? ? ?
Things weren’t supposed to get this far. I kept saying that to myself, like it would make some kind of difference, as I walked with Patrick and Lex toward baggage claim. The racing of my heart had become physically painful. Black fuzz was beginning to encroach on the edges of my vision. We’d see them at any moment.
We got on the escalators and began to descend toward the baggage carousels, and suddenly we were engulfed in pops of light. They came from the dozen photographers waiting below. I stared at them dumbly, my comprehension lagging a moment behind events.
Were we standing near someone famous?
“Oh my God,” Lex said. She pulled me behind her, shielding me with her body.
“Sons of bitches!” Patrick said. “How did they know we were here?”
Wait.
“Patrick, don’t—” Lex said, grabbing for him, but he was already storming down the escalator, taking the steps two at a time.
The flashes continued to go off, and now people were calling Danny’s name. Fuck. They were here for me. The press knew—and cared—that Daniel Tate had been found. I was furious at myself for not considering this possibility. I had always been so unimportant that it had never occurred to me that Daniel Tate wouldn’t be, but the Tates were rich, and people paid attention to what happened to rich people.
This was incredibly bad.
Patrick dove into the clump of paparazzi, who split and re-formed around him like a school of fish around a shark. He was red faced and spitting legalese, and he shoved the man closest to him. Hard. I only noticed the security guards who had been struggling with the photographers when one of them grabbed Patrick by the arm to restrain him.
“Patrick!” Lex cried.
A pair of cops rushed to our sides, and my panic doubled. Patrick had told me I wouldn’t have to talk to the cops right away, that he’d take care of things. I’d been counting on that time to get away before the authorities here in the States busted me.
“This way, ma’am,” one of them said.
And then suddenly we were moving, pushed along by the tide of people. Lex called for Patrick again, and he shoved his way through the crowd to her side, braiding his fingers into hers. The cops took us to a door that required a security card to enter. One opened the door and went in, while the second stayed outside to close it after us. As quickly as the circus had started, we found ourselves alone in a quiet hallway.
Lex’s hands were on me, checking to see that I was still in one piece.
“Are you okay?” she said. “I’m so sorry, Danny. I had no idea . . .”
I was shaking. What a terrible, catastrophic mistake I’d made coming here.
“Don’t worry,” Lex said to me. “We’ll be home soon. You’ll be safe there.”
I don’t know what made her think that. Danny hadn’t been safe there.
“If you’ll just follow me,” the remaining cops said. “Your family is waiting down here, and we’ve arranged for you to exit via a side door.”
“Thank you, Officer,” Patrick said.
I’d barely had time to catch my breath after realizing the cops were just an escort and not here to question me before we were standing in front of the door that separated me from the rest of the Tates. I caught a glimpse of them through the small panel of glass above the knob and had only a fraction of a second to size them up. A fading beauty queen, a sharp slip of a boy, and a pigtailed girl. Then the cop was opening the door.
They jumped to their feet when the door opened. I could see how nervous they were. At least I wasn’t the only one. For a moment everyone was silent and still, just staring. I kept my head down, hiding my face beneath the brim of my hat. I waited for someone to see through me, to start shouting.
Mia was the first to speak.
“Danny!” She ran to me, limping from the cumbersome brace on one of her legs. She flung her little arms around my waist, and I jumped. Lex gently pried her off me.
“Easy, honey,” she said. “Let’s give Danny a little space, okay?”
She nodded. Unlike anyone else, her face was shining with pure excitement. It was weird. She hadn’t even known Daniel, could never truly have missed him.
I looked at Nicholas next, eyeing him from underneath the brim of my cap. He was looking me up and down and not bothering to hide it. Nicholas was my first real test.
“Look who it is, Nicholas,” Patrick said.
A creeping, stuttering smile started across the boy’s lips.
“Danny?” he said. He wanted to believe it.
I nodded. “Hi.” My instinct was to call him “Nicky,” and usually my best lies came from trusting my instincts. But I’d already gotten things wrong when I’d called Lex by her full name, which I soon noticed Patrick never did. Better to err on the side of caution and not arouse any more suspicions, however small.
Nicholas shook his head, like he was responding to some internal voice, and then stepped forward to embrace me. His hug was oddly sharp, just like him, all angles and bones.
Two down.
I risked a brief glance at Jessica. This is where the wheels would come off this thing. No mother—not even the woman who’d given birth to me—could look into the eyes of a stranger and see her own son—I was sure of it. Jessica was staring at me, her lips pinched into two thin lines with uneven lipstick drawn over them. I waited for her to open them and scream.
“Mom.” Patrick reached out to her. There was a gray tinge to her skin underneath her blush. “It’s okay. It’s Danny.”
She turned her shoulders ever so slightly toward the door, like she was on the brink of running. The air-conditioning was raising gooseflesh on my arms as I waited to see what she would do. She kept her eyes on me, and I remembered how someone from my dead-and-buried life once taught me you’re supposed to maintain eye contact with a mountain lion to stop it from attacking you.
“Mom,” Patrick said more firmly. “Come hug Danny.”
Jessica took a hesitant step toward me, and I forced myself not to back away. Two fat tears built in her eyes and rolled down her cheeks as she stared at me silently.
“My son,” she finally said. She reached out to hug me. Her grasp on me was weak, but she held me close enough that I could smell the cigarette smoke beneath her perfume.
I was stunned. Could she really believe I was Daniel? Or was she just bowing to the excitement of the moment and the pressure from Patrick?
“Let’s go home,” Lex said.