Chapter 29

I started my meal with a healthy slug of champagne, and my mood improved from that point. So I’d have to delay shooting for a while. It wasn’t like I had a definite picture in the pike, after all. I almost always had something on the back burner, of course, but I hadn’t actually made up my mind about the best way to introduce the kid as more than a bit part. I let myself relax and enjoy the evening. We had the usual good time, with the usual good conversation. J.T. didn’t contribute much to the latter. In fact, once he’d said hello, the kid seemed almost withdrawn. The others didn’t know him, of course, and nobody else noticed anything amiss.

I waited until we were in the taxi home before I broached the subject. “You weren’t saying much in there, kid. Your head hurting?”

He heaved a sigh. “Yeah, but that’s not what’s going on. You knew, didn’t you?”