Chapter 14 - THE FIRST TIME HE ASKED

Six months after the brake sabotage, the criminal cases were moving toward trial.

Celeste, out on bond, lived in a luxury rental with a court monitor attached to her movement conditions. Paul remained in custody after violating pretrial contact restrictions. Victor faced civil suits, removal actions, and one very public humiliating deposition where he denied knowing enough to stop what he clearly had encouraged.

Real justice, as Prescott liked to say, takes paperwork and stamina.

Meanwhile, real family takes repetition.

Desmond saw Toby every week.

Sometimes in therapy.

Sometimes at a neutral park.

Sometimes at Linda’s new house where Toby had his own room, his own desk, and a dog-eared science magazine subscription Desmond quietly renewed after finding out the boy loved rockets.

The first time Toby visited Desmond’s condo downtown, he spent ten minutes inspecting the refrigerator.

“Why are you looking in there?” Desmond asked.

Toby shrugged.

“Seeing if rich people eat weird.”

“What’s the verdict?”

“Too much sparkling water. Not enough cereal.”

So Desmond bought cereal.

Not symbolically.

Actually.

The relationship advanced in crooked, realistic steps. Toby did not suddenly become affectionate. He tested. He observed. He occasionally ignored Desmond on purpose. Linda remained courteous but wary, and Desmond understood she had earned that right.

Then one Saturday, while they were assembling a cheap telescope Toby had chosen from a science store, the boy asked without looking up, “Were you going to tell me, if the test had said yes?”

“Yes.”

“Even if it messed up your company?”

“Yes.”

Toby tightened a screw, then loosened it again.

“Why?”

Desmond answered honestly.

“Because almost getting killed made me understand I was already losing the wrong things.”

Toby was silent for a long moment.

Then, so quietly Desmond almost missed it, he said, “Okay… Dad, hold this part.”

The room went perfectly still.

Desmond took the telescope bracket with careful hands, as though sudden movement might scare the word away.

He did not react too strongly.

He did not cry in front of the child.

Later, alone in his kitchen, he did both.

But that one word did not solve everything.

Because two nights later, Linda called and said Toby had woken from a nightmare convinced that Celeste’s people were taking him again.

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