Page 71 of More than Need

Riley lifted him from the chair and turned him towards the door. “Go, I’ll deal with your mug.”

Gideon went without argument, and by the time Riley returned to the bullpen, his jacket was gone from the back of his chair.

“Gideon will be staying far away from this office until he is no longer ill. Same goes for Angela,” Riley told them abruptly. “There will be no spreading of germs in here.”

“How shocking that you control air currents too,” Grady said dryly.

Riley ignored Quinn’s curious look. “Greer, my office, now.”

Greer’s jaw twitched angrily. The second Riley closed his office door behind them, he fired off, “I can’t fucking take any more cases.”

“Did I ask you to?” Riley asked mildly. He circled his desk and sat, making himself comfortable as he contemplated his most irate detective.

“I’m sorry, did you bring me in here for cookies and milk?” Greer asked sarcastically.

“You’re lactose intolerant.”

“Is there a point to this conversation?”

“You’re doing something outside of here.” Greer’s work with the NSWPD had a complication in the form of the government-sanctioned black-ops group that he worked for in secret. His work with them took precedence over anything that Riley gave him.

Greer didn’t say anything, and the silence stretched out.

“Greer?”

“Was that a question?”

Riley counted to five. “Yes.”

“We’re working on three connected missing person’s cases that were given to us under the table. Two were from Victoria, but one is here, and they were too lazy to deal with it, so they threw it our way.”

Riley didn’t bother asking how they connected. Not his case, not his business. He had enough to deal with in this office without inviting trouble. He mentally flicked through all of Gideon and Angela’s cases, attempting to work out an even split while they were both out of commission. He’d at least already shared out a few while Gideon had been alone with it.

“I need you to take three. Temporarily, Greer,” Riley said firmly. “Angela should be back within the next week.” She had better be. Otherwise, Riley might be forced to ask for temporary transfers. His least favourite thing to do; some of the other officers were lackadaisical and needed an instruction or two on etiquette and how to conduct themselves.

“No. Two.”

Riley sighed. Better than he’d expected, honestly. “Two,” he said, willing to compromise if it ended this conversation. “Get out of my office.”

“Gladly,” Greer muttered.

Once alone, Riley picked up his phone and scrolled to his recent calls.

Dawson didn’t answer, and Riley didn’t leave a message. They never gave enough time to articulate why he’d called, and the back-and-forth it could cause only gave him a headache. Dawson would either return his call, or he wouldn’t.

He did return the call a few minutes later. Riley ignored his latest report to answer it. “Dawson.”

“Riley,” Dawson replied in the same tone. “So serious all the time.” He paused. “Is something wrong?”

“Would that be the only reason I would call?”

“I don’t know; you tell me.”

The fact he hadn’t before meant nothing. When Dawson had called him, he’d answeredandinvited him into his home. That meant more than superfluous random conversations throughout the day. Besides, not initiating those didn’t mean he would hang up on Dawson if he called to “just chat.”

“Where are you working today?”

“Down near the Darling Island Wharf. Then we’re heading to North Ryde to look at a venue for some kid’s birthday party. Those are always a pain in the ass because parents.”

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