The God's Eye View

CHAPTER 44

Evie and Dash walked into the front office. There was an old guy sitting behind the desk — the one Marvin had described, presumably — watching a small television that appeared not much newer than he did. He looked up and said, “Help you?”

“I just wanted to return the laptop,” Evie said, trying to sound blasé.

“Oh,” the man said, apparently realizing she must have been the person for whom Marvin borrowed it. “Sure.”

“And if you could call us a cab.”

“At this hour? You must have an early flight.”

“That’s right.”

The man looked at her swollen lip and his expression darkened. “Say, how’d you get that lip?”

“Hmm? Oh, just a stupid accident.”

“A stupid accident, huh? That big fella hit you? There was something about him, I could tell.”

“What? No. No. Nothing like that.”

“You protecting him? I’ve seen this kind of thing before. Now you’re running off with your little boy to protect him, too. Sneaking out while the big bastard is sleeping off a drunk. And probably not for the first time, is my guess.”

“Look, I appreciate your concern, but it’s really not like that.”

“The hell it isn’t,” the old guy said, picking up the receiver of a landline phone. “I’m calling the cops.”

“No!” Evie said, alarmed at how quickly and weirdly her simple plan was being hijacked by this codger. “No, please, I promise you, it isn’t what you think. Please.”

The old guy paused, the receiver halfway to his ear. Then he shook his head as though doubting his own judgment, and put the receiver back in its cradle. “You sure you know what you’re doing?”

The question was obviously pro forma, but nonetheless for an instant it caught Evie off guard because, good God, could she have any less an idea of what she was doing?

Then she got it together. She nodded and placed the laptop on the counter. “Quite sure. And really, thank you for your concern. Even though I promise you it’s misplaced.”

The old guy looked at Dash. “You all right, son?”

In his sleepiness and confusion, Dash hadn’t managed to read the man’s lips. He looked at Evie, and she signed a translation. Dash turned back to the old guy and gave him a tired thumbs-up.

“Oh,” the old guy said, nodding as though this explained everything. “Deaf, is he? Like his father?”

Evie smiled. The smile felt overbright, but at this point she had no idea how else to react.

“That cab,” she said. “If you could.”