Kelly muffled a cough as he flickered his eyes open and checked the clock. It was seven in the morning and the warmth of the duvet coupled with the sunny brightness of June had woken him. He couldn’t sleep any longer. He pulled his arm from under Louise’s head gently, trying not to wake her. It was still warm and moist from the sweat that had gathered between their two skins. When they had finally gone to bed after two in the morning, he had reached for her in the darkness and pulled her close to him. Her normally sinewy physique had softened and her clammy skin felt like silk as his hands roamed across the small of her back and up her spine, the bump of their baby in between them, her naked body on top of his. He was completely overwhelmed with love for the woman that lay beside him and he wanted nothing more for her than for her to be happy and their baby that she was carrying, to be okay. He had been relieved when after they had made love, she had finally fallen asleep.
Earlier, after Louise’s call with Alex had done nothing to settle her discomfort and the Chinese had finally arrived, they had discussed the finer points of the case over spring rolls, sweet and sour sauce, Szechuan chicken and prawn crackers. Kelly had even resurrected his black notebook and pen and had jotted down a few of the things he wanted to check. There wasn’t much to go on but looking at the past usually gave some answers away.
Double bluff?
Framed? If so, who?
Liam Buckley… Deeds on Oakley Drive?
Insurance job?
Past affairs?
Did he know about wife’s illness before he had affair?
Aer Lingus, crew affairs?
Any workplace disputes?
Kids – Josh Abbie?
Life before Alex?
Financials?
Alex?
Solicitor
In a way, it had felt like old times, each investigation starting like a new book, laying the foundations for the case, waiting for the concrete to go off and then brick by brick with fact, evidence, motive and witnesses, building a story that only they, could prove. Only this time, it was personal, and he worried about Louise and the level of stress a case involving her twin sister would inevitably cause.
‘Morning love.’ He leaned into her, brushed the masses of brown hair that fell in soft wavy strokes across her face. That was when he found her lips, pale but plump with a hint of a smile in the corners. She was still very sleepy, and it took two kisses for her to stir. ‘You awake?’ he whispered. The muted morning light that filtered through the paper-thin curtains made her lips look blue. In the nine years he had known her and the two that they had been living together, he had never known her to wake up earlier than him. It was a gender thing, she had said.
‘No,’ she spoke in a croaky voice, squinting her eyes at the sunlight that seeped through the curtain gaps and bounced off the polished wood of the dresser. Her head felt heavy with tiredness and it took all her strength to open her eyes. ‘I’m not, nor do I intend to be awake for another two hours,’ she screwed her eyes shut again, unwilling to move.’ I feel like I’ve had a knot in my stomach all night, I feel as if I’ve barely closed my eyes,’ her nose was stuffy and her eyes were red and puffy, ‘what time is it?’
‘It’s just after seven… will I get you a cup of tea?’ for a moment he lay beside her studying her face, he had felt so sorry for her in the early hours. ‘It’s frightening how angelic you look when you are asleep,’ he grinned, thinking about how fierce she could also be. ‘You doing okay?’
‘Yeah,’ she answered her voice soft. ‘That cup of tea would be lovely,’ she swallowed to try and clear the clack at the back of her throat, ‘God, my head is thumping.’
‘Exhaustion, I’d say love,’ and stress he added in his head. ‘You normally like to sleep for two so the three hours you had last night falls a little short,’ he smiled trying to lighten the mood.
‘You’d swear I’d been drinking all night with the headache,’ she lifted her hand towards him and pulled him closer back to the warm dent in the sheets that he had just left. ‘And remind me to do something about those curtains…this will never work,’ she nuzzled in closer to him. His scent a mixture of yesterday’s aftershave, day old body musk and metal, there was a strange overpowering scent of metal… was it something to do with the paint, had Kelly’s reservation about paint fumes been right? She opened her eyes just long enough to see a broad smile spread in the middle of the dark stubble that had grown across his cheeks and chin. ‘I really feel like shite, I think I need to stay in bed for a few minutes more,’ her voice trailed a little and her last words faded so he didn’t hear what she had said.
