Taylor followed his co-worker, Holly, up to the front door of the house. It was her fifth year with the Christmas Crush. She had a green elf hat on. The steps were still covered with snow, and he felt the cold seep through his sneakers. His mom had told him to wear his boots, but he’d ignored her.
Holly knocked on the door a lot harder than he thought she needed to. He heard someone moving inside, but it was about two minutes before the door opened. The old black man looked at the m and grinned broadly. “Hey, it’s Santa’s helpers! Come in, come in!”
“Hey, Mr. Jansing,” Holly said loudly. “How are you?”
“I’m good, I’m good. You’re Holly, right? You were here last year.”
“Sure was. This is Taylor.”
The man stepped back and let them into his tiny house. “Taylor. Good to meet you.” He stuck his hand out and Taylor shook it politely. “Haven’t earned your horns yet, huh?”
Taylor grinned, embarrassed. He’d been afraid they were going to make him wear one of the stupid hats, and he was relieved when no one insisted on it. But on his third day with the crew, he realized that it was sort of a badge of honor. He didn’t feel like he fit in well enough to grab one. “Not yet, sir.”
“What?”
“Not yet, sir!” Taylor said, much louder.
“Ah, you’ll get there, son. Give it time.”
“Do you have your presents ready?” Holly asked.
“Still writing the tags,” Jansing answered. “Give me just one minute, okay?”
“Sure. No rush.”
“Come in, sit down.”
Holly wiped her feet carefully on the front mat and followed him into the living room. Taylor started to follow, then stopped and looked back toward the door. “I’ll be out front,” he told his companion. “Call me when there’s stuff to carry.”
She shrugged, a little confused. “Okay.” Taylor went back outside.
He stood in the snow on the front steps and looked around. Then he walked around to the side door. As he hoped, there was an old snow shovel leaning against the siding. He took it back to the front and shoveled off the porch and front steps. Then he worked on the sidewalk. He didn’t get it all cleared, but he made a two-person wide path before Holly called him.
She came onto the porch with a box of unwrapped gifts. “Taylor? Put these in the car.”
“One sec.” He trotted around and put the shovel back where he’d found it, then took the box from her. “Got it.”
There were three more boxes to follow. “That’s a lot of presents,” he said, as the old man handed him the last box.
“I have six sisters,” he said. “And between them, they have thirty-two children.”
“Do you all get together for Christmas?”
Jansing nodded, smiling. “We rent out a church hall. Only way we all fit.”
“That sounds great.”
“Lots of smiles, Lots of smiles.”
“We’ll have these back tomorrow,” Holly promised.
“Thank you so much, little elves!”
Taylor’s feet were still soaked and cold, but the rest of him felt warm and he trudged back to the car.
***
Will Ingram pushed up the door of the storage locker and looked at the wall of boxes. “You’re sure this is okay?”
“That is a crap ton of boxes,” Christine answered.
“I mean, are you sure it’s safe?”
She nodded. “I talked to my friend. He says they’re pretty sure they know who killed Corwin. They just can’t prove it yet. And it’s got nothing to do with this.” She gestured at the boxes. “Holy shit.”
“I told you.”
“Well, let’s throw a few in the car, and then we’ve got to go.”
“Where are we going?”
She smiled, but didn’t answer. She climbed up and pulled down a box, then carried it to the car.
Ingram grabbed another one and followed her, but slowly. “You know … maybe this isn’t a good idea anyhow.”
“Why?”
“Just … because. This is my dad’s stuff. I don’t know if he’d …”
Christine leaned against the car and stared at him. “Spill it, darlin’.”
Will put the box in the trunk and walked over to her. “Here’s the thing. I know you admire my dad. A lot. If you start wading into this stuff, you’re going to … find out things.”
“Isn’t that the point of the exercise?”
“Yeah, but …” He stopped, looked at his feet for a minute.
“But I’m going to find out things I’d rather not know?”
