“Want to bet? I’m sure they’d find something to argue over,” Wyatt sighed. “The temperature in the room is too warm. Colleen’s mother doesn’t like what her ex-husband is wearing. His hair needs to be cut. You get the picture?”
Brand nodded.
“And he would be just as bad about her, finding things to criticize. That she’s being too negative about how Colleen is holding the baby or this or that.”
“I’ve met them,” Brand reminded him. “I know what you mean.”
“I don’t see how they stayed married as long as they did, or how they raised a daughter as sweet and kind as Colleen,” Wyatt said. “Individually, the two of them are wonderful, but get them together and it’s like you’ve ignited World War III.”
“Makes you want to move out of state, right?”
“Oh, I’ve thought about it, plenty of times, but we have the task force, and I can’t see breaking up a good thing just because those two can’t get along.” Wyatt stopped walking and looked him square in the eye. “And it isn’t like they don’t love one another. I believe they do. I think they get their jollies off arguing.”
Brand laughed. “Some people are like that, you know.”
“I do. And their names are Bob and Joan.”
“Have you ever talked to Hank about them?” Brand asked as they began walking again. “He’s a people person.”
Wyatt chuckled. “He told me there was no sane shrink in the profession that would touch their problem.”
“In other words, he wasn’t touching that mess,” Brand said.
“That’s what I figure,” Wyatt said as they turned the corner and still no sign of Adams. He placed his hands on his hips and frowned. “Where can that guy be?”
“Don’t know,” Brand replied. “Have you informed Hank about Christopher’s arrival?”
“Yea, Colleen and I had a video conference with him and Sadie and the kids on Sunday afternoon. Emma was delighted to meet her ‘wee one’ as she calls him. Although she kept asking about Ruby. She’s still crazy about my dog.”
“Ruby is just fine,” Brand said. “I’ve been taking her out for morning walks and afternoon jogs and she’s been curled up with Carly by the fire when I get home in the evenings.”
“Don’t spoil her,” Wyatt pleaded. “It sounds like she’ll be wanting to live with you from now on with a crying child in the condo.”
“She’d defect back to your place as soon as we have our own in a few months. And look there. There’s our boy.”
Monte Adams rounded the corner, and seeing them halted, surprise widening his eyes. They went to stand in front of him and Brand watched the man’s hands fist at his side.
“I thought hockey practice was over for you guys after the exhibition game last weekend,” Monte said.
“It had to be canceled,” Brand said. “We didn’t get to play, or hadn’t you heard?”
“No. I hadn’t,” Monte said, his surprise turning to concern. “What happened?”
“One of our players got hurt before the game during warm up,” Wyatt said. “So you weren’t on duty that night?”
“It was my weekend off believe it or not,” Monte said. “A big match up like that and it was my night off. I couldn’t believe I was going to miss seeing you guys go at it after I had been watching you practice for weeks. Looks like I didn’t miss anything after all. I hope whoever got hurt is okay. Will they reschedule, do you think?”
“We haven’t heard if they’ll get it back on the books or not, but since it was a fundraiser, I’m sure they’ll do everything they can to make it happen without having to refund the tickets,” Brand said.
“That would be a bummer all around if they had to do that,” Monte agreed, glancing at his watch. “I better get to my rounds. Great seeing you again.”
“Hold up a minute, if you have the time,” Wyatt said. “We won’t keep you long.”
“Just a few,” Monte replied. “I can’t afford my supervisor catching me slacking off.”
“I know you said you were off, but the player that was injured, he didn’t make it,” Wyatt said. “It was Reilly Flynn; given your past history with him, we thought you should know.”
Monte’s eyes widened again, and Brand saw a very real fear there. “Reilly? Man, that sucks.” He shook his head, looking down at the polished corridor tiles, his feet shuffling restlessly. “I mean, there was no love lost between us since he helped IA build their case against me and got me booted from the policeforce, but I can’t imagine what kind of injury he would have that would kill him. What the hell happened?”
