Page 94 of Death is Familiar

He looked like he’d seen a ghost. His eyebrows knit together, as he side-stepped me to get a look at the little girl peering around my shoulder.

Clutching his chest, relief flushed his features, then he signed something I was unfamiliar with. A question. A name.

I put a voice to the sounds Todd signed, “Remy?”

The girl ducked around me to get a better look at the agent, hands clasped behind her back, teetering on her toes, she said, “Hi, dad.”

20

What. The. Hell.

Todd had a kid. No, not one kid, it turned out, but two, since Remy mentioned she had an eight-year-old sister. Todd had two daughters, and he never mentioned them to me. Not once.

I tried to hide my confusion through the whirlwind that followed, to clear my thoughts enough to call Jack, then Todd’s ex, and let them know Remy had been found safe and sound. Because, yes, Remy had been at the center of the missing persons case Jack and Todd dropped everything for. And it was Todd’s ex-wife who had called to tell him she’d gone missing.

To be fair, it didn’t look like Todd knew what to make of the situation either. From his expression, the tension knotted between his brows, he was trying to make sense of what occurred. How his daughter now stood only a few feet from him.

Perhaps he wished he had words of comfort, or questions he could ask her directly. But it was obvious there was a barrier. They didn’t know how to communicate.

Todd kept his eyes on me and Remy while he busied himself in the kitchen. His kitchen.

I did a spin. I was so absorbed in my thoughts, and making calls, I hadn’t realized I was in Todd’s apartment. The layout was different from mine. Brighter. Where my apartment went wide, his went deep. The space was spotless, and surprisingly comforting, dotted with all manner of potted plants. All cacti. How fitting.

Remy pulled at my hand. Looking at her now, her resemblance to Todd was unmistakable. I should have seen it right away, the dark eyes, the slight slant of her nose, the way she furrowed her brows. There was no denying it.

“Do you think he’s mad?” she whispered.

I looked over at Todd. “No, his face just looks like that.”

“Not helping, Delilah.” If I didn’t know better, I’d say Todd was nervous. He didn’t know what to do, what to say, to his daughter.

“Are you mad?” I signed.

Todd’s eyes flickered between Remy and me, before shaking his head. “I… I just don’t know what to do. I’m relieved she is here, that she’s safe…”

“But you don’t know how to talk to her.”

Todd nodded.

Remy tugged at my shirt. “What are you saying?”

What came next needed to come from Todd, and we all knew it. Wiping his hands on the dish towel tossed over his shoulder, he rounded the counter, and lowered himself to meet Remy’s eyeline. Slowly, tentatively, he ran a thumb over her cheek in a gesture so sweet, I had to fight the urge to look away. This was a moment between father and daughter, and I was intruding.

I told myself I kept watch just in case I was needed to translate.

Todd pointed to himself, then to her, mimed talking with his hand, then shrugged his shoulders.

“You don’t know… how to talk to me?” she guessed.

Todd tapped the tip of his nose twice and smiled. Translation: she was right on the nose. Of course, she was.

“Remy’s bright. She’ll learn, if you teach her.” I was on the precipice of getting entangled in what was sure to be a very complicated family dynamic. I was also very aware this apartment was Todd’s safe space and I was occupying it. “Unless you need me for anything else. I… I should go.” Then I added, with a salute, before I made to leave, “Nice working with you, special agent Remy.”

But Todd followed me to the door, and caught it before I could slip all the way out. “I owe you an explanation.”

“You don’t. Owe me anything.” My signing was a bit rusty, but that didn’t make what I said any less true. I may have been surprised, and wondered why someone I considered my best friend didn’t share this part of himself with me, but this was none of my business if he didn’t want it to be.

“I’ll come over later.” His head slightly bowed. “If you’ll let me.”