Etched in Bone
Page 93

“Clarence is mean. He shakes his bum and slaps it and says things like ‘Fanny kisses fanny’ and makes a smacking sound like big kisses. When they lived in Toland, he told her he’d give her a quarter if she kissed his friends’ bums. And one time, a boy said he’d give Clarence a dollar if Frances kissed his boy stuff.” Lizzy wrinkled her nose to show her opinion of doing such a thing. “Frances doesn’t want to be bad, Daddy. She told me and Grr Bear that she doesn’t want to help Clarence when he does bad things. But if she doesn’t, he pinches her really hard until she cries, and then Uncle Jimmy calls her a crybaby and says mean things.”
Monty felt sick, dizzy, shaken. Clarence was a boy who might be growing up too fast and in the wrong way, but he was still a child. Was he really trying to pimp his younger sister? Had he learned that behavior from his father? Had Jimmy, who always preferred to use someone else in order to make money, tried to pressure Sissy into providing sexual favors to his friends or to acquaintances who had something he wanted?
Maybe Jimmy had tried, the same way Clarence was now trying to pressure Fanny, but he hadn’t succeeded. Mama and Daddy would have known if something was that wrong. Maybe they hadn’t realized how much hurt Jimmy was inflicting with his talk when they weren’t around to stop him, but if it had become physical in any way, they wouldn’t have cared that he was their flesh-and-blood son and Sissy was their adopted daughter. They would have called the police and reported Jimmy. They would have done right by Sissy.
“Daddy?”
Monty studied his daughter, wanted to ask if Clarence had tried to show her . . . Well, she’d seen Sam Wolfgard’s boy stuff, but Sam had shifted from Wolf to naked boy after rescuing most of Boo Bear, Lizzy’s previous bestest stuffed friend. And Sam had been in a room full of adults, many of whom saw no difference between seeing a human penis and seeing a male Wolf lift a leg to water a tree.
“Lizzy, has Clarence tried to hurt you?” Her hesitation made his chest tighten until it was hard to breathe.
“He called me names one day—used the bad words—because I said I wouldn’t play with him, just the two of us, and I felt really sad. But Sarah and I promised Grr Bear that we wouldn’t play outside alone and we would go to Sarah’s house if Clarence came outside. And we promised to include Frances whenever she was allowed to play with us.”
“Those are good promises.” Monty studied the stuffed bear sitting in the other chair. Not a time-out. Grr Bear was keeping watch for a young two-legged predator.
The Others might not understand the harm that could be done with words, but they would recognize—and respond to—any physical threat directed toward anyone who was considered part of the Courtyard.
“Daddy? Can Frances stay with us?”
“It’s complicated, Lizzy,” he said. For humans anyway. “But Fan—Frances can play here with you as much as she wants. And I’ll speak with Miss Eve about letting her play at the Denbys’ house too.”
“But not Clarence.” Not a question. It sounded more like a plea.
“No, not Clarence.” He set her down. “Can you and Grr Bear stay here for a little bit? Out here on the porch?” He’d ask Kowalski to keep an eye on things for a few minutes.
“Alone?” She looked at him with those big brown eyes. “Couldn’t Miss Leetha stay with us?”
“Leetha? Who is that?” He had a feeling he already knew.
“She used to live in Toland. Now she lives upstairs.”
Monty studied Lizzy as if he’d never seen her before. A few months ago, she’d lived in an apartment building where the adults would have panicked at the sight of one of the terra indigene. Now, having Sanguinati for upstairs neighbors wasn’t worth a second thought—was, in fact, an odd kind of comfort.
“I’ll ask. I won’t be long, and I’ll lock the door. Don’t you or Grr Bear answer it. Promise?”
“We promise.”
He went inside and called Pete Denby. “Pete? It’s Monty. I need to talk for a few minutes.”
“Sure. You want to pop over?”
“No. I’d like to meet at your office. This talk is more . . . official.”
Silence. Then, “I’ll see you there in a few minutes.”
“Someone is coming over to watch Lizzy.” Meaning, Robert and Sarah were welcome to come over if Pete needed someone to watch them.
“That’s covered.”
Wondering which of the Others was currently at the Denbys’, Monty hung up, left his apartment, and locked his door. He went up the stairs quietly, not wanting to see Jimmy right now. He knocked on the upstairs apartment door just as quietly.
The female who opened the door was the same Sanguinati who had been on his porch a little while ago. If she had been human, he would have put her in her early forties. He had no idea how old she really was, but something about the look in those dark eyes told him she had seen, and done, a lot in her life.
Unlike Nyx Sanguinati, this vampire didn’t wear old-fashioned clothes or move as a blend of smoke and human form, making it obvious what she was. In fact, this female would be noticed for her mature beauty and grace, and no man who admired her as she walked by would see a predator dressed in black trousers and a T-shirt, both made from some silky, rich-looking material.
“Miss Leetha?” Hard not to add an l to the end of her name.
“Lieutenant?”