He followed Paddy into his office, which was really more of a cosy sitting room. Deeply cushioned chairs were arranged in a circular setting with a small table in the middle holding a box of tissues and a jug of water. A large window on one wall gave the room a feeling of light and space. There were built-in shelves along the length of another wall, stuffed full of books of diverse genres spanning A.A. Milne to Jung. For a clinical space, it was far from clinical.
Ryan took one of the offered chairs and it was on the tip of his tongue to decline water, but his system was pumped with too much caffeine and it would do him good to flush it out a bit.
“So,” Paddy sat down heavily and the leather cushions wheezed a bit. “You don’t want to be here.”
Ryan just stared. Should he think of something polite to say to the contrary? Honesty was usually best.
“No, I don’t.”
“Don’t worry about my feelings, will you?” Paddy chuckled, folding his arms across his middle. “Why don’t you tell me why Arthur Gregson thinks you should be here?”
Ryan deliberately avoided looking at his watch. Again.
“It’s the investigation I’m working on,” he supplied. “It bears some connection to the events of last year. Coming to see you is a condition of my continuing to work on it.”
“So, you feel that Gregson’s condition is motivated from a desire to make sure that the department is seen to be following procedure, should you make any mistakes?”
“I rarely make mistakes,” Ryan said quietly. It wasn’t an arrogant assertion, just a simple fact.
“We all make mistakes,” Paddy averred. “It’s part of being human.”
“Let me rephrase, then,” Ryan leaned back, crossing one long leg over the other. “I rarely make mistakes which could bring the department under fire.”
“I don’t think anybody is questioning your dedication to the force.”
“Aren’t they? The fact I’ve been corralled into coming here tells a different story.”
“You see this appointment as a mark of distrust in your abilities, or as a mark of disloyalty?”
Ryan lifted a shoulder.
“Could it be that Gregson simply wishes you to take advantage of the outlet, as an acknowledgement of the serious impact that your work has on your wellbeing? He cares about his staff.”
Ryan let the air hiss out between his teeth.
“Look, whatever the motivation, I’m here now. What the hell do you want me to talk about?”
Paddy sighed inwardly. As a person, Ryan was intriguing. He had seen him numerous times, over the years, yet he was such a hard nut to crack.
“At the risk of sounding like a cliché, it’s more a question of what you would like to talk about.”
“The weather?”
Paddy let out another booming laugh.
“You’re a slippery one,” he said. “Let’s start with something simple. How are things with Anna?”
Paddy had spoken with Ryan after the events on Holy Island last Christmas and had found a man disturbed by the things he had seen, but also a man regenerated. He wondered if it wasn’t due in part to his attachment to the woman he had met along the way.
At the mention of her name, Ryan’s shoulders relaxed.
“Things are … really great, actually.”
Somehow, the words seemed inadequate, but he wasn’t in the habit of waxing lyrical about personal relationships. That was why they called them personal.
“She seems like a very lovely woman,” Paddy agreed.
“One day, I’m sure the bubble will burst.”
Paddy raised a bushy eyebrow.
“What makes you say that? She’s seen some of the good, the bad and the ugly, hasn’t she?”
Ryan thought back to their first meeting, on Holy Island. He had been in the early stages of a fast-paced investigation and out to prove himself. He had been prickly, at best, and downright rude, at worst.
“Yeah, I guess she’s seen some of the ugly.”
“Well, then.”
“She hasn’t run for the hills.”
Paddy nodded sagely.
“So, all is ticking along nicely, on that score. How about Phillips? Haven’t seen that old hound dog in a while.”
Ryan knew that Paddy had a lot in common with Frank Phillips. They were both burly, dedicated men who had made a good life for themselves from modest beginnings. Aside from that, they both enjoyed Irish whiskey and a game of chess or a round of karaoke, depending on the mood.
“Solid as a rock, as always,” Ryan answered without a second thought. “He’s enjoying a blossoming relationship with Denise.”
“MacKenzie?” Paddy’s eyebrows shot up. “Well, blow me down.”