Blood Tears Read Free Page A

an
unhappy conversation. Finished, he slumped against the seat.
“Shit.”
    “ All
sorted?” I enquired.
    “ No.
The pub’s full,” he snapped. “Where the hell are we going to stay?
It’s a seven hour drive here from the city.”
    I checked my watch.
“You could be back there this evening if you left right now,” I
suggested helpfully.
    “ We
just spent all morning driving here to check on a grouchy woman as
a favour for a good mate,” Trig said through clenched teeth. “The
last thing we want to do is drive back home today.”
    I twisted the mirror to
pin him with my eyes again. “I’m not grouchy.”
    “ Well, I’m glad we caught you on a good day, because I
wouldn’t want to see you when you were feeling grouchy.”
    “ It’s
not pleasant, lads. Trust me.”
    “ Who
asked you?” I grumped.
    “ Tezza doesn’t have any good days.”
    “ I do
so,” I lied. “And stop calling me Tezza.”
    Baz sat up in his seat,
struck with a good idea. “I know, lads. You can stay at the police
house. I’m staying at the pub, so it’s vacant right now. Tezza’s
got the keys for it.”
    “ Awesome,” smiled Harley in relief.
    “ I
don’t have them on me at the moment,” I delayed, unhappy at the
thought of the two guys staying so close to the station. I didn’t
need even more men keeping an eye on me. Baz was enough.
    The keys lay in the top
drawer of my dresser at home –the Sarge handing them to me before
he’d gone. I hadn’t used them for a while, no longer wanting to
wander aimlessly around the possessions he’d left behind. I
couldn’t say why, but expunging every hint of him made my life
easier to live.
    “ Let’s go get them,” said Baz, throwing a cautious u-turn on
the main stretch of road through the town.
    At my house, I jogged
up the stairs. “It’s only me, Dad,” I called out as my father
rolled his wheelchair to the door to see who was there.
    Dad and Baz exchanged a
wave. “Who’s in the patrol car with Baz?”
    “ Some
nobodies. Just a couple of Maguire’s friends.”
    “ Have
they come to visit you?”
    “ Who
gives a stuff why they’ve come here?”
    “ Oh
now, love. Don’t be like that. It’s not going to hurt you to show
them some hospitality.”
    “ I’ll
leave that for the gentler, less-disillusioned people of the
world.” I dropped a kiss on the top of his head and jumped down the
stairs. When I slid back into the car, I threw the keys over the
back of the seat, hitting Trig in the arm.
    “ Ow,”
he complained, rubbing the sore spot. “You could have just handed
them to me.”
    “ I could have.”
    “ Somehow I don’t think the next three days are going to be
much fun.”
    “ Three days? Oh, God,” I moaned.
    “ Don’t worry, lads. I’ll keep her away from you as much as
possible so you can enjoy your break,” Baz said, pulling out on to
the road as I waved goodbye to Dad.
    “ But
we promised Finn we’d check on her and make sure she was okay. See
if she needed help with anything. I suppose that means we’re going
to have to interact with her at some point,” lamented
Trig.
    I angled the mirror to
look at him again. “I’m as thrilled with the prospect as you are.
And what on earth do you possibly think you could help me
with?”
    “ Manners?”
    I scathed him with my
eyes at that suggestion, while secretly giving him a point. It was
well played.
    “ We
kind of hoped we could be friends,” said Harley. “We’re all friends
with Finn.” He shrugged. “We just thought you’d want to be friends
with us too.”
    “ Maguire’s not on my friend list.”
    “ Is
anyone?” asked Trig.
    “ No.”
    “ That
doesn’t surprise me at all.”
    Baz laughed. “Tezza,
there you are, at it again. Winning over the public one person at a
time.”
    “ I
wasn’t hired to be congenial.”
    “ Don’t take any notice of her, lads,” Baz boomed heartily.
“She’s just ticked off about being disciplined. Haven’t seen her
crack a smile since I