Page 94 of Requiem

But, guilt is not the emotion I see on Trudy Corrigan’s face. No, it’s more like regret. Regret for things left undone that have now come back to haunt her. I can tell she’s about to respond, when Brett sticks his head in.

“Hey, so, I’ve been thinking, it probably wouldn’t be a bad idea to get David out of here.”

“Surely you don’t think your brother’s going to come back for him …” Trudy gapes, looking from her son, to her sleeping grandson, and back again.

“I don’t know what to think as far as Jeremy’s concerned,” he admits. “But, Matthew, you need every bit of energy you have right now, and I don’t think you’ll be able to give it your full attention until you know that David is somewhere safe.”

He’s absolutely right. I look to Trudy.

“What can I do?” she offers without hesitation.

I stand up and walk to the crib, putting David down, and then turn to face her.

“Trudy, will you please stay with him? Will you take him to our house on Long Island? It’s far enough out of the city that we won’t have to worry about him being anywhere near Jeremy.”

“Yes, Matthew, of course.”

“Mom,” Brett says, picking up where I’ve left off, “There’s a midnight train out of Penn Station. You’ll have to take a cab there, and then another one to the house when you arrive. Are you okay with that?”

She raises an irritated eyebrow at him.

“Brett, I’ve been wrangling five-year-olds for more than twenty years. I think I can manage to get in and out of a couple of cabs with a sleeping baby.”

For the first time in hours, I find my lips twitching with the hint of a smile.

“You two go do what you need to do, I’m going to pack a few things for him. Are there any bottles made up, Matthew?”

“Uh, yes, in the fridge. I’ll pack them in the insulated bag. You can load it all into his stroller. As soon as you’re ready, I’ll call downstairs and they’ll hail a cab. I’ll go get you a key and write the address for you. His nursery is upstairs, just turn left at the top and go down to the end of the hall. He’ll probably sleep the entire way,” I assure her, getting up to set this plan in motion.

She nods, and I follow Brett out into the hall.

“Okay, that’s David squared away, he says. “What the fuck do we do now?”

I look at him for a long moment before speaking.

“We do exactly what Jeremy told us to do. We wait.”