Paula looked up at him with doubt in her eyes. "She'll get over it in time though, won't she?"
"No," he replied. "No, she won't, or at least it's very unlikely that she will. She's had counselling, we've both had counselling, and the top guy in the business has told us that in his opinion, nothing's likely to change."
"But can't she be put on medication?"
He snorted. "What? Love potion number nine, do you mean? No, Paulie, there is no medication that will counter what's wrong with Mags. She's lost the ability to love, and not just to make love, either. She's withdrawn herself from me."
"Aren't you even going to try to draw her back?"
"Turn on the McGuire charm, you mean? No, I'm not."
"But why not? The two of you had so much going for you." She frowned.
"I know it's a hell of a thing for me to be saying, but surely, big boy, if you really gave it a go…"
"Yes, but that's the point. I loved her, and I still care for her, but
I don't love the woman she's become. We sleep in separate bedrooms now, and one night I heard her locking her door. She doesn't need to, though. I've got no wish to open it."
"But what about the wee boy you're adopting? The lad you took in after he was orphaned. I thought the idea was that you were going to raise him together."
He drew in a deep breath. "We are, and until Maggie says different, we will. I'll go home this morning and we'll take Rufus out. If it's as nice a day as yesterday, we might take him to the seaside."
"Will you be allowed to adopt him, though? I thought you had to have social workers confirm that you have a stable marriage, and all that guff."
Mario hesitated. "What?" she asked, reading his indecision, as he pulled himself up to lean against the high, curved headboard of the bed.
"I didn't want to tell you this; I didn't want to tell anyone who doesn't have to know, but especially not you. So promise me again it stays our secret." She nodded. "The thing is," he continued, 'we don't need the law to let us adopt Rufus. He's Maggie's half-brother."
He looked at her as she worked through the implications of what he had told her. "God!" she whispered at last.
"God had no hand in it," he said, grimly. "Mags's father, may he rot in peace, was a real bastard. Rufus's mother was barely more than a kid, but he liked them young… liked to hurt them too. Anyway, even if the relationship wasn't there, we wouldn't have a problem with the social workers. We're both detective superintendents of police, for fuck's sake."
"How could I forget?" she muttered. "Okay, so you've told me. That's how things are for you. So where does it leave you and me?"
He smiled at her. "It leaves us, cousin, as joint trustees of the
Viareggio family enterprises, with compelling business reasons to meet regularly… even if I have given a bright young corporate lawyer my power of attorney, because of my public position." He looked down at her long body and grinned. "It's perfect cover for having it off as well." He paused. "Talking about cover, you know my mum's moving to Tuscany pretty soon? I was thinking about going out to help her settle into her new place. Do you fancy coming?"
Paula managed to gasp and laugh at the same time. "Are you crazy?" she exclaimed. "I may have lusted after your body for most of my adult life, Mario, but the last thing I want is for my Auntie Christina to find out that I've finally got it. The same goes for any other member of our family, and maybe for anyone at all, if you value your job."
"It's a big house that my mother's bought," he pointed out. "And don't forget; she's very clever and she's very, very shrewd. She knows about you and me, I'll bet, even though she hasn't said anything."
"You serious?"
"Sure. I'm her only son; we don't need speech to communicate."
"But what'll she be thinking about it?"
"Same as me… Keep it to yourselves… which is, I suppose the best advice we could have. I concede also that going to Italy together would be taking it too far, from the family's point of view. So we won't." He paused. "Not that the job is a consideration, though."
She looked surprised once again. "What? Is the police force not big enough for you and Maggie any more?"
He shook his head. "No, that's not it. I'm not sure that I'm as committed to it as I need to be: not any more, at any rate. We're all still stunned by what happened to Bob Skinner; things just aren't what they were without him around."
"Yes," she agreed, 'that was a shocker. What his wife must be feeling; to have him collapse just like that in the middle of her parents' funeral."
"Too right. As for me, well, Willie Haggerty, the assistant chief constable and Dan Pringle, the head of CID, may be good guys, but put together they don't make one of big Bob. I just can't get used to the idea of him not being around any more. With everything else that's going on in my life, the idea of turning it in and running the Trust full-time has its appeal."
Paula drew herself up beside him. "Do you mean that?"
"I'm not sure. How would you feel if I did?"
"Honestly? A bit scared. The way things are, I can handle it when you go home; but if we were working together through the day, it might be more difficult. Have you talked to Neil about this?"
"Mcllhenney? About us? Not in so many words, but he's nearly as close to me as my mother. He knows too."
"Not about us, you idiot, about leaving the force?"
"Yes. He says he feels much the same. He was the big fella's executive assistant, remember, as well as being one of his few real pals. But at least he can shut himself away in the Special Branch office, and go home to Louise and the kids every night."
She turned her head and looked him in the eye. "And you can't, can you, you poor love. All you can do is fit me in, whenever the opportunity arises."
He slid his arm around her shoulders and pulled her down until they were lying side by side once again. "It's a hard old life, Paulie," he said, and then he grinned, the bright wicked smile she had known for so long, and wished for so long to have directed at her. "All we can do is get on with it." He rolled over, into her embrace. "Hey," he whispered in her ear. "What?"
"I really am at my best in the mornings, you know." She beamed at him.
"Oh, I know, I know. I really do!"
Four
Deputy Chief Constable Andrew Martin flexed his heavy shoulders as he walked into the big kitchen, feeling the muscles stretch his formal white shirt. Bob Skinner had always disliked wearing his uniform, and now that he had attained command rank, his closest friend had come to feel the same way.
However he was still new to the Tayside force, and understood that he had to be seen in it, if for no other reason than that the men under his command would know who he was. Happily, the day promised warmth, and he had been able to discard the heavy jacket for the white shirt, with shoulder-panels to denote his rank.
"Now there's a picture," said Karen as she turned to look at him. "You look just like Sir James Proud in that get-up." He smiled, knowing that it was a copper compliment; nobody could wear a uniform like his former chief constable.
"Where are you going today?" his wife asked him; she had been up for two hours, since the baby had wakened her just after six a.m." demanding her first feed of the day. Danielle Martin was two weeks and two days old, and for all that he had had half a year to prepare for her arrival, her father was still slightly stunned by her very existence.
"Uhh?" he asked. His mind had been on other things.
"Are you awake yet?" she laughed. "I asked where you were going this morning. Dundee is it? And why, on a Saturday? The football season's over, is it not?"
He blinked. "Sorry, love; I was just thinking about Bob for a second or two."