Xion Island Zero: Chapter 44

The team waited for Nash to be released from the hospital before having their end-of-case celebration. They agreed that, while he was a grumpy git, the night out wouldn’t be the same without him. Brown and Norton laughed together, and Nash was pleased to see a genuine friendship forming, though neither of them would openly admit it. The end of a case decompression was just a night out in a local bar, but they’d decided that it would be easier for Nash and nice to honour the victims, with a quiet meal in The Ferry instead.

The lighting was low, and the ambience warm, with nautical paintings of old Barrow on the walls and candles on the tables. They’d reserved the rear half of the dining room, and the staff had gone the extra mile for them. Which, after the recent praise and positive coverage in the media, made a nice change from complaints about how remiss the police department was.

Brown fussed around Nash and made note of the fact that he was pale and thinner than usual. He walked gingerly with his left arm hugged into his ribs to protect them. Kelvin stayed close, helping him into his seat until Nash said, ‘Get off me. What is it with you two? I’m not fifty yet, never mind eighty. Leave me alone.’

They argued about what to eat and looked at the menus for far too long in Nash’s opinion, before ordering their food. He didn’t care how long they took. He knew what he wanted, because it was the same as he always had, anywhere—Steak—medium rare. The wine had been left to breathe, and he was already halfway through his first glass of a rather excellent red.

‘Aren’t you on tablets? Should you be drinking that?’ Brown said, and the withering look she received ensured that it was the last remark she made about Nash’s health that night. 

The food arrived with generous portions outweighing culinary sophistication, and for a while, the table was full of stories and quiet jokes. The air felt safe again, and Nash was enjoying himself. As with the end of every tense case, the drama was finally behind them, and it was time to breathe easy.

Nash wiped his mouth on a paper serviette—he’d have preferred a cloth one. He heard raucous laughter and shifted uncomfortably in his seat. It came from a party across the room, and he saw one of the teenagers who had attacked him in the alleyway. Kelvin felt him stiffen and followed his eyeline, but Nash knew all anybody else saw was a group of people having fun.

Luke’s gaze rested on him as his name came to Nash’s mind. He gave a smirk that didn’t reach his eyes and bent to whisper something to the boy beside him. They looked back, and Nash felt the hair on his arms rise.

Luke sat across the room with his family. He was with a party of a dozen people, and balloons bobbed over the back of the chairs they were tied to—tacky. A banner read Happy 18th, Toby!

The boy who’d attacked Nash wasn’t called Toby, and it wasn’t his birthday, but he was there, glaring at him with cold eyes. As Nash met his look without flinching, the boy’s face split into a menacing grin. His unspoken threat was written in the tense line of his hands moving across his throat and the way his body leaned.

Nash leant closer to Kelvin. ‘That’s one of the kids who beat me up. I need to keep an eye on him.’

Kelvin stood up. ‘I’ll kill him.’

Nash pulled him down into his seat. ‘He’s not worth it. Barrow’s full of little scroats like him.’

‘Was he the one who hit you?’ Kelvin was hissing at him from the side of his mouth while cutlery scraped, and the conversation was lively around them.

Nash heard the word, ‘faggot,’ come from a man at the boy’s table.

‘Yes, but let it go, Kel.’

Kelvin’s jaw flexed. Nash knew that look. He wanted to leap over the table and put someone on the floor, but Nash needed calm. ‘No. Who the hell is he?’

‘Luke Grieve, he’s just a kid. He was one of the main ones, but not the ringleader. It’s okay. I’ve got this. I need you to ignore him.’ Nash felt Kelvin’s anger and willed him to calm down. He stroked Kelvin’s back, something he would never normally do, especially in a room full of bigots. He felt Kelvin's breathing slow and thought it would be okay.