6. Declan
Chapter 6
Declan
H ooplas is packed tonight and it’s barely nine o’clock. That’s a good thing. Everyone seems to be having a great time eating, drinking, playing darts or pool, and listening to great country music. Steph is at the bar serving up drinks one right after the other and I see Hudson and his girl, Kate, helping out as needed.
Trevor and I have played two games of pool – each winning one game. The next one is the tie breaker, and a great steak dinner is on the line. I can’t lose. Trevor’s a surgeon and I’m just a cop. He makes way more money than me and if he’s buying, I’m getting the biggest Wagyu steak I can find.
“Rack ‘em, dude,” I call out to him as he brings over a plate of nachos and two sodas. He’s got to work in the morning, so neither of us is drinking.
The music is loud, but I’m okay with that since it’s country music – my favorite.
“Yo, Declan!” I hear my name called but I can’t seem to figure out who’s calling me as I scan across the entire crowded restaurant and bar.
“Yo. Over here.” Someone from the front of the bar area is waving at me.
I wave back even though I don’t know who it is.
“No, man. You’ve got a phone call,” the guy says as he motions a telephone with his hand.
I look over at Trevor as he’s laughing at me. “You had no idea who that was, yet you were waving at him. Classic.”
“Hey. It’s called customer service.” I fire back at him as I go over to the bar. “Hey Steph. What’s up?”
“Phone call. It’s Jax,” she says as she’s pouring a beer from the tap trying to keep the amount of foam to a minimum.
“Why’s he calling me here and not on my phone?”
“You can ask him when you pick up the call,” she smarts back to me.
“Hey man. What’s up?” I answer the bar phone.
“Dude. You need to answer your cellphone. I’ve been calling and texting you.” Jax answers in reply.
“What’s wrong?” I can instantly tell that there is something very wrong in the tone of his voice. He’s got the ‘cop’ tone. We’ve been friends forever and have worked together on the police force for years. We know when it’s time to goof off and when it’s not. Now is not the time for goofing off – I just don’t know why.
I grab my cell from my back pocket and see that he’s right. He’s called me twice and sent me multiple text messages. The last one grabs my attention.
Jax: Ashford’s house. Now!
“You need to get to the Ashford house. As soon as you can. It’s Riley,” Jax says into my ear.
I don’t even ask why. My instincts tell me to go, so I do. “On my way.” I hang up the phone and see Trevor standing at the bar.
“Everything okay?”
“I don’t know but I have to cut the night short. Something’s happened.”
He pulls his keys out of his front jeans pocket. “I’ll follow you.”
We leave Hooplas in separate vehicles and make it to Riley’s parent’s house by breaking a few too many traffic laws. There are cop cars lined up along the street and a crime van is parked in the driveway. "What the fuck?” I ask myself as I throw my pickup truck into park, grab my badge and gun from the console, and climb out in search of either Riley or my partner Jax. Jax is the first one I find.
“Declan. Over here,” Jax calls out to me as I approach the driveway.
“What happened? Where’s Riley?” Her safety is my first concern, I know her parents aren’t here. She told me last night that they were leaving today for vacation.
“She’s in the house talking to Detectives Kowalski and Smith.”
“What happened?” I ask again knowing that at least Riley is safe.
“Riley came home to find this.” Jax leads me to the inside of the front door and in what looks like blood are the words ‘He’s mine and I want him’.
“Kids?” I ask but my gut is telling me this is anything but a prank.
“Don’t think so. Too specific.”
“Who is this message for? Riley or her parents? And who’s the message about? Her father?”
“Not sure, but when Riley saw it, she called 911 and here we are. Dude, you’ve got to turn your phone on.”
“I had it in my back pocket at Hooplas. It was loud.”
Jax just nods as I take in my surroundings. There is beach stuff all over the couch in the living room and the message on the door is glaring.
“Isn’t this the Ashford house? Everyone okay?” Trevor asks as he and Jax shake hands.
“Yeah. Except for this.” Jax motions towards the door.
“Fuck. What’s that all about?”
“Don’t know. Declan, why don’t you go check on Riley while I finish my report? Her parents are out of town, and I thought she could use a friendly face.”
I walk deeper into the house and see that nothing has changed since the last time I was in this house five years ago for my best friend’s funeral. Even the placement of the furniture is the same as five years ago.
I find Riley sitting at the dining room table talking to the detectives. She’s as white as a ghost as she nods to whatever they’re telling her. Riley looks terrified and immediately I go over to her and take her hand. Her fingers curl into mine as naturally as if we’ve been doing it for years.
“Officer Hayes,” Detective Smith acknowledges me, but I ignore him. Not that he’s not a good guy or detective, but because my entire focus is on Riley and what she needs.
“You okay?” I kneel down and ask her.
She nods. “Does the whole town know already?” The sarcasm in her voice is evident. She’s done with all of these people flowing in and out of her house and with the stress of all of this, just like she was the day of River’s funeral.
Detective Kowalski stands up. “You really shouldn’t stay here tonight. Do you have some place to go?”
I don’t know what I was thinking – actually, I wasn’t, but I answer for her. “She does. With me.”
Riley starts to shake her head when a little voice comes from the opposite corner of the room. “Mommy?”
She immediately lets go of my hand and runs over to the little boy in footy pajamas rubbing his eyes.
“Shh, baby. It’s okay. These are Mommy’s friends.”
Mommy? She’s a mommy? Where the fuck is her husband when this is all going on?
I watch as she picks up the little boy and he wraps his arms and legs around her body and lays his head on her shoulder. “I had a bad dream.”
“Shh. It’s okay. I’ve got you. Nothing’s going to happen to you.” She rocks the little boy as he snuggles up against her.
