All These Things I've Done (Birthright #1)(12)

‘Yes?’

‘Get yourself a bar of chocolate from the closet,’ she ordered.

‘Chocolate doesn’t solve everything, Nana.’

‘It solves a whole heck of a lot, though,’ she said.

I walked into her closet. I pushed past the coats to open the safe. I moved the gun out of the way. I took a chocolate bar: Balanchine Special Dark. I put the gun back. I closed the safe.

Something wasn’t right.

One of the guns was missing. My father’s Smith & Wesson.

‘Nana?’ I called.

She didn’t answer. I went back into her bedroom. She was already fast asleep.

‘Nana,’ I repeated, shaking her shoulder.

‘What?’ she sputtered. ‘What?’

‘One of the guns is missing,’ I said. ‘From the safe. Daddy’s gun.’

‘Were you planning to use it tonight? Take the Colt instead.’ Nana chuckled and that turned into a choke, so I gave her water. ‘Imogen probably moved it. I think she mentioned something about cleaning or it not being safe to keep the weapons in one place or . . . I’m sorry. I can’t remember.’ Her face looked sad and confused for a moment, and I wanted to cry. She smiled. ‘Don’t worry so much, darling. You can ask her tomorrow.’

I kissed my grandmother’s cheek, then I left. On the way back to my room, I passed Leo’s. His door was shut but I could see light coming from the crack at the bottom. He must have gotten home while I’d been talking to Nana. I looked at my watch: 4.10, slightly early for my brother to be back from work.

I knocked on the door.

No answer.

I knocked again.

Still no answer. I put my ear against the wood. I could barely make out muffled sobs.

‘Leo, I know you’re in there. What’s wrong?’

‘Go away!’ Leo said, his voice thick with tears.

‘I can’t do that, Leo. I’m your sister. If something’s the matter, I need to know what it is so I can help.’

I heard the sound of Leo fastening the lock.

‘Please, Leo. If you don’t open this right now, I’ll have to pick the lock. You know I can.’ I had done it many times after Leo had locked himself in his room both by accident and on purpose.

Leo unlocked and opened the door.

His eyes were bloodshot, and trails of snot were coming out his nose. When he cried, my brother looked about six years old. His face turned pink and clenched up like a rose or a fist.

I put my arms around him, which made Leo cry even harder. ‘Oh no, Leo, what happened? Is it something with Jacks?’

Leo shook his head. After perhaps thirty more seconds of tears, Leo managed to tell me the cause of his distress. He couldn’t look me in the eye, but he finally said that he had lost his job at the veterinary clinic.

‘Don’t worry, Leo.’ I rubbed his back the way he liked. When he had calmed down somewhat, I asked him to explain what had happened. It turned out that the veterinary clinic had been shut down. After Leo had gotten back from lunch, someone from the New York City Department of Health had shown up for an unscheduled inspection. The clinic had been cited for fifty-one violations, most of them having to do with cleanliness, and had been ordered to immediately cease operations.

‘But it was clean,’ Leo said. ‘I know it was clean. It was my job to keep it clean, and I do a good job. Everyone says I’m a good worker, Annie.’

‘It’s not your fault,’ I assured my brother. This sort of thing happened every day. Clearly, someone at the clinic hadn’t been paying off the right person at the Department of Health. ‘Here’s my prediction, Leo. I bet you anything the clinic will reopen in a couple of weeks and you’ll be back at work in no time.’

Leo nodded, but his eyes were unconvinced. ‘They sent away the animals, Annie. You don’t think they’ll hurt them, do you?’

‘No.’ A couple of years ago there’d been a move to ban all pets from the city, but there were protests and it didn’t fly. Some people still thought non-working animals were a waste of our limited resources. Quite honestly, I wasn’t sure what would happen, but there was no use telling Leo that. I made a mental note to call Leo’s boss, Dr Pikarski, to see if there was anything I could do to help.

Leo said he was tired so I tucked him into bed and told him I’d wake him for dinner. ‘I didn’t cry in front of them at work,’ he said. ‘When it happened, I wanted to cry but I held it in.’

‘You were very brave,’ I said.

I turned off his light and closed the door.

When I got back to my room, Natty and Scarlet were monopolizing the space on the bed. I wasn’t in the mood to kick out my little sister so I just sat on the floor.

‘Everything all right?’ Scarlet asked.

‘The usual,’ I replied. ‘Family drama.’

‘Well, Natty and I were actually very productive,’ Scarlet said. ‘We came up with a list of potential places to take Win on Friday night.’

‘Seems a bit premature, seeing as he hasn’t even agreed to go with us yet,’ I said.

Scarlet ignored me and held out her hand, which was where the list was written:

Scarlet had sweated off half of number five. ‘What’s that last one?’