Masters & Lovers Box Set Three

Chapter 47

Michael

Klempner is, as usual, waiting as we arrive. From his seat, behind the barrier, he watches me enter with Charlotte. He looks rough; shadows under his eyes and he's lost weight.

The guard, Hartland, is there. He leans down, whispers close by my ear. “If it looks like trouble, just say the word.”

“I will.”

Then he straightens up and levels his baton towards Klempner. “Behave yourself, Larry.”

Klempner looks up, just barely tilts his head in acknowledgement. But I remember the look he gave Hartwell the last time we were here…

The monster stirring…

Klempner watches as James follows us in, letting out a barely audible sigh as he sits.

“That leg giving you trouble?”

James reply is curt. “Cold, damp weather.” But I hear his surprise at the question lurking behind the words.

Klempner fingers a long white scar on his hand. “It can't have been pleasant when Bech shot you. Tell me, do you remember it happening?”

James’ eyes shoot arrows. “What's it to you?”

“If you had just discovered you have a daughter, don't you think you would want to know something about the man she answers to?”

James shifts. Not much and perhaps not visibly to those who didn't know him, but I see it.

Unsettled?

“I didn't remember it at first, no,” he says. “The memory resurfaced after a few months.”

Klempner raises a flat, mirror gaze to him. “The memory was repressed?”

“Apparently.”

Klempner has a plastic cup of water by him. He takes a long mouthful, then sets it down again. “Interesting,” he says, “how the mind protects itself.”

What the hell’s he talking about?

Between me and James, Charlotte sits, shuffling awkwardly. Klempner chews at his upper lip. The pair regard each other in silence for a long minute then Charlotte finally speaks. “Thank you for sending the necklace.”

In restrained tones, “You’re welcome.” His eyes dip to her collar bone. “It suits you. As it did your mother.”

Charlotte swallows and lapses into silence again.

This could take a while…

After another long pause, Klempner says, “Are you going to ask me about your mother? That’s what you usually do.”

Charlotte fidgets then blurts, “I don’t even know what to call you.”

Klempner blows air. Looks down. Looks up. Then, “I suppose Dad is too much to hope for?”

James huffs and Klempner levels a stare at him. Then, “What do you want to call me?”

Charlotte’s voice would cut glass. “Don't tempt me.”

He coughs a laugh with no humour in it. “They know me as Larry around here. You can call me Larry.”

“What's your real name?”

“What?” He seems genuinely taken aback by the question.

think it’s Klempner. I think you've probably gone by a lot of names. In a lot of

name. I left that behind when I was

“And Larry?”

lids lower. “That was

“Your mother?”

did have one

ignores the sarcasm. “I wanted

fingernail on

“What was she like?”

basilisk.

I’m trying to find out who my family were… are…. You told me that your father beat you. I wondered what

“No, she didn’t.” Klempner’s

He looks haunted…

“Tell me about her.”

“I barely remember her.”

what

one day. But

What going on?

props elbows on the counter. “You said

He was a violent man. It was him or

“He beat you?”

enjoyed it. Used his fists. When I was small, he used

her attention. As though painted into place, Charlotte sits, frozen as he speaks. Klempner jerks his chin up. “It’s not

“Yes.”

the kitchen table. He was drunk. Throwing punches. Not caring what part of me he hit so long as he got something. I grabbed for whatever was to

breath. “It turned out to be a knife from the dinner plate. Nothing special. Not a bread knife or a meat knife. Just the kind you’d use to eat your eggs or

falls; rises and

sits, blinking for a moment, then, “No. I was shocked; in pain from the beating he’d already given me.

“Where to?”

I didn’t know what to do. I considered joining the army. You know the kind of thing. ‘Learn skills. Become a man.’ But I was too young,

interrupts. “They wouldn’t have jailed you. Not for defending yourself. And you were a

How much did you know of the world at that age? I’d run a knife into a man and watched him

Charlotte’s face goes slack…

Jenkins…

mirror of what happened to

she’d

She ran…

And she kept running…

still speaking. “I left the country. Worked my way on the cargo ships. There’s destinations where they don’t ask too many questions so long as you pull

leans forward. “Which

moved around a lot. Congo, Chad,

places to be. And dangerous times to

almost bored,

in. “What were you doing?

then

always a war to be found in that

blanks over for a moment,

“I was. Yes.”

would you do something

“It’s a living.”

“But it’s so dangerous.”

head tilts.

to….” She holds… chewing her

advice, for what it is worth to you. If

“Tell me. You wouldn’t have said all that unless you wanted me to know. Why did you

he says, a touch of

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