Chapter 28

Before he had a chance to answer my question the sound of my sister shouting and pounding away at the door coupled with Connor knocking on the glass outside on my window interrupted the good morning that I was going to have. I felt no shame in having Connor stare at our naked forms since he's seen his brother naked too many times to count in their 20 some-odd years on this earth together and he's already fucked me senseless on more than one occasion. My sister being just on the other side of the door had me second guessing whether or not I really wanted to go sauntering through that door showing off my new set of marks and bruises.

"Help you, Connor?" I asked, throwing the window open, letting the cold air hit my bare flesh and flick away any beads of sweat that Murphy had failed to catch as he stood behind me, pushing my hair over my shoulder enabling him to swipe his tongue along the back of my neck.

"Sorry Red, have ta take me brudder back home. Ma's on da phone and she wants ta fawn over her precious babe."

"Tell her me nurse is busy taking care of me. I'll call her back later."

I snorted a bit at his comment as he continued to run his tongue and lips over my shoulder blades; his hands roaming over my stomach venturing lower as I started to feel him press his hips into my ass.

"Nice try, but your nurse has work and school today and you haven't talked to your mom since before your accident. Besides if you start this up again I'm not going to be able to walk right the rest of the day."

"I t'ink dat's da point he's trying ta make; keep ya as bed bound as he is."

I felt him smirking against my skin before he planted one last kiss on the top of my right shoulder and gave my ass a sharp smack; I swear, if I didn't know any better he was trying to imprint the image of his hand there. I went into the closet to grab my heavy bathrobe only to turn around and find Murphy scrambling to pick his clothes up off the floor, fighting against the cold biting wind that came through the open window and Connor climbing inside to survey the damage that the two of us caused in such an enclosed space. Thankfully the damage wasn't as bad in the light of day as I thought it would've been.

"Ya get a chance ta use dese last night or were ya too worn out?" he asked picking up the riding crop and the spreader bar from the floor once he closed the window behind him.

"Had intentions of using 'em till I found somet'ing better."

"Just toss those on the bed, I'll put 'em away when I come back in to get ready for work."

What Murphy meant by 'something better' I wasn't too sure of. He seemed to enjoy using my G-spot vibrator quite a bit but then again he did blindfold me and managed to pull that new sound from me. Either way the wink he threw my way told me that he wasn't going to let Connor in on just what that something was. When I was satisfied that the knot I tied into the robe's belt wasn't going to come undone on its own, I cautiously opened the bedroom door to find my sister standing there looking rather pissed.

"You are such a fucking bitch! How is it that you can that much noise and I can still hear you even with my ears covered? Woman, it is 6:15 in the morning; ain't nobody got time to hear you having the time of your life."

"And good morning to you too baby sister. Murphy seemed like he appreciated that I was having the time of my life in there. Now if you will excuse me, I have to wash the smell of sex off of me. Try not to destroy my place while I'm gone and while I'm thinking of it since Murphy is laid up until next week if you need to go anywhere or just need to get out take him with you. Dangerous neighborhoods and all that shit, you can never be too careful; folks around here can tell if you're not from around this area. A Mexican in an Irish neighborhood kind of sticks out like a sore thumb."

"Shut the fuck up, we have the same parents; you're as Mexican as I am. After the hell you put me through last night and this morning, I'm just going to get a cab and head back to the airport to see if I can get my flight changed. You clearly know what you're doing with these two and you don't look like you need any more of my help. Just remember what we talked about last night."

"I did warn you last night that it was payback for what you and Sam put me through that night I slept on your couch after we got shit-faced on your birthday, did I not?"

The guys laughed at our banter and I retreated to the bathroom for my morning shower as I heard Connor remark that he found it amusing that I looked as Irish as them with the fair skin, red hair, and green eyes to boot while my sister looked like a stereotypical Mexican with the darker skin tone, brown hair, and brown eyes. My sister had a point though, even though we both had the same parents who have been married for a little more than 30 years I looked more like our mom and she looked more like our dad. To look at us side-by-side, one would've never been able to tell we were sisters unless we told them.