“Yeah.”
“Like about the affairs?”
Ingram exhaled. “You already knew.”
“The tech community? We gossip like a bunch of little bitches.”
“So everybody knows.” He went back to looking at his feet again.
“Will.” When he didn’t look up, she moved close enough to lean her shoulder against his. “Hey. You want to know what I know about your dad?” He glanced at her, curious.
“He bought me glasses.”
“What?”
“The summer I was at IFT, he bought me glasses.”
“Glasses.”
“I’ve got contacts now, but I’m nearsighted as hell. Always have been. The summer I was an intern, I had these glasses that were like three years old. You saw them, in the picture. All bent to hell. And I couldn’t see. I was looking at monitors all day, and I went home with a screaming headache every night. But I didn’t tell anybody, because … well, because.”
Will nodded. “Okay.”
“One day I’m headed down to lunch, and Ms. Watts comes down and gets me.”
“Ah, Ms. Watts,” Ingram said, smiling. “I do remember her. Damn, she was hot.”
“Tell me about it.” Christine shook her head. “Anyhow, she says Mr. Ingram wants me to go run an errand with her. And we go out, and his limo’s there. His limo, Will. I know that’s not a big deal to you, but I’d never even seen one up close, let alone ridden in one. His. Own. Limo.”
Will turned to look at her. She wouldn’t meet his eyes; she folded her arms across her chest, made herself smaller. But she kept talking.
“Ms. Watts took me to this opthamologist. He did the whole big exam, wrote me a new prescription. Watts helped me pick frames. And then we went to lunch, and then we went back and got my new glasses. Ms. Watts put them on a company credit card. Said it was part of the internship. And I stopped getting headaches.”
She gestured to the storage locker. “Whatever’s in there, Will, whatever I find out, that’s who your dad will always be to me. The oh-my-God beautiful billionaire who noticed that a little high school intern needed new glasses, and actually did something about it. Whoever else he was doesn’t matter.” She finally managed to look at him. “It won’t change who he is to me.”
“Can I hug you?”
“What?”
“Can I hug you?”
She made a face. “Oh, you’re one of those people.”
“Did you expect anything else?” He gave her his most winning smile.
“All right,” Christine sighed, “but make it quick.”
Will put his arms around her. “You sound just like every one of my old girlfriends.”
She laughed and hugged him back “ briefly. Then she moved and he let her go. “Right. Load the car, lover boy. We’ve got to go.”
“Where are we going?” Will asked again as he lugged boxes to the car.
“Staten Island.”
He paused, surprised. “I hear there’s not much there anymore.”
“More than you think. And today, there’s a free health clinic.”
“And that’s the trade-off. For this.”
“That’s it.”
“Clever. But I’m not licensed in the State of New York.”
“You’re in good standing with MSF. And they have special dispensation to work in the disaster zone. You’re covered. I checked.”
“Okay.” He slammed the trunk and closed the storage bay. “So how does this work? Straight up hour-for-hour swap or what?”
“Nope. Just go today.”
“That’s it?”
“That’s it.” She shrugged. “Of course, if you want to go back, no one’s going to stop you.”
“And you know I will, don’t you?”
“I think you need something to occupy your time between now and Boxing Day.”
He groaned out loud. “Boxing Day. Why did she have to say Boxing Day? Do you know how far off that is?”
Christine laughed. “Get in the car, or I’ll get you a night job, too.”
***
Taylor carried the first box of presents to Mr. Jansing’s front door and knocked loudly.
“Geez, break the door down,” Twitch teased him.
“He can’t hear,” Taylor answered. He was glad he’d come the day before with someone who knew that. Twitch ” his real name was David, but he hated it ” was a first-year, like him.
It took even longer than the day before for the old man to answer the door. “Hello?” he said, peering at them.
“Hey, Mr. Jansing,” Taylor said, his voice pitched for the man’s hearing. “We’ve brought your presents back.”
