Fiction: The Interloper :: Part VI
Title: The Interloper
Pairing: Justin/Iris Carnivale
Spoilers: The whole series
Warnings: It came with the show, I will not warn for it.
Ratings: PG
Disclaimer: These people and this universe is the property of Daniel Knauf. None of these things happened, not to be confused with the genius of his creation by any means.
Author's Note: Previous chapters are linked below, as well as the song I was listening to for this segment of the story.
Summary: The detective wrapped his body around Iris's, showing her how to strike the croquet ball with the mallet. She laughed like a little girl as the brightly colored ball rolled through the wire hoops plunged deep into the grass. Justin gently swung his own mallet in his hand, acclimating himself to the weight and heft of it, so that he would know the precise amount of force to use if he decided to take a swing at the interloper's head. Justin struck his ball through the hoop smiling smugly as it smacked the detective's out of the way.
Mazzy Star :: Roseblood
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Jack decided that Coreen Templeton looked rather like a hermit crab tucked snugly into the deck chair she was sitting in, her coral dress fit snugly around her rotund figure and the rapid pace at which she was fanning herself gave her arms the appearance of antennae or eyestalks waving over her crossed legs, which pressed together could form the large cheliped of the gastropods he became all too familiar with in his time pulling bodies out of the San Francisco Bay when he was still on the police force. He smiled at her giving a little wink, she fanned herself more vigorously, blushing slightly. Jack turned his attention back to the game of croquet taking place behind him. Val Templeton was sweating in the afternoon sun in his high buttoned shirt and suspenders. The yellow bow tie he was wearing merely accentuated the utter roundness of his head, and begged any passerby to loosen it just a bit so that some of the blood could flow back to the body. Sweat was actually forming droplets across Val's bright pink complexion as he narrowed his eyes at the distance between his ball and the thin wire hoop plunged deep into the bright green lawn.
Jack looked across the small obstacle course at Iris standing next to her brother. She was wearing a blue dress that lifted ever so slightly at the hem when she lifted her hand up to shade her eyes from the sun as she looked out over the camps for what Jack counted to be the fourteenth time in the last hour. Jack found the little flashes of garter belt just under her knees exciting enough in its own odd way to keep him from being annoyed at the tedious routine of looking and waiting that Iris seemed to be stuck in as the men focused intently on the game at hand. Jack studied Iris's profile as she stared out across the tents and swarming people down below, he liked the squint that her features took on when she was concentrating, it was his favorite expression in her repertoire he decided as he waited for his turn. He followed the shade of her hand down her neck and the freckles that teased at him from the collar of her dress, he wanted to wander even further into that dress and see if her breasts were equally spotted, or milky white and pale, you never knew with a red head quite what you were going to get. Jack let his eyes walk along the white collar of her dress as it circled back around to her neck, where whisps of auburn curl were dancing in the breeze, he traveled up to the smirking pout of her lips, he wondered if there was a smattering of freckles on her lower lip under the dark rouge of her lipstick.
Jack continued his visual tour of Iris's body, moving up to take in the squint of her eyes, and was stopped abruptly by her icy blue gaze as she narrowed her eyes on him. He'd been caught. Iris simply moved her eyes up and down Jack's frame and cocked an eyebrow, tilting her head back ever so slightly so she could look at him with the exact degree of derision required of her virtue. Jack held his gaze and smiled to let her know that he approved of what he saw, but not enough to imply that he thought she cared for a second what his appraisal of her figure was. Jack found flirting to be one of his favorite social activities, it was an art and you could never spend enough time assessing strategies and implementing tactical maneuvers. He realized this was one of the reasons he found himself so attracted to Iris Crowe, she was smart and he was sure that there wasn't a single thing that she didn't see. Jack had to keep reminding himself that Iris had already looked him in the eye and lied to him twice, but he found himself willing to forgive her if he might get to press his mouth against her neck by the end of the day, Jack shook the thought from his head. She was trouble, and more than likely she was the woman he was looking for. Not that having given birth to a bastard twenty something years ago made her unappealing to him, but he knew that the drama that always ensues after such revelations would preclude much romance between the two of them.
