Chapter 5
Five
E ileen watched Sandy Howard as she absorbed the pain of the news. Again, it would probably be one of the worst days of her life. The African American woman had kind eyes, and Eileen remembered her wide smile last night. Every time she saw the woman, she had been smiling.
Some days, being a cop sucked.
“I’m sorry,” Sandy said as she wiped away her tears.
“No problem,” Eddie said in that soothing voice of his. He was much better at working with the criers than she was. She detested crying herself, so she knew it showed on her face. That’s why she and Eddie were a good team. She kept them on track while he comforted the witnesses.
“Did she ever talk about her ex?” Eileen asked, trying her best to keep her voice gentle.
“Yeah. She’d had to move out of Richmond because of that asshole. She blocked his phone number, but she knew he was looking for her.”
“He didn’t know about her move to Baltimore?”
She shook her head. “I guess not at first. But she told me he found out about it through some mutuals. Some guy she worked with had been here to visit friends, and they came into Fitzpatrick’s. She thought maybe he’d told him.”
“Did she ever tell you his name?”
“Yeah. Bradley…no Brantley Brown.” She rolled her hazel eyes. “I never met the guy, but he sounded like a real creep.”
Eileen had to agree with her. And that is the second time the guy’s name came up. They were definitely tracking that jerk down.
“But she was happy more recently, or at least she had started getting out there and dating. I encouraged her.”
“Yeah? Did she have a steady guy?”
Sandy nodded. “I never met him, but she said he was a good guy. Had a steady job, which I think was a problem with the last guy. She said that he was an upstanding citizen.”
Abusers often had issues with employment because of their aggression and temper. Not all, but a lot of them did, and Irene seemed to be an intelligent woman with a steady employment history. Another reason for an abuser like Brantley to get abusive—at least in his mind.
“Did she tell you his name?”
The other woman shook her head. “She did make a comment about bees. I don’t know what she meant.”
“If you think of anything, please call. Anything at all, even something small,” Eddie said. “We’ll let you get back to work.”
“Oh, we’re closing for the day.”
Eileen blinked. “Declan closed for the day?”
Sandy nodded and sniffed into her tissue. “He has everyone hanging out so you can talk to them, but he said there was a death in the family, so we would close down today and tomorrow.”
After she left them, Eddie whistled. “Your Declan definitely has his priorities straight. Tomorrow is no big deal, but closing today will lose him some money.”
Eileen ignored the ‘your’ comment. “And last night for his parents’ anniversary.”
“So, we got this Brantley guy showing up twice in the investigation. We definitely need to track that asshole down.”
“Yeah.”
There was a knock on the door before it opened. Declan nodded at them.
“I assume you need to talk to the rest of the staff. Do you want me to send them in, one by one?”
“That would be great. Thanks, Declan.”
He nodded and slipped out the door.
She stared at the spot where he’d stood, then shook herself. Eileen definitely needed some sleep.
When she looked at Eddie, he was smirking at her. Her face heated. God, she hated her fair skin. People could always tell when she was blushing.
“What?”
“You two ever going to go on a date?”
“Stop. You know I don’t date much.”
“Yeah. Maybe there’s a reason for that. I mean, he is your Declan.”
“I never said that. You said that.”
“Guy watches everything you do.”
She sighed. “He doesn’t. And don’t make him sound like a stalker. He’s not.”
The stalker would more likely be her. She was the one who came into the bar more often than not. And yes, it was because she loved his Shepherd’s pie and also to see him. God, she was pathetic.
“Uh, Boss said you need to talk to us?”
Eileen glanced over and found a young Asian man with dark brown eyes dressed in white. One of the kitchen workers.
“Come on in,” Eddie said with a smile.
She didn’t have time to think about Declan or anything else. She had a murder to solve, and Eileen had a bad feeling about this one.
By the time Eileen and her partner finished their interviews, it was close to noon. Declan waited for them in the dining room.
