“Don’t worry about it,” I assure her.
“Where did all of your money come from, Leland?” she asks, like me buying a burger for her makes me suspiciously rich.
I wave the question off and then stuff a fry in my mouth. “I feel like we had this talk before. It’s just too boring, really.”
She’s apparently a masochist because she goes, “I love boring stories.”
“And I love hot food. Come on,” Henry says as he wanders off.
I hurry after him and link his arm with mine. His arm immediately stiffens, and he tries to cut off the circulation to my arm in the process, but I prevail (I always do). “I think Patel has it out for us. You think it’s because we hid a dead body while she was five feet from us?”
“Possibly,” he says as he takes us into his office and shuts the door. We get out the food and begin to eat while Henry sits there and stares at the wall. “My brain hurts whenever it comes to you two.”
“We’re going to visit Raul Barlow,” I say. “And then if he ends up… gone when we come back… no one will be any the wiser. It’ll be like he’s on vacation.”
“To hell,” Jackson inputs.
Henry strangely doesn’t find us funny in the slightest, even though I think we’re hilarious. “Patel is on your ass.”
I nod, unsure how he thinks that I might not have noticed. “I know she is.”
“If she sees something suspicious, she’s going to latch on.”
“We are never suspicious.”
“You werebornsuspicious,” he says. “I’m going with you.”
“To deal with Barlow?” I ask, wondering how toting him across the country makes us less suspicious. “Why?”
“To make sure you guys don’t get into any trouble.”
“Have we ever?”
“Every day,” he grumbles.
“How kind of you. But do you really think you should get involved? Your risk is so high, Henry,” I say as I unwrap hisburger and guide it toward his mouth. “You might just be hungry and confused. Let Leland feed you.”
He shakes his head, evidently embarrassed by how much he wants me to feed him. “Dammit, I will feed myself.”
I sit down on his lap, grab his head in a headlock and zoom the burger toward him. “Henry, this will hurt so much less if you just comply.”
“You are a sadist, I hope you know that.”
“I’ve embraced it,” I say. “You’re going to stay here. Actually, so can everyone. I will take Blow-Up Randy. If he pops, I’ll reinflate him. The rest of you don’t reinflate as well. I’ve tried blowing on Jackson’s valve, but I don’t think it’ll heal him if he gets hurt. Does make him inflate, though. That is confirmed.”
Henry’s entire body stiffens. “Christ. Get off my lap.”
“It’s so warm and comforting here,” I say as there’s one knock. “Come in!”
“Don’t answer for me, dammit!” Henry protests before Patel steps in to see me on Henry’s lap.
Her eyes narrow. She is jealous. She wants to sit on Henry’s lap, I can tell. “Is… there… I feel like I should leave,” she says.
“Leland wasn’t given much affection as a child, so he doesn’t quite understand how to be an adult,” Henry explains as he viciously pulls the burger from me before dumping me on the floor.
Instead of getting up, I lie there.
“Jackson, feed me,” I whisper.
