Shadows of New York Read online

  “Crab and pickle on waffle.” Mrs. F-G wrinkled her nose and served Rosemary’s sandwich.

  “Canned pasta rings with cut-up meatballs,” she said with a resigned sigh. Jackson plunged both hands into the orange goo.

  “Finally, grilled vegetable and hummus.” Someone, probably the super-efficient Jennifer, must have relayed Aiden’s vegetarianism. Mrs. F-G took this plate to the kitchen table, rather than placing it at the island with the kids.

  The older kids watched with puzzled looks as Aiden went to the table.

  “Why—” began Rosemary.

  “—is Aiden sitting over there?” finished Mrs. F-G.

  “Yeah, because—”

  “—the nannies usually sit with you at the island?”

  “Right.”

  “Because Aiden doesn’t eat…” began Mrs. F-G, slowing to a stop.

  “Meat,” said Rosemary, staring at the ceiling as she thought. “And we’re eating meat, and maybe it might bother him, so you didn’t put him right next to us.” She finished with a questioning smile.

  Nodding, Mrs. F-G said, “Very good.” She added a few more pretzels to Rosemary’s plate.

  Aiden found all faces (except for Jackson’s, which was covered in tomato sauce) turned toward him. He gave a shrug. “Yeah, thanks. I appreciate it.”

  “Why don’t you eat meat?” asked Rosemary.

  Mrs. F-G gave a little tut and said, “Rosemary, don’t pry. He just got here.”

  “Thanks,” said Aiden again.

  “Don’t thank me yet. I just bought you some time, that’s all.” She sat at the table with Aiden, bringing with her a mug and a strong scent of tea. She watched the kids until they were all focused on their meals, and then said quietly, “The children will have to know sooner or later. All of it.”

  Aiden stopped mid-chew. After a quick swallow, he said, “I don’t follow.”

  She patted his hand and said, “Sure you do. They deserve to know. But I’d wait until they get to know you better. People tend to over-react, I imagine.”

  Aiden’s insides went cold. He had been told that he would blend in perfectly, that no one in the house would suspect, that he’d have plenty of time to integrate into the family before he needed to explain. Now here he was on his very first day, confronted about that fact that he was—

  “Don’t worry,” Mrs. F-G said, interrupting his thoughts. “I won’t say anything.”

  * * * *

  Mr. and Mrs. Cooper returned home just before midnight. The sound of their hushed voices filtered through the apartment to Aiden, who sat in the kitchen with a cup of coffee and a book. “Seriously,” said Mr. Cooper, trying to be quiet, “if Carlie Diane makes us come up with one more Donnie Cavanaugh skit, I think I’m going to go crazy.”

  Jennifer found Aiden first. She gave him a quizzical look and said, “Coffee at this time of night? You’ll never get to sleep.”

  Aiden lifted the mug and said, “Decaf. Couldn’t sleep as it was.”

  Mr. Cooper appeared behind his wife. His face was handsome, but lined and tired-looking. His dark blond hair, gray at the temples, was receding. Looking wistful, he said, “Gosh, I remember decaf. Haven’t had any since before we had kids. I didn’t think Ann kept decaf around.”

  Aiden shrugged. “There was a new can of it in the cupboard.”

  “Huh. She must have picked some up.” Mr. Cooper went to the coffeemaker and poured himself a steaming cup and then sat across from Aiden. “So you’re all settled in now, I take it?”

  “Yup.” Thinking this answer too brief, he added, “Nice place. Great kids, Mr. Cooper.”

  “Robert,” he corrected in a friendly way. Robert threw a glance over his shoulder and, seeing that his wife was no longer hovering in the kitchen doorway, added, “Bob, actually.”

  “Robert, actually,” came Jennifer’s voice from the hallway. She was still hovering, just out of sight.

  Robert dropped his voice to just above a whisper and said, “She’s got this thing about names as a person’s core identity, or some kind of new age mumbo jumbo like that. Just roll with it.”

  “Okay. Not a problem.”

  Jennifer strode back into the kitchen, now minus her coat, having stowed it in one of the hall closets. “So, how did the first day go, Aiden?”

