Tom let me loaf at his place, put no demands on me and his wife babied me as if I was her child. I confess, I let her, I liked being fawned over even if I was uncomfortable with their comments about my eyes. Tom told me he’d know me a hundred years from now by my eyes.
I spent the sennight sleeping and eating, gaining back the stone I’d lost. The dark shadows under my eyes and the faint translucence of my skin had faded; I looked like any healthy, messy 14-year-old teenage boy.
I heard Tom and Cammy laughing often at my antics and wandered at the strange looks Harry, Schnee and his servants gave each other.
On the Friday at supper, surrounded by fancy china and gourmet wines and French food, Tom set his hands on either side of his plate and cleared his throat.
“Aidan,” he started and I looked up from Petite roulades of lamb with inquiring eyes to see both of them staring at me with soft, fond expressions.
“I called the Farm, Aidan. Talked to the manager, Mr. Pendennis sussed the place out. Doing a landslide business, they are. Wouldn’t talk about the tragedy, still fresh to his Lord and Ladyship, he said, even though it was nearly thirty years ago. Only son fell off the roof and was impaled on the fence. Died before help could be found.”
“Your Da was instrumental in securing the 999 system. Your ma has set up a scholarship in your name, Aidan. You know, Suzy left her savings to your rescue fund. Never put any out for leads on your whereabouts.”
“Why don’t you apply for it?” I asked.
“Don’t need the blunt,” he said carelessly. “What do you want to do, Aidan?”
“Go back to school. Finish. Go to college.”
“To do what?”
I shrugged. “I wanted to go to L.S.E. when I was at Suzy’s. Now, maybe something with languages or travel. Foreign Service.”
“Too dangerous,” Cammy shook her head. I snorted.
“I’ve died twice, Cammy. Death doesn’t scare me anymore. Been there, done that.”
“Cammy and I have discussed it. We would like it if you would let us adopt you as our kid and live here,” he looked expectant and her eyes were pleading.
I was astounded, grateful and uncertain. Looked at the both of them. “You deal drugs, Tom. No offense.”
“I keep that part out of my home life. Besides, Cammy wants me out of the life and I sort of promised I would.”
“What would you do?”
“Computers, finance. I’m good at both, already in those businesses legitimately. Won’t lessen my income noticeably much.”
“You’d do that for me?”
“To make Cammy happy I’d do it. She wants a kid. You’re as close as I can come. Adoption agencies won’t even see me. I don’t want no colored refugee kid. Besides, I know you.”
“I don’t want to offend you, Tom but I have a mum and a dad,” I said.
“I know, Aidan. We don’t want to replace them. I just want to give you a safe place to live for Suzy’s sake and give Cammy a kid to raise.”
“I’m pretty well raised on my own, Tom,” I returned uneasily. “I can’t promise I’ll even be here for long.”
“What do you mean?” he jumped.
“I might have another dream,” I said unhappily.
“So what? Everybody dreams.”
“Someone always dies,” I whispered. “Them. Or me.”
“All the more reason for you to stay here,” he argued but she put her hand on his arm and said something in his ear so softly I couldn’t hear her. His face whitened. He nodded slowly and she smiled at me.
“Aidan, I know you want to spare me the same heartache that your mother and father went through. I understand that. Just tell me one thing, if and when the dreams start, you’ll let us help you.”
“Even if it’s one of you?”
“Yes.”
“You’d let me die to save yourselves?”
“Yes,” both said and I knew they were lying.
“I’ll tell you if I have a dream about either of you,” I said finally. And to myself, but I won’t stay here.
“Oh, by the way, Schnee found your backpack and 10,000 pounds. I take it that was yours?” his eyebrow raised in that quizzical way I remembered from not so long ago. At least in my memory. “Where did you acquire it?”
I grinned. “Robbing high rises,” I said and shocked him. His image of me was that of a twelve-year-old quiet, bookish kid.
“Stealing?”
“There are other things I can do, Tom. You remember how I liked to climb things?” At his nod, I continued. “I still do. Only now, it’s skyscraper and big buildings . When I’m up there, I see things people don’t bother to hide twenty stories up. Safes, cash under their beds, pay-offs.”
“Holy Christ on a crutch,” he said. “You’re him. The Ghost. The Spider Bandit!”
“The what?” Cammy and I both said.
“The cops and the underground are both buzzing about the last two years. Some unseen will-o-the-wisp cat burglar has been ripping off drug dealers, criminals and corrupt politicians and coppers. Always cash, leaves the jewelry, art and hard to fence stuff behind. How’d you get in without breaking windows?”
“I do. Floor below or to the side. I watch to find out where they hide their spare keys, their combinations, their hiding places. No one hides things from twenty stories up in view of their windows. I learned how to pick locks, too.”
“What’s the cash for? You don’t do drugs? Gamble?”
“To live on. I was homeless for a while. You know you can’t open a bank account without ID?” I asked naively.
“I’ll open one for you, Aidan. Is this all of it?”
“I buried the rest. I was taking it home. I told you what happened there.”
“Aidan, we want you to stay as long as you can, want. Just enjoy being a kid. Just tell us when you have to leave. Where we can find you. Promise? For Suzy. For me and Cammy, so we can sleep at night.”
“I promise, Tom.”