Chapter 10 – Sometimes all you have to do is ask

"All right, but inform the staff that you're bringing him to the station. Yes, I'll make sure of that. Thank you, O'Hara."

Karen Vick put the receiver of the phone back in its cradle and leaned back in her chair. After Henry's phone call she had still wanted to believe that all this would boil down to nothing but a wrong suspicion. But even then she hadn't been quite able to believe it. She knew Henry, and she knew that he wouldn't come forth with such a suspicion if he didn't believe there was anything to it.

And now O'Hara had called, informing her that Eric Robertson was asking for their help. With a sigh she got up from her chair and went into the break room to get some more coffee. It wasn't the first case of abuse she had ever handled over the course of her career, but those were the cases you didn't get used to. Especially not if you were a mother yourself. Besides, she had met the Robertsons only the day before, and while she agreed that the could have been more worried about their son's disappearance, she hadn't gotten any gut feelings about something going on beneath the surface.

Was she slipping?

Of course, the Robertsons didn't fit many of the clichés of an abusive family, but years of police work had taught Karen that those clichés weren't reliable indicators, anyway. Sometimes, all you had to start with was a feeling about something being wrong, and she hadn't had that feeling. But Henry had, and she trusted his judgement.

Pouring some milk into her coffee, she went over to Lassiter's desk. Her Head Detective's mood had improved slightly since the previous evening. No small wonder, at least now he was wearing dry clothes again. And there had only been room for improvement, his mood couldn't have possibly gotten any worse than it had been during his interrogation with Garner.

"I think those files you requested just arrived, Chief", Lassiter said and pointed towards the fax machine.

"Thank you, Carlton. Could you contact the Robertsons at their hotel? I want them over here at the station ASAP."

Lassiter frowned. "Any reason I should know of?"

"I'll brief you in a moment. For the time being, just tell them that we took Eric from the hospital to get his witness statement, and that they as his parents are supposed to be here for that. Then come into my office, please."

"Of course", Lassiter said and picked up the phone on his desk.

Karen went over towards the fax machine and pulled out the papers, then she went back into her office.

There were ways for medical treatment not to show up on somebody's medical record, and the easiest way was not to run the payment of the treatment through the insurance. If an injury didn't require a hospital stay but merely a treatment in the ER, you could even get away with giving a false name. The ER was notoriously the most busy place in a hospital, by the time somebody might figure out that something was wrong the treatment could already be long over.

Karen had handled a number of domestic abuse cases in which they had to dig up files for the abused by checking hospital records for treatments paid in cash, where the patient had been treated under an alias. In most cases, people didn't get very imaginative about those names. Taking maiden names was mostly enough to hit jackpot.

Eric Robertson had a medical history of two hospital stays, both easily justified. Appendix surgery and allergy treatment, nothing suspicious there.

Eric Wilkes had been treated in eight different hospitals in the LA-area over the past ten years. Each visit had been to a different hospital, and each treatment had been paid in cash. Each time he had been brought to hospital by his mother. Fractured wrist, caused by a fall from a bike. Laceration on the head that needed stitches, caused by a fall from a tree house. Dislocated shoulder, caused by a fall down the stairs. Bruised ribs, another fall from the bike. The list went on and on.

Each single incident seemed harmless enough in itself. Children fell from their bikes, children broke their arms. It happened. But not that often. Had all those treatments been on Eric's medical records, somebody would have gotten suspicious much earlier. Eric would have gotten help much earlier. Because the trips to the hospital were only the tip of the iceberg. Abusive parents only brought their children to the hospital when things got out of hand. Karen didn't want to think about how often Eric had been hurt and not been brought to the hospital.

There was a knock on her office door, and Karen put the papers down with a sigh.

"Come in."

Lassiter came into the office.

"Carlton, please take a seat."

Lassiter sat in front of Karen's desk. "The Robertsons are on their way, they should be here in fifteen minutes."

"Good. Thank you, Carlton."

"What is this about, Chief?"

Wordlessly, Karen pushed the papers over to Lassiter, who picked them up with a frown on his face.

"What are those?"

"Eric Robertson's medical records."

"Didn't we have those already?"

Karen sighed. "Just read them, Carlton."

Lassiter opened his mouth as if to say something, but then his eyes started scanning the first page and he shut up. He silently read through the papers without saying a word. Only his expression darkened with every page he turned. By the time he had finished with the last page, his expression was so dark that his mood of the previous day seemed cheerful in comparison.

