A Ritual For the Dying: (Detective Inspector Declan Walsh Crime Series Book 6) by Jack Gatland

Author:Jack Gatland [Gatland, Jack]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hooded Man Media
Published: 2021-08-14T16:00:00+00:00

At the same time that Morten De’Geer was learning things about his late father that he probably didn’t want to know, Billy Fitzwarren was having his own family meeting, although this one was in a far posher location. Which was impressive considering how posh Henley-on-Thames was these days.

‘I’m surprised you agreed to meet for dinner,’ Chivalry said as he cut into his steak, currently sitting at a window seat in The Ivy restaurant. Billy considered this.

‘I don’t know why,’ he replied. ‘You’re the one who should turn my requests down, not the other way around.’

Chivalry ferociously chewed at his meat as he pondered the statement.

’True, but you’ve been in the cold long enough,’ he replied after swallowing. ‘It’s time for the family to unite and welcome their lost sheep back into the fold.’

Billy paused, his fork halfway to his mouth, the asparagus tipping off it, falling back onto his plate.

‘No,’ he replied. ‘This seems a little too easy, a little too convenient.’

‘How?’ Chivalry waved his own fork like a conductor. ‘You’re the one who emailed me, asking to meet. How am I being the suspicious one?’

‘Because you’re making it too easy for me,’ Billy replied, digging back into his dinner. ‘There’s no negotiation. Your son, uncle Bryan is in prison because of me, and you’re treating it like it never happened.’

Chivalry’s eyes clouded as his face darkened.

‘Oh, it happened,’ he hissed and finally, the true personality of Steven ‘Chivalry’ Fitzwarren was revealed. ‘And I’m very much aware of how much you had to do with it.’

‘Then why are you being so nice?’ Billy, exasperated, replied. Chivalry shrugged.

‘Professional curiosity,’ he stated. ‘You called to meet, so I wanted to see what you were offering. I mean, I’m guessing you’re offering me something, or we wouldn’t be here.’

Billy found he didn’t have an answer for this.

‘I miss my mother,’ he said eventually. ‘When I put away Bryan, it was because he was hurting people. Doing underhanded things. I thought I was doing the right thing, that my family would understand.’

‘And instead they threw you under a bus,’ Chivalry grinned, steak juice running down his chin as he mopped at it with his napkin. ‘That must have really hurt. Forgive me if I don’t seem to express any concern.’

‘You made a comment back in the pub,’ Billy continued. ‘That there was a chance that I could return.’

‘That’s a tough one,’ Chivalry leaned back. ‘We gave you an opportunity to return, when Rufus Harrington offered you a stupidly well-paying job to leave the force. And for a moment, we thought you’d take it, too.’

‘I thought so as well,’ Billy nodded. ‘I quit and everything. But then I realised something. I saw I made a genuine difference here. We’ve taken down some real vicious bastards in the time I’ve been here, and we’re helping people. Good people.’

‘People who aren’t your family,’ Chivalry muttered.

Billy shook his head.

‘Don’t give me that,’ he replied. ‘You’ve not given two shits about the family for years, either. You and my dad barely talk, and great-grandfather disowned you because of your hobbies.

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