Dead Right, ep VII

That Nibor guy was a weirdo. Dell had to wash his hands for a half hour to get the creep off after he'd met him two days ago and he'd had to resist the urge to recoil from it tonight. Wenton was pissed at him, but in the end his little brother would come around. He hoped. But Dell had to try something.

It was all because of the kid. Sure as shit Dell loved him and would take care of him if he absolutely had to, but there was no way little Toddy wasn't going to get screwed up somehow, someway. Dell didn't know anything about taking care of kids. He'd tried babysitting his nephew once and damn near killed him. By the time Wenton and Cara got back home, Dell was sobbing worse than the baby. It would have been one thing if they had never had any kids and Cara had died. He could get a nurse or something for his brother, but foster care was no way to raise a child.

No. He had to get his little brother back on track and this was the best—the only—way he saw how. He watched Nibor punch in another code after giving Wenton the same explanation he'd gotten the other day, and then the door to Tank 3 lifted.

Wenton's eyes slid over to him before going inside. He looked like he'd already seen a ghost.

Not yet, little brother, he wanted to say, but no words felt appropriate just then. Wenton went inside and Nibor closed and locked the door behind him.

"Why the lock?"

"Just a safety precaution." Nibor waved his hand through the air like he was conducting at the DSO.

You didn't lock the door when I went inside, he thought, but didn't say anything. He walked back to the entrance to this big room.

This had to work.

Even if Wenton hated him for the rest of his life.

Dell could admit, even if only to himself, this was more for him than his brother. It was selfish, but he would live with that.

He turned to the officer behind him. Duvall, his name was.

"So how was your weekend?"

The wall of a man declined his head to him, his face as unreadable as a sheet of steel, especially behind those sunglasses.

"Went to Belle Isle."

"Oh, that's cool. What was going on there?"

Another pause before answering. Dell was sure that was his subtle way of saying he didn't care for conversation. "Family reunion."

Dell gave several head pumps, nodding slow and long and folding his arms.

They stood in silence for a while, Nibor staying over by the door. There was a coffee pot over by a wall and Dell made himself a cup. Lots of cream,lots of sugar.

It was really terrible coffee and he had to sip small amounts of it for it to be tolerable. He resumed his spot a foot away from the executive protection officer.

Dell was about three-fourths of the way done with the coffee when Wenton emerged.

Dell met Nibor at the door before the man could begin questioning his brother.

"You can expect a copy of the mayor's report probably in a few days," he said, taking the man's hand and giving it a shake. Nibor tried to look over his shoulder at Wenton and Dell side-stepped to block his view.