"Those are all?"

Karen nodded. "All that could be found under the mother's maiden name, yes. But we'll have to keep on digging."

"What gave you the incentive to go looking for this?"

Karen sighed. "The kid's behaviour made some observant people suspicious. And about half an hour ago, O'Hara called. Eric Robertson asked her for help himself. She'll be bringing him over."

"You've informed Child Protective Services?"

Karen shook her head. "Not yet. First we need to his statement on record. And interview the mother and stepfather about what is going on."

A small, feral smile started playing around Lassiter's lips. "I'd like to take that interview, Chief."

"I thought you'd say that, Carlton. I want you to talk to the stepfather. I'd like to have a few words with the mother once they arrive here."

"Gladly. I'm going to make some copies of those."

He took the papers and got up from his chair. Karen took another sip of her coffee, then picked up her phone to make sure that there were two interrogation rooms at their disposal. Now all they could do was wait for the Robertsons to arrive.

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Shawn was proud how Eric handled himself. He had noticed how the boy's steps had gotten more hesitant as he approached Shawn's hospital room. In a way, Shawn was absolutely unable to relate to the terror Eric was feeling. Not only because his own father had never lain a hand on him as a child. That was part of it, but Shawn couldn't understand the irrational fear of the police that had been ingrained into Eric.

Growing up as a cop's son, Shawn had learned early that cops were only human beings, as well. And of course he had also learned to grow weary of the constant cop talk his father had forced him to endure. But there was one thing to be said about growing up as a cop's son – Shawn had always known that if something was wrong, he could go to the police. No matter how annoying it was that his father was a cop, or that he wanted him to become a cop as well, he had always known that it was the police's job to protect people. He didn't want to know what Eric had to feel like. Not only that he was abused, but also that somehow, his stepfather had managed to convince the boy that nobody would believe him, and that going to the police would only make matters worse.

It had taken a long moment of hesitation and a few more encouraging words until Eric had worked up the courage to allow Shawn to steer him through the door and into the hospital room.

Juliet and Gus were still there, and while Shawn had been upstairs in Eric's room his father had also arrived. Eric knew Henry and Gus, and other than a cursory glance he didn't pay that much mind to them, but he froze up completely as his eyes fell on Juliet.

Shawn still had his arm around Eric's shoulder, and he squeezed it encouragingly. "It's all right", he said lowly, so that only Eric would hear.

Juliet smiled at Eric. "Hello, you must be Eric. I'm Juliet."

Eric nodded at her. "I know. Shawn told me." He looked back down to the floor and nervously started twiddling with the hem of his sweatshirt. "You're with the police."

Juliet nodded. "That's right."

Upon another squeeze of his shoulder from Shawn, Eric raised his head and looked at Juliet. "Shawn said that you can help people."

Juliet's smile widened a little. "Yes, that's what the police does. If somebody has a problem, we try to help them."

Eric drew a deep breath. "I think I need your help."

Shawn was immensely grateful that Juliet didn't start bombarding Eric with questions. Instead, she got up from her chair and crouched down in front of Eric so that she was at eye-level with him. "Okay."

Eric was a bit startled that it should be so easy. "Okay?"

Juliet nodded. "Okay. If you need help, you'll get it. But I need you to tell me what you need help with."

And then it had all gone really fast. Eric had hummed and hawed a little more, but by posing just the right questions in just the right tone of voice, Juliet got all the answers she needed. She quickly decided to take Eric to the police station before his parents came to fetch him. She placed a call to the Chief, then arranged to have Eric released from hospital into the custody of the police, and not more than fifteen minutes after Eric's plea for help, they were all out of the hospital and on their way to the police station.

Eric hadn't said a word after Juliet had finished asking her questions, but Shawn didn't know what there was that he could say to make it better. Eric still wasn't excited about going to the police station, and he was less than excited about the prospect of meeting his mother and stepfather there, but now that things had gotten in motion, there was no way for him to avoid that. No way for Shawn to spare him the experience. So all he could do was stay by Eric's side throughout the ordeal. It wasn't much, but Shawn figured it was better than nothing.

Besides, for the duration of the car drive, Shawn had quite some problems of his own to deal with. It was only a ten minute drive to the police station, but those ten minutes told him all about the levels of pain his back was able to evoke. Car seats simply weren't designed for people who had just taken a rollercoaster ride without seatbelt underneath a pier. It didn't matter how careful his father was driving, keeping his back away from the car seat was impossible. He was grateful when they finally pulled into the parking lot at the police station and he could get out of the car.

