Chapter 11
Crossing the living room out into the porch, the sudden gloom that encased the room was the first thing Haymitch noticed. He saw the tail end of her braid swished out sight from the corner of his eyes and he followed her in that direction.
Katniss was loading her belongings on to the back of Peeta's truck. Her mouth was set in a line, her face grim. Sensing his presence, Prim glanced once behind her shoulder at him, her features sad and crestfallen. At the look Katniss shot her, she climbed into the passenger seat without a word to him.
"Katniss," he pleaded, almost helplessly. "Don't do this."
It fell on deaf ears. Peeta turned the key and the engine rumbled into life.
"Peeta," Haymitch called out.
"I'm sorry," he dropped his head in regret and drove off, leaving Haymitch standing and staring until the truck disappeared from view.
When he eventually entered his house some time later, the gloom gave way to horror. It was filled with the faces of forty-six children whose death he blamed himself for. He stumbled back in surprise and clutched the door for support. This was the reason the kids left because if it was up to him, he would not want to stay in a house filled with ghost.
An ominous whisper broke over the collective, unintelligible murmur in the room. "You could have saved us. You could have stopped it."
"I can't," he choked out a strangled admission.
They surged forward towards him, their hands outstretched as if to strangle the life out of him and that was when Haymitch woke up with a start.
The sheet was tangled around his feet. A trail of perspiration was running down his chest despite the cooling draft from the air-conditioner. Haymitch felt under the pillow for the knife and he held it in the palm of his hand, finding the weight of it familiar and reassuring.
His nightmares often started and ended the same way; with the three kids leaving him and him finding himself trapped with ghosts of his past.
His breathing was still heavy and ragged when he swung his legs over the edge of the bed. Haymitch screwed his eyes shut and pinched the bridge of his nose. His past often clawed back at him unexpectedly and often at stressful triggers which he tried to avoid by drowning himself at the bottom of a bottle.
The years before were as vivid as if it was only yesterday. He had been on a mission and was gathering intel for the agency when it all went wrong. The information given to his superior officers led to an operation that caused the death of civilians and among those were forty-six children. It was the children that haunted him most.
The tragedy then triggered a massive investigation which was only concluded last year and the report… Well, it would be made public soon.
There were long late nights talk with Chaff about this and somewhere along the line they both felt that they deserved it. He would have accepted it even except now, things were different. Now, there was Katniss, Peeta and Prim and he couldn't stand to bear their disgust and judgment once the truth came to light. He wanted to matter to them and he wanted to be a part of their lives.
Making his way to the bathroom, Haymitch washed his face with cold water. He stared at the mirror, thinking of ways to salvage the situation with Effie because that was the only way he could save himself with the three kids.
Once he was dressed, he checked his phone to see if there were any messages from Stefan Trinket about his daughter. Since she left, she could have contacted her father to give him a piece of her mind for all he knew but since there were no messages from the old man, he assumed that Effie had kept it to herself.
He decided to give her a few days to allow her time to cool down, logically deducing that she might not even want to meet him.
Even so, he did keep his eyes on her whereabouts through the tracker. She spent her days at the boutique and some nights at Clarke Quay where he knew there was an abundant of nightlife activities to indulge in at the various bars, clubs and restaurants. On the fifth day, her tracker went off the radar.
It spurred him into action and he went down to her boutique.
"Miss Trinket is at Bangkok. She'll be back in two days. Shall I book an appointment for you?"
That would explain it. The tracker went out of range.
"Vacation?" he asked.
"She's on a business meeting with a supplier. Now, about that appointment – "
He left without a word and two days later, her tracker went back online as she landed at Changi Airport. He breathed a sigh of relief.
A week was more than enough so that very night Haymitch took a taxi down to Little India. He alighted and glanced around. This place did not suit Effie Trinket's personality or places of interest and yet, her tracker was pulsing at this very spot on his GPS.
"Oh, for heaven's sake," she exclaimed when she caught sight of him approaching. "I thought you left!"
"Hello, sweetheart," he greeted amicably. "Long time no see."
"I would prefer to keep it that way."
Haymitch chuckled. She was feisty and he definitely was not expecting this to go smoothly without a fight on her part.
"Where are you headed? I don't mind joining."
She huffed in disbelief at his audacity.
"I have had a long day so I am heading home to sleep and rest. You are certainly not invited."