Jack broke his gaze from Iris after a few moments so as not to come off as overbearing and settled on Justin Crowe. Justin was staring straight at Jack, he'd been caught twice in less than five minutes. Jack made a note to himself that he must always be aware of where Justin was in proximity to his sister. Justin was wearing his cassock from the Sunday service still and Jack allowed himself a private chuckle at the slight ridiculousness of a long black robe in the middle of shining green grass and open cerulean blue sky all around them. Justin just looked rather dour in the middle of their game of croquet, come to think of it Jack thought, Justin looked downright Old Testament gently swinging his croquet mallet as he stood tall over his sister in his vestments, glaring down across the distraction of brightly colored balls and wire hoops at their feet. Realizing this second layer of humor in the situation was almost enough to push an audible chuckle out of Jack. Here were two burly men, Jack refused to count Val Templeton among them, in their respective uniforms glaring at each other over a game of croquet, a game for little girls in Easter gowns or people who take tea and actually use parasols.
Jack had to admit he was a little offput by the sheer size of Justin, it was very rare that Jack came across another man built like him. Jack was a little more than used to commanding a room by simply walking into it. Perhaps that was another reason that Iris intrigued him, years with her brother, himself well over six feet tall and large, had immunized her to the kind of physical feminine frailty Jack tended to despise in women. Jack watched as Justin leaned down toward Iris, whispering something into her ear, placing his hand along her lower back and smiling, he felt his own hand twitching with the desire to be that close to Iris again. Jack kicked himself mentally again for not getting in a few more touches when he was walking Iris to her car a few days before. Jack reminded himself to keep his eyes moving and he looked over at Val Templeton standing next to his wife's chair, dabbing at his forehead with a handkerchief while she fanned him unenthusiastically with her fan, two sweeps toward him for every four toward herself.
Jack looked back toward Justin and Iris, Iris cast a look toward the Templetons and then back at Jack and smiled. Templeton waved at Iris reminding her that it was her turn and she quickly ambled up to the course, positioning herself over her ball with her back to Jack, and he didn't waist any time trying to discern the exact shape of her hips under the blue fabric of her dress as she bent over slightly poising the helve of her mallet to strike as she turned her head and attempted to line the trajectory of her ball with the arrangement of hoops. Then Iris stopped and stood up straight, leaning over her shoulder to look at Jack, "What exactly am I aiming for again?" she asked in a tone of genuine confusion, which she punctuated with a knowing smirk in his direction.
"Well," Jack said, walking up behind Iris and allowing his hand to graze every so lightly across her back, "you're trying to get your ball through that series of hoops." Jack pointed toward the curving series of hoops. "Also, you might want to try and knock your opponents out of the way, so you can get to the goal first." Iris looked at him putting on an appearance of utter confusion that turned Jack on to no end, not the stupidity of course, but the absolute gaul with which she was putting on a show, and how well she was doing it. "It's kind of like billiards Ms.Crowe," he said, "you want to try and predict the trajectory your ball is going to take after it strikes your opponent's." Iris looked at him blankly. "Here, Ms. Crowe, let me show you." Jack wrapped himself around Iris, allowing himself the briefest of intakes of her hair as he reached his arms around and laid them along hers, covering her hands along the handle of her mallet. He turned his face into her hair and whispered in her ear, "Just let me use your body to do it." Jack felt Iris relax underneath him surrendering control of the mallet. Jack brought the mallet back and tapped Iris's ball at skewed angle.
Iris giggled like a little girl as her ball rolled smoothly through two of the hoops. Jack let his lips rest on the back of her neck for a split second before unwrapping himself from her body, as he slipped his hands away from hers she squeezed at his fingers, and it sent a spark through his whole body. Justin was still gently swinging his mallet in his hand, but he was more insistent now, and Jack knew he was merely acclimating himself to its exact weight and heft should he decide to swing it at Jack's head. Justin walked briskly to his ball behind Jack's, calculating force, angle and trajectory between his mallet, his ball, and the other balls in play in a few short moments before pulling back his mallet and taking his swing. Jack was sure that Justin's quick temper was going to cost him this game. Justin smiled smugly at the loud crack as his ball knocked Jack's out of play. He turned quickly, making the skirt of his cassock flourish slightly in the breeze, "Oh, I'm sorry Mr. Tiernan." He walked up to Iris and put his arm around her shoulder gruffly, "I guess your out of play for awhile."
Man of God or no, Jack didn't like Justin Crowe. "That's quite alright Mr. Crowe." Jack smiled, "I've got Coreen to keep me company while the three of you work it out."