Charlie came out, his expression telling Declan that he was gutted. They all were. Irene had been an odd manager, where almost everyone loved her, and it had nothing to do with her being a lax boss. She expected one hundred percent from everyone, but it was because she gave one hundred and ten percent. They respected her.
“You’re working Tuesday, right?”
Charlie nodded.
“Don’t worry. You will get your hourly rate for the two days.”
“I’m not worried about that. Okay, yeah, that would be hard to lose, but it’s just…Irene was the sweetest person I knew. Hard to think someone killed her.”
Declan nodded. Everyone had said basically the same thing. “Get on home and be careful out there. See you Tuesday.”
He locked the door behind Charlie just as Eileen and Francisco walked out from the back of the restaurant.
“I have a list of other employees if you want to talk to them. Most of them worked last night.”
“Hey, why don’t you text that to Detective O’Reilly?” her partner suggested.
Declan looked at Eileen. “I don’t have the detective’s number.”
He had wanted to ask for it about a thousand times but had realized it just was never the right time.
“Oh,” Francisco said. “No problem.”
Then he rattled off the number.
“Okay. I’ll get that to you as soon as I can.”
“Thanks,” Eileen said, her husky voice slinking down his spine. The woman got to him no matter what she did. Whether she was in one of her suits or that slinky dress. Declan could say that he would want her no matter how she was dressed.
“If you think of anything else, let us know,” she said, heading to the door.
“I will.”
“Thanks again, Declan. Sorry about Irene.”
He nodded. Here, he was fantasizing about Eileen, and poor Irene had been killed.
After they left, he locked up and looked around the area. Thankfully, they served mainly cooked-to-order meals for brunch, so he would just take the cakes to the station house where his brothers worked. It took him about an hour to get everything taken care of and get to their station house. Both Emmett and Connal were working today.
“Hey, what are you doing here?” Emmett asked, and then his gaze landed on the box. “Cakes?”
Declan nodded. “Had to close up for today and tomorrow.”
He set the box on the table in the break room. Declan might not have ever worked for the department, but his father and countless other relatives had actually worked in this station house. He knew it well and always felt nostalgic when he stopped by.
“Oh, are those cakes?” BeeBee said as she stepped into the break room. Emmett’s best friend since about the age of five, BeeBee, real name Beatrice but she refused to acknowledge that name, Walters had spent most of her childhood at their house. At five foot seven, she was all leg and always moving. Blonde hair and brown eyes, she looked like the girl next door, which, for the Fitzpatricks, was true.
“Yeah,” Emmett said. “Declan closed up for today. Why?”
He sighed and took a seat. “Irene’s dead.”
They all stopped what they were doing and looked at him.
“Dead?” Connal said. “How? Was she in a wreck?”
Declan shook his head. “She was murdered last night.”
“Oh, damn,” BeeBee said as she sat down beside him. “Do they know who did it? Was it that ex?”
“You knew about that?”
She shrugged. “I heard her and Sandy talking about the guy a week ago. Sounded like a complete jerk.”
“You think all men are jerks,” Emmett said.
“No. Most men are jerks, but this wasn’t just being a jerk. I heard her say that the restraining order from Virginia wasn’t valid here or something like that. So, no, not like guys I have dated, idiot.”
Before they could start fighting as they always did, he said, “I’ll let Eileen know.”
Three sets of eyes settled on him, and there was a long beat of silence.
“What?”
“Why would you let Eileen know?” Connal asked.
“It’s her case. That’s why she was called away yesterday.”
Connal and Emmett shared a look, and BeeBee looked anywhere but at him.
“What now?”
Emmett sighed and looked at Connal. “You should talk to him about his obsession with the detective.”
“I don’t have an obsession. Also, I don’t like being talked about like I’m not here.”
“He’ll never accept that he is obsessed,” Connal said, ignoring his comment. His brothers were jerks.
“That’s because I’m not.”