“Oh.” The man seemed a little surprised, but he covered it. “Oh, right, right. Santa’s elves. Come in, come in.”
It felt cool in the little house, but Jansing was in just a thin shirt and he was sweating.
Taylor carried the box in; Twitch followed. “Where do you want these?”
“Oh.” Jansing thought about it. “Just put them there, by the door.”
“Okay.” Taylor put the box down to the side of the door, then took Twitch’s box and put it next to it. “We’ve got one more trip, okay?”
“Okay.”
As he walked back to the car, Taylor frowned to himself. There was something off about the man. When they got back, the door was closed. He nudged it open with his foot. “Mr. Jansing?” he called loudly. “We’ve got the rest of your presents.”
The man was standing in the middle of the living room. Taylor thought he swayed just a little as he stood there. He looked at him blankly. “Oh. The presents. I’m not quite done with the tags yet. Give me just a minute and I’ll get them.”
“What’s with him?” Twitch asked quietly.
“Mr. Jansing,” Taylor said, “we already got the presents. They’re all wrapped, see? We’re bringing them back.”
“Oh. Oh. Right.”
“We should go,” Twitch said.
Taylor ignored him. “Mr. Jansing, are you okay?”
“I’m fine. I’m fine. I met you yesterday, didn’t I?”
“I’m Taylor. I was here with Holly.”
“Right. Holly. She’s a nice girl.”
“Yes, she is.”
“Taylor?” Twitch said. “We should go.”
Taylor hesitated. “You go,” he said. “I’ll walk back.” It was only six blocks back to Chaos.
“You sure?”
“Yeah. Go ahead.” He closed the door behind him, then wiped his feet and moved closer to the old man. “Mr. Jansing, you have a lot of presents here. You must have a big family.”
“Oh, yes,” the man said happily. “I have six sisters, and they have so many children …” His voice trailed off. “They have …”
“How many children do they have?” Taylor asked.
“They have … they have …” The man looked at him. There were tears in his eyes. Then he shook himself. “You’re here for the presents. I haven’t quite finished with the tags yet. Give me just a minute.”
“There’s no rush, Mr. Jansing,” Taylor said. “I’m going to stay here a while.”
He pulled out his cell phone and dialed quickly. Zubec answered, in his habitual bellow. “Chaos!”
“It’s Taylor. I need to talk to Scotty.”
“She’s not here …”
“Then give me her cell phone number,” Taylor insisted. “I need to talk to her right now.”
***
Finch snagged the phone on the first ring. “Hello, Christine.”
“Hey, Random.”
“Everything alright?” She sounded a little off to him. Sad, perhaps, or tired. “Where are you?”
“We’re out on Staten Island. Will’s doctoring. I’m trying to fix networks. It’s a freaking mess.”
“How can I help?”
“I’ll get them sorted. Eventually. But I have a question for you.”
“A question with a preamble. That’s never a good sign. But go ahead.”
“I was telling Will this morning about how when I was at IFT Nathan Ingram sent his assistant to take me for new glasses.”
Finch sat up straight, touched his own glasses. “Yes?” he asked, carefully neutral.
“Because the ones I had gave me headaches.”
There was still something in her tone. Some kind of longing, something grasping at hope. “And?”
“And while I was telling him, I got to thinking. That I wasn’t sure if it was true.”
“That Nathan’s assistant took you for new glasses?”
“That it was his idea.”
Finch touched his own glasses again. He knew, then, what she wanted. And he gave it to her, immediately and without regret. “I don’t know anything about it, Christine.”
There was a brief pause. He knew, in the silence, that she knew he was lying. That she knew Nathan Ingram had not been the one to notice the intern in pain, but that Finch was willing to let his partner keep her admiration for it. It was a very small thing. But it was important to her. “Thank you,” she finally said.
While Harold was trying to think of something to say, the phone went dead.
***
“Sanchez!” Carter said as she passed the young cop at the doorway of the café.