‘You stay on for a few extra minutes,’ he was eager to get into the Alex and Liam Buckley situation as early as he could, to help her out. ‘I want to get a jump on this investigation before you head into work,’ reluctantly he pulled himself away from her and swung his legs to the floor. There were hours of work to sift through, transcripts of Liam Buckley’s interview, ambulance reports, attending Gardaí reports, forensic reports, and hopefully, whenever it came through, the post-mortem report. ‘And I’ve to ring Annie to tell her that I won’t be down.’ He knew how disappointed his sister Annie would be but he felt he had no choice, the situation was too critical to leave Louise to deal with it on her own. He knew what she was like and he knew that she’d stop at nothing until she got the resolution she wanted, so he planned to be with her to support her as much as he could. ‘Otherwise I’d be straight back in there,’ he lowered his voice, ‘right back where I left you last night.’
When he had first met Alex it had been 2016. He and Louise had been working on a case together that had brought them from Kilkenny up to Dublin and they had stayed, like most visiting detectives to Harcourt Street Garda Station, in the Camden Court Hotel across the road. It was there, while working on that case and staying in that hotel, after seven years working together, that he and Louise had finally got together. It was also there that he met Alex for the first time and he had been fond of her ever since, especially since she hadn’t held it against him that he mistook her for being one of Louise’s old boyfriends, but that was a different story.
‘Anyhow… I’m going to get going, get a start on the day.’ He patted her bum through the duvet, arched his back and stretched his arms over his head. ‘I’ll get you that tea,’ he said.
‘No actually, I’ll leave it, I still have heartburn,’ she reached for the bottle of Gaviscon that she kept beside her bed and lifted her head slightly from the pillow to swallow back a mouthful directly from the bottle.
‘The magic elixir,’ he smiled, he had never known anyone to have needed anything as much as she needed the antacid these past couple of weeks.
‘Yeah, I still feel a little bit off. I thought I was done with the morning sickness.’ Her voice sounded strained as she shifted slightly. ‘Eugh,’ she winced, ‘I think I’ve just found evidence of your behaviour last night,’ she smirked, scrunching up her nose as she shifted her legs back again to try and ease the cramps that were coming in waves across her stomach.
‘Evidence?’
‘Wet patch,’ she smiled.
‘Oh, sorry about that,’ he smiled, ‘I’ll grab a shower first and then I’ll get you that tea and toast, you’ll be grand then.’
‘Okay,’ she answered making a mental note of everything she wanted to do. Getting in touch with Alex was her first priority. Alex had asked that she give her some space while she figured things out on her own and she had given it to her, but that was as much as she was going to get. Then she needed to talk to the Inspector but not before she had decided whether there was enough to charge Liam Buckley for the murder of his ex-wife. She’d get up when Kelly was finished in the shower, hopefully by then her stomach would have settled down.
‘Nothing wrong with staying in bed a little longer,’ Kelly opened the wardrobe door and pulled out his blue and white checked shirt and laid it on the chair. You were due to be off this morning anyway so they won’t
be expecting you in.’ ‘He scooped up his jeans that he had stepped out of the night before and pulled out clean boxers and socks from the drawer. His shoes were by the front door where he had always left them, a habit he had formed when he was just a young boy.
‘Don’t forget to phone Annie and tell her we won’t be down…remind her that we’re working, she’ll understand that.’ She felt terrible cancelling the plans to see Annie again.
‘Of course,’ Kelly answered.
‘And will you tell her we’ll have her up for a sleepover soon seeing as the house is finally finished,’ Louise knew that Annie travelling to Dublin these days depended on her health and on her schedule, but she wanted Annie to know that the sentiment was at least there.
‘Of course,’ he bent down to her kiss her. ‘Will I get a bath running for you, might make you feel better?’
‘No thanks, I’ll get a shower as soon as you’re done.’
‘I bet as soon as I walk out that door you’ll be snuggling back down, snoring before I get to shampoo my hair.’
‘I won’t,’ she smiled pretending to feel more alert than she actually did.
‘I could be terribly cruel, save you from yourself?’ There was a glint of mischief in his eyes as he scanned the duvet that she had cocooned herself inside.