"You'll be surprised in what I'm interested in," he countered, still maintaining a smile on his face. "Tell me about this long day you had..."
"I do not think for a second that you are truly interested in my day," she narrowed her eyes suspiciously at him.
"Just wanted to keep the conversation going," Haymitch answered. He ducked in time just as a pigeon took flight, narrowly missing his head. "Where were you from?"
"I had an event, a wedding dinner."
"Did you go on your own? No plus one? You know, if you ever need company..."
"No, thank you. I assure you I am not in the habit of associating myself with a liar."
His lips quirked in a smirk and with a slight shake of his head, he said, "I'm not a liar, sweetheart. I just had a job to do. It's out in the open now so why don't you give me a chance to do my job and persuade you that going home might be a good idea?"
"You will learn that I am not so easily convinced," Effie retorted.
"And you'll learn that I like a challenge."
There was something about the annoyed look she threw his way that made him chuckle quietly to himself. They walked next to each other quietly, neither engaging in a conversation. Haymitch took his time watching his surrounding and the people in the area. He took photos of the streets and the sceneries to send it to the group chat that Peeta had created for them. He received a reply almost immediately from Prim with a photo of Lady, the goat - "my view". With a fond smile at Prim's antic, Haymitch pocketed his phone only to see Effie watching him.
"Explain to me what a private investigator is doing out here, stalking a woman who is not involve in any extra marital affairs or company fraud?" Effie did not break her stride as she talked. "Somehow, persuading me to return home does not seem to be the job of an investigator, is it?"
"No, it's not," he agreed, "but it's the job of an investigator to investigate and track their mark down."
Effie scoffed. "I have been reduced to just a mark."
At the main road, he could hear the vehicles passing by but the small road they were walking at was quiet and empty at this time of the night.
"I haven't investigated anything in a while. Chaff founded the firm after we left our… organisation," he explained. "We used to split the job equally – fraud and marital affairs. I wanted to help and proving someone's spouse cheated on them doesn't seem like helping to me. Sure, the pay's good but…" he shrugged. "Chaff went on to do that on his own while our firm was still operating but I started takin' my own cases. Missing people, mostly."
"You said while your firm was operating," Effie frowned. "Is it not operating now?"
"It dwindled over the past couple of years. I haven't had a case in a while either. The last one left a bad taste in my mouth so I just stop. I didn't want to take your case, sweetheart. Your parents pulled me out of my house and into this."
"Nonsense," she clicked her tongue. "You always have a choice. My parents must have made an offer you couldn't refuse."
"Guess they did."
"And please," she turned towards him, "put your drink away. This is a liquor control zone."
"What the hell does that mean?"
Effie pointed to the sign mounted on a pole by the road side. "You are not allowed to drink at any public spaces after 10.30 pm so put that away. You are however still allowed to drink at a licensed premise. Perhaps you would like to take that to a nearest bar?"
"Nice attempt trying to get rid of me," he chuckled but the sign was there for him to read. He pocketed his flask.
She struggled to keep a small smile off her face and Haymitch counted that as a win on his part. With a shake of her head, she continued walking. He fell in step next to her.
"Why missing people?"
"Just something 'bout seeing a family reunited," he admitted.
"You are a strange man, Haymitch Abernathy. I never pegged you for the sentimental kind."
He shrugged.
"What happened at your last case?"
"Uh," he let out a breath, hesitating.
She glanced at him. "You are entitled to your secrets. What I said the first time we met is true, isn't it. You are a very private man."
Effie paused to let him refute it but when he did not, she said, "It is late. I really should head home."
She hailed a passing taxi.
"You're not curious on how I found you here in this city?"
Effie stilled with one hand on the taxi's door. For a moment, he entertained the thought that she might change her mind about going home but she surprised him by pulling the door open, sliding into the back seat and then looking over at him.
"Well, are you coming?"
XxX
Her apartment was spacious enough for two occupants. It was clean and spotless, and boasted modern furnishing. One wall was installed with a floor to ceiling window which overlooked the city. On another, there was a decorative mirror and a display stand below it. The photographs in the frame caught his attention and drew him closer.
Her parents were notably missing from any of the photos. There was one of her with a little boy he presumed to be her nephew.
"This guy," he pointed to the kid, "has a photo of you. You send photos to your nephew, yeah? Your father must have taken it from him cause…," he showed her the photo from his phone. "That's the Flyer behind you. There's also a geotag attached to the photo. That's how your father knew where you are."
