by Casey Hill
After all was served, and Chris had taken a few bites of the food and (begrudgingly) found it to be delicious, an awkward silence threatened to settle over the three. Reilly, sensing the terse atmosphere, tried to think of something to say. And, of course, there was always one thing that came to her mind, first and foremost.
“There was more about the Hackett investigation on the news earlier,” she commented, pushing her salad around on her plate.
“Since when do you watch the news?” Chris chuckled, as he set his glass down. He glanced around, as if trying to find the TV. “And where?”
She smiled back at him, “In the store on my way back from a run.”
“I would have gone to the store for you,” Todd said frowning.
Reilly waved her hand through the air. “It’s fine, I was just grabbing a smoothie. Anyway it was early and you were still sleeping when I left.”
Todd shook his head, “You know at some point you’re going to have to let someone help you with something, or you’re going to run yourself into the ground.”
Chris regarded Todd in a different light for just a second, as this was a subject they could actually agree on.
She glanced over at Chris, the fire in her eyes telling him that he did not need to cement his agreement with Todd’s assertion, as she already knew about his view on this subject.
The three seated at the table again fell into a terse silence. Chris was about to excuse himself for the bathroom, just for something to break the tension, when Todd swallowed a bite of his taco and shifted his weight towards him.
“So Chris, are you married buddy?” he asked, dabbing at his face with one of the stark white napkins.
“No,” Chris said realizing that the guy would have known full well this wasn't the case, since he would have surely already asked Reilly about his relationship status.
“I sense some … emotional tension in you, Chris,” Todd continued, leaning forward with a bit of salad on his fork, “maybe a tricky romantic past?”
Chris tensed considerably at the observation, then recalled Todd’s occupation. They were in the same line of work, noting details and missing nothing, and getting paid to do so.
He chuckled in a way that seemed good-natured, and said, after the right amount of pause, “No offence mate, but I don’t think it’ll do me much good to take romantic advice from you.”
His comment landed right where he wanted to, and Reilly watched as Todd’s jaw visibly tensed. She shifted in her seat. Although the food was wonderful, and she would have normally enjoyed the company of either man, she found that she felt more nauseous than relaxed.
Chris took a sip of his sparkling grape juice and shook his head almost imperceptibly, but Todd was too busy glancing at Reilly to notice. He needed to gauge from her which direction to take next, but all he could gather was that she was uncomfortable.
“So what were they saying on the news?” Chris asked, looking for something that might pull Reilly out a little, get her to engage in the conversation. “About the case?”
She shrugged and fixed him with a look he couldn’t place. “Mostly Michael Glynn complaining about how useless we are,” she said, swirling her grape juice around, trying to convince herself it was wine, “O’Brien’s already been in my ear about that - Glynn feels we’re not doing enough to find the man who hurt his little girl.”
“Understandable,” said Chris. “But if his daughter can’t remember much, what does he expect us to do about it?”
“Sex crime?” ventured Todd, picking up on the thread.
“Attempted sexual assault,” Reilly told him. “Likely not connected to our murder. But we’ve got little by way of a suspect either way.”
“Don’t we?” challenged Chris teasingly, referring to Simon.
“Hah, I recognize that tone for sure,” Todd put in, laughing. “Let me guess Chris, you have a hard-on for a suspect, but our Reilly is thinking ‘no dice’ because - evidence.”
Reilly couldn't help but chuckle at Todd’s blatantly American colloquialisms but figured Chris would know exactly what he was saying.
“More or less,” said Chris staring directly at her, a twinkle in his eye. “She’s a hard woman to persuade.”
“Yeah well, maybe she’s right,” Todd went on, his tone blatantly taunting. “I’m just saying buddy, carelessness is what puts innocent people behind bars. The only thing worse than a guilty man going free is an innocent man having his life stolen away for something he didn’t do, wouldn't you say?”
Maybe it was a combination of the scrutiny his suspicions of Simon Hackett had garnered all throughout the investigation, and all the digs Todd had already thrown at him in the first few minutes of sitting down together, but Chris couldn't help but retort: “I don’t know - buddy. Is it any worse than the kind of carelessness that knocks up an old friend?”
Reilly pushed her chair back from the table, and the sound of the legs screeching on the wood was startling to Chris and Todd, who by then had almost completely forgotten she was in the room.
She stood up, staring down at the mostly untouched food on her plate. “Out,” she said, her tone low and serious. “Both of you. Now.”
Todd and Chris tried to placate and apologize respectively but she ignored them, instead repeating herself over the sound of their voices. “I mean it. Get the hell out.”
When they’d both exited the flat, stoic and apologetic, Reilly took all three plates of food and brought them back over to the sofa with her.
She sighed as she sank back down into its comfy softness. No sense in wasting perfectly good beach food.
41
The pub was low lit and the voices were hushed in their conversation. The highlights of the day’s Premiership football games were playing on the TVs overhead, but nobody seemed interested.
Chris looked at the pint of Guinness he had ordered. It sat on the counter of the bar, waiting for him. All he had wanted was to have a nice civilized dinner with a friend and the father of her child, and then leave, hopefully reassuring himself that Todd Forrest was in fact a decent guy.