  “Pretty good.” Jennifer looked at him as if she expected more, so he launched into a brief description of the day’s activities. “After lunch, we went to the park for a while and then came back here and played board games while Jackson took his afternoon nap. That little guy crashed out. I think all the fresh air did him in.”

  “And dinner? Did everyone eat well?”

  “Oh, yeah! Ann’s quite a crowd-pleaser.”

  “You’ve got that right,” Robert agreed. “She always seems to know exactly what everyone’s in the mood for.”

  “And after dinner?” Jennifer asked. “Any issues?”

  “Nope. We had a nice evening of reading and playing. Everyone was tucked in at their respective bedtimes.”

  “Excellent.” Jennifer stifled a yawn. “Oh, excuse me! I’m exhausted. Carlie Diane was a bit high maintenance tonight. I’d better get to bed. Anything you need before you turn in, Aiden?”

  “No, thanks, ma’am, uh, Jennifer. I’m all set.”

  “All right. Good night then.”

  “I’ll be right there,” Robert said as his wife breezed out of the kitchen. Her footsteps retreated down the hallway and a door closed.

  “Listen,” Robert said to Aiden. “I know my wife can be a little…particular…about the way things are done around here. It sounds like you’re off to a good start. Just keep doing what you’re doing, and everything will work out fine.” He stood and put his coffee mug in the sink. “See you tomorrow.” He left the kitchen, following in his wife’s path.

  Aiden sighed and drained the last of his decaf. These people were nice. He felt bad about keeping a secret from them, but couldn’t see any alternative. Not yet, at least.

  Chapter Two

  Fists of Furry

  “Wait a minute, wait a minute,” Josh’s best friend, Nick, said to him. “Let me get this straight. Your new nanny is a dude?”

  “I know. Weird, right?” Josh replied as they walked down the school corridor after dismissal, their friends Ian and Ewan trailing behind. This was Josh’s small group of close friends. It was with these guys that Josh ate lunch at school, hung out on weekends, and role-played their favorite online video game, Swordz N Spellz. “He seems okay, though.”

  “So, you think he’ll let you play more video games than your mom does?”

  “I hope so.”

  The boys walked out the front doors and parted ways with a quick “see ya.” Josh looked around the small schoolyard and spotted Aiden waiting for him, leaning against the gate and staring at the ground. Josh knew that, as with the other nannies, Mrs. F-G would keep an eye on Jackson while Aiden picked them up from school.

  “Rosemary should be out any second,” Josh told Aiden, getting no reaction. That was when he saw the wires running from Aiden’s pocket, disappearing into his hair on either side of his head. He waved a hand to get Aiden’s attention.

  “Oh, sorry.” Aiden removed the earbuds and slid them into his pocket.

  “I was just saying that—”

  Josh didn’t need to finish his sentence. “Aiden!” Rosemary squealed. A second later, a blur of pink sparkles flashed past him and collided with Aiden, wrapping him in a hug.

  “Yeah, hi,” Aiden said, prying off forty pounds of six-year-old enthusiasm.

  “Is this him?” came a voice Josh recognized as Rosemary’s friend Delilah. He turned to find not just Delilah, but Rosemary’s whole crew of friends. Unlike Josh, who only hung out with a few kids from his class, Rosemary had a genuine posse.

  Rosemary beamed as she faced her posse and said, “Yes. This is Aiden.”

  “Cool,” Delilah said, echoed by the rest of them.

  Delilah t
ook a step forward, her expression curious to the point of challenging. “You’re her nanny? For reals?”

  Aiden nodded. “For reals.”

  “Why?” Delilah pried.

  Aiden didn’t reply. He bit his lower lip as if wondering how to best answer the question. It looked like he could use a rescue.

  “Aiden,” Josh spoke up, “can we get going? I don’t feel very well.”

  “Yes, absolutely. Let’s get going.”

  Rosemary responded to her friends’ collective “awwww” with a shrug and took Aiden’s hand. After signing the Cooper kids out with the lady at the gate, Aiden led them out of the school yard.

  “Thanks,” Aiden muttered to Josh once they were on the sidewalk.

  Before Josh could respond, Aiden’s phone started ringing, letting out a song telling everyone that it was Peanut Butter Jelly Time. He pulled out the phone and looked at it with a puzzled expression.

