Dead Wolf by Tim O'Rourke Page B

room.
    “It’s Christmas , isn’t it?” he grinned, taking his seat back on the couch.
    Chloe snuggled up cosily into a large armchair and I sat on the rug by her feet.
    “Pen told us that you’re working at the café,” I said in an attempt to break the silence.
    “Actually, I’m the bar manager,” he said in a way that right from the start illustrated his importance in Pen’s life and business.
    “Yeah, she told us that,” I said nonchalantly as if it made no odds to me whatsoever. “What did you do before?”
    “Before what?” Marc asked as if knowing what I was getting at.
    “Before you met Pen?” I said, staring at him.
    “This and that, all sorts of stuff, really,” he smiled back at me.
    “Oh yeah, like what?” I tried to ask as casually as I could.
    “Boy, when Pen said you were a cop, she wasn’t kidding,” Marc tried to joke.
    “What do you mean?” I asked.
    “It feels like I’m under interrogation.”
    Marc attempted to make this sound like a joke, but I knew he was really telling me to fuck off.
    “How would you know what it feels like to be interrogated?” I pressed with an insincere smile playing on my lips.
    He stared at me momentarily, those bright eyes of his weighing me up. Pen entered the room carrying a tray of glasses filled with champagne.
    “Everyone’s hitting it off, I hope,” she said.
    “We’re all getting along just fine,” Marc smiled back at her.
    Pen handed out the glasses, then raised hers into the air. “A toast to new friends, new beginnings, and a very merry Christmas!”
    We all stood and ‘clinked’ our glasses together.
    “Merry Christmas,” Chloe and I said.
    “Merry Christmas,” Marc grinned, raising the glass to his lips and taking a sip, and all the while eyeing me from over the rim of it.
    Chloe and I made a move back home the day after Boxing Day. I had enjoyed the last few days spent with Pen. Although Marc and I hadn’t really hit it off, we remained polite and civil to one another but I got the feeling that he didn’t like me.
    I wasn’t bothered as I didn’t trust him. I just couldn’t put my finger on it, but something just didn’t seem to sit right with him, and it wasn’t just the fact that he was a Lycanthrope.
    “Are you sure you’re not jealous?” Chloe asked me as I attempted to explain the nagging feelings of concern I had.
    “Jealous, what do you mean?” I asked, secretly wondering if that wasn’t the real reason for my dislike of Marc. “Why would I be jealous?”
    “Aw c’mon, Jim,” Chloe sighed with a smile, as we set off in the car for home. “She’s a beautiful woman and I guess she always has been – even back when you were just a couple of kids.
    Do you seriously expect me to believe that you didn’t have a crush on her?” Then fixing me with a cool stare, she added, “And perhaps you still have?”
    “Nonsense,” I said, shaking my head.
    “We were like brother and sister – that’s all it was back then and now. I’m not jealous. I’m happy for Pen if she’s met someone who’s good for her and will make her happy. I just get the feeling that Marc isn’t going to do that for Pen.”
    “Why not?” Chloe asked, still watching me.
    “Dunno,” I sighed. “Just something…”
    “Pen will be okay. She’s all grown up now. You both are, you’re not fourteen anymore,”
    she said, steering the car along the narrow country roads, which were still heavy with snow.
    “I know…I know…” I said thoughtfully, sitting back in my seat and watching the world that I had come to call my home, speed past outside.

Chapter Thirteen
    Murphy
     
    Come spring, I had managed to secure myself a secondment to ‘The Special Operations Department’ (or Special Ops as it was commonly known) at work. I was therefore no longer carrying out uniform patrol and spent most of my time working undercover, undertaking covert observations on drug dealers and armed robbery suspects. I had my Inspector to thank