“Sorry,” Julie said, lowering her voice. “It’s just that being in the middle of a divorce, I guess I’m living vicariously through you. The way he’s built, is he like that...everywhere?”
“Julie!” Kieran protested again as they stepped into an elevator with a half dozen other people.
Julie grinned and made a motion that indicated she was zipping her lips.
On the ground floor, they headed for the cafeteria. Kieran realized that she’d spent half of yesterday at Finnegan’s with a chef who worked wonders with every dish he created and she hadn’t eaten a thing. She’d been in such an emotional whirl that the thought hadn’t occurred to her.
It shouldn’t now, with danger seemingly everywhere, but it did.
A few minutes later—armed with eggs and toast and the largest cup of coffee available—she joined Julie in a booth. She nodded curiously at the three to-go cups of coffee sitting in the center of the table.
“I thought the guys might want coffee when we go back upstairs,” Julie said. “But right now I want to know everything. How did it happen? And when? Do your brothers know? Was it like a fantasy? Did he drive you home, then sweep you up the stairs? Or were you at his apartment?” Julie giggled. “It wasn’t on a table in the storeroom like in The Postman Always Rings Twice, that old movie we just watched on Netflix, was it?”
“Julie! I never said that I was sleeping with him,” Kieran protested.
“But you are—whether you said it or not. Now that we have an in with the FBI, maybe he can arrest Gary.”
“Julie, Gary has to do something that warrants an arrest,” Kieran said.
“He’s done plenty to warrant an arrest,” Julie said. “Think about my poor dogs.”
“And when he was abusing the dogs, you should have called the police,” Kieran said.
Julie waved a hand in the air. “They wouldn’t have done anything. They’d have told me to call animal control, and animal control might have tried to take Benji and Sally away from me. I couldn’t take that chance.”
“I’m afraid someone can’t be arrested just for being a jerk,” Kieran said.
Julie’s hands were wrapped around her coffee cup, as if for comfort, and she was staring down at the dark surface. “No,” she agreed softly, then looked up. “But, Kieran, I like him. I like your guy. He was so nice to me at the pub the other night.” She giggled. “A harem! Gary thinks Craig has all of us. That’s too funny. He’s actually jealous, even while he’s bringing his bleached blonde bimbo into our apartment and sleeping with her in my bed.”
“It is your bed. Get it back.”
Julie shook her head. “I don’t want it back. Ever. I’d always think of it as filthy.” She sighed. “Look at me. I’m a horrible person, teasing you and moaning about Gary when Bobby is still in the hospital.”
“I think Bobby is going to make it. I really do,” Kieran said. “Think we should get back up there? The guys probably prefer their coffee hot.”
Julie nodded, and they headed out.
*
Back upstairs, they discovered the hall had become a busy place in their absence. A new and different doctor was there and entered the room as they approached. The officer on duty was alert in his chair, and Declan and Danny were leaning against the wall, waiting for their chance to see Bobby. Inside the room, Craig and Mike had been joined by an older man who appeared to wear years of trial and weariness on his face, and the three of them were talking with Bobby, who was back in his bed.
“What a good sister,” Danny said, helping himself to one of the cups of coffee Kieran carried.
“Nice of you,” Declan said, taking one from Julie. “And one for Officer Hunt here. Thanks.”
Kieran looked at Julie, who shrugged.
“I’ll head back down for more,” Julie said. “You know, for the guys in the room who are actually working,” she added lightly, then headed back toward the elevator.
Declan turned to Kieran and said, “Bobby’s last scan came out really well. Lots of medical jargon that I didn’t understand, but the upshot is that he’s out of the danger zone. He’ll be moved to a different room this afternoon and kept another day or so, and then he can leave.”
Officer Hunt smiled at her. “I’m not surprised you’ve stayed with your friend. ‘Any decent person would lend a hand,’ right?”
Kieran smiled weakly. It wasn’t that it was a bad motto. She just hadn’t really wanted to be a creator of mottoes.
Or recognized so easily by strangers.
Especially men in hoodies.
Bobby, she reminded herself, had not been attacked by a man in a hoodie. But even Bobby seemed to believe that he’d been attacked by someone who’d been in Finnegan’s.
“We’re all still worried about him,” Danny explained. “Who knows whether this is over or not.”
Kieran felt a knot forming in her stomach. So much for the eggs. She met her brothers’ eyes. “You think someone was really after Bobby? That it wasn’t a random attack?” She spoke in a normal tone, seeing as Danny had already included the officer in their conversation.
“Who knows what happened?” Declan said.