It was no surprise that this kid was messed up. The details were the weird part. Blake was no child psychologist. He didn't have a clue why Shaun would be so convinced his dad was dead, though from there, to be honest, deciding Blake was at fault wasn't that much of a leap.

If Ethan Mars had been there alone, if they'd all gotten there in time to catch him outside the warehouse...ifs were a waste of time to think about. (If Nathaniel Williams had had another weapon.) Once you started thinking about that, soon you were second-guessing everything you did and never getting anything done.

Blake noticed he'd been combing his fingers through McNulty's wool. Now and then the static prickled and made tiny sparks.

"Yeah. Sure."

His phone made some weird noises and the display was messed up, but it was dry enough to work.

"Hey, Norman. Come pick up the kid at the Pokecenter."

All that 'hello, how are you' crap was for other people.