When I emerged from the shower about 10 minutes later Connor, Murphy, and my sister were all seated on the couch with their eyes glued to the t.v. set as the morning news reporters began to regale us with the daily tales of woe that have befallen upon our precious city. The top stories aside from the Bruins getting their asses handed to them by the Blackhawks were a couple more overnight murders thought to have been gang-related, some drunk trying to rob the Lakeview, and Rocco's mugshot being flashed on the screen for possession and receiving stolen merchandise.

"If we can, we'll bail Roc out later today or tomorrow. This shit though with the nightly murders has got to stop. Times like this I really wish I knew who those Saints were; it doesn't put a stop to daily life but it at least put things on hold for a little bit." I offered, stepping out of the hallway re-dressed in my robe and padding into the kitchen for my morning cup of coffee.

"For God's sake, how can you support the Saints? They're just as bad as those who are doing all the rest of the city's dirty work and from what the news back home is saying about them, they make your ex sound nowhere near as bad as he actually was."

"Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence, I'm sure he would've loved hearing you say that." I shouted from the kitchen as I went about trying to find what the twins had done with my containers of creamer and sugar.

"Looking fer somet'ing?"

"Trying to find what you and Murphy did with my stuff. Finally found my sugar container in the damn fridge, but where's my creamer?"

"Sorry, got da two of 'em mixed up again." Connor replied, going to the pantry to pull the creamer out.

"See, this is why I leave these on the counter so I don't have to ask either of you what you did with them. I'm sorry, but why do you think powdered creamer belongs in the fridge?"

"We're used ta using milk and milk goes in da fridge."

While I finished getting my cup ready, a chair scrapped across the floor and I heard Connor plop down with a thud and a sigh. The alarm on the microwave rang out as the countdown ended. I retrieved my now hot cup of coffee from the microwave and pulled the chair out next to Connor's.

"We need ta talk; not right now since ya have ta get ready fer work but it needs ta be sooner rather den later."

"About what you and my sister talked about last night?"

"Yeah, need a few days before den, but we do need ta talk."

I nodded my head in understanding knowing that I, myself, needed a few days to gather my thoughts and to prepare for one of two scenarios. Glancing over at the digital clock on the stove, I was forced to finish my coffee a lot quicker than I would've liked and placed the cup in the sink to soak before returning to the table to push the chair in and to card my fingers through Connor's hair for a brief minute.

"Murph did quite a number on yer neck, aren't ya worried about how yer gonna cover it?"

"I didn't cover the marks you put on me before I went home for Christmas, why cover what Murphy did last night?"

"Won't Charlie t'ink dat somet'ing happened to ya? What about da other folks ya work with?"

"Fuck 'em; it's my life, not theirs. Who cares what other people think when all that should matter is what I think? I've got to get ready to go. Connor, isn't your mom still on the phone?"

I heard him exclaim 'oh fuck' as I shut my bedroom door and started digging around in the dresser for something clean to wear while I listened to my sister argue with Murphy in the living room over the Saints and whether or not what they do would be considered a public service or nuisance. As I emerged freshly dressed the two were still going at it. I told them that I was leaving and grabbed my keys from the hook by the door; pausing to turn around and give each of my cats a quick kiss on the head and a scratch behind the ears. Even though I wasn't the praying type, I offered up a quick one in the hopes that neither my sister nor Murphy killed each other over the subject of the Saints.

I made it to work with no problems and got through the day pretty quickly; Charlie had taken a couple of vacation days to go on a Jamaican cruise and one of my co-workers, Carla, called in sick; so it was just myself and one other person working in the lab. It was going on noon when my phone started going off and since it was coming up on my break anyway leaving a few minutes early wasn't going to be the end of the world. As long as one of us was in the lab the director wasn't going to be throwing a tantrum anytime soon.

"Hello?"

"Hey, long time no talk. I'm sorry to bother you since you're probably at work right now, but if you're not doing anything tonight, could I take you out for dinner? Things didn't exactly go as I had planned when we went out the first time and I want to make it up to you."