  “That means Mrs. Effigy is calling you,” explained Rosemary. “I downloaded some ringtones before Mom and Dad gave it to you.” Their parents always gave the newest smart phone—for work use—to the newest nanny, even if they already had a cell phone. Josh guessed that it was like a signing bonus.

  “Oh.” Aiden ended the song and put the phone to his ear. Josh heard only half of the conversation, but it was clear what was said on the other end. “Ann, what’s up? Sure, baby arugula. No, I have no idea what it looks like, but there will probably be a sign, right? Okay. Bye.”

  “We have to stop on the way home and get some baby arugula,” said Rosemary to Josh, as if he hadn't just heard the conversation. Aiden nodded.

  Around the corner from their apartment building was a small store specializing in gourmet supplies. They delivered, but charged a hefty fee for it. It wasn’t uncommon for Mrs. F-G to think of something that she wanted to cook, but lacked a few ingredients. Josh couldn’t count all the times they had picked things up on the way home from school.

  Josh always got semi-queasy when they entered the store. Mrs. F-G had a way of working with food that made the kitchen smell heavenly. Here, there were just too many things, and the way they came together was more of a reek than a smell.

  Aiden had the same reaction. As they entered the store, he paused and shook his head. “In and out fast.” His voice sounded like he was trying not to breathe through his nose.

  They went straight to the vegetables. Rosemary took the lead in picking out the greens, examining each bunch closely.

  Without warning, loud voices erupted near the cash register. Aiden shunted Josh and Rosemary toward the back and said, “No time to get out the front. Get in the restroom and lock the door.”

  “What? I don’t have to—” began Rosemary, but she didn’t get to finish her sentence.

  Aiden gently shoved them into the restroom. As the door swung closed, he said, “Don’t open it for anyone but me, got it?”

  Josh gulped. He stared at the door, trying to hear what was happening on the other side. There was something, but not enough to decipher. A couple of short shouts, and then silence. He'd been in this very store many times over the years, and nothing like this had ever happened. Josh took some deep breaths to calm his rising fear and to center himself. He didn't quite know what that meant, but he'd heard his mom say it before.

  The strange turn of events didn’t appear to phase Rosemary one bit. She stood in front of the mirror applying lip-gloss. “Do you think this makes my lips look too sparkly?”

  Josh, his attention still focused outside, didn’t answer.

  “Josh!”

  He turned to his sister. “What?”

  “Do you think my lips are too sparkly?”

  “Not now, Rosemary.”

  There was a knock on the door. “Who is it?” sang Rosemary.

  “Aiden. Open up.”

  Josh did as instructed. Aiden reached in, grabbed each of them by an arm, and began escorting them back toward the front of the store. It was a calm scene, but Josh had the impression that things had just been a whole lot crazier. Two men lay on the floor, not moving, and some sort of small gun lay near each of them. Behind the cash register stood the regular clerk with his mouth hanging wide open. As they passed, Aiden tilted his head away from the man.

  “The baby arugula!” called out Rosemary. She broke free from Aiden’s grasp and ran back to the vegetables.

  “Rosemary, come on, we have to go,” said Aiden.

  She returned with a bundle of greens and placed it on the counter. “We’d like this, please.”

  Aiden threw a twenty-dollar bill on the counter, snatched their purchase, and said, “Keep the change.”

  As they left the store, Rosemary asked, “Aiden, are my lips too sparkly?”

  * * * *

  Josh stood in the hallway outside Aiden’s room. Listening in—eavesdropping, as his mother would call it—wasn’t on anyone’s list of good manners, but this wasn’t exactly a normal situation. As soon as they returned to the apartment, Aiden had handed over the salad greens, made sure the kids were settled in at the island for their afternoon snack (including Jackson in his high chair), and then, without another word, disappeared into his room. Now, he was on his phone. Josh could again hear one side of the conversation.

  “I did.” Aiden’s voice was muffled by the closed door. “They were locked away in back. I couldn’t just…I know my first job is to keep them safe. I just thought, you know, if they were in back and I could keep the guys up front…That’s what I was doing. Just, you know, in a more pro-active way…No, it won’t…I didn’t change at all…Okay, I’ll be in tomorrow morning.”

