”
“That’s what DNA says,” I answered, and was surprised at how normal my voice sounded.
Sean nodded.He waited for me to say more, but there wasn’t anything left to say.Isabella’s body—what was left of it—had been found in the yard of a sick fuck who liked seeing children suffer.
I was supposed to feel something.Relief, maybe.Closure, definitely.Instead, the world had turned down its color saturation to one notch above grayscale.
“Can I ask you a favor?”
Sean looked up.“Of course.”
“There's this stray cat living around Nadya’s building.Can you feed it while I'm visiting my parents?”
“Sure.”He watched me closely, probably wondering why I’m worried about a cat after finding out what happened to my sister.
“He steals food from people.Feeding him is a civil service,” I answered his silent question.“I named him Meatball.”
“Want me to catch him?”Sean asked.“I can practically see you as a cat dad.”
I flipped him off.“If you get a chance then yeah, catch the cat burglar.”
Sean poked his fork at a slab of meatloaf, then wiped his hand on a napkin.He picked up his phone, thumbed a few times, then frowned.
“Everything okay?”I asked, glad for the distraction.
He turned the phone so I could see the screen.“First floor cameras at my place are offline.Vera probably turned them off.”
That snapped me back into something resembling alertness.“You think someone cut them?”
He shrugged.“I made them easy to turn off in case we want privacy.”
The waitress came by and topped off our mugs.I added creamer and watched the white swirl through the black.The movement hypnotized me.
“Want to talk about your sister?”
“Not really,” I said.