He shook his head. Nice fantasy. Of course the real reason he had accepted the invite was Forrest and the blatant challenge in his eyes. The guy thought, for whatever reason, that Reilly belonged to him, and evidently suspecting a connection between her and Chris, seemed to want to lord that fact over him. A pissing contest.
Asshole.
Someone slid onto the stool next to his then, and Chris ignored the guy, taking the first creamy sip of his pint. The dark liquid hardly stung on its way down and he looked up, searching out the barman so he could have another on the draw.
“Tequila on the rocks,” the man next to him drawled, “and another of whatever he’s having.”
Great…
Chris looked over at Todd, then looked back down at his drink and swallowed the last of it before the barman slid him another one. He shook his head at the glass as Todd said, “Pretty rough in there, huh?”
Chris turned on him, his own accent even more pronounced when he was annoyed and had a pint in him. “Would you not take the hint, dickhead? I’ve had enough listening to you already. Get the fuck away from me,” he growled, grabbing his drink forcefully.
Todd recoiled a little, evidently surprised at this overly aggressive turn in what up to then had been a fairly placid encounter. “Hey listen, I’m just trying to do what’s best for Reilly.”
Chris turned to look at him, his expression incredulous.“What’s best for her? You thought that swanning all the way over here suddenly deciding to play happy families is best? Insisting she takes time off to entertain you while working her arse off on a case - at six pregnant - is best? Confusing her by trying to tempt her back to Florida with you - away from the people who care about her - is fucking best?”
Taken aback by his own vehemence, he stopped before he said too much.
Todd calmly knocked back the rest of his drink before waving for another. “Actually, I d
o think going back to the US is what’s best for Reilly, and our baby,” he said and the words were like a punch to the stomach. Our baby. Up until then, Chris had only really thought of it as Reilly’s baby, and Todd’s phrasing had knocked the wind out of him.
“Think about it. Reilly grew up there, she trained there, she’s American through and through. Mike’s back now too. I’m there and the baby’s other grandfather. The US is a far better place to bring up a kid, Reilly knows that. With a job like hers, how in the world is she going to cope with raising a baby in a foreign country? Alone.”
Chris shook his head – Dublin was hardly the middle of the bloody Amazon.
And Reilly would not be alone.
He thought not only of himself but Lucy, Karen Thompson and the rest of the GFU team - hell, even Kennedy had offered to chip in with babysitting. They all cared about her and no matter how firm Reilly’s resistance to their offers, her Irish ‘family’ would do everything they could to help her out.
“Question for you then,” Chris asked Todd, keenly interested in the answer, “if Reilly says no and you’re so concerned about being a part of the baby’s life, are you considering moving to Dublin?”
Todd looked pained for a moment. “My whole life is in the US - my dad, my job…I can’t just pick up and leave everything I have there. No, Reilly is just being stubborn. She’ll figure it out that coming home is for the best in the long run.”
“Did it ever occur to you …” Chris said, gritting his teeth, “that Reilly’s whole life might be here? Yeah, Mike went back to the US, but she’s built her own life over the last few years. Her work is here, her friends are here. All the things she loves are here,” Chris said, his voice now barely a whisper.
Todd watched him for a second, gauging the meaning from his words. Suddenly, he let out a bark of laughter. “You and me, man,” he said, clapping Chris on the back, “I think we’re in the same boat here.”
Chris raised an eyebrow. He hoped that if he and Todd Forrest were ever in any boat together he would have the good sense to jump overboard and make for the nearest island. “At the bar of a shitty pub in the company of a man they can’t stand?”
Todd looked a bit taken aback at Chris’s candor, but didn’t completely disagree with him either. He usually had an easy time getting along with people, but this guy was to Dublin like Todd was to Florida.
Delaney was dark, solemn and reserved, all the blinds drawn and doors closed; whereas Todd was bright, sunny and usually cheerful, and the two personalities seemed to clash on principle alone.
He wondered what it was Reilly liked about this guy. His gruff exterior, yet old-fashioned good manners? His reluctance to come right out and just say the things he meant? His cheery personality?
It occurred to Todd then, that Chris was probably wondering what it was about him that Reilly liked.
“Hey, I guess we both love her but…” Todd began but Chris stopped him, his jaw set as he put his second empty glass on the counter.
“Don’t,” he said simply, a tidal wave of mixed emotion flooding through him at the words, especially coming from Forrest’s mouth.
Todd shrugged and polished off his second drink too. “You got it,” he said, then standing up, asked, “Know of any good hotels around here?”
Chris, finally pleased by something the other man had said, listed off a couple of hotels nearby that were likely to have rooms on a walk-in.
“OK. Guess we’re both well and truly in the doghouse tonight.” Clapping Chris once more on the back, Todd slung his jacket over his shoulder and left the bar.
Two glasses lingered at the spot where Forrest had sat, but all too soon many more were added to Chris’s empty cluster.
42
The next day, as Reilly returned a missed call from Gary the night before, she thought again about the way the teenagers in her high school had acted, and was reminded of the way Chris and Todd had behaved last night.
