The Split Man (Holden Burke #2)

Six

There was still some light left clinging to the end of the day, but not much more to use it for. I got in my car and shut my eyes for a moment and smelled the residual sea breeze from Pillar Bay that I could've sworn was stuck lingering between my windows, and drove home.

Jake was in the kitchen and there was the heat of two steaks drifting from the stove. 'Off the clock?' he said as I came through the door.

I fell into a chair at the kitchen table. 'For now. Unless I get a hot lead in the next half hour or so. But you know that's never likely.'

Jake was concentrating on the steaks that were browning in the pan. 'Do you want potatoes?'

'I'm not that hungry,' I said.

He nodded. He was still looking away from me. 'You can take a moment to get your things off,' he said.

'No, we should eat first.'

'Come on, Holden,' Jake said.

'What do you mean come on?'

'Come on, as in, you don't have to.'

'But I want to.'

'You know I don't care that much.'

I stood and went to the counter.

Jake took a breath and said, 'There are more things to a relationship than eating dinner together.'

'Like having a schedule. A nine-to-five workday with benefits and time-off,' I said.

Jake turned around to me and sighed. His ashen blue eyes, under the swoop of his fringe hair hanging down over his brows, were steady but warning. 'We're not going to talk about this now,' he said.

'But it's what you think.'

'It's what I think, but I told you already there's no use wheeling it out as a weapon for either of us to use when we want. That's not the point of what I think and you know that.'

I stepped back and nodded simply. Jake moved his head in silence and went back to the stove.

I said, 'Do you need any help packing?'

He shook his head. 'I've got it all.'

'Just waiting to set-off, now.'

He nodded. Bending his head, he said, 'I think I'd like some potatoes, do you want to boil some while I finish up with these?'

There was no more discussion about it. Jake didn't ask me about that day's case, and I had no burning desire to tell him about it. We went to bed a couple of hours later as we always did, and I held him against me and put his hand in mine and felt the cold chill of his engagement ring rest against my skin.

As the lighter sleeper, I was the one that woke when I heard the ring of the front door and hoped that Jake was still sleeping. I slipped out of bed and put on a pair of pants and went through the flat.

To my surprise, I found the solemn figure of my old pal Inspector Dave Chalmers at the door, his hands in his pockets and his head hung in silence.

'Good evening, Dave,' I said simply, through my glassy vision. I rubbed my eyes. 'What time is it?'

Dave moved his head a little. 'After midnight, I think.'

He came inside and sat at the table. 'I guess I should ask if you'd like a coffee.'

'Love one.'

I turned on the coffee machine and made a one flat with no sugar. Dave didn't mind that I was out, or at least he made no objection.