"Oh yes Detective," Coreen gushed, "do come have a seat and tell me all about this case that Iris is helping you with."
"It would be my pleasure my dear," Jack cooed back at her, casting a look at Iris who was nearly swallowing her lips to stifle her laughter, before turning his back on the croquet game and heading toward the hermit crab waving him in to her murky cove in the dark shade of the trees.
Jack sat across the low table from Coreen in a matching deck chair, which managed to leave his large frame more breathing room that hers.
"Don't be discouraged Jack," Coreen said smiling at him, "it's just since Tommy Dolan, well, Justin is very protective of his sister."
"Oh, I'm not discouraged in the slightest." Jack said grinning widely.
"Good, Jack, because I do love train wreck." Coreen said whistfully, leaning back into her chair as much as was possible.
"Excuse me?" Jack said craning his head to look at her.
She laughed heartily, "Oh, come on Jack, you heard me. The two of you, it reads like disaster."
"And what happened to the sweet woman who wanted to hear all about the case I'm working on with Iris?" Jack asked genuinely confused.
"Oh, she's right here Jack. I'm sweet, but I'm not stupid."
"I feel like I don't know you in the slightest." Jack said shaking his head, unsure of whether to laugh or walk away while he was still relatively unscathed.
"Listen Jack, you've got the town gossip at your disposal here for only the most fleeting of moments." Coreen smiled at him coyly, "Now why don't you ask me about something you really want to know about."
Jack regained his composure realizing that Coreen obviously liked him more than she did anyone else on the lawn, and that it was in his best interest to take advantage of that fact. "What can you tell me about the Dahlias?" Jack asked dropping all pretense, and speaking plainly to her the way he would an informant.
"Which incarnation of the Dahlias would that be Jack?" They both leaned back in there chairs, not looking at each other, but watching as Justin, Iris, and Val took turns swinging their mallets and chasing their balls through the grass. Iris reached up and fidgeted with the collar of Justin's robe. He grabbed her hands and pushed them away, before beginning to unbotton his robe, he took it off and hung it across the branch of a nearby tree, walking back to reveal blindingly white shirtsleeves.
"Well, I've been trying to locate someone that would have worked there between 1908 and 1910. They don't have employee records for that far back. They directed me to Iris, they said she might be able to remember names and faces. Dr. Dahlia is quite advanced in years now."
Iris was prairie dogging again, looking out over the camps, her hand shading her eyes. Her whole body was stretching up. Jack caught himself looking towards the camps as well, trying to see whatever it was that she was looking at. All he could see was swarms and swirls of people moving about, and the shining white canvas flaps of tents.
"I can tell you why there aren't any employee records, and just so you know Jack, Dr. Dahlia's faculties are not the reason he can't remember names and dates. The man is sharp as a tack, his daughter told me so." Coreen put her fan over her face as though the croquet players might be able to read her lips as she leaned across the table. "The first Mrs. Dahlia, the one that was around back then, she left Dr. Dahlia after she found out he'd been paying one of the maids for certain services, and the poor girl had gotten pregnant. Turns out that she wanted even more money, and the whole thing blew up in the poor girl's face. I imagine that Mrs. Dahlia destroyed any records she could get her hands on to avoid the humiliation, and of course the pay out." Coreen went back to fanning herself mildly, smirking at Jack.
"I don't understand, what kind of payout?" Jack asked.
"Well for some bastard of course. She wouldn't want any other children dipping into her finances. It's a hard world out there Jack, especailly for a woman without a decent man to rely on." She batted her eyelashes mockingly at Jack.
"And just where did you hear all of this gossip?"
"My mother." she said very primly.
Jack frowned slightly, not quite understanding.
"Just before I married Val my mother sat me down and explained to me about poor Mrs. Dahlia. Let that be a lesson to a woman, never hire young pretty girls to do the cooking and cleaning, its only a matter of time before they're doing the marrying and breeding. That was how she put it." Coreen raised her eyebrows at Jack unapologetically. "Oh please Jack, in your line of work you haven't learned yet that life isn't fair?"
"Of course I've learned that Coreen, but really, you should at least try to have a heart." he said contorting he face into a mild grimace of disgust.