‘You wouldn’t,’ she pleaded, ‘don’t Kelly,’ she snorted. She was used to his pranks and pulling the blankets away from her was one of them. That and another of his favourites which was pouring a glass of water on her face to wake her up. ‘I’ll murder you if you do,’ she warned. She was strong and capable and she loved to fake-wrestle with him but ever since she had confirmed the pregnancy he had treated her with kid gloves, she missed the rough play that they used to share. ‘Don’t you dare,’ she giggled.
‘What’s it worth?’ he asked, his hands hovering over the duvet ready to yank it away. The smile on her face encouraging him to continue.
‘Everything, it’s worth everything,’ she held her breath. ‘Seriously, I’ll be up and organised by the time you come back out of the shower, go on, get a shower, leave this delicate, pregnant lady in peace.’ She tucked the duvet even tighter around her and buried herself underneath. ‘But do me a favour?’ she beckoned him back to her with her finger when he looked around at her. When he bent down to her, she lifted her arm from underneath the duvet and ran the palm of her hand across the stubble on his face, ‘don’t shave, I love the stubble,’ she smiled.
‘Okay,’ he kissed her on the lips and glided back towards the bathroom. She closed her eyes and nestled further down in the warmth of the bed savouring the ten minutes she knew it would take Kelly to re-emerge.
Why was it that certain sounds were so distinctively summer? Birds chirping, children playing, even cars cruising by… she placed her hand on her growing stomach and imagined her baby, hers and Kelly’s child, playing football in their back yard, pushing a bike along the footpath and sitting on walls with friends just like she had once done in that never-ending summer of childhood thirty years ago. Scents of sandalwood wafted into the room in puffs of steam and with the gentle purr of the shower and the sound of summer outside she was lulled into a semi doze.
It was ten minutes later when Kelly emerged from the shower onto the white porcelain tiles, wrapping a towel around his waist. He wiped away the steam from the mirror and studied his face, it was a bonus not to have to shave. ‘Are you sure you don’t want me to shave?’ he asked and when she didn’t answer he continued his morning routine, presuming she had fallen back asleep. He brushed his teeth, gargled with mouthwash and flung his towel over the shower rail to dry. ‘I knew it, I knew you had no intentions of getting up,’ he laughed pulling on the fresh boxers that he had already laid out then rolled deodorant under his arm. ‘You are in for some shock to the system when this baby comes and if you think that I’m doing all the early mornings you’ve another thing coming, my girl,’ he hopped around the bathroom as he pulled a sock on each foot. ‘Seriously, are you still in there?’ he pulled on his shirt and left it hanging open waiting for the deodorant to dry before he buttoned it up. He took one last look at himself in the mirror before he walked back into the bedroom. ‘Jesus, if you’re that tired, maybe you should stay in bed…’ He suggested, she groaned in response.
‘Louise,’ he waited for her to reply, ‘Louise,’ he reduced his voice to whisper, ‘did you really fall back asleep?’ He walked towards the bed and knelt down beside her brushing the hair back from her face, ‘Lou? He planted a peck on her cheek and noticed how pale she looked. The freckles across her nose were amplified, darker against her ghost white skin. ‘Louise are you okay?’
Louise lay motionless in the bed, her small curved figure barely creating a ripple in the duvet. He placed his hand on her shoulder and shook her. ‘Louise, Louise, wake up,’ a surge of adrenaline pumped around his body as he lifted her head in his hands, took water from the bedside table and dabbed the back of her neck. She was lifeless, ‘Jesus, Louise, wake up?’ he said frantically. He reached across the bed and grabbed his phone, flung back the duvet, exposing her naked body, and slapped her on the back. ‘No, no, no, Louise, wake up, love, wake up.’ He shook her again and it was then he saw it. The pool of bright blood underneath her lifeless body made him stagger backwards.
9.
Kelly paced away silently across the blue vinyl floor, his face stricken with worry, his shoulders heavy with despair. ‘Tony,’ he heard his name being called but it didn’t occur to him to turn around, it sounded as though it was in the distance somewhere, a place where it wasn’t really him and this wasn’t really happening, at least that was what he hoped for. ‘Sorry, Tony,’ the voice came again but this time clearer, closer, more real. He turned to see who it was.
