Once the call ended, Francis sat on the couch and rubbed his face. That had scared him to death for a moment.
He was just about to text Kaos—and smiled at the thought of Mairead calling him Padraig’s “boy”—when she sent him the number. For the next five minutes, he talked with a nurse who Mairead had luckily told about him. The nurse seemed nice, very professional but also understanding, and told him the same thing Mairead had but in more medical terms.
He forgot about Kaos when a text came through from Mark.
Did you hear about Doc yet?
Francis wasn’t sure how to react. Obviously, if there’d been an incident at the clinic, the sheriff’s department would be all over it. But the fact that Mark wanted to know if he’d heard… why was he asking? Was he worried over Francis? Feeling bad that Francis’s friend had got battered? He wasn’t sure.
Yeah. Mairead called me and I talked to a nurse. Why?
I went to take the dog back to Doc’s and Kaos was there. He got a bit of a shock. But I saw Makai and Emil heading that way a bit later.
Okay, well, that still didn’t tell Francis much about why Mark would be so talkative suddenly. Why he’d care enough about Padraig? Or maybe Francis was reading into things and Mark was just being courteous while Francis made it weird.
Hestia was with Padraig?Sometimes, Padraig took her with him and for whatever reason, she’d been there now.
Yes. She saw him go in and not come out. Howled her head off in the car to alert people.
Francis smiled. She’s a good dog.
Yeah, she might’ve saved his life.
And there went the smile. He frowned, and typedI thought it wasn’t that bad?
No, but I think the perp bolted when they heard her. Who knows if they’d beaten him up worse without her? Then, before Francis could reply, a hasty But I might be just speculating came through.
In any case, I’m glad she was there. Did Kaos seem okay? It was a stupid question, wasn’t it?
He will be. He’s stronger than he looks.
Well that was a weird statement from someone who had the queerphobia ingrained so deeply into his psyche. Again, Francis didn’t have time to react, before Mark sent another message.
He said you’re moving into town?
And there it was, the reason for all this rambling about what had happened in Acker that night.
Yes, I should be there next week. Not sure about the day yet.
I need to get back to work. Ttyl.
Well, that was anticlimactic. Francis huffed, then glanced at the time, and realized he needed to figure out what to wear. So he went to do that and tried to put Mark out of his mind. He’d have time to obsess over the deputy once he reached Acker. While he pondered between two shirts, he texted Kaos to tell him he’d gotten the news but that he didn’t want to interrupt his time with Makai and Emil. Then he sent another one, adding that he would be there if Emil needed him and that if something came up, he could be in town on Tuesday. Wednesday had been his original plan, but he could be faster if Padraig’s situation was more serious or if he needed help around the house and Emil had to work.
No texts came through, so he figured out his clothes and went to take a shower.
He had just stepped out of the shower, ready to get dressed, when he heard his phone ring.
“Hey, we’ll be there a bit early to pick you and the girls up if you don’t mind, I already called them and they were fine with it.” Rita sounded distracted, as if she was in the middle of doing her makeup or something.
“How early?” Francis ran a towel through his hair and frowned.
“Half an hour?”
“Sure, that works. I can be ready by then.”
“Okay, see you in thirty!” Rita’s tone was cheery, and Francis smiled as he put the phone away.
He got dressed and wondered what his friends had come up with for his send-off not-a-party.