I turn to Kowalski, “Are they alone here?”
She nods.
“Then they’re staying with me.”
She nods again. “Good. I’m not sure what this is, but I am sure I don’t have the entire story. I’m not too comfortable leaving them alone in this house tonight.”
“Don’t worry. They’re both coming home with me.”
Once the detectives and crime scene personnel finish doing their thing, I go looking for Riley and find her in River’s old room. It now looks like a little boy’s room and the memories come flooding back of so many times that I played as a child in this exact room with River. But now, there is another little boy and his mother in here – and they both look scared to death.
“Everyone is leaving. Why don’t you pack a few things for the both of you so we can get out of here, too?”
Riley’s looking down at her son who is awake but is lying with his head on her lap as she sits on his bed. She’s stroking her son’s hair with one hand and rubbing circles on his back. His eyes are heavy even though he is fighting to stay awake.
“I don’t want to put you out Declan, but thank you for the offer.”
“You both staying here is not an option. Either you come stay with me or we go to a hotel. Which is it?” I’m angry that she’s having to go through all of this and that I wasn’t her first phone call. I’m also mad that I didn’t know she had a kid, and where the fuck is the father or husband? All of this is evident in the tone of my voice, so I try to soften it up a bit. She doesn’t need my attitude right now. “Unless you really want to stay here, then I can sleep on the couch. Whatever you want to do.”
Riley’s quiet for a few minutes as she’s thinking about her options when the little boy sits up in her lap.
“Mommy, are you okay? You look scared. Like I was that one time those monsters came to the door on Halloween. Are you scared Mommy?”
I watch Riley stroke his hair out of his face, “Yes. Mommy is scared.”
The little boy kneels up and wraps his arms around her neck, “Don’t be scared Mommy. I’ll protect you from the monsters.”
Riley pulls him into her arms and looks up at me with tears in her eyes. “Can we stay with you?”
I answer immediately in case she changes her mind. “Of course. Let’s get your stuff and get out of here. It’s getting late.” Hell, it’s only ten o’clock, but that’s too late for a little boy to be up. Right?
She pulls her son away from her so she can look him in the eyes. “Nicholas, this is Mommy’s really good friend, Declan. He was also best friends with Uncle River. Can you introduce yourself to him?”
He looks up at me as if he’s deciding if I’m worthy or not and suddenly I want to pass this test with everything I’ve got, so I make the first move and hold out my hand to shake. Nicholas climbs off of Riley and stands in front of me.
“Hi. My name is Declan.”
“Hi. I’m Nickels.” He shakes my hand, and his little fingers get lost in the largeness of my own.
Immediately, I pick up that he can’t pronounce his name correctly, but I’m not dumb enough to try to correct him. It’s his name – he can pronounce it however he wants to.
“It’s nice to meet you, Nickels. How about you grab a few of your favorite toys and we’ll go to my house. Make sure to pack a bathing suit. I’ve got a pool.”
His eyes light up, “You’ve got your very own pool?”
“Yep. And a dog named Bella.”
He whips around to his mother, “Mommy, did you hear that?”
She nods with a small smile, “I did. You better hurry up.”
“I need my cape!” He says as he grabs a red piece of cloth off the floor and wraps it around his neck.
Riley gets up off the bed and I follow her out of the room as Nicholas is trying to decide which truck should go on this adventure with him.
“Where’s your husband?” I ask her as we go into her childhood room. Man, the memories are everywhere.
“No husband.” She pulls out a duffel bag from the closet and pulls out a few things and throws them into the bag.
“Where’s his father?”
At my question, I see Riley’s shoulders slouch as if she’s given up. That’s when I see her shoulders move and her hands drop the bag as she tries to cover up her crying – unsuccessfully. I grab her shoulders and turn her around and pull her into my arms. The last time I held her, she was crying as well.
We stand there quietly for a few moments. Well, we’re quiet but Nicholas is in the other room chattering away about this and that. It’s adorable, but right now is not the time to acknowledge that.
Riley pulls away and tries to wipe away the tears from her face. “No father, either.”
“I took biology in high school and college. I’m pretty sure there’s a father in the mix.”
She smiles at my joke, “His father was Nicholas Masterson.”
Hearing the name sparks immediate recognition. He was in River’s squad and was one of the men that died with River. “Oh shit. I’m so sorry, Riley.”
She tries to busy herself with packing her bag, “Yeah, well. It was one night and then he was gone.”
“Fuck, Riley. I’m so sorry.”
She stops in her tracks and looks directly at me. “I’m not sorry. He gave me Nicholas, which is the greatest thing that has ever happened to me. I just wish he could have met his son.” She starts packing again. “I wish River could have met his nephew, too.”
“Mommy, I’m done.” Nickels bursts into her room announcing himself. He’s got a suitcase filled with toys sticking out.
“Did you pack any clothes?” She laughs at him.
He looks at her as if that was the dumbest question she could have ever asked him. “Duh. I’ve got my bathing suit.” He rushes out of the room and down the hall towards his bedroom dragging his suitcase of toys.
She laughs, “I better go grab him a few other things to wear. Give me a few minutes and we’ll be ready to go.”
“I’ll go watch him,” I tell her just as we hear a crash.
“Thanks.” She holds my stare a bit longer than I’m expecting. “For everything.” Then I watch her walk out of her room and I’m standing here with all of this information flowing through my head. Riley’s home. Really home. She’s a mom. And someone is fucking with her.
I made a promise to my dead best friend that I would take care of her, and I plan to keep that promise until my dying day. And now that includes her son, his nephew, as well. She and her son, Nicholas, are safe with me.
‘ I’ve got them, River ,’ I say to his ghost.