The Tower

"Yes, yes. Police business. I understand. My child is a killer so we no longer have the rights that ordinary citizens can expect. Freedom. Privacy. The right to our own property." Her voice rose. "We have guards around all the time-walking through the yard, peering in the windows."

Thomas dropped the salad in the sink and watched her, concern spreading across his face.

"It's fine, Mr. Marlow. I'm used to it. About twenty years of people looking at me with… with those eyes. 'From forth the kennel of thy womb hath crept a hell-hound that doth hunt us all to death,'" she said in a purposefully deepened and dramatic voice. She was speaking loudly, louder than Jade had heard her speak before.

She laughed, then slid her hands down around her lower stomach, giving them an emphatic shake. "'The bed of death,'" she said quietly.

Thomas walked over to her and placed his hands gently on her shoulders.

"Shakespeare?" Jade asked.

Darby nodded. "I used to read the plays to Allander when he was younger. I don't usually remember quotations, Mr. Marlow, but I've learned that one really well." Her eyes lowered to the tablecloth and she played with one of her nails.

Thomas rubbed her shoulders, leaning over her.

"So you took the carving." She gestured to the room around her. "It's okay. Everything's public property. How I punished my child, how I talked to him, when I stopped breast-feeding. Do you know what the mothers of most murderers are like? Do you know what it's like to have everything assessed, Mr. Marlow? Do you?"

The sharpness of her words carried around the kitchen for a while. A tear escaped from Thomas's eye and he wiped it away.

Jade cleared his throat and looked at her. "I'm sorry," he said. "I'm sorry."

She reached out her hand and placed it on his arm. "It's okay," she said. "I'm sorry. That was unfair. What can we do? Just tell us what we have to do."

Jade couldn't make himself meet her stare. It was a very uncomfortable feeling for him. He wasn't used to it at all. "Well, I'll be honest. I think he's coming for you and I'd like to make that possibility even more likely. In fact, I want to lure him. I'd like to pull some of your protection off and see if we can get him to move in."

She pursed her lips and nodded, as if she had been expecting this all along. "Will you remember your promise?"

Jade bit his lip in irritation. "Yes, but I hoped you might reconsider. I lost… he killed another family yesterday. A sixteen-year-old boy. It's only going to get worse."

Darby and Thomas took this news together. Though their expressions barely changed, he could read the pain on their faces. At this point, he could only imagine what they were feeling.

Darby tried a smile and failed miserably. "I won't lure my son to his death, Mr. Marlow. I cannot." She looked to Thomas for support, but he looked down at the table. "Besides, when you get close enough to capture him, it won't save any lives to kill him." Her eyes dropped to Jade's chest. "You're much bigger than he is. It'll be just as easy for you to bring him in alive."

That may or may not be true, Jade thought, but he didn't say anything. He and Darby had made a deal, and he would uphold his end of it.

"So then will you help me get close enough to him?" Jade asked. For a moment, he hated himself for bringing this much pressure to bear on them. They looked so weary and they had already endured so much.

The symphony ended and the room fell silent. The clock ticking across the kitchen suddenly sounded incredibly loud. Jade looked at the tablecloth and waited for their answer. He wasn't sure what response he actually wanted.

"Will you be there, Mr. Marlow?" Darby reached her hand across the table toward him.

Jade grasped it awkwardly. "Yes. Of course."

Darby looked up at Thomas. "Then I'll do it," she said to her husband.

Thomas nodded once, just down. "We'll try, Mr. Marlow," he said.

"Jade. Call me Jade."

Darby was drumming her fingernails on the table, but she stopped and looked up at him. "Jade," she repeated thoughtfully. "Unusual name. Because of the color of your eyes?"

Jade nodded. "My father didn't like the name, but my mother can be quite stubborn."

"Now why isn't that surprising?" Darby said with a smile.

"Back to business," Jade said. "How often do you go to the movies?" He wanted to get the Atlasias out of the house. The more variables he could introduce into their environment, the more appealing they'd be to Allander as targets.

"Well, not much at all," Thomas replied.

"If you're asking me out, I prefer opera," Darby smiled.

"How many movie theaters would you say you go to on a regular basis?"

Thomas thought for a while, squinting his eyes and tilting his head back. "Three. Only three."

"Would Allander know about them all?"

"No," Darby said quickly. "Two are very old-Camera 9 and The Cutting Floor. We used to take him to those when he was younger, but the other opened after he… after he left."

"Good," Jade said.