Eric had driven to the station with Henry and Shawn, whereas Gus and Juliet had taken their own cars. It didn't take long until they had all arrived, and with a smile Juliet went over towards Eric.

"All right, let's go in."

Wide blue eyes turned towards Shawn, silently asking if that was really necessary. He tried to smile reassuringly at the boy.

"It's all right Eric, I promise. Besides, Detective O'Hara has a stash of candy bars in her bottom right drawer, if we can distract her somehow we can snatch some of those."

With a gentle hand on Eric's back Shawn turned them towards the entrance and they started climbing the stairs.

"How did you know about the candy bars, Shawn?", Juliet hissed at him from his left side.

Shawn smiled. "I'm a psychic, remember?"

Juliet rolled her eyes at him, and silently they climbed the stairs and went into the station. Shawn noticed that Eric kept his head down after they entered, relying solely on Shawn's hand on his back to guide him.

Finally they reached the back of the station where the offices were located. Chief Vick was just coming out of her office as they approached it.

"Detective O'Hara, there you are." She nodded at the tree men in greeting, then her eyes fell on Eric who still didn't look up from the floor. "And you must be Eric. I'm Karen Vick, I'm the chief of the police here."

Eric looked up at her, but he met her eyes only fleetingly before turning them back on the floor again. Karen turned back towards Juliet.

"We're going to need Eric's statements."

Juliet nodded in response. "I'll take them." She turned back towards Eric and patiently waited until the boy looked up at her. "Remember what we talked about at the hospital, Eric? Those statements I told you I'd needed you to make? Now is the time to make them."

Eric shuffled his feet nervously. "Okay. But first can I…I mean, I need to go. You know…"

Juliet smiled. "Of course. Restrooms are down the hall and then left."

"You want me to come along?"

Eric looked at Shawn with both eyebrows raised. "I've been doing this on my own since I was two. I think I can manage."

He turned around and walked down the corridor. Shawn shrugged, ignoring Henry's and Gus' chuckles. "Well, I'll take it as a good sign that he's getting cocky. But do you think it's wise to leave him alone right now? He has a habit of running."

"Front desk knows that he's not supposed to leave the station", Karen said. "O'Hara, the statement concerning the murder is important, but we have Garner's confession. It's your call, but maybe you'll want to take Eric's statement on his stepfather first. The Robertsons should be here soon, it might be interesting to hear their opinions on his statement."

Juliet nodded, but was spared an answer when Lassiter came over to their little group. He handed Karen one of the two folders he was holding, then his eyes fell on Shawn.

"Spencer."

"Lassie!" Shawn smiled. "So good to see you!"

"I wish I could say the same, but I simply can't."

Shawn scratched his head, a little embarrassedly. He had hoped to have this encounter not in front of the whole police department. "Listen Lassie, about yesterday…you know, the whole thing about pulling me out of the ocean. Thanks for that."

Lassiter looked at Shawn for a moment, his expression so dark that Shawn was worried the detective was contemplating using Shawn as a target for shooting practice. Finally, Lassiter pointed a finger at Shawn.

"I walked around the station in wet clothes all evening. I had to do the suspect interrogation in wet trousers and one of McNabb's T-shirts which read "Cops do it better" across the chest. It was early morning before I got home to change out of my wet clothes. If I so much as get a sneeze because I had to jump into the ocean after you, I'm going to shoot you."

Shawn looked at Lassiter for a long moment, not really knowing what to say. "Erm…all right. But you Irish are pretty resistant against germs, anyway. Aren't you?"

"I'm not Irish", Lassiter growled.

"Oh, but Lassie, that strong hairline has to come from somewhere. Are you sure there wasn't an ancestor from the green island somewhere along the line?"

Lassiter unconsciously raised a hand to his hair, then dropped it quickly as he realised what he was doing. He drew breath to say something in response, but was interrupted when Buzz McNabb came over towards them.

"Chief, Mrs. Robertson is waiting for you in Interrogation Room B."
Karen frowned. "What about her husband, didn't he come along?"

"Oh yes, he did. I'll bring him to Interrogation Room A in a minute, he just went to the restroom first."

Shawn was running down the corridor even before McNabb finished speaking, the others hurrying after him just a step behind. Not paying any mind to the pain in his shoulder and back from the running, Shawn opened the door to the men's room and ran in.

