Page 10 of More than Need

“Stay here, I’ll deal with it,” he decided.

When Gideon pushed through the door that led to the marble foyer of the station, he’d expected an irate and angry individual and had prepared himself to physically remove them from the premises if necessary.

The empty foyer took the wind out of his sails. He turned a questioning gaze on Nedrie.

“He went out the front.” Nedrie grimaced. “Should I have restrained him? He looked like he needed some fresh air, and I’m not in the mood to clean up vomit if I can help it.”

“No worries, I’ll find him.” It would be easier to do this outside anyway. He’d prefer not to speak to this guy with an audience, mitigating the rumours that could result from all of this. Riley deserved more respect than being fodder for the gossip mill. He doubted most of the force even knew about his adoption. Thechief superintendent, Riley’s father, had only ever treated him like family.

A single figure stood on the sidewalk under a nearby streetlamp. Dark-blue jeans, a plain white T-shirt—the alcohol had to be the only thing keeping him warm, considering the cold temperature of the dark autumn night—and sneakers that had seen better days. Dark-brown hair, longer on top and shaved on the sides. He had a hand fisted in the strands as he talked… to himself.

Gideon stuffed his hands into his pockets and approached slowly.Shouldthey have put him in a cell?

“—to kill you. Then she’s going to stuff what’s left of you in a bin and put you out on Wednesday night with the rest of the recycling because probably body parts can be—Ahh!”

Gideon raised an eyebrow as the man spotted him, eyes wide as he stared at Gideon like he’d just seen a ghost. Dark-brown eyes, flushed cheeks, dark-pink lips. The long hair on top of his head flopped forward, almost obscuring those eyes.

“Are you here to show me my past, present, and future?” the guy blurted out. His eyes unfocused, anger swirling under the surface despite the ridiculous question. “No, you’re him. You’reRiley.”

Before Gideon could get a word in, the man swayed forward, jabbing a finger into his chest. As the guy was roughly the same height as Riley, Gideon had to look up at him. The sheer bulk of his large frame might have been intimidating if he were stabler on his feet.

“You hadno rightto make her cry like that. I get that you were surprised or whatever, but Sadie had nothing to do with whatever decisions your parents made, and you could have been a bit fucking nicer to her.” His words slurred, and the finger in Gideon’s chest became a hand fisted in his shirt. Likely to keephimself upright more than anything particularly aggressive. Gideon glanced at it but didn’t ask him to move it.

“You could have actually listened to what she had to say,” he continued, almost headbutting Gideon as he teetered forward. “She came to you because she wanted to know more about you, and you, youasshole, decided that you were more interested in being a—a—a not very nice thing that I can’t say to a cop.”

As opposed to the rest of the very nice things coming out of his mouth?

The man paused, leaned back, and squinted at Gideon’s eyes. Awkward silence stretched. Then his lips parted in shock, and he took a shaky step back. “Brown. Not blue. You’re not Riley.”

“No. Why don’t we start again?” Gideon held out his hand. “I’m Detective Senior Constable Gideon Clark.”

Colour drained from the man’s face, and he hadn’t had a lot to spare in the first place. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry.” He swallowed. “Uh, is there a—a bin around here?”

“There’s one ins—” Gideon stopped as the man turned and threw up in the bushes. Too late. Gideon rubbed his back because he wasn’t an animal, and his gut clenched in sympathy. He knew that far-from-pleasant feeling.

“Is this an arrestable offence?” The words were mostly one long groan, but Gideon had practice interpreting “drunk.”

“Which part? The drunk and disorderly, or giving our gardener something interesting to clean up? Or… bird food, I guess.” Gideon grimaced. Having a child meant he’d gotten used to disgusting bodily fluids, but that didn’t mean hewelcomedthem.

Another groan. “Iama gardener. Sort of. Fuck, I would hate me.”

“It sounds like you’re gonna hate you in the morning anyway. Do you want me to check if this is against the law?” Gideon highly doubted it but could admit to some curiosity.

“Please don’t.”

“What’s your name?”

“It’s—Dawson.”

Dawson stood and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “Sorry, I didn’t—sorry.”

“Riley is a good man.”

The dark eyes hardened, some lucidity appearing. “Yeah? Well, tell that to my best friend, who’s passed out in my bed after crying herself to sleep.”

“You think that’s Riley’s fault?” Gideon asked, lips flattening. She’d brought it on herself, and Gideon wouldn’t ever take her side in the matter. “There are ways to drop that kind of news, and how she did it isn’t one of them. He had every right to be upset and ask her to leave. And to force the issue when she refused to do so.”

“That’s not how she described it.”

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