Free Butterfly Hunter 01 by Julie Bozza

breakfast.
     

 

Five
     
    The days and nights of the first
week of their trip continued much the same. Except for the dawn
tears; they avoided any repetition of that scene. Whenever Dave
suspected that Nicholas was out there watching the sunrise, he just
turned within his sleeping bag and went back to sleep for a
while.
    They got along well
enough. Nicholas was engaged with his hunt, even though he was
basically doing no more for now than providing further records for
fairly well known phenomena. Dave was patient in assisting his
client, and Nicholas was an efficient and uncomplaining member of
Dave’s camp.
    The only time they came
near to trouble was on the third evening, after Dave had checked in
with Denise. Once he’d ended the call, he headed back towards his
tent to put away the satellite phone – only to be met halfway there
by Nicholas’s puzzled scowl.
    Dave almost stumbled a step,
half surprised, half defensive.
    “ Are you
going to call her every night?” Nicholas demanded.
    “ What?
Yes.”
    “ Seriously?”
    “ Yes. It’s a
matter of safety. Especially a trip like this when we don’t know
where we’ll end up. I told you, she makes a note of the latitude
and longitude, so –”
    “ I understand
that.”
    So they’ll know
where to find the bodies. But of course
he wasn’t mean or unprofessional enough to say that. “Used to be
Dad I’d call as often as Denny. Before he – you know.
Died.”
    “ But every night?” Nicholas returned, as if pleading for
reason.
    The defensiveness abruptly
switched to its opposite. “ My rules, remember? Life and
death? You might be thankful some day that I was careful. Even,” he
allowed, the anger turning lame already – “even a bit more careful
than I needed to be.”
    “ I think
you’re using that as an excuse.”
    Dave’s head went back, and
a stunned moment welled between them. Then he bit. “What if I am?
What’s your problem? Jealous, are you?”
    Dave regretted that the
moment it was out, but Nicholas responded quickly enough, as if he
didn’t see it as inappropriate at all. “Whether I am or not, I
should think that any of your friends would be wanting you to move
on by now – more than a year after she left you
behind.”
    “ Well,” Dave
started. “Look, she –” But he trailed off.
    What could he say? How could he
argue with a truth that no one else but for Denise herself had
quite dared to tell him.
    He took refuge in a rule
that he should have remembered before now. “I appreciate your
concern,” Dave said frostily, “but it’s none of your business. Just
like your private life is none of mine.”
    “ Right,”
Nicholas crisply responded, and he glared before turning
away.
    Still, half an hour later
they were eating dinner across the campfire from one another, and
they were conversing – a bit stiltedly, but with goodwill. And
eventually in a quiet moment, Nicholas murmured, “I’m sorry,
David.”
    “ Not a
problem,” answered Dave. “I was out of line, too.”
    And he was rewarded with
one of Nicholas’s beautiful gentle smiles.
     
    The real trouble began at the
end of the week. Dave had begun packing up the camp as usual, but
instead of pitching in as he always did, Nicholas was loitering,
looking dissatisfied.
    “ I want to
stay,” Nicholas eventually announced.
    “ What?”
    “ I want to
stay here at the campsite.”
    “ No. No, we
agreed. Once a week –”
    “ Supplies, I
know. But you can go, can’t you, David? You’ve gone alone for
petrol and water before.”
    “ Only once!”
Dave slid one of the packing cases home into the back of the
Cruiser, and then turned to consider the man. “It’s not just
supplies. It’s civilisation. It’s other people, and a proper bed
for the night, and a proper meal. It’s the news, and the internet,
and calling home. Aren’t you tired of my company yet?”
    It was the wrong question,
of course. Nicholas put his head down, but tilted one of his wicked
little