Suzie’s House 392 : One Sided Conversation

Vin could feel his resolve wilt. He had finally accepted full responsibility for his party in Drew’s problems, but faced with Drew’s blank stare, he couldn’t seem to come up with a game plan.

“Drew. Drew, you there?” Vin snapped his fingers in front of Drew’s face a time or two.

No reaction, not even a shiver.

“That can’t be comfortable.” Vin lightly touched on Drew’s raised, immobile hand.

To his surprised, Drew actually lowered it until his fingers touched the cushion of the couch on which he sat. The muscles of his arm visible relaxed, and a brief flicker of expression brought momentary life to his face. So Drew really was still in there somewhere, even if he looked like a mannequin at the moment.

“All right.” Vin settled into his comfy chair. He glanced over his shoulder at the door to the den, but there was no sound of anyone else coming from the rest of Suzie’s house. “I don’t know if you will remember any of this, or if you can even hear me right now, but I have a lot to say to you. So… I guess just sit there and let me talk. All right?”

Of course there was no response. Vin felt a little funny about it, but he probably wouldn’t get another chance to say what needed to be said for a while. If there was any chance Drew would hear, he would take it.

“If you don’t remember any of this, that’s all right, too. So, Miranda and I have been talking about you for a while now. She’s had plenty to say right from the beginning.”

Vin couldn’t resist the desire to scratch his ear. Thinking about how antsy Miranda had been over everything made him itch.

“She thinks you’re an ass. Well, of course. You broke her heart even before you broke Suzie’s. She claims her anger is all for Suzie, but you know she’s hardly ever entirely selfless.”

Vin smiled a little. He might not have let himself smile at all if Drew had been fully engaged in this conversation. He wouldn’t want Drew to think he was too proud of himself for having stolen Miranda’s love all for himself, even if Drew never really cared.

“She doesn’t see why you went to New Mexico in the first place. It doesn’t matter how many times Suzie explains it, the conversation ends the same. She was very angry with me for not dragging you back here when you got addicted to China Black. So when she came up with her latest suggestion, I kind of ignored it.

“I told her you were perfectly happy barricading yourself in Suzie’s room all day with that laptop of yours. She understands that that’s how you make a living now, but she thinks you’re spending too much time alone with nothing but the voices in your head to keep you company.

“I also told her you would have no desire to get involved in MY business anymore. You do remember that before you went to New Mexico I offered to make you a partner in my private investigations business, right?”

There might have been a flicker in Drew’s eyelashes, but it was hard to tell. It wasn’t a complete blink. Didn’t his eyes feel dry? Vin put that aside and soldiered on.

“Anyway, she insisted I tell you about this one case. I’ve been hired on an ongoing basis to retrieve a man’s grandfather. It’s not a missing person’s case. It’s this really nice old man named Walter who has Alzheimer’s. Walter and his grandson, Ned, live together. Ned has a full time job with the city, so he can’t be there all the time, but he refuses to put Walter in a nursing home. They have a full time attendant, but Walter’s pretty canny. He keeps getting loose and wandering around town getting into trouble. My job is to find him and bring him back whenever this happens.”

Vin paused. There was no reaction.

“I’ve taken the case, but I have other cases, too, and can’t be available every time it happens. I thought, if you were willing, you can’t take a break from the computer now and then to go find the guy. Who knows; it might be fun?”

Vin shrugged. He’d probably just wasted his breath all along, but he still felt better. He’d try again later.

“Well, anyway.” He stood up, thinking about shuffling off to his room. “Let me know what you think.”

“A case?” Drew’s eyes snapped into focus and he turned his head toward Vin. “Alzheimer’s. I can relate. Yeah, I’ll take the case. But only if you’ll back me up fully. We don’t want anything bad to happen to the old guy just because my brain has turned to mush.”

Vin must have looked as surprised as he felt, because Drew gave him a funny look. The man ran his hand through the hair at the top of his head, messing it up and looking pained.

“How long was I gone?”

“No idea, buddy. We’ve been sitting here talking for about half an hour, but I have no idea how much you heard.”

Drew nodded and smiled ruefully. “Sorry, but I’m glad we had this talk.”

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