The Ghost of Christmas Present Read Online Free Page B

crime!”
    Rebecca rose with the volume of his voice. “There is no need to shout at me.”
    â€œI’d like you to leave, now.”
    â€œNot before I give you this.” Rebecca took the notice she’d been holding outside in the hallway and shoved it into Patrick’s hand.
    â€œYou want to tell me what it is?”
    â€œIt’s an order to appear before a District Family Court in three weeks’ time to determine if you are fit to care for your son.”
    â€œThat’s just before Christmas, and how dare you make such an accusation?”
    â€œI do not make the accusation. The city does.”
    Patrick’s eyes filled with thought as a wave of realization flooded his face. “And I think I know who put the city up to it.”
    â€œOver the course of the next several weeks, I will be returning to check up on the status of your finances and . . . your heat and electricity. If I find you sitting here alone in the cold dark, I’ll know what to say to the board when I give my report. And when they do meet, you’ll need to provide proof of employment—”
    â€œI have a job.”
    â€œâ€”and a bank statement showing an account with sufficient funds to care for a child. That’s a lot of deep-dish pizzas sold to people who aren’t sitting at your tables.”
    â€œWhat don’t you know?”
    â€œHow you’re going to get that kind of money. But you’d better get it. Beg, borrow, or steal.” Rebecca headed to the door, but then stopped and turned back. “I’m sorry for being brusque. I know most of all that your son’s being prepared to have a very serious heart operation, but I can’t allow a fragile boy to be brought into an unstable and unsafe environment.”
    â€œNo one’s going to take away my son.”
    Rebecca opened the door to leave, but not before Patrick added one more thing. “And you can tell Ted Cake I said so.”

    A wide-framed man stood at a large plate-glass window overlooking the East River toward the Manhattan skyline. His figure was outlined by the setting sun, and his hand reaching into his pocket for his ringing cell phone cut across the red rays piercing the high-end apartment.
    â€œSo you see he’s not fit to care for that child.”
    Somewhere in the middle of that city horizon across the river, Rebecca walked down a Midtown street and held her cell phone to her ear against the cold. “That has yet to be determined.”
    â€œWhat information did you gather at your visit?”
    â€œThat is confidential, sir. I’ll give my report when the court assembles. Until then, whatever information I gather is private.”
    Silence on the other end.
    â€œSir? Mr. Cake?” Rebecca waited.
    â€œThe man is not fit.”
    The line went dead. Rebecca put away her cell and crossed the street through the Christmas traffic.
    Back on the other side of the East River, Ted Cake stood against the setting sun as if personally overseeing its descent. Then he looked at a piano whose top was littered with framed photographs of a woman in different stages of the same wistful pose, pulling a wide-brimmed hat down over her forehead, shying away from the camera with her hand, grinning uncomfortably at having her picture taken in the first place.

Chapter 5

    DICKENS KNEW IT
    P atrick sat at Booth One and pored over the want ads wearing the face of a man in search of a drink in the desert. He was in the same seat where he’d met Linda, but this time sitting across from him was some kid with his whole life ahead of him and enough optimism to be circling every audition ad he could find in an actors’ directory.
    â€œIs there any part you don’t plan on playing?” Patrick asked with a bemused smile.
    â€œYou either dream big or live small, you know what I mean?”
    Patrick nodded and smiled. “Good for you. Live that stage to its fullest,