Iris's hair was falling down and Justin picked something up off the ground. He presented it to Iris and she grabbed at her hair, exasperated. Jack watched as Justin stood behind Iris dutifully tucking the hair back into place, and sliding what must have been one of her hair pins back into place. She turned to Val, he seemed to be sizing her up, he nodded at her affirmatively, that Justin had fixed her hair well enough and they went back to playing.
"Don't you go feeling sorry for those little guttersnipes, they would trade me places in an instant without a second thought to putting me out on my oversized posterior." Coreen said half laughing.
"Can you tell me anything else about the pregnant maid?"
"Me, no. But I wonder if Iris might?" she looked at Jack like a sly fox. "What do you think Jack?"
Jack looked over at her bristling slightly at the implication, but knowing that it could very well be true. He relaxed his features and smlied weakly at her before turning his attention back to Iris and her brother in the center of the shining verdure all around them, leaning on each other as they watched Val take a shot. Iris looked over her shoulder at Jack smiling. Jack smiled back at her.
"One thing I've learned about people is that you never really know them." Jack said, catching himself waxing philisophical but deciding to finish the thought anyway. "You might think you do, but you don't. I don't think anything would surprise me anymore. Though I never stop hoping."
Justin, Iris, and Val started heading back toward Coreen and Jack at the table. Iris was laughing and talking to Val, he was watching the ground in front of him and it looked as though he was trying to stifle his own laughter. Iris looked up toward the sky and began moving her arms up and down in an exaggerated motion. Justin grabbed her arm suddenly and moved her out of the way of something on the ground in front of them. Jack sat up as they approached the table. Val came up to Coreen and kissed her on the cheek. "I hope my wife was good company for you Jack."
"Oh, most certainly Val." Jack responded perhaps too enthusiastically he thought.
"I'm going to run inside and freshen up dear." Val said to Coreen before jaunting off toward the house. Iris and Justin were still a good twenty feet away. Iris was examining the back seam of Justin's shirt, trying to see how far a loose thread had unravelled it seemed.
"It's too bad our time is up Jack." Coreen whispered. "You should have asked me about that."
Iris sat on the edge of her bed letting herself get lost in the patterns endlessly turning in her rug, the sound of Rose's voice, the laughter of children from down in the camps, the feeling of Sofie's hair against her cheek, the feel of Jack's kiss against the back of her neck that afternoon, they all came together and infused each other. All the sensations of her life diffused into the air around her, the spaces in her head that she could never quite seem to clear. She recalled again the sound of the match as she struck it and a wave of sadness crashed over her. She didn't want to chase it away, she tried to focus on it to make it grow into something big enough to overtake her so that perhaps should could finally feel something about it, and begin to repair. She was tired of feeling like a wicked thing, she wanted to feel broken. Iris walked over to her dresser and opened the drawer full of fragments of her broken mirror. She ran her thumb across the jagged edge of one of the shards, before deciding that the summer months would make hiding the cuts more difficult. Iris walked back to her bed and perched on its edge again, with no idea what to do with herself and her weird grieving.
"We don't have another Tommy Dolan on our hands do we?" Justin said from Iris's doorway. Iris looked up startled.
"What do you mean?" Iris said, tilting her head.
Justin walked across the threshold into Iris's room and sat down next to her on the bed. "I mean, some outsider, coming in to stir up trouble."
"Justin," Iris said, exhaling deeply "you were the one that brought Tommy in to stir up trouble in the first place."
"No Iris," Justin protested, "he came to suspect you all on his own. It perhaps wouldn't have been a problem if you hadn't put him in the position to get rejected in the first place."
"Justin I don't even want to talk about this, why revisit old wounds?" Iris got up from the bed and began pacing around her room, worrying the chain of her necklace like a rosary.
"No, Iris, let's talk about this." Justin said raising his voice, staring up at his sister from her bed as she paced back and forth in front of him. He reached out and grabbed Iris's arm, stopping her. "This is the root of all our problems isn't it? This whole business with Tommy."
Iris looked down into Justin's eyes, "The root of all of our problems, goes much, much deeper than Tommy Dolan."
Justin stood up so that he towered over her again, "What did I do to you?" He pushed himself into her space, "What did I ever do but love you and save you?"
Iris met his look, setting her jaw into a stern expression of defiance. "How can you look at me and say that, all of your petty torments?" She pushed her self up into his face as she continued, "You know exactly what is that you've done...that you do Justin."
