Dexter in the Dark (Dexter 3)

“Yes,” I said stupidly, “I was just thinking.”

“Did it hurt a lot?” she said.

I closed my mouth and looked at her. She was facing me with her look of ten-year-old disgust at how dumb grown-ups can be, and this time I agreed with her. I had always taken the Passenger for granted, so much so that I had never really wondered where it had come from, or how it had come to be. I had been smug, fatu-ously content to share space with it, simply glad to be me and not DEXTER IN THE DARK

123

some other, emptier mortal, and now, when a little self-knowledge might have saved the day, I was struck dumb. Why had I never thought of any of these things before? And why did I have to choose now as the first time, in the presence of a sarcastic child? I had to devote some time and thought to this—but of course, this was neither the time nor the place.

“Sorry,” I said. “Let’s go see the planetarium.”

“But you were going to tell us why lions are important,” she said.

In truth, I could no longer remember why lions were important.

But happily for my image, my cell phone began to chatter before I could admit it. “Just a minute,” I said, and I pulled the phone from its holster. I glanced at it and saw that it was Deborah. And after all, family is family, so I answered.

“They found the heads,” she said.

It took me a moment to figure out what she meant, but Deborah was hissing in my ear and I realized some sort of response was called for. “The heads? From the two bodies over at the university?”

I said.

Deborah made an exasperated hissing noise and said, “Jesus, Dex, there aren’t that many missing heads in town.”

“Well, there’s city hall,” I said.

“Get your ass over here, Dexter. I need you.”

“But Deborah, it’s Saturday, and I’m in the middle of—”

“Now,” she said, and hung up.

I looked at Cody and Astor and pondered my quandary. If I took them home it would be at least an hour before I got back to Debs, and in addition we would lose our precious Saturday quality time together. On the other hand, even I knew that taking children to a homicide scene might be considered a little bit eccentric.

But it would also be educational. They needed to be impressed with just how thorough the police are when dead bodies turn up, and this was as good an opportunity as any. On balance, even taking into consideration that my dear sister might have a semi-ballistic reaction, I decided it would be best simply to pile into the car and take them to their first investigation.

124

JEFF LINDSAY

“All right,” I said to them as I reholstered my phone. “We have to go now.”

“Where?” Cody said.

“To help my sister,” I said. “Will you remember what we learned today?”

“Yes, but this is just a museum,” Astor said. “It’s not what we want to learn.”

“Yes, it is,” I said. “And you have to trust me, and do it my way, or I’m not going to teach you.” I leaned down to where I could look them both in the eyes. “Not doodly-squat,” I said.

Astor frowned. “Dex-terrrr,” she said.

“I mean it. It has to be my way.”

Once again she and Cody locked glances. After a moment he nodded, and she turned back to me. “All right,” she said. “We promise.”

“We’ll wait,” Cody said.