Page 29 of Kaine

“Sorry. I just... I, I haven’t been sleeping.”

“It’s perfectly alright.” I can tell be the way she’s blinking really fast that it’s not.

“I just thought I would have a look, see if there’s anything abnormal that might tell me who this ‘J’ person is.”

“Of course,” she clears her throat. “Is there anything else I can help you with?”

I’m being sent away. Probably so she can cry or curse me. Either way, I figure she has a right to do it.

“Er, no. Just, um, please get Xavier on the phone ASAP.”

“Yes, sir.”

Sir. The last time she called me that, I’d just thrown a vase against the window and she’d walked in just as it had smashed all over the floor. It’s not behavior I want her to be reminded of

I go into my office and close the glass door behind me.

The phone rings and I answer it on speaker.

“Mr. Kent for you,” my secretary tells me, hesitantly.

“Um, thank you, Jemima.”

“Yo.” Xavier answers, horns blaring in the background.

“You on the way to my apartment?”

“No. Why?”

“To do your job! Get rid of the girl!”

“That’s not my job, that sounds like something my client does and then I have to bail them out of jail for doing.”

“Just get rid of her Xavier, I can’t have her walking around... just... sleeping on my couch looking all...”

“What? Looking all what?”

“Nothing.”

“Aw, man. No. You are so fucked. What has she done to you?”

“Do it! Or you’re fired.”

“Yeah, yeah. It’s Tuesday, what else is new.”

He hangs up on me before I can do it myself. That’s twice now. She’s disrupting the whole harmony of my life.

I switch on my computer, hesitating for a moment before clicking on the security camera feed from my apartment.

I tune in just as a figure jumps up onto the couch and throws a blanket on the floor.