Page 64 of Six of Hearts
When I worked the late shift, I was supposed to research any cases I had open, listen for any huge emergencies, and most boring of all, get caught up on paperwork. I’d much rather be with Caleb or Aria. I had better things (and people) I could be doing.
My phone rang in my pocket and I sighed, feeling like I might get a modicum of entertainment during my shift, and pulled it out. I noticed that it was Ronan, and became immediately suspicious. Why would he be calling me so late?
“Hello?” I answered.
“Hey,” Ronan greeted, “I’ve got bad news.” His voice was shaky and low; he sounded like he was panicking.
“Okay?” I responded. “What’s wrong?”
Ronan was always a bit of a wild card. Unbeknownst to any of the other guys in the group, Ronan and I had a floss-thin thread tying us together. One day, not long after Noah conceptualised putting together a club, of sorts, for he, Ethan, Julian, and I to bond together as single fathers, the captain of my department showed up with Ronan in tow. He brought him to me and introduced us, telling us that we had being single parents in common, and he was hoping I could look after Ronan as a personal favour to him.
It seemed very odd to me, and despite the fact that everyone assumed I was your run-of-the-mill meathead, I was quite observant and intelligent.
My boss wouldn’t delineate any additional information about Ronan to me, not even tell me where he was from.
Ronan had only personally told us that he was from the Midwest and had lived in the South as well.
We knew nothing of his recent past and only got details about his childhood when really pressed, and even those details were vague.
He’d mentioned in passing that Finn’s mother was no longer in the picture, but never if it was a divorce, or separation, or one-night-stand gone wrong. We knew very little about him.
“Can you come to my place? I have the other guys on the way over, apart from Noah who is going to watch the kids,” Ronan explained.
“You know how you always thought there was something I wasn’t telling you? You were right.”
“I fucking knew it!” I barked, and the other few cops hanging around the squad room stopped what they were doing and looked at me.
“What is it?” I asked, quieter.
“I’ll explain everything when you get here. It’s an emergency, so please find any excuse you can think of and come now.” The resonance in Ronan’s voice was frightening.
“We may have lost Aria.”
My heart thudded. What the hell did that mean? What happened to Aria?
“I’m on my way.” If it was about Aria, there wasn’t a moment to waste. I hung up my phone and looked over at my captain attempting to slurp a cup of coffee for energy, but mostly failingand dozing off. I grabbed my phone, keys, and wallet and approached him.
“Captain.”
He sat up, snorted, and rubbed his eyes. “Stone. What’s up?”
I decided to roll the dice and play on the odd circumstance with Ronan and the fact that my captain knew more than he let me know. “You remember Ronan.”
He sat up a little straighter.
“Yes. How are you two getting on?”
“Great. We’re pretty close these days; one of the five guys I hang out with, and we all support each other as single fathers,” I explained.
The captain sat back a little bit. “Oh, good. So everything’s okay?”
I tilted my head.
“Well, he just called me and told me that he’s pretty sick and needs someone to take care of his kid. None of the other guys are available because it’s so late, and he’s hoping I can go and help out.” I raised an eyebrow.
“He’s never been sick since we met. I don’t really know much about him at all still, do you?”
The captain was quiet for a really long time, and then he looked up at me. “If he’s sick and his kid needs you, you should go help.” He waved his hand off, not answering the latter of my questions.
