A.J. Llewellyn by Roley's Wood

Author:Roley's Wood
Format: epub
Published: 2013-05-10T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Three

We couldn’t decide where to go. Frankly, I would have been happy with instant soup and English muffins from our household stash and another rocking good time in my bed, but we walked down to the pub. We sat at a table in the corner where I let him order food for us both.

“Are you fond of cullen skink?” Brodie asked me over the sound of some guy playing the fiddle across the other side of the room.

“Cullen skink? Is that food?”

He smiled at me. “Traditional Scottish soup of haddock, potatoes, onions…”

“Sounds good to me.”

“Me, too. It says here they bake their own bread. Oh, they also have my favourite chicken breast topped with haggis and finished with whisky cream.”

“Isn’t haggis like, um…black pudding? Made with sheep’s offal and stuff.”

“It comes with vegetables,” he said, his smile widening. “Try it. It might surprise you.”

The waitress took our orders and brought us each a beer.

Brodie stared across the room. “The report’s on TV,” he said. “People are starting to get nervous.”

“They should be,” I said. I was wondering where Milo and Paul were, but they were big boys. Funny…I hadn’t noticed Milo’s bicycle in the house…but then, I didn’t really care what he’d done with it.

“I’m really glad I can spend time with you, Brodie. I thought you’d be working tonight.”

He shook his head. “The autopsy was this afternoon. I present my findings tomorrow to the Crown, then we proceed.” He sipped his beer. “I’m glad I can spend time with you, too.”

Our soup arrived and I had to admit it was incredible. I ate quickly. I hadn’t had anything since breakfast. The pub’s landlady came right over to me when she saw me and began talking about Daracha.

“Imagine—you and Dr Slattery, right in the thick of things!”

A few people turned to stare and I got worried that things might be awkward for Brodie, but he didn’t act that way. Our chicken arrived. It was the richest meal I’d had in months. I loved it.

“Well,” Brodie said, “your family background is Irish, so…maybe you’re predisposed to the finer cuisine of life.”

I had to laugh at that. We talked about our lives, our careers… I was surprised to learn his job did not involve the financial aspect of litigation, even though he was a procurator fiscal. He explained how it was a title that went back hundreds of years. Everything he said was fascinating to me.

He’d grown up in Edinburgh, had been educated in Oxford then returned home because he had missed his family, which consisted of his parents and a brother who was married with two kids.

“They’re all dying to meet you,” he told me. “I told them what you did…and you’ve been on the news a bit.”

“Are they very tolerant of your being gay?”

“Surprisingly, yes. There are a lot of gay businesses in Edinburgh and professional people are slowly coming out. I don’t make a secret of my sexuality, but I’m pretty low key by nature, in spite of how it might have seemed when I showed up at your door.

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