Free Live Fire by Stephen Leather Page B

it.’
    ‘You said that last time, too.’ He went back to his computer game.
    ‘Plug it in, I’ll give you a game,’ said Shepherd.
    ‘You’re terrible at video games,’ said Liam.
    ‘I’ve been letting you win,’ said Shepherd. ‘But that changes as of today.’
    Liam went to bed just before nine o’clock. Shepherd tucked him in, then went down to the kitchen where Katra was loading the dishwasher.
    ‘The shepherd’s pie was great,’ he said.
    ‘It was on television,’ she said. ‘Jamie Oliver.’
    Shepherd sat at the kitchen table. ‘Liam said your father wasn’t well.’
    Katra closed the dishwasher and switched it on, then joined Shepherd at the table. ‘He’s very sick,’ she said. She tapped her chest. ‘His lungs. Cancer. He has smoked his whole life. My mother nagged him all the time and when she died I nagged him, but he wouldn’t listen to anybody.’
    ‘I’m sorry, Katra. That’s terrible.’
    ‘He’ll be starting chemo next week so I want to be with him. I’m sorry it’s such short notice.’
    Shepherd groaned inwardly but didn’t say anything. Katra was the man’s only daughter – of course she had to be with him. But it couldn’t have happened at a worse time.
    ‘I’m sorry, Dan,’ she said.
    ‘Hey, he’s your dad, you have to go,’ he said.
    ‘Are you here for a while?’ she asked.
    ‘I’m leaving on Saturday.’ Her brow furrowed and she bit her lower lip, as if she was about to cry. ‘Katra, it’s not a problem, I’ll talk to Liam’s grandparents. They’ll be able to look after him, I’m sure. And it’s not as if he’s a handful, is it?’
    ‘He’s a good boy,’ said Katra. ‘I’ll miss him.’
    Shepherd leaned forward. ‘You are coming back, right?’
    ‘I think so,’ she said.
    ‘You think so?’
    ‘He’s very sick but he pretends everything is okay. I won’t know how sick he is until I’ve talked to the doctors.’
    ‘If there’s anything I can do, you just have to ask,’ said Shepherd.
    She nodded earnestly. ‘I know.’
    ‘Your brothers, how old are they now?’
    ‘The oldest is twenty-two, the youngest sixteen. But they are men and in Slovenia . . .’ She shrugged. ‘He needs me. He needs his daughter.’
    ‘I know,’ he said. ‘That’s not what I meant. I meant that at least they’re old enough to take care of themselves.’
    She smiled. ‘They’ve had to since I left,’ she said. ‘All the time I was in the house they never cooked a single meal or ironed a shirt.’ The smile faded. ‘I will miss you, Dan.’
    ‘I’ll miss you too,’ he said. ‘You do a great job looking after us.’
    Her lower lip was trembling and Shepherd could see she was close to tears. ‘I mean I’ll really miss you,’ she said. She put her head down so that her cheek was resting on her hands. ‘I don’t want to go. I want to stay here with you and Liam, but he’s my father so I have to go.’
    Shepherd felt suddenly awkward. ‘I’ll make you some cocoa,’ he said.
    ‘I’ll do it,’ she said. She got up, rushed to the fridge, took out a carton of milk and poured some into a pan. She stood with her back to him and wiped her eyes with a tea-towel. Shepherd didn’t know what to say. He empathised, but couldn’t think of any words that would make her feel better. Katra sniffed. ‘Are your parents alive, Dan?’ she asked, still with her back to him.
    ‘My father is. My mother died a long time ago,’ he said.
    ‘You never talk about your father.’
    ‘We don’t get on. Haven’t for a long time.’
    She busied herself stirring the milk with a wooden spoon even though it was nowhere near boiling. ‘What happened between you?’ she asked.
    ‘It’s complicated,’ he said.
    ‘Liam says you always say that when it’s something you don’t want to talk about.’
    Shepherd chuckled. ‘He’s probably right,’ he said.
    ‘You only have one father, Dan,’ she said. ‘One day he won’t be around.’
    ‘You’re