Page 32

Story: Novo

I swallowed hard, making a split-second decision. "I'm here, little one."
Relief washed over his face. "Bad dream," he mumbled, pressing closer to me.
"It's okay now," I assured him, stroking his hair. "You're safe."
He nodded against my chest, his fingers clutching my shirt. "Hungry," he said simply.
"Let's get you something to eat, then," I replied, carefully shifting to sit up. "What would you like?"
He shrugged, looking suddenly shy. "Dunno."
I considered our options. "How about some mac and cheese? I make a pretty good one."
His eyes lit up, and he nodded eagerly. "With the little shapes?"
I didn't have any pasta shapes, but the earnestness in his expression made my heart clench. "I'll see what I have, okay?"
He nodded again, reluctantly releasing his grip on my shirt so I could stand. "Patches comes too," he insisted, holding up the stuffed dog.
"Of course," I agreed, helping him to his feet. He swayed slightly, and I steadied him with a hand on his lower back. I guided him to the kitchen, settling him at the island counter while I assessed what I had in the pantry.
"No shapes," I admitted, pulling out a box of regular elbow macaroni. "But I have the good cheese."
Matty nodded solemnly, setting Patches on the counter beside him. "Patches says that's okay."
I smiled despite myself, the simple acceptance warming something in my chest. As I started boiling water and gathering ingredients, my phone buzzed again. Jono.
"I need to take this," I told Matty. "Will you be okay for a minute?"
He nodded, though his eyes widened slightly with anxiety. "Don't go far?"
"Just right over there," I assured him, pointing to the living room doorway where I'd still be in his sight. "You can see me the whole time."
I stepped just far enough away that he wouldn't hear the conversation, but remained visible as promised.
"What've you got?" I asked without preamble.
"Our guest has been quite informative," Jono said, his voice grim. "Not a very professional hit man, hired through an online chat room with IP addresses pinging all over the place. Never met whomever hired him, just told to use the godfather moniker, which could be played as a bad mafia skit."
"So we can't tie it back to him," I growled, keeping my voice low.
"Not directly, no. But there's more. The breach wasn't at the gate. Someone disabled a section of the security cameras for exactly seven minutes—just long enough for him to get over the fence near the east side."
My blood ran cold. "That's an inside job."
"Looks that way," Jono confirmed. "Daisy and I are coming over. We need to talk, and she thinks Matty might need... a woman's touch right now."
I glanced back at Matty, who was carefully arranging and rearranging the salt and pepper shakers, his movements deliberate and childlike. "Yeah, that might be good. Twenty minutes?"
"We'll be there."
I hung up and returned to the kitchen, finding Matty talking softly to Patches about the different spices on the counter. He looked up when I approached, his expression brightening.
"Is the mac and cheese ready soon?" he asked hopefully.
"Just getting started," I replied, returning to the stove. "Daisy and Jono are coming over to visit. Is that okay?"
He considered this, his face scrunching in concentration. "Daisy's nice," he decided finally. "She makes good tea."