"…we have to come down for an interrogation? What have you been telling them? Answer me!"

Stan Robertson was standing in front of the cubicles, only inches away from Eric who had cowered himself into the very corner between the wall and the last sink in the line. Stan held the shaking boy in a rough grip by the back of his neck, oblivious to the fact that Eric was shaking and crying, clearly too terrified to answer any kind of question in his current state.

"Hey!", Shawn yelled, stormed over towards the enraged man and roughly pulled him away from Eric. "Take your hands off him!"

Before Stan had the chance to say anything, suddenly Henry was there, grabbed the front of his shirt and pushed him roughly against the opposite wall.

Stan struggled against Henry's hold. "Let go off me! Who do you think you are?", he yelled.

"Obviously, I'm the one who has to tell you to keep your hands off a defenceless child!" Henry growled. Shawn had never heard that tone of voice before, but he was sure that his father had just growled. Shawn placed himself between Stan and Eric, not backing down under the man's glare. He was furious himself right now, if that bastard made only one more move towards Eric, he'd get what was coming to him.

The door to the restroom opened again, and Lassiter and Gus stormed into the room. Lassiter took only one look at the crying boy in the corner, at Shawn standing protectively in front of him, and at Stan, who was still red in his face from yelling at his stepson. Or from the hold Henry's arm had across his throat, it was difficult to say.

"Is the kid all right?"

Shawn turned and looked at Eric, who was still crying so hard that his breaths were coming in sobs and hiccups. He quickly knelt down in front of him and put both his hands on Eric's cheeks.

"Did he hurt you?"

Eric shook his head, still sobbing so hard that he couldn't speak.

"All right, Robertson, I think the two of us need to have a long talk", Lassiter growled, grabbed Robertson by the arm and waited for Henry to release his grip on the other man.

"Henry", Lassiter said calmly when Henry hadn't moved after a few seconds. Henry took a deep breath and stepped back from Stan, watching as Lassiter tightened his grip on the man's arm and pulled him out of the restroom. But Shawn didn't even notice, he had all his attention focussed on Eric.

"Are you all right?"

"He just…suddenly, he was there. I wanted to…call for someone…but…it all went so…so fast…"

"Hey, it's all right Eric. It's all right." Shawn gently pulled the boy towards himself, and Eric immediately wrapped his arms around Shawn's back and buried his head against his shoulder. "It's all right", Shawn mumbled into the boy's hair.

"I was so scared", Eric mumbled.

"He's not going to hurt you anymore, I promise. I won't let him. Okay?"

Eric nodded, his head still leaning into Shawn's shoulder. It was obvious that he didn't intend to let go again anytime soon, so all Shawn could do was ignore the pain in his back and allow the disturbed child to cry into his shoulder. It took a few minutes until Eric had calmed down at least a little and allowed Shawn to withdraw slightly from the embrace.

"Better?"

Eric shrugged, his eyes cast to the floor.

Shawn slowly got back to his feet, suppressing all wincing and groaning as his single body parts protested against the movement. He put an arm around Eric's back and guided him out of the restroom.

"Come on, I think it's time for one of those candy bars in Juliet's desk right now."

Eric allowed Shawn to lead him over to Juliet's desk where he sat down on her chair and passively watched Shawn rummage around in the bottom right drawer until he came up with a Mars bar.

"There you go."

"Thanks", Eric mumbled, but didn't start opening up the wrapping paper. He looked up with wide eyes as steps approached the desk, then sagged a little in relief when he saw that it was only Henry and Gus who had come over towards them.

"Where…where is Stan?", he asked timidly, as if expecting his stepfather to come jumping out from behind a filing cabinet any second now. A small smile spread on Henry's face.

"Don't you worry about him. Detective Lassiter took him to an interrogation room, he's not going to get out of there for quite a while."
"You really should see this, Shawn", Gus fell in with glee in his voice. "I've never seen Lassiter this furious before, not even that one time when you poured salt into his coffee and put white-out on his bagel. He's questioning Robertson about every single entry in Eric's medical file, in detail. By the time Lassiter's through with him, he's going to wish that he stayed out of Santa Barbara in the first place."

Eric was still twiddling with the candy bar in his fingers. "What's going to happen now?"

"Now you give your statements, just like you and Detective O'Hara talked about in the hospital", Henry said. "And once you've done that, there is no way anybody is going to send back to your mother and that man. You only need to tell her the truth."