‘Sorry, I was just…’ he didn’t finish the sentence but he didn’t have to, the expression on the nurse’s face had let him know that she, unfortunately, had seen it all before. ‘I didn’t hear you, yes, sorry, what is it?’ he said, his thoughts constricted so tightly around his chest that he thought they might cut off his air supply, choke him to death.
‘I was just going to suggest that I can get you a change of clothes – if you want.’ She ducked sideways as she approached him and opened a cupboard door. Dealing with the husband or partner in these situations was her speciality, they experienced the same emotions, felt the same loss and even though they didn’t have the physical side of the experience to contend with, the grief, the worry, the feeling of bewilderment was still the same. She pulled a blue scrub top from its pile and handed it to him. ‘It’s a large size, I think it should fit,’ she pointed to the patch of blood on the right side of his blue and white checked shirt just above his belt.
‘Oh, I hadn’t realised,’ he picked at the dried blood. It looked as though there was a wound underneath, a hole so wide that it could never have been stitched back together, a war wound from which he would probably never fully recover. ‘I must’ve got it on me when I lifted her up,’ he said, swallowing back the ball of tears at the back of his throat and collapsing his full weight onto the grey plastic chair beside him. The nurse was by his side in an instant.
When he couldn’t wake her, he had phoned the paramedics and while he waited the agonising seven minutes it took for them to arrive, he pulled his jeans on, buckled up his belt. Then he pulled a dressing gown from the back of the bathroom door and pulled it around her naked body to protect her. It must have been then that he got Louise’s blood on his shirt. She looked so vulnerable, so defenceless, her skin clammy and wet with sweat and blood. Then he grabbed his phone, wallet and Louise’s phone too. He went downstairs and opened the front door, stood into his shoes that stood like soldiers against the skirting board at the front door and ran back upstairs to Louise while he waited for the paramedics to arrive.
‘No, no thank you, this will be fine,’ he attempted a smile, ‘I’m just going to go and phone Louise’s sister if that’s okay?’
‘Sure, you just take your time,’ she answered and watched him as he rose to his feet and walked towards the quieter end of the ward.
A young couple weary and pale, clutched each other as they sat on the chairs further down, a green plastic bag lay by their feet. Kelly nodded at them solemnly as he passed. Were they one of the lucky ones? Did they get to hear those elusive, reassuring words? There’s a heartbeat, bleeding is normal, the baby is fine. He shook his head in despair and dialled Alex’s number. She answered on the first ring.
‘Kelly.’ Her voice was taut. ‘What is it?’ she asked nervously.
‘It’s Lou, Alex, she’s in the hospital, there’s something wrong with….’ The words stuck somewhere behind his tonsils, choking him so much that he moved towards the welcome breeze that whistled through the frosted pane of glass above the doors at the end of the corridor trying to get some air.
He couldn’t bring himself to say ‘the baby’ out loud. The familiarity of speaking about the woman he loved was gone and in its place a litany of medical terms that he didn’t understand or more importantly, didn’t want to hear. Up until this point, those words hadn’t been in his vocabulary: haemorrhage, absence of foetal heartbeat, spontaneous loss, unconscious. Frustrated, desperate tears slid down his face and he wiped them away with the back of his hand. His heart thumped loudly in his chest drowning out the surrounding noise of the machines that beeped, the doors that swished and the babies that cried. ‘We came in in an ambulance,’ he added.
*
‘Kelly.’ Alex held her breath, lifted herself from the position she had slept in on the sofa at 26 Oakley Drive, shook off the mustard throw that she had used for warmth and squinted to check the time on the clock above the TV. It had been after four in the morning when she had finally tried to go asleep and even though she would rather have left, she’d realised that her chances of getting a taxi were slim and walking the distance was out of the question. She had no choice but to stay where she was, let Liam sleep upstairs and wait for the morning to come. She must have drifted off because she had intended to be awake and to have left before Liam came down or that she had to speak to the children. She could hear someone moving upstairs so she whispered. ‘What happened, is she okay?’ her reaction was measured, controlled, but inside she was about to fall apart.
When the Time Comes (ARC) Page 9