Page 46 of Kaine

“Woah, don’t bite my head off, I’m just trying to help.”

“Sorry.”

“Convincing.”

“I’ve had a really long fucking day, don’t give me this cry baby shit.”

“Yeah, I heard about your long day.”

“Has Henry been talking?”

“No.”

“Who, then?”

“From the donkey’s mouth itself.”

“Jacob called you?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. And that makes me uneasy. His premise was that he was worried about you. About your binge drinking. But of course I know better.”

“Do you think he has anything to do with the stolen prototype?”

“I’d be more surprised to find out that he’s not involved, but I don’t have any proof either way.”

“Yeah, let’s get Dylan on him,” I refer to my private investigator.

“Okay, I will. But... back to the matter at hand. Maybe... maybe her leaving is a good thing. It’s not like your life has been smooth sailing since you met her.”

“Stop.”

“I’m just saying, you’re not sleeping, you’re grumpy as fuck... you’re drinking? Come on man, when’s the last time you drank that much.”

“I’m telling you... stop.”

“Kaine.”

“Xave.”

There’s a pause. And I’ve known him long enough to know what he’s thinking and I don’t want to hear it.

“Okay. Okay, I’ll let it go. I’m just saying, is this the best time for you to be in this kind of head space?”

“Find her. Call me when you have.”

***

The call doesn’t come. After another sleepless night, I know what I have to do.

“To the New York Genealogy Library please, Henry. And about last night, I’m sorry.”

“Yes, sir.”

The traffic in Manhattan is unusually brutal this morning. My leg jiggles in the back of the car as I watch us move forward one slow inch at a time. I try to distract myself with work, but the numbers look like wingding characters, making no sense. I scroll through my emails and don’t bother to open any. I fiddle with the Band-Aids on my hand, I should’ve changed them out for clean ones, but I didn’t want to. I didn’t want to throw away my link to her. The memory of her face when she was putting the Band-Aids on me, checking my wound, making sure I was okay.