And to think, she had been sure she had escaped that kind of behavior for the rest of her life.
Todd had been aggressive to begin with, especially with the meal he had prepared. Of course, it had been delicious, but that wasn’t the point. He was laying down a marker, trying to psych Chris out by throwing their time together in Florida in his face. She couldn’t get Chris’s expression when he saw the food out of her head.
Furthermore, she couldn’t shake off the feeling she’d got when Chris talked about her and Todd’s ‘carelessness’, because as much as he had intended it to be an insult toward Todd, it had hit Reilly in the gut just as hard.
Todd hadn’t come home last night, which was fine with Reilly, who had gone straight to bed after gorging nearly everything on the table. Feeling sick afterwards, she’d crawled into bed, still dressed in the clothes she had worn to supper and woke up the next morning to find her flat as empty as it had been when she had told both of the men to get out the night before. As well as finding a couple of missed calls from Gary.
“I spent my Saturday night following up on that animal feed trace,” her colleague said drolly. “Good thing I have an understanding girlfriend. Anyway, turns out that specific combination of ingredients is used as exotic pet food.”
Reilly furrowed her eyebrows inquisitively, “Do the Hacketts have any pets? Perhaps our doer works with exotic animals?” she speculated.
It was tenuous but at least now the trace evidence was starting to help build up a clearer profile of the attacker, and perhaps more importantly rule out Chris’s favorite suspect.
Reilly knew he wouldn't be over the moon to hear that this new evidence suggested he and Kennedy should widen out the investigation away from Simon, but after last night, she figured he wouldn't be over the moon about all that much today anyway.
Irritated afresh by how last night had gone, she picked up a nearby cushion, held it in her hands for a moment, then buried her face in the soft cotton and let out a frustrated scream.
When she lowered the cushion she let out a smaller shriek.
Todd was standing in front of her, an alarmed expression gracing his features.
“Reilly…?” he said, tentatively, like she might freak out again if he spoke too fast, “are you okay?”
She dropped the cushion, her heart pounding. “No,” she said, finally, after a few moments of heavy breathing. “Not particularly.”
He brought a hand to the back of his neck, still looking down at her. “About that, last night… I’m really sorry. It was never my intention to upset you. I suppose I just wanted a glimpse into your life here. If that guy Chris was the closest person you had in Dublin, I thought that maybe getting to know him was the first step. But I can see now that I don’t fit here. I tried, but I can’t. If this,” he gestured to Reilly and him, “is going to work, if we’re going to work, you need to come back to Florida with me. We need to do this together.” He took a step toward her, his face open and hopeful. “And I want this to work. I want to be there for our baby. I want our baby to grow up the way any kid should, with a loving mom and a loving dad… parents that love each other. Because I do, Reilly. I’m in love with you, and the only reason I didn’t tell you that before was because I knew there was nothing keeping you in the US. But this… this changes everything. This gives you - us - a reason.”
He took another step forward, and his hands were on either side of her face before she could blink. His spiel had been so convincing, so captivating, she hadn’t fully realized what he was doing until his head lowered down to hers.
He tenderly brushed his lips against hers, the whisper of a kiss, and then Reilly’s good reason came rushing back full force. She braced her hands on his chest and pushed him back, enough that he let go and stumbled back a few steps.
His expression screamed of hurt and anger, and she struggled to her feet, her own anger building up at his attempt to kiss her. “No,” she said, pushing her hands into her hair. “No, Todd, I’m not going to follow you back to the US like you want me to.
My life is here. My work is here. All of my friends, all of the people I love – they’re here. And I’m not going to abandon my life just because you want me to.”
Stung, Todd rolled his eyes, pulling on the sleeves of his shirt. “Right. The people you love.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” she muttered.
“Isn’t it obvious?” He looked up, finally meeting her gaze. “You’re in love with that guy - Chris. I don’t know how you can claim to walk through crime scenes every day and not miss a single thing, but really - you don’t know the first thing about yourself.”
Reilly swallowed hard, not wanting to show how hard his rebuttal had hit. She hadn’t known when she was pregnant, Chris had to point it out to her. When they were working another case and her traumatic experience with the serial killer that had almost taken her life was getting to her, she still hadn’t noticed.
She cared about Chris yes, they cared about each other. Could it be possible that she was actually in love with him?
“No,” she said, shaking her head, “I am not in love with my colleague. You’re just grasping at something to make me into the bad guy. I’m not going back to the US with you because of all the things that matter to me. My job. My friends. My life. It has nothing to do with Chris.”
Todd was walking from the room now, so Reilly followed him as he went. He was grabbing his things from the couch and stuffing them in his suitcase. He disappeared into the bathroom and came back out with his razor and shampoo.
“What are you doing?” she asked, venom still lacing her tone as she watched his furious retreat.
Todd chuckled maliciously, shaking his head down at his suitcase as he zipped it shut in jerky movements, “I’m getting out of here, Reilly. I’m going back to the hotel I stayed in last night to wait it out before my flight tomorrow. I’m not as stupid as you’d like to believe. I can tell when I’m not wanted.”