  Josh expected the conversation to go on a while longer. He was startled when the door opened, and he found himself standing right in front of Aiden.

  “Uh, want a cookie?” he asked, holding up the extra chocolate crinkle he’d brought with him from the kitchen.

  “I’m not hungry right now.” Aiden looked tense.

  “Okay.” Josh stepped backward while starting in on the cookie. It was gone in two bites, making Aiden smile.

  “Slow down there, partner. We don’t want you to choke.”

  Josh, glad he could cheer Aiden up a little, nodded and swallowed.

  Following Aiden back to the kitchen, Josh heard him say, “Who wants to go to the park?”

  “Me!” Rosemary cried, raising her hand in the air and waving it back and forth like crazy.

  “Eeeeee!” Jackson squealed, raising both hands above his head.

  “Josh?” Aiden asked, turning to him. “You in?”

  “Sure. I’ll get my skateboard.”

  “Don’t forget your helmet,” Rosemary reminded her brother. “Mommy says to always wear your helmet.” Josh rolled his eyes, but grabbed his helmet on the way out.

  * * * *

  “Yes!” Josh yelled. “We got ’em!”

  “We sure did,” Aiden agreed. “But let’s keep the noise level down a little, okay? We don’t want to wake up the youngsters.”

  “Right.”

  The two were on the couch playing Josh’s favorite zombie-slaying video game. His little brother and sister had gone to bed. Josh was enjoying the privilege of his later bedtime more than ever now that he had a cool nanny to hang out with.

  “I don’t mean to interrupt…” came Mrs. F-G’s voice from the archway to the dining room. Josh hit pause, and they both looked in her direction.

  “That’s okay,” Aiden said. “What’s up?”

  “Well, I just had a sudden inspiration for a new dish I’d like to try out. The trouble is, it calls for organic vanilla yogurt, and we don’t seem to have any.”

  “No problem. I can pick some up tomorrow.”

  “Well, that’s nice of you, dear, but I really wanted to make it for breakfast in the morning.”

  “I guess I could go out now,” Aiden said.

  “Oh, could you? That would be so lovely of you. I’ll keep an ear out for the little ones, and an eye on Josh.”

/>   “I want to go with you, Aiden. Can I please?” Josh was still curious about the events at the store that afternoon. He hoped to pick up some information during this trip. Maybe he could even get up the courage to ask the clerk for details while Aiden went to the dairy aisle.

  “I don’t know, buddy. It’s getting kinda late.”

  “But my bedtime isn’t for almost an hour, and I finished all my homework. Please?”

  “Well,” Aiden drawled. “I guess so.”

  “Yes!” Josh went to the hall closet to grab his light jacket.

  Once out on the sidewalk, Aiden turned in the opposite direction from the one Josh expected.

  “That’s the wrong way,” Josh said, confused. “The store is right over here, remember?”

  “I thought we’d try a different one. There’s another store two or three blocks this way.”

  “How’d you know that?”

  “I took Jackson on a walk while you guys were at school today, got the lay of the land.”

  “Oh.” He started after Aiden. “I really think we should go to our normal store. Mrs. F-G really likes that one.”

  “This one will do just fine.”

  After a quick visit to the store—which was a little smaller than their usual place, but Josh had to admit, smelled a lot better—they headed right back home. Josh, carrying the bag from the store, walked along in silence. He was disappointed the he didn’t get a chance to “gather intelligence,” as Rosemary would say.

  Absorbed in these thoughts, Josh didn’t notice the group of men approaching until they were almost in front of him. Their loud, raucous speech blended in with the background noise. There were five of them, taking up the width of the sidewalk.

  “’Scuse me, fellas,” said Aiden as he tried to move around them.

  Their laughing stopped for a second but started back up right away, even louder than before. The one closest to Aiden replied in an exaggerated Southern accent, “Not a problem, pardner.” His friends guffawed.

  “I don’t want any trouble,” Aiden said calmly. “We’re just headed home.”

  “Where’s that? Okeefenokee?” This resulted in another round of laughter.

  Aiden didn’t respond. He put an arm on Josh’s shoulder and started moving him toward the curb. “Let’s cross the street.”