‘You know you weren’t responsible, Marcus. The monster that shot him was.’
‘I knew Mom was scared for him, every day. But I didn’t want Mickey growing up scared of shadows, like me and Stone. Too scared to sleep with the light off.’ He met her eyes, no smile on his face or in his heart. ‘Don’t you tell anyone I said that. We both got over it.’
‘Your secrets are safe with me,’ was all she said, and his heart cracked in two.
‘I know.’ He shrugged, forced lightness into his tone. ‘It’s just . . . not very manly to be afraid of the dark.’
She smiled at him. ‘Your manliness has never been in question. Nor is your love for your brother. You wanted him to have an easier life, a better life. You wanted him to be a good man and you showed him how.’ She swallowed hard, her eyes suddenly bright. ‘You’re gonna make some lucky kid a good dad, Marcus O’Bannion,’ she whispered.
His chest felt like it was going to burst open. ‘Thank you.’
Coming to a stop in front of the shelter, she scrubbed the moisture from her eyes, took a long look around them, then up. ‘Appears clear. Stay low and don’t dawdle.’
‘Yes, ma’am,’ he said obediently.
They made it through the doors with no issue, immediately running into Diesel, who was waiting just inside. ‘I brought the files.’ He held out an external hard drive like it was red hot.
Scarlett slid it into her jacket pocket. ‘Thank you, Diesel. I appreciate it.’
‘Diesel!’ The delighted cry came from a small boy of about five who was hobbling across the room using crutches. On his leg was a bright green cast.
Diesel looked down in surprise. ‘Emilio?’ He went down on one knee. ‘What are you doing here? What happened to your leg, kid?’
Scarlett looked at Marcus, brows raised in question. ‘Pee Wee Soccer,’ he murmured. ‘Diesel coaches.’ The stunned look on her face was priceless.
Emilio gazed up with unadulterated hero worship, because even on one knee, Diesel towered over the boy. ‘My brother’s got the croup. That’s what my grandma said. She took him to see Dr Dani.’
‘I don’t know who he is,’ Diesel said, and the boy giggled.
‘She,’ Emilio said.
‘Dr Dani is Deacon Novak’s sister,’ Scarlett explained. ‘She’s taking care of Tommy and Edna, the two people Marcus and I came to see.’
Diesel’s mouth bent in mild interest. ‘Deacon’s sister? She got white hair like he does?’
‘Only kind of,’ Scarlett said. ‘Think Rogue from X-Men – black hair, white streaks.’
Emilio’s smile turned little-boy sly. ‘She’s real pretty. You should meet her.’
Marcus had first met Dani Novak when she’d visited him in the hospital. She’d accompanied Deacon and Faith to a few of Jeremy’s parties in the months since and had endeared herself to his adopted father forever when she’d been able to quote from his most recent article in the Journal of Medicine. Dani was kind and funny and it was easy to see that she and Deacon were related. And Emilio was right – she was very pretty, just not as pretty as Marcus’s detective.
But if cops were Stone’s trigger, doctors in white coats sent Diesel into a PTSD tailspin. Marcus wondered how Diesel was going to get out of meeting Deacon’s pretty sister.
Diesel ruffled the boy’s hair. ‘Not today, kid.’ He leaned forward. ‘I’m scared of needles, so I don’t go around doctors unless I have to,’ he said in a low voice. ‘Even pretty ones. You gonna tell on me?’
‘No,’ Emilio said seriously. ‘I promise. But she’s nice. You’d like her.’
‘I’m sure I would,’ Diesel said, ‘but it still ain’t happening.’
Emilio bent his head. ‘Who are those people?’ he whispered.
‘That’s Mr Marcus – he’s my boss and my friend. And that’s . . .’ He glanced up at Scarlett. ‘Miss Scarlett. She’s not my boss. Just my friend.’
Scarlett’s smile was a little wobbly as she understood she’d just been accepted. ‘It’s nice to meet you, Emilio. Your cast is cool. How’d you get it?’
‘I tried to slide into home plate,’ he said, dejected. ‘It didn’t work.’
Marcus coughed to hide a chuckle. Scarlett swallowed hers, but Diesel didn’t crack a smile.
‘That’s gotta hurt,’ he said. ‘I guess it explains why you missed practice last Thursday. But if you want, you can still come to the games and sit on the bench and keep score. You can count, right? And write your numbers?’
‘Up to twenty.’
‘That should be plenty, since we never score anyway. We can—’
‘Emilio! Where are you?’ Dani Novak came running from a back room, her white coat flying out behind her.
Scarlett waved her over. ‘We’ve got him, Dani.’
Dani rushed over, her mouth bent in a frown. ‘You know you’re not supposed to take off like that. Especially not here. Your grandmother nearly had a heart attack.’
Here, Marcus thought, where more than three quarters of the clients were either homeless or addicts or both. With a wary look at Diesel, who was still on one knee, Dani Novak also went down on one knee, putting her body close enough that she could protect the child if she had to. Which was as ridiculous as it was unnecessary. At six-six and almost three hundred pounds of solid muscle, Diesel could toss Dani Novak like a ragdoll.
Not that he ever would. Despite his shaved head and interesting tattoos, the man was shockingly gentle with everyone except the abusers he lived to squash like bugs.
Right now, Diesel was no threat to anyone. Frozen in place, he was staring at Dani’s lab coat like it was alive. Marcus considered intervening and finding an excuse to get Dani back behind the clinic door, but he didn’t. It was way past time Diesel dealt with his issues.
‘But if Grandma had a heart attack,’ Emilio said logically, ‘you could fix her, right? She says you’re a miracle worker.’
Dani pursed her lips, then gave up trying to hold back, and a smile lit up her face. ‘You little charmer, you. Maybe I could fix her and maybe I couldn’t. Let’s just not risk it, okay?’ She held out both arms. ‘Time to go back to Grandma.’
‘Wait.’ Emilio tugged her hand. ‘Meet my coach, Diesel.’
Dani’s brows lifted. ‘The coach who encouraged you to slide into home?’
Diesel’s shoulders lifted as he sucked in a breath. ‘No, ma’am,’ he said quietly, making Dani tilt her head the same way Marcus had seen Deacon do.
‘That was baseball. Coach Diesel is soccer,’ Emilio said proudly.
Dani smiled at Diesel. ‘I’m Dr Novak. Everyone calls me Dr Dani.’
Diesel lifted his head and . . . nothing. The silence went on so long that Marcus leaned around to check out Diesel’s face and was stunned to see his friend’s eyes locked on Dani’s, looking dazed. Diesel’s mouth seemed to have forgotten how to speak.
‘Diesel works with Marcus at the Ledger,’ Scarlett said, taking pity on him. ‘Come on, Emilio. I got things to do and people to see.’ She swung the kid up on her hip like she’d done it a million times.
Given that she was the babysitter of choice among her nieces and nephews, she probably had. She’d told Marcus he’d make a great dad. She’ll make a great mom too. It was a heady thought, having a family of his own. He was so taken by the idea that it took him a moment to realize that Emilio was no longer smiling and had gone completely still. The boy darted an alarmed glance at Dani, then back at the bulge of Scarlett’s gun under her jacket. He’d probably felt it when she’d picked him up.
‘My gun,’ Scarlett murmured to Dani, having gone as still as the boy.
‘It’s okay, Emilio,’ Dani said, rubbing his back. ‘She’s a cop. My brother’s partner.’