Page 46 of The Thief

She nodded.

“And her new outfit that you made?”

She nodded again.

Tyler shook his head.

“I’m confused.” He wrinkled his brow and gave her a concerned look. “Why didn’t you want to have fun with your friends?”

“I didn’t want to leave Mummy.”

Tyler turned to look at me and then pointed over to where Isat, watching them. “But Mummy was there with you.”

“Yes, I know that.” Ava gave an exasperated sigh. “But I have to stay with her. If I go off and play, something might happen when I’m not looking.”

“Nothing will happen,” Tyler tried to tell her, but Ava just shook her head.

“It might,” she retorted, her stubbornness in full flow as she folded her arms.

“What if I’m there?” Tyler turned to face her. “Would you leave Mummy with me and play?”

Her little eyes went wide as she thought about what he’d said.

Then Tyler added, “I can look after Mummy. Not that Mummy needs me to. She’s a strong mummy. You’re a lucky girl. But I would look after her.”

And oh lord, the tears were threatening to leak out of my damn eyes again.

“I can look after you, too,” he said.

“How?” Ava frowned. “You don’t live with us. We don’t have a daddy. It’s just me and Mummy.”

My heart was breaking right now.

“Because you can call me, any time, and I’ll be there.”

“I don’t know your number.”

He chuckled. “Ava, you’re a very clever little girl.”

“I know,” she replied confidently, and I laughed.

Tyler leaned to the side, reaching into the pocket of his jeans, and he pulled out a mobile phone. He started to tap away at the screen and then he passed it to Ava.

“You can have this phone.”

Ava’s eyes grew wide as she stared at the phone in her handlike it was treasured gold.

“I’m sure Mummy has a spare charger for it, or I can bring one next time I come.” He leaned over to tap the screen as she held it. “I’ve programmed in my number, see? Tyler. And when you press this”—he did one tap and another phone started to ring, his second mobile—“it comes straight through to me. Like a bat call.”

“A what?” Ava went from amazement to confusion at his Batman reference.

“A bat call. Like Batman. A superhero hot line.”

She liked that answer and grinned to herself.

“We can’t take that,” I said, gesturing to the phone.

“It’s just a burner,” Tyler replied, like it was nothing. “I’d rather you had it. That way, I’ll know when you need me.”