Hidden in the Blood: A Novel of the Terribly Acronymed Detective Club (Book 5)

Chapter Thirty-Seven: Agnes, Saturday

"Daddy! Daddy!"

Agnes stood to the side of the door, watching her children reunite with their father after being apart for longer than they'd ever been. Patrick Junior had especially missed him, and when Patrick lifted him off the ground, the relieved tears in her son's eyes made Agnes feel like a terrible mother.

Melissa didn't want to miss out on the fun, and her soon-to-be ex-husband took her in his other arm. He carried both as easily as if they were dolls, and they clung to him like barnacles on a rusty ocean liner. 

"I missed you so much," Patrick said, and to his credit, his eyes were wet too.

"Where were you, Daddy?" Melissa asked. "We were waiting for you!"

Patrick's eyes met Agnes' and held them for slightly longer than was comfortable. Agnes made herself not look away. To look away was to admit fault when he was the one at fault. "I had to wait for a transfer," he said. "I worked in Kelowna, but now I work in Langley."

"Why did we have to go first, though?" Patrick Junior said. "Why couldn't we wait for you?"

Patrick met her eyes again, but this time they were softer. "You mom made the right decision," he said, and that shocked her. "See, kids, you didn't know this, but she was keeping you safe. Your dad, being a policeman, sometimes makes bad men angry, and some bad men were looking for him. Your mom took you back to where she used to live so the bad men won't find you. I had to wait until my work found a new place for me, but your mother sacrificed the job she loved and was really good at, starting all over again so she could keep you safe."

Agnes gaped at Patrick, unable to believe he was being so charitable. He met her eyes again, smiled faintly, and shrugged in a boyish way that made her hate him a little less, because it reminded her of the kind man she once knew, a man whose kindness maybe went a little overboard when he offered it to another woman.

"We heard you came by the other day," Patrick Junior said.

"Yeah, sorry about that, you all were in school, and I had to get to work soon after. This is a rare Saturday I have off, and I get to spend the whole day with you, what do you think about that?

"Yay!" they both chimed. 

"Let's go to Terra Nova park!" Melissa said. "All the kids at school say it has the best playground ever!"

"Okay, sure!" Patrick said. He loved taking the kids outside to play. He'd love Terra Nova. "I don't know this area very well. Does your mom have directions?"

"Well, yeah, she can give them to you while we're going there, right?" Patrick Junior said, sensing something wrong already.

Patrick's face fell. "Yeah, well, I think your mom's busy today. Work, yeah?"

"Yeah," she said, even though it was a lie. She had other plans today, on a rare Saturday off herself, although if she got called in she would go in a pinch. She was still auxiliary, after all. 

"Mom's been busy a lot since we got here," Patrick Junior grumbled.

"You guys will have so much fun," she said to direct the conversation away from the subject of what she'd been up to. "Take lots of pictures so you can show me later."

"I will," Patrick said.

"Dad," Melissa said, "are you coming to stay at Grandma and Grandpa's house too?"

"I don't know where they'll put you," Patrick Junior said. "The two of us are already sharing a room with Mom in her old bedroom."

Patrick cleared his throat. "Uh, well, see, kids, I have a little place of my own in Langley, but I'm getting a new house closer to here, over in Queensborough, just down the road. You can stay at my place in Langley tonight, if you want."