“Hey, Detective,” he answered warmly. He had a carrier and four cups of coffee. “How’ve you been?”
“Good. You?”
“Learning every day.”
“Good to hear.”
“Your boy did real good today.”
Carter blinked. Whatever Taylor had done, this was the first she’d heard about it. But the rookie didn’t seem to know that. She played it off. “Uh, yeah. I know.”
“You must be proud of him.”
“Every day.” She gestured to the carrier he held. “You should get that coffee delivered before it gets cold.”
“Yeah. Good to see you again.”
She went into the café. Taylor was sitting at the front table, bent over his notebook. He wore a green elf hat. There were a couple other helpers with him. “Hey,” she said, putting her hand on his shoulder.
Taylor looked up. “Sorry, Mom. I didn’t see you pull up.”
“That’s okay. How’s the paper coming?”
“Good.” He leaned aside so she could see what he was actually working on. “Really good.”
“And what else happened today?” she prompted, since he obviously wasn’t going to volunteer it.
The boy looked down, but he had a little grin. “Nothing, really.”
“That’s not what Sanchez said.”
“It was no big deal.”
Carter sighed. “Hey, Scotty!” she shouted. “What did my kid do today?”
From the bar, Fitzgerald looked up. “Saved a man’s life!” she shouted back.
Taylor ducked his head even further. “It wasn’t a big deal,” he repeated, embarrassed.
Christine scooted through the crowd to them. “It’s a big deal,” she said. “Mr. Jansing’s blood sugar crashed. Taylor got him help.”
“All I did was call you,” he protested.
“Yeah, but if you hadn’t called me he might be dead now. It’s a big deal.”
Carter grinned and put her arms around the boy from behind. “Sounds like a big deal to me, too.”
“Mom!”
She released him, but kept her hand on his shoulder. “I’m proud of you.”
He squirmed, closed his notebook and stuffed it in his bag. “Thanks, Mom.” He took his hat off and handed it to Christine. “See you tomorrow.”
Carter let it go until they were in the car, but then she said, again, “I am really proud of you, Taylor.”
The boy shook his head. “He just didn’t look right. When we picked up the presents he was with it, and when we took them back he was confused. All I did was call Scotty, and she let me talk to this doctor she was with, and then she called the squad.”
“A lot of people wouldn’t have thought to do even that. You noticed something wrong and you did something about it. You used your head, and you helped that man.”
He shrugged, still embarrassed. “I couldn’t just leave him there.” He shifted. “Do you know any paramedics?”
“Sure, a few. Not real well, but I’ve worked with some. Why?”
“The guys that came for Mr. Jansing. They seemed pretty cool.”
“You think you might want to look at that as a career?”
“Maybe. I’d like to find out more about it, anyhow.”
Carter shrugged. “Okay. Maybe I can set up a ride-along for you.”
“I don’t know, though. Holly’s in this biotech program at college, and that sounds really cool, too.”
“Biotech?”
“Technology and biology mashed together. Like, they’re working on nanobots that can open up blood vessels in the heart. These tiny little robots that they can just inject and they go where they’re needed and fix stuff. They don’t have to cut people open any more. And that sounds really cool, you know?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Or there’s all kinds of other stuff they can do. Like they put an implant in this woman’s brain and it lets her control her artificial arm, with her mind. I mean, how cool is that?”
“Pretty cool,” Carter admitted.
The boy went on talking. He was much more excited about this idea than he had been about being a paramedic. His words fell over each other; he barely stopped to take a breath. Carter made little encouraging noises when she needed to, but mostly she just listened. Evidently her son had been talking to his co-elves a lot. She’d always told him she expected him to go to college, and he’d never argued about it, but suddenly he was enthusiastic.
She thought about reminding him that failing an English class might limit his college options. Then she decided to keep her mouth shut, at least for the moment. He was a smart kid. He’d figure it out.
q95;
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