“I’ll get it in the morning. Just put it out in the sink.” Danny motioned at the kitchen, and Simone rose and walked over, throwing the butt in the sink and running the water. “Why did you ask about your dad?”
“Something Kluren said. Can you… will you find out what you can for me?” She shut off the water and looked at him. He was staring at her—really staring, not online.
“I can…” he said slowly. “But are you sure you want to know? I never had real parents, exactly, but it seems like a weird thing to go looking into. What if I find something—I wouldn’t say bad, but… something you wouldn’t want to know?”
“You won’t,” Simone said. “You’ll get some files and some information, but you won’t know what it means. I’ll know.”
“So?”
“So, you can’t hold anything back, and anything you do tell me—I won’t blame you. That’s what you’re looking for, right?”
“And I don’t want you to be… hurt, I guess.”
“I’ll be fine, Danny.”
“You want me to do it right now?”
“No,” Simone said, walking back over to the sofa. “We can do it in the morning. And then I’ll tell you all about the case… and then maybe I’ll throw myself in the ocean.” She smiled without meaning to.
“It worries me when people say things like that and smile.” Danny stood, and Simone lay down on the sofa, pulling the blanket over her.
“Thanks, Danny.”
“Anytime, boss.” He shut the light and padded quietly to his bedroom. Simone closed her eyes. Outside, she could hear the ocean washing softly against the building. It was so dark in this room—nothing but waves and black.
THIRTEEN
A HIGH-PITCHED WHISTLE WOKE her up, and, for a moment, Simone forgot where she was. But then it all came back at her like the vibrant slashes on Linnea’s arms, and she lifted herself up on the sofa so she was sitting. Danny was in the kitchen, and the whistling was from a tea kettle.
“You have coffee, too, right?” Simone said.
“I do, but only decaf,” Danny said. Simone frowned. “I have the Internet in my head. It’s hard enough getting to sleep as is.”
Simone groaned and put her head in her hands. Her hair streamed over her face, bright red in the morning light.
“There’s a coffee boat that docks right down the bridge in the mornings. If you need it, go get yourself a cup.”
“I will in a minute. Can I shower first?”
“Sure—right there.” Danny pointed at the bathroom and poured himself some tea. Simone showered quickly, splashing the water over her face until she felt awake. When she got back out, Danny was sitting on the sofa, drinking his tea and staring ahead vacantly.
Simone sat down next to him, toweling her hair. He glanced over at her, anxiously, then went back to staring ahead.
“What’d you find out?”
“I… I looked into your dad like you asked. It was just hacking NYPD files. You probably could have done it yourself…”
“Probably,” Simone admitted. “But I don’t like computers. That’s why I have you.”
“I do so love the way you make me feel like a complete person, after my time being raised as a tool for the government.”
“You’re just angry I didn’t bring you those naked photos of deCostas.”
He looked at her, his eyes focusing on her, his brain going offline. “You’re really not good at apologizing, are you?”
Simone stopped drying her hair and raised her eyebrows. “I was just kidding.”
“I know, but it was a little over the line, considering you’re the only one who knows how not-human I am. But I don’t mind that. I’m just making an observation. Did you apologize to Caroline?”
“I sent her a bunch of straws.”
Danny laughed in a way that seemed a little cruel. “That’s something, anyway.” Simone stared at him in silence, and he looked away for a moment.
“What did you find out about my dad?”
“You sure you want this?”
“Yeah… And hey. I am sorry—you know, if I offended you with that crack. You are a person.”
“Your dad and Kluren had an affair.” He said it quickly, like he’d been holding it in.
Simone looked down. “How can you know that from hacking a server?”
“Kluren admitted it.” Simone felt her face go warm. “They had an affair. Your dad broke it off. They figured it out when Kluren asked for a transfer, asked her flat out. They were both reprimanded, and Kluren was demoted. They were going to demote your dad, too, but he went for early retirement instead.”
“And that’s when my mom left, too.” Danny didn’t say anything. Simone felt a chuckle leave her mouth, but the rest of her was cool. “Never make assumptions,” she said quietly to herself.
“What?”
“Nothing.” Simone looked up at Danny and smiled.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, thanks. I’m just going to get that coffee,” Simone said, heading for the door.
“Okay. And sorry about your dad.”
She didn’t turn around as he said it but paused before opening the door. Then she kept walking.
Outside it was bright and clear, the sort of day that makes happy people smile and inhale deeply and unhappy people go back to bed. The light glared off the water, hurting her eyes. She put her hat on and kept her face down, pacing to the end of the bridge, where a small coffee boat run by a man with a large mustache was docked. She got a hot black coffee and sat down on the edge of the bridge, her legs over the edge. There was only a cheap rope railing, barely noticeable, and she stared through it at the ocean, drinking. When the coffee was nearly done, she lit a cigarette and called Caroline at work. She picked up after three rings.
“I don’t know if I want to talk to you,” Caroline said.
“Fair enough. I shouldn’t have, but… Did you know my dad had an affair with Kluren?” There was silence.
“That explains a lot,” Caroline said, her voice sounding cautious.
“Yeah.” More silence.
“Look, I have work to do.”
“I’m sorry. I just… I saw you in a photo with The Blonde, Marina, and my brain went into work mode. Imagine if I tried to park a boat in the city without a permit.”
“That’s a crap example, Simone. I thought we were friends and then one photo and you think I’m trying to kill you. That’s not friendship. That’s… I don’t know.”
“I didn’t want to ask you about it. I didn’t want to put you in a position where you might have to lie to me.” Simone stared at her cigarette, then tapped the ashy end of it into the water.
“This isn’t helping your cause.”
“I just was afraid that if I told you about it, you’d get angry and… well, we’d end up where we are.”
More silence. A seagull soared over her, then dove into the ocean like a brick.
“So your plan was a failure,” Caroline said.
“Big time.”
“So you had Danny ask me—”
“No—that was all him,” Simone interrupted. “He found the picture, and I told him to keep his mouth shut. But he’s Danny.”
“Did you think I had anything to do with the case, though? Did you think I’d hired Marina to threaten you?”
“No… Can we talk about this in person?”
“Afraid the line is tapped?”
“I’m being closed in on right now. Lot of pressure.”
“I’ll call you back, then. I’ll use the mayor’s fancy encrypted scrambler line. That good enough? Or do you think he’s involved, too?”
“That’s good,” Simone said, and they hung up. The sun beat down on her, making her clothes cling. Her earpiece rang, the little light from under her ear projecting the incoming call from “unknown.”
“Yeah?” she clicked the phone.