Inner Harbor
Page 33

She taped him as he settled on his spot, lifted his face. His profile was finer, more angled than Gloria's, Sybill decided. Perhaps his bone structure had come from his father.
His build wasn't Gloria's either, as she'd first assumed, but more like her own, and her mother's. He would be tall when he finished growing, mostly leg, and on the slim side.
His body language, she saw with a slight jolt, was typical Quinn. Already, he'd taken on some of the traits of his foster family. That hip-shot stance, hands tucked into pockets, head angled.
She fought back an annoying spurt of resentment and ordered herself to focus on the experiment.
It took just over a minute for the first person to stop beside Seth. She recognized the big woman with the gray-streaked hair who manned the counter at Crawford's. Everyone called her Mother. As expected, the woman shifted her gaze, tilted her face up to follow Seth's line of sight. But after a quick scan, she patted Seth on the shoulder.
"What're you looking at, boy?"
"Nothing."
He muttered it so that Sybill edged closer to try to pick up his voice on the tape.
"Well, hell, you stand there for long looking at nothing, people're going to think you're pixilated. Why aren't you down to the boatyard?"
"I'm going in a minute."
"Hey, Mother. Hi, Seth." A pretty young woman with dark hair stepped into the frame, glanced up at the hotel. "Something going on up there? I don't see anything."
"Nothing to see," Mother informed her. "Boy's just standing looking at nothing. How's your mama, Julie?"
"Oh, she's a little under the weather. She's got a sore throat and a little cough."
"Chicken soup, hot tea and honey."
"Grace brought some soup over this morning."
"You see she eats it. Hey, there, Jim."
"Afternoon." A short, stocky man in white rubber boots clumped over, gave Seth a friendly swat on the head. "What you staring at up there, boy?"
"Jeez, can't a guy just stand around?" Seth turned his face to the camera, rolled his eyes for Sybill and made her chuckle.
"Stand here long, gulls'll light on you." Jim winked at him. "Cap'n's in for the day," he added, referring to Ethan. "He gets to the boatyard before you, he's gonna want to know why."
"I'm going, I'm going. Man." Shoulders rounded, head down, Seth stalked back to Sybill. "Nobody's falling for it."
"Because everyone knows you." She switched off the camera, lowered it.
"It changes the pattern."
"You figured that would happen?"
"I theorized," she corrected, "that in a closely knit area where the subject was known, the pattern would be that an individual would stop. They would probably look first, then question. There's no risk, no loss of ego when questioning a familiar person, and a young one at that."
He frowned over toward where the trio continued to chat. "So, I still get paid."
"Absolutely, and you'll likely rate a section in my book."
"Cool. I'll take a cookie dough cone. I've got to get to the boatyard before Cam and Ethan hassle me."
"If they're going to be angry with you, I'll explain. It's my fault you're late."
"They won't be pissed or anything. Beside, I'll tell them it was, like, for science, right?" When he flashed that grin she had to resist an unexpected urge to hug him.
"That's exactly right." She risked laying a hand on his shoulder as they started toward Crawford's. She thought she felt him stiffen and casually let her hand drop away. "And we can always call them on my cell phone."
"Yeah? Way cool. Can I do it?"
"Sure, why not?"
twenty minutes later Sybill was at her desk, fingers racing over her keyboard.
Though I spent less than an hour with him, I would conclude that the subject is extremely bright. Phillip informed me that he achieves high grades academically, which is admirable. It was satisfying to discover that he has a questioning mind. His manners are perhaps a bit rough, but not unpleasant. He appears to be considerably more outgoing socially than his mother or I were at his age. In that, I mean he seems quite natural with relative strangers without the polite formality that was stressed in my own upbringing. Part of this may be due to the influence of the Quinns. They are, as I have noted previously, informal, casual people.
I would also conclude from watching both the children and the adults with whom he interacted today, that he is generally well liked in this community and accepted as part of it. Naturally I cannot, at this early stage, conclude whether or not his best interest would be served by remaining here.
It's simply not possible to ignore Gloria's rights, nor have I attempted, as yet, to discover the boy's wishes as concern his mother.
I would prefer that he grow accustomed to me, feel comfortable around me, before he learns of our family connection.
I need more time to…
She broke off as the phone rang and, scanning her hastily typed notes, picked up the receiver.
"Dr. Griffin."
"Hello, Dr. Griffin. Why do I suspect I've interrupted your work?"
She recognized Phillip's voice, the amusement in it, and with a flare of guilt lowered the top of her computer. "Because you're a perceptive man. But I can spare a few minutes. How are things in Baltimore?"
"Busy. How's this? The visual is a handsome young couple, beaming smiles as they carry their laughing toddler to a mid-size sedan. Caption:
'Myerstone Tires. Your family matters to us."
"Manipulative. The consumer is led to believe that if he or she buys another brand, the family doesn't matter to that other company."
"Yeah. It works. Of course, we're hitting the car mags with a different image. Screaming convertible in kick-ass red, long, winding road, sexy blonde at the wheel. 'Myerstone Tires. You can drive there, or you can BE there.'"
"Clever."
"The client likes it, and that takes a load off. How's life in St. Chris?"
"Quiet." She bit her lip. "I ran into Seth a bit ago. Actually, I drafted him to help me with an experiment. It went well."
"Oh, yeah? How much did you have to pay him?"