Eric nodded. "Okay."

"Where is Jules?", Shawn asked, looking around the room as he didn't find the blonde detective anywhere.

"Karen called her into the interrogation room a moment ago, she should be back soon." Henry uncrossed his arms. "All right, I'm going to get a coffee. Anybody else want one?"

Gus followed Henry into the break room, leaving Shawn and Eric sitting at Juliet's desk.

"Are you really all right?", Shawn asked.

"I just never want to see him again."

Shawn smiled sadly and ran a hand through Eric's hair. "I'm sorry that this happened. But I promise you, if you only tell Juliet the truth about what he's doing to do, things will work out."

"Okay."

A moment later Juliet came back from the interrogation room. In her hand she held a piece of paper, and instead of coming directly towards her desk, she went to McNabb, handed the paper over towards him and said a few words. The younger officer nodded, then sat down and reached for the nearest phone.

Only then did Juliet come over towards her desk. She pulled up a chair and sat down.

"Are you okay?"

Eric nodded. "Yes. I think so."

"Good. We still need to go through with those statements, though. Do you think you're up for it? It's no problem if you're not, just tell me."

Eric shook his head. "No, it's all right. It's just…do you think that…I mean, could Shawn maybe stay here?"

A smile tugged at the corners of Shawn's mouth at those words. Juliet just nodded. "Sure he can. That way, we can also try and see whether he's really incapable of staying still for more than five minutes."

"Oh come on now, Jules, don't ruin my reputation like that."

Juliet shook her head and pulled out the papers she'd need. "I guess you want this over and done with, Eric." When he just nodded wordlessly, Juliet smiled. "All right, then let's get started."

It took nearly forty minutes to finish Eric's statements on both the murder he had witnessed, which took about ten minutes to bring to paper, and about the abuse he had suffered on the hands of his stepfather. It was half an hour during which Shawn often wished to be somewhere totally else.

All right, so he and his father weren't exactly a role-model in functionality where their relationship was concerned. But it was completely beyond Shawn's comprehension how somebody could do the things Eric told about to a child. Children were annoying at times, granted. But beating them, locking them up, telling them that nobody would believe them anyway if they managed to bring up enough courage to ask for help? That was way beyond what Shawn wanted to understand, and for the first time in his life he was glad that Lassiter was in a foul mood. He'd give Robertson an interrogation from hell, Shawn knew that. It didn't make anything that man had done undone, but it was a very small relief.

When Juliet finally had all the information she needed, Eric seemed to sag in on himself, completely exhausted. Shawn gently squeezed his shoulder.

"You did great, kiddo."

Eric smiled weakly. "I'm tired."

"I can imagine. But it's over now."

Juliet finished signing all the forms she had just filled out, then got up from her chair. "I'll just bring those over to the Chief's office, then we're finished here."

She turned and walked into Vick's office. Vick wasn't there yet, she was still busy interrogating Eric's mother. Shawn watched as Juliet placed the papers on Vick's desk, but just as she left the office again, McNabb hurried over towards her. He held yet again another piece of paper in his hands and gave it to Juliet. After a few exchanged sentences, McNabb left again and Juliet positively bounced back towards her desk.

"What's up?", Shawn asked. "Whatever McNabb has given you just now must have been great news."

Juliet nodded excitedly. "It's great news indeed. Eric, we found your Dad."
"All the colour drained from Eric's face as he stared at Juliet in disbelief. "You found my father? But…I mean, how? Mom always said she didn't know his name."

"Well, during her conversation with the Chief she remembered enough for us to track him down. McNabb just did that. His name is Collin Redmond, 34 years old, and he's living in Santa Barbara. He left the Army a few years back and runs a small construction business now. We'll be contacting him as soon as possible."

"Does that mean I can go stay with him?" Juliet's excitement seemed to have infected Eric, but upon his words her smile faltered a little. Shawn understood what was going on in her head and he turned towards Eric.

"Not immediately, Eric. If what your Mom said is true then your father doesn't even know you exist. I can imagine that it'll be a bit of a shock for him to hear that he has an eleven year old son. He might need some time to get used to that. I know I would need some time in that situation. And maybe you should meet first before you move in. Give it a little time, Eric."

It hurt Shawn to see the excited and joyful expression on Eric's face falter, but suddenly their attention was drawn by the slamming of the door. Lassiter came storming down the corridor, wordlessly went into the break room, filled a cup with coffee and stepped out again.

