Page 77 of Charlie
“What’s yer impression of Conor O’Brien?”
“He’s… ehhm, pretty intense.”
“In what way?”
I folded my hands into fists, afraid that she would tell them about the incident with the gun, but just as I was about to enter the room and hopefully distract her from saying it, she answered, “He makes the children study classes meant for college. He encourages them to speak with eloquence and refinement. They can’t use casual speech and they’re so damn smart that it’s frightening. He’s a great teacher, but I find him intense, that’s all.”
“Ah, okay. Thank ye.”
“Can I go now?”
“Yes, and will ye please send in the next person?”
I moved away from the door and touched Liv’s shoulder when she exited. “Was it bad?”
“No. It was fine. You wanna go for a walk?”
“Later. Right now, I have to check in on Conor and see if he’s okay. They asked him some tough questions.”
“Like what?”
“I can’t tell you.” I kissed her nose. “As a lawyer I can’t discuss that sort of thing.”
“Okay, but Charles…” She pulled at my collar and pulled me in face to face, speaking in a hushed tone. “I don’t like all these accusations. My father always said: where there’s smoke, there’s fire.”
I jerked my head back. “Trust me. It’s all a misunderstanding. I was in the room when they questioned Conor and I heard his explanation for all of it. If you’d been there, you would know it wasn’t Conor’s fault. He didn’t do anything wrong.”
Liv let go of my collar and there was disappointment on her face. “No one is perfect, Charles. Not me, not you, and not Conor. People aren’t always who they say they are.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“You didn’t tell me you were a Robertson until a few days ago. I’m sure you didn’t mean to lie to me and that you had your reasons. Maybe it’s the same with Conor. He’s only telling you what will serve his relationship with you. That’s normal human behavior. If he did any of the things that he’s accused of doing, he wouldn’t tell us about it, would he?”
My eyes darted around, not liking her intense stare. “No, probably not.”
“My point is that you can’t trust that you know everything about him.”
“Fine, but I know he’s a good guy who does amazing things for others.”
She sighed. “I’m going to get some fresh air while you go and check up on him. I’ll be down by the harbor.”
I hugged her tight. “Liv, I’m so sorry about all of this. It wasn’t like this before you came. Things were happy and amazing. It wasn’t supposed to be this way.”
She hugged me back. “As long as I’m with you, things are still amazing, if you ask me.”
CHAPTER 19
The Body
Liv
“Why is it that when it’s just me here, you can’t be bothered to spend two minutes with me, but the moment Liv arrives, yer like an annoyin’ fly buzzin’ around us all the feckin’ time.” Kit scowled at her brother Damian, who was stuffing his mouth with the cookies that I’d brought. “Stop eating all of them. Shouldn’t ye be smooching on a protein shake like ye always do?”
“Aye, but these are so good.”
“Honestly, Damian, ye’re like a child with no self-control. It’s embarrassin’.” She gave me an apologetic eye roll.
“I don’t mind him eating the cookies. I want to lose a few pounds anyway.”
