The man raised his head at my approach. “Miss Wells. I’m afraid the chief constable is currently in a meeting and has another directly after. He might not have time to speak with you.”
“Oh, that’s a shame.”
It wasn’t. I’d checked his diary before I came. I’d also checked the diary of Lyle, the guy I’d been dating who worked for him. Also in back-to-back appointments. It had been part of the draw of coming in today.
“I’m just returning a file I was working on,” I said.
“Need me to take that for you?”
I tapped my lip, considering how to get what I wanted from the PA. I didn’t know him all that well so hadn’t learned what buttons to push or how much my father had him under his thumb. He appeared punctual and efficient, so I took that path of pride in his work.
“Actually, there’s something else you can help me with. I’m sure my dad will be happy you lent a hand.”
I’d never called him ‘dad’ in my life. This was a reach.
“Lovelyn.”
I spun around at the voice. My father approached, his gaze leaving me to leap to his PA. “Catch.” He tossed him a folder.
The PA caught it with a short laugh that was part embarrassment. “The man himself. You don’t need me after all.” He sounded relieved.
Damn. It would’ve been easier to get what I needed without my father here, but never mind. I’d wanted to test the waters after the jailbreak I’d pulled, so I’d take the side benefit. I faked a thin smile and followed him into his office.
“Julian.”
“What do you need?” He opened a cabinet and rooted inside.
There was a kind of comfort in how he flicked his gaze over me in his typical fast and dismissive way, same as he’d done ever since he’d discovered I’d existed half a dozen years ago. Having a kid was a burden he didn’t want. To his credit, he hadn’t immediately ditched me, but we weren’t the chat-over-dinner kind of family. He’d supported me at university, gifted me a police driving course, and then gave me access to the data I’d craved in the job I’d carved out for myself. Part-time intelligence analyst and part-time dealer in information to Deadwater’s underworld. One paid a lot better than the other.
If my father knew, he didn’t care. I’d long suspected he had unsavoury elements in his past that awarded Arran Daniels leverage over him, or that made him willing to overlook certain gang activities when it suited him. I thought of him as being an artful dodger. Not interested in hard work and ready to take a backhander. I’d seen him do it many times.
An excuse was ready at my lips. “It’s bugging me that the bodies found on theEdenhaven’t been announced to the press. Why?”
I’d waited for it for days. Nothing had happened.
My father raised a shoulder, his suit jacket a little askew. “Political.”
“How?”
His scowl deepened. “Why are you interested? It’s nothing to do with you.”
“Are you kidding? It’s the most fascinating thing to happen in Deadwater in years. The Marchant business stalling and the family in disarray. The ship sinking.”
He didn’t need to know I was friends with Mila or deeply involved in the mysteries circling her family.
I took a risk. “Besides, I need the distraction.”
He lifted his focus, narrowed his eyes, then checked the date on his screen. A wince of recognition followed. He was hungover. I could see it now in his reddened eyes. All of which worked in my favour as he wouldn’t want to accidentally talk emotions with me.
“Yeah, yeah. All right. Sounds like you don’t have enough work to do. Here. Use up your energy on this.”
He unzipped his leather case and pulled out a sheaf of papers then a data stick. My father was old school and either scribbled out his case reports or voice recorded them for me to write up.
I accepted them with a smile that was cautious but genuine. It was a tiny amount of trust given from a man who hadnever cared much about me. Despite the complete lack of a relationship in every other way, and even though my mother had done all she could for the opposite to be the case, I couldn’t help the glimmer of happiness at that connection.
Julian didn’t love me, a fact that didn’t trouble me. I didn’t have any deep feelings for him either. Sad, but maybe inevitable. He didn’t need to care. He just had to be there.
If he wasn’t, I was even more alone.