'Give me the Pope calling long distance; give me the comedic stylings of Annabelle MacManus. Hell, I'll take a psychic stopping me in the middle of the street to tell me my dead grandpa says 'hi Sparkplug.' Give me anyone but Jack!' I whined to myself.

"I'm sorry Jack, but I have class tonight after I get off work and I just started seeing someone."

I ended the call before he could get in another word edge-wise. I wasn't lying so there was no need to have second thoughts on it. Even though I just agreed to give Murphy a chance I debated on whether or not he'd want to hear about Jack calling should the question of how my day went came up.

I hung up the phone and got back to work thankful that I was off today at 2:00 because I had signed up for 3:30 pm class and it was the only class I had on Mondays which meant I'd be home at around 6:30 if I was lucky; there was always the 5:00 rush hour coupled with people trying to get on the trains at the same time people were trying to get off that I would have to contend with but at least I'd still be home at a reasonable hour. It was just another small thing I missed about home: when I would take the Metrolink downtown for baseball and hockey games we waited on the platforms for people to get off the trains before we got on ourselves. It's hard to believe how much common courtesy people have lost over the years.

The class I had signed up for was entitled Forensic Pathology and it offered me the opportunity to challenge myself further. When I had was working with Dolly, Duffy, and Greenly on that cold case just before the semester started they had offered to put in a good word for me with their Sergeant if an internship opened up in their forensics unit. It was definitely an offer I appreciated and I gave Duffy a copy of my resume the following day along with the application for internship. Even though it didn't pay anything, at least having the experience would help. The topic of discussion tonight was the Saints and their ways of killing their targets. Our professor liked to keep things interesting so when she brought up the topic the entire room was up in arms. I had let my mind drift before I heard my name being called, bringing me back to reality.

"When you see the pictures of the Saints first victim, Petrova, what are your first thoughts other than the obvious?"

"You mean other than his eyes missing? The pennies would be a good place to start; whoever these Saints are clearly studied and paid attention to their ancient Greek and Roman history." I got a few looks of confusion from my fellow classmates before I pressed on. "In ancient times your loved ones would bury you with coins over your eyes; they believed that you had to pay a toll to the boatman who would then carry you across the River Styx to the gates of Judgment. From there your fate was decided; that being said if you were to die in battle, in lieu of a fiery burial you could have three handfuls of dirt thrown over your body and it was considered to be a formal burial as long as you had your coins. However if you died and were without payment your soul was forced to wait on the banks of the River until the toll could be paid. This could be what we refer to as Purgatory in modern society.

"I also think that whoever these Saints are had to be about the same height in order for the bullet wounds to be where they are. Without seeing pictures of the back of the skull it's hard to say which bullet went in first and which went in second. There would've been a delay in firing one gun and then the other, otherwise the bullets would've struck each other and the trajectory of the bullets would've changed. If you want my two cents, no pun intended, if we all graduate and these Saints are still working by that time then I think we're all going to have jobs in this field."

I kind of tuned myself out after that, returning my thoughts to everything that had happened over the course of the last 36 hours; especially with what happened this morning. Yes I was on the pill but there's always that chance that it could fail leaving me knocked up if he hadn't wrapped it; that was part of the reason why I had left the remainder of the box out after he fell asleep. Which reminds me, I have to pick up another box when I do my shopping this weekend; then again, at the rate these two are going through them during the course of one night, I better make that two or three boxes. I was taken from my thoughts once again when our professor announced that our next class was going to be a field trip down to the morgue so those of us with weak stomachs may want to think about staying home. The prospect was actually kind of exciting in my opinion.

I had gotten home right around 6:45 to find Murphy fast asleep on my couch with the t.v. turned on low. I shut the door as quietly as I could but I was pretty sure the sound of his snoring drowned out any noise that the door made. I set my things on the ruined kitchen table and got out the package of ground deer that I put in the fridge the other day to thaw out, what can I say Bambi tastes good. I had no idea what I was making for dinner tonight, but it was going to be a K.I.S.S meal and if Murphy was hungry then he could clean up the kitchen. He may have a head injury but he's not disabled so doing the dishes was not going to be the end of the world.

