Page 47 of The Attercop

“Any word on Angel?” Declan asked.

“Mickey was in earlier and said he’s showing steady improvement.”

“Good to hear. Now, do you mind if I make an announcement?” Declan asked him.

“Be my guest,” André said, then yelled out to the denizens of the bar, “Hey. Eyes up here. Declan’s got something to say and I want you to pay attention.”

The bartender smiled at Declan. “The stage is yours, my friend.”

Declan called out, “Okay, I think we all know what happened to Angel here last week. We now have two pictures of the possible suspect. We think he might have been wearing adisguise and we need your help. If anybody has any information about the guy in these pictures, we need to know.”

Charlie grabbed the printouts of the images and moved among the crowd, showing them to everyone. A few claimed to have a rough recollection of seeing the guy from the CCTV footage. One person thought they’d seen the bum on the street, but nobody knew anything about either of them. He was a stranger to Bar-None.

After an hour of enquiries, Charlie and Declan were no further ahead than when they’d started. Charlie turned to Declan and said, “Let’s go home.”

Declan handed the pictures to André. “Put these up behind the bar and, if you see either of these guys, call me.”

Chapter Twenty

Charlie hadn’t slept well the night before. He snuck down to the office a little early, leaving Declan in bed.

The door alarm chirped. Charlie heard Mrs B and Duck enter the outer office. After a moment she leaned through Charlie’s open door. “It may not be as good as Gwen’s, but can I make you a coffee? Your usual?”

“That would be great, Mrs B. Thanks.” The fact that Mrs B would ask him, and that she knew that he had ausual, reinforced the notion that he had been fully accepted into the company family.

While Mrs B was in the kitchen, Duck made his way into Charlie’s office. He hopped up into the spare chair and stared at him.

“What?” Charlie said. It came out harsher than he had intended. Duck lowered his head, looking like he’d been caught doing something wrong.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to snap. I’m not a bad guy. We just got off on the wrong foot.”

Duck jumped from the chair and, his tail wagging, made it around to Charlie’s side of the desk where he let loose a potent, foul-smelling toot.

“Oh my god.”

As Charlie slid his chair as far away as he could, Mrs B brought in his coffee. She stopped dead in her tracks, and looked at Charlie with a scowl.

“It was not me!” he said.

“Oh, it’s a sad man who blames a child for an adult’s doing,” she said, then laughed.

Crash!

The sound rocked his office. Declan was obviously up. Duck bolted straight for his spot under Mrs B’s desk.

Crash!

It was leg-day and Declan seemed to get satisfaction out of dropping the barbell after he’d finished each set of squats, and with each set, Charlie’s office ceiling shook. He knew Declan would be at it for a few more sets yet.

Charlie got back to work. He scrolled through the emails he had waiting for him on his phone. There was a quick note from Carrie saying what a great time she’d had at his birthday party the other night, and that she would get back to him about a night where she could take him out for dinner—just the two of them.

Crash!

There was also a text from Jules Slate.

Just confirming today’s meeting at 10.

Looking forward to it, Charlie replied.