"Are you all right, Carlton?", Juliet asked with a worried frown. "Is your interrogation already finished?"

Lassiter shook his head. "No. But I needed a break, before I do something I might not even regret later. That…that man is just…" His eyes fell on Eric and he fell silent. "I just needed a break, O'Hara."

Without another word, Lassiter downed the coffee, put the cup onto his desk, then went back into the interrogation room. Once he had vanished, Eric turned towards Shawn.

"But if I can't go to my father, and if I don't have to go back to Los Angeles, where will I stay?"

"Well", Juliet said with a sad smile. "We're going to have to inform Child Protective Services of the situation. It's an organisation which takes care of children who can't stay with their parents any longer. They're going to find a place for you to stay until everything is figured out with your father."
Eric's eyes grew wide again. "I'm going to have to go to some strangers? But what if…what if they're just like Stan? What if they don't like me?"

Shawn gently squeezed Eric's shoulder and slowly, with much wincing involved, got up from his chair. He took a few steps away from the desk and gestured for Juliet to follow.

"Do you really have to hand him over to Child Protective Services?"

Juliet sighed. "Shawn, I don't like it either. But fact is, Eric has to stay somewhere until everything with his father is figured out. Most probably, he's going to ask for a paternity test to make sure that Eric is his son, and that's going to take a few days, at the least. So even if we get a judge to transfer custody quickly, it'll take about a week to arrange everything. Where do you suppose Eric should stay in the meantime?"

Shawn smiled. "Oh, I already have an idea."

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"All right, this here is your room for the time being. It's my old bedroom", Shawn said as he put Eric's backpack down on his old bed in Henry's house.

"And where are you going to stay?"

Shawn shrugged. "I'll take the sofa downstairs."

"Isn't that uncomfortable? You really don't need to do this."

Shawn smiled. "I'd be sleeping on the sofa even if you were staying in my apartment. Besides, I can only sleep on my right side, anyway, so I can as well take the sofa. It won't get any more uncomfortable by that. And this is far more practical because my Dad is home for nearly the entire day, so somebody is always around."

"And Shawn can't cook, so this is his excuse for mooching as many dinners as he can within the next few days", Henry's voice sounded from the direction of the door. "If there's anything else you need, Eric, you just need to tell me."

Shawn rolled his eyes. "You never said that to me."
"You've never been a guest in this house."

Shawn turned back towards Eric. "Speaking of house, if nearly forgot. There's only one rule to living in my Dad's house. No open fire anywhere. He's very insistent on that rule."
"Shawn, you know exactly how that rule came into being, and why it only applies to you. I highly doubt that Eric would even consider trying to set the house on fire."

"I didn't try to set the house on fire", Shawn defended himself. "I was six. How was I supposed to know that a shower curtain wasn't flameproof?"

"Oh, I don't know Shawn. Common sense maybe?"

Shawn rolled his eyes. "You must have forgotten to ingrain that in me, Dad. Besides, it was you who kept the lighter lying around, it was practically an invitation to try it out." He turned back towards Eric. "He still gets nervous when somebody lights an open flame in the house, so just try to avoid that."

Eric frowned, but nodded. "I think that won't be a problem."

"Good, very good. Now Dad, what's for dinner?"

Henry just rolled his eyes and wordlessly vanished down the stairs. Eric turned towards Shawn. "Is he really all right with me staying here until that whole thing about my Dad is resolved?"

Shawn smiled. "He offered it, Eric. It's all right, really."

"Really?"

Shawn grinned. "Really. And now we'd better get downstairs and see what's for dinner. Just ignore him when he gets grumpy. Or use that trick I taught you."

Eric frowned and thought for a moment. "Ask him about fishing?"

"Exactly. Works all the time. Now come along, before he gets the stupid idea of maybe cooking greens or sprouts or any other health food for dinner."
"I like greens. And sprouts. They're good."

Shawn looked at Eric for a moment, then he put an arm around the boy's shoulders and guided him out the room. "You still have a lot to learn, my young friend. We don't have much time, but I will do my best to pass on my wisdom to you."

Eric regarded Shawn for a moment, his gaze more than just sceptical, then he slowly nodded. "Sure. But maybe we should just have dinner first."

Shawn grinned. "Now you're speaking my language. What are we waiting for?"

And before Eric had a chance to reply, Shawn was already steering him down the stairs and towards the kitchen.