Dreaming of the Bones

Duncan , thank you for coming,” Potts said with quiet courtesy. ”But there’s no need now for you to stay. Is there anything... I mean, should we...”
    Feeling that perhaps he’d misjudged the man, Kincaid said softly, ”No, there’s nothing you can do. Not until tomorrow, at least, and I’m sure someone will be ringing you. The police are very anxious to contact Kit’s father, however. Have you any idea—”
    ”That man,” hissed Eugenia, for having finished throttling Kit, she’d caught the tail end of their conversation. ”I blame him for this. If he hadn’t abandoned her, none of this would have happened. My baby would be alive—”
    Kit’s face lost all color, then he turned and ran from the room.
    Kincaid rounded on Mrs. Potts with a shout of anger. ”Enough! Keep your useless speculations to yourself, you silly woman, wher,e they won’t do any more damage.” He left her standing openmouthed, and ran after Kit.
    He found him in the sitting room, crouched on the floor over the wreckage of the Monopoly game. ”I kicked it,” Kit said, looking up at Kincaid. Tears streamed down his face. ”I shouldn’t have, but I was so angry. And now I can’t... I can’t put it back...”
    Kneeling beside him, Kincaid said, ”I’ll help you,” and began sorting the paper money into its slots. ”Kit, don’t pay any attention to what your grandmother said. She’s just upset. You did absolutely the right things this afternoon, and no one could have done better.”
    ”Why does she have to be so beastly?” Kit said, hiccuping. ”Why did she have to be so beastly to you?”
    Kincaid sighed. He felt suddenly too exhausted to think, much less talk, but he made an effort. ”She doesn’t mean to be cruel, Kit. She just doesn’t think. Some people are like loose cannons—they go off all the time at the nearest target, and it makes them feel better. And I’m afraid the more your grandmother hurts inside, the worse she’s going to be, so try to be patient with her.”
    ”You weren’t,” said Kit. ”I heard you shouting.”
    ”No, I wasn’t, was I?” Kincaid admitted, grinning at him. ”‘So don’t take me as an example.” He’d been half listening to the murmur of voices from the hall, hers rising in protest, her husband’s coaxing, and now he heard the front door close softly. ”They’ve gone to the car, I think,” he said, fitting the board into the top of the box and closing the lid. ”Come on. I’ll walk you out.”
    When they reached the porch, Potts climbed out of the car and came over to them. ”So sorry about all that,” he said. Light from the porch lamp glinted from his spectacles, so that Kincaid couldn’t see his eyes. ”A sedative, and bed, I think, is what she needs.”
    And what about Kit? thought Kincaid, but he didn’t speak.
    ”Eugenia thinks... that is, we feel that the house should be secured, and that we should keep the key…” Potts said, twisting his hands together. ”That is, if you don’t mind...”
    Kincaid fished the key Byrne had given him from his pocket. ”I didn’t intend going off with the silver, Bob,” he said dryly as he held the key out.
    ”No, no, I didn’t mean... what I meant was ..Potts gestured helplessly at the house. ”Would you... could you possibly, before you go... I don’t think I could possibly go back in the house just now, you see.”
    Kincaid did see, finally, and silently chided himself for an insensitive clod. ”Of course. You wait here with your granddad, Kit, and I’ll be back in a tick.”
    He checked the house quickly, securing the French doors in the sitting room, then the kitchen door, and turning out most of the lights. Then he grabbed Kit’s bag from the hall and went out, locking the front door behind him.
    They waited for him in the drive, their breath forming clouds of mist in the still, cold air. Kincaid pressed the key into Vic’s father’s hand, said, ”All right, then. You’d best be on your way.
    ”I’ll see you, mate,” he said to Kit, and thumped him on the shoulder.
    They walked away across the drive. When Kit reached the car he turned round and looked at Kincaid once more, then opened the back door and disappeared into the dark interior.
    Kincaid watched the car pull out into the street, watched its taillamps flash at the Coton Road junction before it vanished from his sight.
    His inadequacy rose up to engulf him, and he protested aloud, ”What else could I have bloody