"Oh," she blinked. "How foolish of me…. Is there a way to disable that function?"
Haymitch nodded and was unprepared when she handed her phone to him. He was not the best at technology but he managed somehow after fumbling with the device and looking up the correct settings.
When he returned the phone to her, she had a glass of iced tea for him.
"I miss him terribly," she admitted. "I used to take him out every Sunday and spoiled him silly. Do you miss yours?"
His brows knitted together as he took a sip from his drink.
"You told me about a daughter. You said she wasn't truly yours…." she tried to jog his memories. "You even showed me a picture of them."
"Ah, right. Do I miss them?" he snorted.
"Tell me about them," she requested. "You said you helped their family during a job…"
"Iris Everdeen… That's their mother. She left home after her husband's death. Don't think she actually realised she walked off. She was among the first I found," Haymitch said. "She's still here and there – there are good days and bad days - so the kids are often coming and going from my house."
"They must think of you as their savior. You must mean a lot to them," she commented.
Haymitch had nothing to say to that. There were parts of him that he shielded from them. His drinking was already something he was ashamed of and they had seen plenty of him stumbling around drunk for him to dig up more skeletons from his closet.
They fell quiet again and the silence was enough cause to make Effie uneasy. She glanced at up him as she reached for the television's remote. The late night news was on and the low volume filled up the quiet pockets in the house.
"You're really interested in the news or you're hinting that I should leave?" he teased.
"If I wanted you to leave, I would have made it clear. I just think there are more to your story than what you are telling me so I figured you might need the time to collect your thoughts and leave you to it without me staring at you and giving you pressure."
Haymitch watched her. If he were in her shoes, he would have a problem trusting him but the fact that she invited him to her apartment … Perhaps all was not lost.
"How thoughtful," he praised her in jest.
"Naturally," she sighed delicately. "I wish people are just as thoughtful where I am concern as I was to them."
"Alright, sweetheart," he concurred and placed the glass of iced tea back on the coffee table. "I was an asshole and went on about it the wrong way. I know that."
"Hmm."
"I'm doing this for Prim," he voiced out, revealing a part of himself to her.
"I beg your pardon?"
Haymitch shifted in his seat.
"She's a good kid and pretty damn smart, too. She's got big plans, that one. Mainly, she wants to help and she thinks bringing back her family's pharmacy would be one way to achieve that," he said with an affection he reserved only for them. "And I ain't gonna deny her that. We live in a small town and there aren't that many opportunities so your father's supposed to help get a tutor. Get her started with a solid foundation for later."
Effie angled her body towards him, leaving her back to the television.
"Except he's playing games with me. She's supposed to have met this tutor a day or so after I left but your father ain't doing shit until…until he's happy that I've got some progress with you. Last I spoke to him right after I met you, he told me he was going to arrange it but I don't know if the kid's met her tutor or not. I haven't called. I don't know what to tell if she asks. She's really excited about it but… You know, she's sad for you, too," he muttered the last part quietly.
A look of surprise passed through her face. "How so?"
Haymitch exhaled. "She thinks I'm destroying your happiness by getting you home."
"She is a smart child," Effie remarked. "Oh! I supposed I could talk to my sister or my brother. They can arrange for Prim to get what she needs. My parents are not the only one with influence. If she wants," her voice took on an excited tone, "Prim can attend the school that my nephew is attending! I do believe they provide dormitories for her should she need it and it is an excellent school, Haymitch. Just imagine the two of them being friends!"
"You're still tryin' to out pay your parents," he chuckled.
"Yes, because I am not going home," she told him in all seriousness. "Is that all the deal you strike with my parents?"
"There are more," he said simply.
She waited and when he didn't continue, she asked, "Your expenses here…?"
Effie Trinket was smart, he already knew that. She knew when to push and hold back, and right now, she understood not to press him for more but he would be a fool if he believed that she had let the matter go. She would ask again sooner or later, he would bet his house on that.
"On your father," he answered and held the credit card between his fingers.
"Oh! We should go shopping! He wouldn't know," Effie grinned with a little twinkle in her eyes. "What an excellent pay back."
Haymitch scrunched his brows together at the unexpected suggestion only for him to roll his eyes when it dawned on him that that was the sort of thing Effie Trinket would do.
He told her a little bit more about himself. Will Haymitch let Effie have her little payback? What are your thoughts? Leave a review :)
As usual, photos on my tumblr.