Page 7 of Only You

“It’s more of a family thing, Bryan,” Eileen said.

“Oh, okay. See ya later.”

Once he was out of earshot, Rowan said, “What an asshole.”

“You don’t know him.”

Although, she didn’t know why she was getting defensive. She didn’t like Bryan. Worse, she didn’t trust him. He wasn’t a bad guy, but he definitely had a chip on his shoulder and wanted more than anything to be in homicide. He would take anyone out if he thought it would get him a spot.

“Your brother thinks he’s an asshole, so I do too. Also, who says that to an ex? Asshole. And weird. Really weird.”

“I thought you didn’t have much to do with him,” her brother said.

She sighed. “Hard to avoid all the time since we’re in the same precinct.” She felt like a broken record. Both her brothers asked the question a lot. “Besides, don’t you have to be somewhere?”

“Yeah. Have fun tonight, half-pint.”

“Shut it.”

He laughed, and her heart danced. As much as her brothers irritated her, she loved them twice as much. Even when they called her by her dreaded nickname.

“I’ll pick you up at your place. What’s the dress code?”

“Suit, and I’ll drive.”

He made a face. “Suit? Really?”

“Hey, you want to be seen with me, you will wear dress pants and not jeans.”

“Fine. C’ya, cuz.”

Once they finally left her alone, she got back into her paperwork. She was still adjusting to life without her first partner as a detective. He deserved his retirement.

It didn’t take long for her to finish the paperwork and start digging into the cold case of Norma Wilson.

Norma Wilson had been her mother’s teacher, not too many years older than her, and had been murdered. Her body had been left in an alley, and it had taken Baltimore PD a few days to figure out who she was. In 1987, the authorities didn’t have the type of technology they now have.

So young, blond, pretty…but the scene had left little to the imagination. Stripped of every possession, even her clothes, she had been left off Fleet Street. Eileen had promised her mother she would look into the case, but there had been little to look into. There was some DNA, but once they could enter it in the system, nothing popped.

Still, she wanted to be honest with her mother. Looking into the case and maybe talking it over with a few cops. And truthfully, Eileen knew the case already. When she had joined the academy, she had talked about it all the time. But it had been years since she had really looked into it again. So, hopefully, all of her training and experience would help.

The one thing that always stood out to her was the knife in the woman’s chest. It was custom-made. Expensive. Hard to believe that they couldn’t seem to figure out where it had come from. With her remaining time, she decided to search for any references to a knife like the one used, and maybe she could find out where it was sold.

Her doorbell rang righton time. Of course, Rowan had driven her crazy with multiple texts about what he should wear. Then came the pictures. She didn’t care what tie he wore, but apparently, he did. He was military, which meant if you weren’t early, you were late. At least, that’s what he’d said to her earlier.

She opened the door and smiled at her cousin.

“You do clean up nice, Rowan.”

And he did. Unlike her side of the family, Rowan had light hair and dark eyes. He looked like his mother, while his sister looked like her father, like the other O’Reillys.

“I could say the same thing about you. Showing a lot of leg. And those heels…who are you trying to impress?”

“First,” she said, turning away to grab her wrap and purse. “I dress for myself. Second, you sound like a sexist jerk who thinks the only thing women think about are men.”

“I don’t think that,” he said, frowning at her as she set her alarm and locked her door.

“You don’t?”

---