“He’s useless. Completely useless.” Toby wedged the heel of one cowboy boot against the bottom rung of the kitchen chair where Drew sat and stared at the FBI agent as if he were an interesting bug. Drew didn’t seem to notice.
“Not completely,” Maria said to be fair “He hasn’t blown his cover yet.”
“Is it not evident to you that he’s so far gone it doesn’t matter?”
“Illusion,” Drew said, proving Toby’s point. His eyes were glazed over. Maria couldn’t be sure he knew they were there. Drew spread his hands and fingers in an all encompassing gesture. “Everything we think we know is wrong. It’s all illusion.”
“Was he ever this philosophical before?” Toby yanked his boot loose from the chair and walked over to the wall of his kitchen. He leaned into the wall, crossing his arms and looking angry.
“It’s the drug,” Maria muttered.
“That’s my point. He’s addicted.”
Maria winced. The last thing she wanted to admit to herself or anyone else was how addictive the drug could be. After all, her little brother showed all the same symptoms.
“It’s so bad now that we can’t let him get anywhere near the Ramirez Rules people or he’ll drop.” Toby kept his eyes and his voice level, letting her see how serious he was.
“Are you saying we should send him away?” Maria glared at him, not liking the direction this was headed.
“What else are we going to do with him? There is no facility that can dry him out. He needs to get as far away from the source as he can and pray he can make it on his own.”
“That… that’s….”
“Tragic?”
“Cruel,” Maria corrected him. “We are the best people for him. We are the ones who know what this stuff does and how to handle it. We can’t just cut him loose. We have to help.”
“Sometimes you have to be cruel to be…”
“Stop feeding me that! I don’t believe it. You cowboys, you all think alike. If you really cared so much about the animals, then you shouldn’t eat them.”
“Hey, hey, where’d this conversation go off track?”
“We aren’t going to send him away and we aren’t going to drop the case.”
“We aren’t sending him back in there,” Toby warned her. “He can’t take it any more.”
Maria nodded reluctantly. There was no way she could justify to herself making any more demands on Agent Banks. He had already done his duty.
“Can he stay with you?”
“For now.” Toby pushed off from the wall. “We better get him into bed. He’ll be going under in a few more minutes.”
With Toby under one shoulder and Maria under the other, they wrestled Drew out of his chair and off to bed.
“Tragic. Yes, that’s me,” Drew said morosely. “So far from home and unable to do anyone any good. I just wish it was all over.”
“So do I” Maria and Toby said at the same time.
If you enjoy Suzie’s House and would like to see more, please leave a comment. Suzie’s House is powered by its readers.
14 Responses to Suzie’s House 208 : Drewing The Line