Once Lamar was seated in the chair, Aeren knelt down between his legs and laid his head in the detective's lap. When Lamar's hand began to stroke his silky hair, the boy's eyes drifted closed and a sense of well-being seemed to emanate outward from him.
"Oh," Lamar breathed out, his hand stilling where it was tangled in the boy's locks. "I understand, Aeren. You can get up now."
Aeren lifted his head and gazed into the detective’s face with luminous eyes before rising gracefully to his feet. "Yes, sir."
"What the fuck.." Genov muttered under his breath as Lamar patted the boy’s hand.
"I'll tell Mandy that you aren’t in trouble," Lamar continued, ignoring his partner.
"Thank you, sir," Aeren said, his voice breathless.
"We can go," Lamar said to Genov. "This was a red herring."
"Yeah, sure," Genov mumbled, glancing from the flushing boy to his seemingly rejuvenated partner. "Whatever you say."
"You wanna tell me what the fuck that was all about, Coop?" Genov asked once they were speeding down the highway.
"You mean Aeren?"
"Yeah, Coop. That's what I mean."
"He's not a sex worker, Genov. He's a psychic healer. That's why the victim needed to see him after a bad day," Lamar offered enough information to hopefully encourage his partner to move on.
"Okaaay," Genov drew the word out. "Look, man, I know you're down on the more open-minded end of the spectrum, but that kind of seems like a stretch to me."
Lamar shrugged. "Well, you can always tell the Chief that you disagree with me," he said with a laugh. "It sure as shit wouldn't be the first time someone did." He pulled to a stop next to Genov's sports car in the department parking lot. "In the meantime, go home and get some rest. We'll hit it fresh in the morning."
