Public Secrets

understand very much about penance, but she thought leaving Charlie behind was only right.
Then there was school. She was certain that having to go to that place, so far away from everyone she loved best, was her punishment for not taking care of Darren as she’d promised.
She remembered being punished before, the slaps and shouts. It seemed easier, she thought now, because once the slaps were over, so was the punishment. There seemed no end to her current banishment.

Da didn’t call it a punishment, she mused. He said she was going to a good school where she would learn to be smart. Where she would be safe. There were men there to watch her. Emma hated that. They were big, silent men with bored eyes. Not like Johnno and the others. She wanted to go from city to city with them, even if it meant going on airplanes. She wanted to stay in hotels and bounce on the beds and order tea from room service. But she was going back to school, back to the sisters with the kind eyes and firm hands, back to morning prayers and grammar lessons.
She glanced back as her father peeled into “Soldier Blues.” It was another song about the war, its hard-edged lyrics set to a harder-edged beat. She didn’t know why it appealed to her. Perhaps it was P.M.’s cymbal-crashing style or Stevie’s frantic, blood-pumping guitar. But when Johnno’s voice merged with Brian’s, she lifted her camera.
She liked to take pictures. It never occurred to her that the camera was too expensive and difficult to master for a child of her age. Just as it had never occurred to her that giving it had been a sop to Brian’s guilt for tucking her away in an obscure school.
“Emma.”
She turned to study a tall, dark man. He wasn’t one of the bodyguards, she realized, but there was something familiar about his face. Then she remembered. She smiled a little because he had been kind when he’d come to see her in the hospital, and he hadn’t embarrassed her when she’d cried on his shoulder.
“Do you remember me?” Lou asked her.
“Yes. You’re the policeman.”
“That’s right.” He put a hand on the boy beside him, trying to draw his son’s attention away from the group rehearsing. “This is Michael. I told you about him.”
She brightened even more, but was too shy to ask him about roller-skating off rooftops. “Hello.”
“Hi.” He gave her a quick glance, a fleeting smile. It was all he could spare before his eyes were riveted to the four men in the center of the hall.
“We need the horns,” Brian began when he signaled a halt. “Can’t get the full sound without them.” His heart stopped when he spotted the man beside Emma, then slowly, thickly began beating again. “Lieutenant.”

“Mr. McAvoy.” After a quick warning glance at his son, Lou crossed the hall. “I’m sorry to interrupt your rehearsal, but I wanted to speak to you again, and your daughter, if possible.”
“Do you—”
“No. I have very little to add to what you already know. But if I could have a few minutes of your time?”
“Sure. You chaps want to go for lunch? I’ll catch up with you.
“I could hang around,” Johnno offered.
“No.” Brian gave his shoulder a quick squeeze. “Thanks.”
Emma caught the look in Michael’s eyes. She’d seen the same expression in those of the girls at school when they’d discovered who her father was. Her lips curved a little. She liked his face, the slightly crooked nose, the dear gray eyes.
“Would you like to meet them?”
Michael had to wipe his sweaty palms on his jeans. “Yeah. That’d be boss.”
“I hope you don’t mind,” Lou said to Brian as he noted that Emma had spared him from asking. “I brought my son along. Not strictly procedure, but—”
“I understand.” Brian took a long, envious look at the boy as Michael beamed up at Johnno. Would Darren have been so bright, so sturdy at eleven? “Why don’t I send him an album? The new one won’t be released for a couple of weeks yet. He’ll be the hit of the schoolyard.”
“That’s very kind of you.”
“It’s nothing. I’ve a strong feeling that you’ve put more time in on what happened to Darren than you’re required to.”
“Neither one of us has nine-to-five jobs, Mr. McAvoy.”
“Right. I always hated cops.” He gave a thin smile. “I guess you do until you really need one. I’ve hired a private-detective firm, Lieutenant.”
“Yes, I know.”
It was strange, but Brian felt the easiness of his own laugh. “Yes, I