Something shifted in Mark's expression, a small recalibration, and I watched him decide not to ask a follow-up question. He just smiled again and checked his watch. “I should get going. Bailey's got a grooming appointment and she's going to make me pay for skipping it.” He looked at Troy. “See you around.”
“Maybe,” Troy said.
Mark headed off with the dog trotting beside him, and then it was just me and Troy in the middle of the park.
“You want to tell me what that was?” Troy asked.
“What what was?”
“That.” He gestured vaguely in my direction. “You looked like you were doing math about the man. He was walking a retriever on a Saturday morning. That's not a threat assessment situation.”
“I didn't look like anything.”
“You looked like he'd stolen your wallet.” Troy tilted his head slightly, watching me with the flat attention that meant he was already three steps ahead of where I wanted him to be. “Is this the safety concern thing again? Because we covered that yesterday.”
“I'm just saying you should be aware of your surroundings.”
“I am aware of my surroundings. I was standing in a public park in broad daylight throwing a ball for a labrador. If that's a security risk, I don't know what to tell you.”
“You don't know who he is.”
“I do now. His name's Mark, his dog's name is Bailey, she's getting a grooming appointment in an hour, and he usually goes to the gym.” Troy crossed his arms. “That's more than I know about most people I've worked with for years, so by your logic, I should be more worried about my actual colleagues.”
“That's not the same.”
“Then explain the difference, because your concern for my safety when I'm talking to someone in Lincoln Park doesn't track.” He studied me in a way that made my skin feel too tight. “What's your actual problem here, Declan?”
“There isn't one.”
“There's clearly one.”
“Just be careful,” I said, knowing how thin it sounded.
“You keep saying that.” He let the silence sit for a beat. “You don't get to stand here and be weird every time I have a normal five minutes with someone. That's not how this works.”
“I'm not being weird.”
“You're being something.” He looked at me steadily, and I could see him deciding how hard to push. “You've been off since yesterday. Since the pool. And now this.” He let that land and then, just slightly, backed off the edge of it. “Did I actually do something, or is this about you?”
“It's nothing. Drop it.”
“Every time you say drop it, you mean the opposite.”
“This time I mean it.”
He looked at me for another long moment, then exhaled through his nose. “Fine.”
We started walking without discussing it. I could feel him glancing over every few steps, still running calculations I couldn't see.
We passed a coffee cart on the corner and I stopped without thinking. “You want coffee?”
“I want an explanation, but I'll take the coffee.”
I ordered two and paid before he could argue about it. We stood there waiting in silence, both of us aware of the space between us and not closing it.
When the cups were ready I handed Troy his and we started walking again. The silence shifted slightly, less sharp but still carrying weight.
“You could've just walked over,” Troy said after we'd gone another block. “Instead of standing on the path like you were running surveillance.”
