Day Shift
Page 87

After a moment, the man straightened and stood. He looked from Joe to Fiji, and Joe noticed his eyes were purple, like pansies. Like his son’s. “I’m Quinn,” he said. “My son tells me that you’ve all been taking care of him. Especially you, Miss Fiji.”
“Just Fiji will be fine. Diederik’s a cute kid,” she said slowly, as a preliminary. Joe thought she wasn’t sure how to put what she wanted to say. “Really, we all helped to take care of him. The Rev . . .” She paused. Then she decided to be blunt. “What the hell,” she said. “You gotta know, Mr. Quinn, that the Rev was not the best person to leave a little boy with. No matter how much he looks like he’s in his teens, Diederik’s still a kid. Especially in view . . .” She looked at Joe for support, and he nodded.
“We wonder what the story is,” Joe said, simplifying.
“I deserve that,” Quinn said. “And I want to explain. I didn’t think there were any other weretigers left in North America. In fact, I was wondering if I was the last one in the world when I met Diederik’s mother, Tijgerin. The first time she got pregnant, she told me she wanted to be a traditional mother. That means she would raise the cub on her own. I hated the idea, but she wanted to do things the way her own mother had. But Tijgerin lost the cub. We were sad. Really sad. But we both figured it wasn’t likely that something else would go wrong with another pregnancy. So after a time, we made another baby. I was sure she would be different this time, but I was wrong. Tijgerin was still convinced she was right. She wanted to raise him old-school. Away from me.” The big man shook his head. Joe could feel the sadness and regret emanating from him.
“She seemed healthy and so did the cub inside her. I felt I didn’t have a choice. I couldn’t force her, wouldn’t force her, to do what I wanted. I’d been forced to do a lot of things myself, and I didn’t want that for her. Tijgerin was a proud woman. A proud tiger.”
Mr. Snuggly had crept out from the bush to look up at Quinn. Absently, Fiji scooped the cat up so he could see better.
Joe closed his eyes to guard himself against Quinn’s pain.
“She delivered him by herself, in human form, as we two-natured do, in case you don’t know that. She called me to tell me everything went well, that we had a son. I was so excited and started out to see him,” Quinn said. “Just a quick visit. She was adamant. But while I was traveling, something went wrong inside her. By the time I tracked her down, she was almost gone, but she’d kept the baby alive.”
Joe turned away. He pulled out a handkerchief and used it to mop his face. He was sad and burdened, and he longed for his apartment and Chuy. But he was here to bear witness.
“So you had the raising of the boy,” Fiji said.
He nodded. He seemed intent that Joe and Fiji understand his story. “I had Diederik, and I did the best I could. I have a traveling job, so sometimes I had to leave him with my sister. She’s human, and she’s married. Soon she had her own baby on the way. She told me that she would find it hard to take care of Diederik and her own baby at the same time. I could understand that, especially when he began growing. Once out of infancy, the growth really accelerates, until—well, you saw. So I started taking him with me, which wasn’t ideal. But I couldn’t leave him with someone who wouldn’t understand.”
“But why’d you have to leave him with the Rev?” Joe asked. “Did you know this would be his moon?”
“Let me make myself clear. I would never have left him if I’d been sure it was his moon,” Quinn said, his voice hard. “But I knew it was getting close, and I knew he would start growing like crazy, so when I found out there was another tiger, I was . . . so relieved. Another tiger in this country! Finally, a safe place to leave Diederik, with someone who would understand, while I did my job one more time.”
“But . . . this is going to be a problem forever, right?” Fiji looked troubled. “I mean, I hate to criticize, but . . .” She waved one hand as if to say, This is permanent.
“Now that he’s had his first moon, we can plan together,” Quinn said. “We’re on the same schedule. I only wish I could have been here from the start of his moon. Last night was unfortunate.”
“That’s one way to put it,” Fiji said.
Quinn took a deep breath. Joe could tell the weretiger wanted to leap in with some defense of his cub, but facts were facts. “I stopped him from eating her,” he said finally. “He won’t be a maneater. We went and took down a sheep afterward.”
“The woman did not deserve to die like that,” Joe said.
“And I feel as bad as you can imagine about it. But I didn’t arrive, change, and get on Diederik’s trail fast enough to prevent it happening. And the Rev was not fast enough. Since dawn, I’ve been comforting a boy who remembers sinking his teeth into a woman’s throat.”
There was a moment of silence. Joe regrouped. “So where is he now?” he asked, proud that his voice was mild and even.
“At the Rev’s, asleep, finally.” Quinn looked away. “I was too keyed up to sleep myself, so I came out for a run.”
“If you take him with you everywhere you go now, what will happen about his schooling?”
“That’s something I’ll have to think about. He learns really quickly. He’s smart.” The pride shone through the words. “But were-animals have a hard time in human schools, especially the ones who grow extra fast, like Diederik. It’s going to take a long time for his emotions to catch up with his body. At least, a long time in kid terms. Maybe a year or two, it varies. In the meantime, he looks like he should be in high school, but he hasn’t been to any school at all. So he has none of the background or social conditioning.”