"I was wearing one if dat's what yer still worried about." He told me as he came into the kitchen pressing a quick kiss to my cheek before shuffling out to use the bathroom.

I breathed a huge sigh of relief, releasing most of the tension that had built up in my neck and shoulders over the course of the day. I say most only because Jack's unexpected phone call out of the blue had my suspicions raised as well as working up the courage to tell Charlie that I was quitting the museum. Duffy had called me while I was on my way to school saying that they wanted to offer me a paid internship with the forensics department and gave me the name of the lead in that unit who would have more details for me. I loved archaeology and I loved to get dirty but helping to bring closure to someone's family seemed to be more rewarding.

"I hope ya don't mind dat I stayed here after ya left but I've been trying ta avoid talking ta Ma all day. I miss her and all dat but I don't need her worrying over me when we're separated by an ocean. Truthfully dat was part of da reason why we left; we couldn't take anymore of her hounding us. Are ya okay? Ya don't look quite like yerself."

"Just got a lot going on upstairs that I need to sort through. She's your mother though, you need to call her and let her know that you're okay. You may be separated by an ocean but that doesn't mean she won't cross it; if I went through what you did my mom would've been here in a heartbeat. Look at it this way, if you don't call her she probably will swim across that ocean to check up on you. From the stories that all three of you have told me, I wouldn't put it past her. If you don't call her then I will and you won't like it if I start talking with your mom. I will get her to start telling me everything about your childhood, including all of the embarrassing stories of puberty that Connor has alluded too."

"Okay, okay I'll call her in da morning. Why don't ya tell me what it is ya need ta sort out, maybe it's somet'ing I could help with? If we're going ta try dis whole relationship t'ing den I need ya ta know you can tell me anyt'ing as long as ya feel comfortable with it."

I'll have to remember to thank him for that one later over dinner. It's been probably less than 24 hours and I've already started rebuilding the walls that Murphy has worked so hard on taking down. His hands quietly coming up behind me to knead the sore, stiff muscles in my back was a good way of getting me to relax. These apprehensions were going to be my downfall; I've been so used to being on my own and I knew what was coming if this kept up.

"You remember when you were in the hospital and there were some nights I'd come up smelling like I rolled around in the mud? The detectives that I was working with on that cold case called me up saying they have a paid internship opening up in the forensics department. I love my job at the museum but I want to be a lot closer to home and I want to be able to apply what I'm learning to the field." I started, figuring this would be as good a place to start as any.

"So yer gonna be looking at dead bodies all day rather den cleaning mud off shit? Won't ya get sick seeing dat all day?"

"I've got a strong stomach; we're taking a field trip to the morgue next week for class. Who knows what they would have me doing, I may be looking at dead bodies or I may be working on cold cases or it could be a combination of both. I don't know if it matters or not but I got a phone call today from that asshole Jack. The one that Charlie and Ryan doubled up with me on and you two were hooting and hollering over that black dress? He said he wanted to take me out to dinner tonight; I told him I had class tonight and that I had just started seeing someone. I hung up on him before he could say anything but it just kind of creeped me out that he'd call just out of the blue. Something about his tone was off. It could be nothing or it could be something, I don't know but it was creepy and it takes a lot to creep me out."

There was a knock on the door and Connor's voice on the other side demanding entrance. I had asked Murphy to the open the door while I finished dinner; I had settled on Sloppy Joes and homemade onion rings. There was plenty of beer left in the fridge to wash it all down afterwards if they needed it. Not that they would be in serious need of it since the batter for the onion rings I made had a full bottle of beer in it.

It was too quiet out in the hallway so once the meat was done cooking and I was able to move the pan to the back burner I cautiously walked out of the kitchen with my hand gripping the butcher's knife that I grabbed out of the block on the counter. My door was shut and both Connor and Murphy were slumped over on the floor bleeding out.

I swallowed the lump in my throat as my palms began to sweat, dropping my only means of defense to the floor with a clang. Their attacker didn't even have to turn around for me to know who it was. He had me backed up against the bedroom door in no time, gliding his hand over my throat as he leaned in to whisper in my ear words that only I could hear.

"I've missed you."