Page 45 of Prior Claim
There was nothing about more recent sightings, though. Without running a full Europol search on flights and photos, that was all that was to be had for the moment. Sevastyan was speaking again. Putting out too many feelers would create ripples in the field, ones that could come back to cause trouble, particularly for him.
Ellisandre checked the rest of their messages and updates as the sound of the kitchen cleaning died down. Alice dropped into one of the chairs. Linda had gone to fetch her laptop and came back with the screen already up.
“You need a bag,” she said, putting it down in front of Alice. “Choose one. This will be something you can carry in the office.”
“Dana’s not ready to go back to school,” Alice said. “I don’t need a bag yet.”
“Dana won’t always be attached to you,” Linda said. “And you’re interested in what I do. Choose one.”
Ellisandre decided to stir the pot a little. They pulled up a tab of handguns, most of which they’d already introduced Alice to at the shooting range. “And choose one of these, while you’re at it.” They pushed the tablet across the table.
“You’re buying her a gun?” Linda’s eyes widened.
“I already know how to shoot,” Alice said.
“I think everyone knows you know how to shoot.” Linda put her hand against her chest in the way she did when she was trying to be calm. “I just wish you wouldn’t feel like you have to.”
“I’d rather have one than not have one,” Alice said. She tapped one of the handguns with smaller dimensions. “This one. That’s my favorite. And . . .”—she turned back to Linda’s laptop—“this is my favorite purse.”
“Why is that your favorite?” Ellisandre asked, a smile tugging at their lips. It was a very conservative purse, blue and silver with a long strap.
“Because they go together.” Alice pressed her palms together and tapped her joint index fingers against her bottom lip.
Linda sighed. “Elli, this is all your fault.”
“Oh, no.” Ellisandre shook their head. “That bag and I would never. Her taste in carrying cases is all yours.”
Dana stumbled into the kitchen rubbing her eyes, followed by Ash. She looked between Linda and Ellisandre, her face wrinkling up, uncertain.
“My mommy and daddy are fighting over me,” Alice told Dana. “They both want me to be like them.”
Linda’s mouth fell open. She stared at Alice.
Alice didn’t notice. She was busy smiling at Dana. “What do you need, pumpkin?”
“Water.” Dana looked between Ellisandre and Linda again, as if to make sure everything was really all right.
Alice picked Dana up, even though she was truly too large to be carried, and moved toward the refrigerator, taking a clean cup from the counter.
“Can I call Ellisandre Daddy now?” Dana asked.
“Ellisandre is nonbinary,” Linda said automatically. “They don’t use gendered terms like mommy and daddy.”
Ellisandre smirked. “But daddy doesn’t have to be gendered. It’s a role. You can call me Daddy, bitbrat, if you want to. Just know daddies sometimes have to go on lots of business trips and worry about lots of people.”
Dana blinked slowly at Ellisandre over Alice’s shoulder.
“I’m not calling you Daddy,” Ash muttered from the doorway. He was still holding one of Dana’s books.
“Oh, can I call you Daddy?” Alice grinned.
Ellisandre tilted their head, studying Alice. “You may call me Daddy.” They smiled.
Alice grinned back, showing all her teeth. She did a little dance with Dana. “That makes Linda Mommy, but I don’t think she wants to be called Mommy.”
Linda groaned and covered her face with her hand. “Now you’ve started it. You know that technically Dana is my aunt, right?”
“Technically, fechnically,” Alice singsonged back. She gave Dana the glass of water and Dana gulped it down. “If you act like her mom, then you are her mom.”
