What Danny Took

"Where are you?" Vincent asked.

"The neighborhood rink. The one on Forty-Fourth where I used to work. The side door's open. I can wait ten minutes."

Vincent could make it in ten if Marco drove. He was reaching for his jacket when he remembered what he'd told Elena in the corridor outside the office. He'd promised to go with her if she had to move Sophie. At the time he'd expected to have the hour to spare.

"I'll come in alone," he told Danny. "I need twenty minutes. Is anyone there with you?"

"No. I don't want to stay any longer than that."

"Then I'll be there in twenty."

At the lobby door, Elena had the phone to her ear and one arm around Sophie. When she hung up, Vincent told her where Danny was.

"Go," she said. "I can get Sophie to my sister's."

"I said I'd come with you."

"I know what you said."

He could hear how much she wanted him to keep it. He could also hear her giving him permission to leave because she knew he'd take it.

"Does your sister live on the way?"

"Three blocks off it."

"Then let me come along. Danny knows when I'll get there."

Elena watched him for a second. Then she asked Sophie whether she'd remembered her gloves.

They took Nina's car. The three of them were quiet for the first block. Sophie was holding her skate bag upright on her lap even though it took up most of the space between her and Vincent. At a red light she opened it and produced a paper napkin with a single marshmallow sticking to the fold.

"I saved you the biggest one," she said. "It was bigger when it was dry."

Vincent peeled it off the paper and ate it. It tasted of cocoa and the inside of her bag.

"Good?" Sophie asked.

"Very."

Her knees stopped bouncing against the seat in front of her.

Elena's sister Ruth was waiting in the front hall of her building. Vincent knew her mostly as a girl who'd once chased him out of the Reyes kitchen with a tea towel. She was wearing slippers now and had a phone in her hand. She nodded to him and opened her arms for Sophie.

"Mom's coming back after she makes a phone call," Sophie told her.

"As soon as I can," Elena said. "I'll call you first if it's going to be late."

Sophie nodded and looked at Vincent. "Do I still have practice on Saturday?"

"If the rink's closed, we'll find another one."

"You don't have to come if you're busy."

He crouched to pick up the skate bag. "I'd like to come."

She considered the difference. Then she took the bag from him, hugged it against her chest, and went upstairs with Ruth.

Elena stayed beside him on the stoop. Down the block, someone was dragging a trash can out to the curb. The ordinary noise made the last few hours feel for a moment like something Vincent could set down.

"The coach called me back," Elena said. "He thinks Matty still uses the same number. I'm going to try him from here. Ruth has a room upstairs where I can make calls."

"Tell Marco if you get hold of him. He'll stay close if you want him to."

"I do want him close." She put her hand on Vincent's sleeve. "And I want you to call me when you get to Danny. Just because I can do something alone doesn't mean I want to sit here wondering."

"I'll call you."

She took her hand away first. He felt the loss of it all the way back to the car.

Danny was waiting at the smaller rink in a darkened birthday room. Through the interior window Vincent could see a string of gold paper stars hanging over a table and a vacuum cleaner propped in a corner. Danny had pulled a plastic chair out so he could watch the door. He'd taken off his blue work shirt. It was folded beside him with the name tag facing up.

Vincent called Elena from the doorway. "I'm with him. I'll call again when we're done."

Danny gave him a wary look when he came inside. "Who'd you call?"

"Sophie's mom. She knows where I am."

"Is Sophie okay?"

"She's with her aunt. She asked if she'd get to skate on Saturday."

For the first time since Vincent had walked in, Danny lowered his shoulders.

"My grandfather used to work at North Pier," he said. "He showed me that locker years ago, when my tool bag went missing. He told me there were a few things in there I should leave alone. Yesterday Adrian asked me to see whether anybody had moved the mats. When I heard the police were coming, I checked. Somebody had pulled them back."

"So you took the case."

"I saw the man in the gray hat earlier. He'd asked me how to get to the west stands. Said he'd been there as a kid and wanted to see them. After Sophie spotted him again, I figured he'd found another way to look for whatever he came for." Danny rubbed his forehead. "Adrian told me your people might be helping the man. I didn't know how to find out if he was right. I left with the case."

"Why didn't you give it to Adrian?"

"I opened it. The first thing I saw was a list of people with children. It had where they lived. Adrian kept saying he'd take care of it, and every time I asked what that meant, he told me I was running out of time."

Danny pulled the case out from under the table. Its handle had left an oily mark on his palm.

"The directory's in there. There's also a packet of old financial papers I left in my grandfather's workshop. I wanted to be able to hand one thing over without handing over everything. My sister has the only other key to that shop, and she's on a night shift. She can meet me in the morning."

Vincent took the case when Danny pushed it toward him. He didn't open it.

"Elena has somebody to call," he said. "Then she's going to have thirty-six more. I'd like you to stay and help us work out who we can trust to pass along a message."

Danny looked at the case, then at him. "I can do that."

Vincent's phone rang.

"I got Matty," Elena said. "He put his mom on. She says a man came in twice today and sat where he could see the register. She has him in front of her right now."