All three of them just stared at him. BeeBee let one eyebrow rise.
“I’m not. Anyone would find her attractive.”
“True, but on the nights she’s working, you keep your eye on the door,” Connal said.
“I don’t know when she’s working.”
Not really. There is a rhythm to her appearances at his restaurant. If more than three days passed without an appearance, he would often start to worry. That’s all. Just…he needed to see her.
Oh, damn. He might be obsessed.
“See, this is what happens when you get hung up on someone,” Emmett said. “You start to obsess about when they will show up and you even change plans in case this person might want to spend time with you. It’s a sad sight.”
“What would you know about that?” BeeBee asked, irritation threading her voice.
“What?” Emmett asked, utterly oblivious to BeeBee’s moods, especially lately.
“Whatever,” she said, without really answering his brother. She looked at Declan. “Ask her out. She likes you. You like her.”
He rolled his shoulders about to ask her how to do that when she said, “Take her something to eat. You’re good at that. And believe me, women could always do with a home cooked meal, especially when she has the kind of schedule she does.”
“And what would you know about that?”
Emmett apparently wanted to be verbally beaten to a pulp.
“Why do you think I dated Patrick?”
Yeah, that had been fun. Patrick had been his sous chef before returning to the West Coast broken-hearted over his breakup with BeeBee.
“Because he cooked for you?” His brother sounded incredulous.
“That and he had very talented hands and, man…that tongue.”
“Please, not in front of me,” Declan said.
She smirked at him. “Take her food.”
Then she rose out of her chair and left them, but Emmett…he was irritated. “You know she said that just to get me mad.”
“Why would you get mad, Em?” Connal asked.
“I…” then his mouth snapped shut. “Whatever.”
Then, he left Connal and Declan alone.
“Do you think he will ever get his head out of his ass?” Connal asked.
“Maybe?”
They all knew BeeBee and Em were half in love with each other, but neither of them would act on it. He got it. They’d been friends for twenty years, so he understood why his brother didn’t want to make a mistake with her.
“That doesn’t sound like you’re convinced.”
He glanced at his brother. Connal was studying him in that way he had. He was the quiet brother who took time to notice things around him. Declan didn’t like it one bit.
“What?”
“So, Eileen is the detective on the case?”
He nodded. If Connal was going to ask for her contact information, Declan would refuse and then punch him.
“When are you going to get your head out of your ass?”
The fact that he asked the same question about Emmett was not lost on Declan. He could pretend he didn’t know what his brother was talking about. But Declan knew that was a stupid move.
“I’ve tried asking her out several times.”
Connal frowned. “She turned you down?”
He shook his head. “I said I tried to ask her out. Didn’t do it.”
There was a beat of silence between them, filling the air as he listened to the other firemen move around the house. It was never quiet when you had a bunch of men and women who made their living by fighting fire.
“You’re afraid to ask her out.”
He sighed. “Not really, I just think it needs to be right. I know she has men hitting on her all the time.”
He’d watched it in his bar. Since Fitzpatrick’s was known more as a fireman bar, they didn’t get a lot of cops. She was one of the few who was a regular, and men always tried to ask her out. Even some of the firemen he had known for years had a thing for her. The male badge bunnies were the worst. It was like the women who showed up at the bar looking for a night with a fireman. The job attracted them.
“Do what BeeBee told you to do.”
He blinked, pulling himself back into the present. “What?”
“BeeBee said to take her food. That woman loves to eat. And I have a feeling none of those guys who hit on her do anything just for her.”
“When did you get so wise?”
“I’m not. I’m just listening to a woman, which you should do. I bet both Wendy and Kaitlin would say the same thing. Also, I won’t run to Ma about it, so I saved you that.”
True. Wendy and his sister tended to tell their mother everything. “Okay. Well, I’m going to go now.”
He knew exactly what to take her, and he had a few friends in her precinct who could tell him when she was on her way home.