Page 28 of Only You

“Hey.”

She did not encourage talk, but since he was the nephew of the deputy police commissioner, she’d always played nice after their breakup. Or as nice as she could with a sociopath.

“Closing up early?”

It was after seven on a Sunday. Both she and Eddie had worked until almost dawn, then put in a full eight hours. This butthead was annoying, and she wanted to punch him.

Eileen, don’t hit the deputy’s nephew, no matter how much he deserves it.

“Yeah, you could say that.” Eddie was the one who answered him. Eddie was one of those guys who was nice to everyone. Not just to Bryan.

She shut down her computer, then grabbed her purse and gun. “We’re beat after last night and this morning. Techs are working on stuff for us, but we won’t see anything until tomorrow. Have a good night.”

She joined Eddie, feeling the heat of Bryan’s stare as they left him there.

“Listen, I get that you were young when you first dated him.”

“Yeah, stupid. Thought he would be like the rest of my police family.”

“You are going to have to tell him to bugger off.”

She laughed. Eddie’s wife spent part of her childhood in England, and sometimes, he would slip into their idioms.

“Watching some BBC lately?”

“Yeah. We’re gonna have to take a trip back there soon. Marguerite’s been missing it.”

She could get that. She’d miss Baltimore if she moved away. Lots of people would question her sanity, but it was home.

“I’m just saying, you’ll have to kick that weirdo puppy to the curb.”

“Don’t say that.”

“Heisweird.”

“No, don’t equate him to a puppy.”

He snorted, then grew serious. “I think that he has a fixation on you.”

She stopped by her car. Eddie was parked next to her. “It isn’t romantic or even just sexual. He’s still pissed I made detective before him.”

“Asshole.”

“Exactly. Kiss that baby for me.”

“I will.”

She slipped into her car. When she reached the exit, she almost turned towards Fitzpatrick’s before remembering it was closed. The thought of fast food nauseated her, so peanut butter it was. As she drove, she tried to push the idea of the case away, of the similarities to the cold case. Could it be that someone was trying to emulate the original murder? Or was it a coincidence?

She shook her head. Coincidences take too much planning, and this one looked like it. Good girl left in an alley, stabbed, stripped…left next to the trash. Was the original assessment wrong? Was the woman killed in ’87 younger than they’d initially thought?

Those thoughts rolled around in her head until she pulled into her driveway. That’s why she didn’t see him until she grabbed her purse and gun. He was sitting on her stoop with a container beside him. Eileen blinked, trying to figure out if she was imagining her favorite chef sitting there. Nope. He was there.

Slipping out of her car, she took her time walking toward him.

“Whatcha doing here, Declan?”

He cocked his head. “A little bird told me you were on your way home. I thought you could do with something good to eat.”

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