House of Goths

Chapter 10

Kelley took a deep calming breath. "Did you happen to book a hotel?" he asked as he turned onto Lakeshore Blvd.

"No..." she said with a frown. Actually, she hadn't even thought of that. Of course, they would need a place to stay overnight. "I suppose I should have."

"Yeah... that would've been handy," Kell said with another heavy sigh. She really was impetuous in a lot of ways, he thought with a frown. What would she have done if she'd come out here on her own? Lugged that suitcase around the entire city? Where would she spend the night? On the couch in the lobby of the retirement home? He was suddenly very glad that he'd insisted on coming with her. The girl obviously had no survival skills whatsoever.

"No worries, mates," Dorian said, popping his head in between them. "Just let us out down here by the market. Crispin and I will find a place. It shouldn't be a problem. We'll give you a call with the details later."

"You sure?" Becky said, looking at him with a mixture of concern and gratitude. She didn't like the idea of leaving them on their own. As irrational as the thought was, she didn't like the idea of abandoning them.

"Of course, that's a fine idea," Crispin agreed, restless to get out and wander the city streets.

"Thanks, that'll be great. I'll let you off right over here," Kell said, pulling up by the sidewalk near the St. Lawrence Market.

"Perfect," Dorian said, following Crispin out of the car.

"Careful," Becky called after them. Whether they heard her or not, she couldn't tell. They were quickly swallowed up in the crowds of people.

Kell smiled to himself at her misplaced concern for the two streetwise Goths. Those two were more at home in this city than anywhere else in the world. Of course, looking the way they did, no one would give them any trouble. Except perhaps for the clerks at the hotels, he thought with a wry smile.

"Right then, where to, love?"

***

By the time they arrived at the retirement home in the city's west end, it was already too late. In fact, had they gotten there hours earlier, it still would have been too late.

Kell should have guessed it by the way they were greeted at the front desk. When Becky had introduced herself, the receptionist's expression couldn't have been any graver.

Unsure of his role in this situation, Kell hesitated in the lobby when Becky was asked to sit and wait for the person in charge. All he could do was stand beside her. When a man with a name tag, wearing a tweed jacket came along and introduced himself to Becky as Dr. Smith, Director of Operations at the home, Kell just about lost it. He simply couldn't go through this again. Seeing the loss come over Becky's face upon hearing the news that her beloved granny had passed away sometime during the night, brought back flashes of his own experience when he had discovered his entire family had perished.

His first instinct was to bolt for the sliding doors. To run as far away from this situation as possible. There was no way he could do this. It was too much. In fact, he'd started to take a step towards freedom, when he suddenly paused and made the mistake of glancing at Becky's face.

She was sitting there, holding an already drenched tissue in her fisted up little hand, her shoulders were trembling. She wasn't sobbing, just simply crying quietly with huge droplets of tears streaming down her face. The man was still talking to her, but it was obvious Becky wasn't able to process what he was actually saying.

In that moment, Kell forced his selfish fears aside and came forward. Taking a seat beside Becky, he introduced himself to the older man. After the initial look of scepticism that he was used to getting from the general public passed, Dr. Smith explained all the necessary information to him.