Justin grabbed Iris and pulled her to him hard, "You're the one who set the fire, don't forget that!" he said in a heated whisper, punctauting each syllable with a tightening of his grip.
"If it wasn't for me you wouldn't have any of this." Iris growled back, "Look around you, I earned it on my hands and knees, I earned it with my soul, so that you could have everything you see before you." Justin pushed Iris away from him. She found herself backing away, unsure of what emotions she had just inspired in her brother, but still burning with her own anger too keenly to think clearly.
"You don't think that anything you do is wrong Iris," Justin said calmly, almost smiling at Iris as she smoldered against her bedroom wall, "your hubris astounds me at times." Justin walked over to Iris placing an arm on either side of her so she couldn't escape. "This detective is up to something, what is it?"
"He's just looking for someone." Iris focused her eyes down.
"If he was just looking for something then why does he keep coming around?" Justin pressed in on Iris more.
"I don't know Justin," she said bringing her head up but keeping her eyes closed, "maybe he's interested in me." she said, opening her eyes and rolling her head to the side, training her eyes on the opposite wall.
"I love you Iris," Justin's voice was clear and calm, "I won't watch someone take you away from me." he wasn't making a threat but rather what sounded almost like a plea. "Is there anything in your past, anything I don't know about?"
Iris returned her gaze to Justin, looking him straight in the eye. "No, Justin." she said, "There are no secrets between us."
Justin knit his fingers into Iris's hair and pulled her face to his, kissing her forehead. "I want to believe you." he mumbled into her hair, "I want to trust you."
Pairing: Justin/Iris Carnivale
Spoilers: The whole series
Warnings: It came with the show, I will not warn for it.
Ratings: PG
Disclaimer: These people and this universe is the property of Daniel Knauf. None of these things happened, not to be confused with the genius of his creation by any means.
Author's Note: Previous chapters are linked below, as well as the song I was listening to for this segment of the story.
Summary: The detective wrapped his body around Iris's, showing her how to strike the croquet ball with the mallet. She laughed like a little girl as the brightly colored ball rolled through the wire hoops plunged deep into the grass. Justin gently swung his own mallet in his hand, acclimating himself to the weight and heft of it, so that he would know the precise amount of force to use if he decided to take a swing at the interloper's head. Justin struck his ball through the hoop smiling smugly as it smacked the detective's out of the way.
Mazzy Star :: Roseblood
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Jack decided that Coreen Templeton looked rather like a hermit crab tucked snugly into the deck chair she was sitting in, her coral dress fit snugly around her rotund figure and the rapid pace at which she was fanning herself gave her arms the appearance of antennae or eyestalks waving over her crossed legs, which pressed together could form the large cheliped of the gastropods he became all too familiar with in his time pulling bodies out of the San Francisco Bay when he was still on the police force. He smiled at her giving a little wink, she fanned herself more vigorously, blushing slightly. Jack turned his attention back to the game of croquet taking place behind him. Val Templeton was sweating in the afternoon sun in his high buttoned shirt and suspenders. The yellow bow tie he was wearing merely accentuated the utter roundness of his head, and begged any passerby to loosen it just a bit so that some of the blood could flow back to the body. Sweat was actually forming droplets across Val's bright pink complexion as he narrowed his eyes at the distance between his ball and the thin wire hoop plunged deep into the bright green lawn.
Jack looked across the small obstacle course at Iris standing next to her brother. She was wearing a blue dress that lifted ever so slightly at the hem when she lifted her hand up to shade her eyes from the sun as she looked out over the camps for what Jack counted to be the fourteenth time in the last hour. Jack found the little flashes of garter belt just under her knees exciting enough in its own odd way to keep him from being annoyed at the tedious routine of looking and waiting that Iris seemed to be stuck in as the men focused intently on the game at hand. Jack studied Iris's profile as she stared out across the tents and swarming people down below, he liked the squint that her features took on when she was concentrating, it was his favorite expression in her repertoire he decided as he waited for his turn. He followed the shade of her hand down her neck and the freckles that teased at him from the collar of her dress, he wanted to wander even further into that dress and see if her breasts were equally spotted, or milky white and pale, you never knew with a red head quite what you were going to get. Jack let his eyes walk along the white collar of her dress as it circled back around to her neck, where whisps of auburn curl were dancing in the breeze, he traveled up to the smirking pout of her lips, he wondered if there was a smattering of freckles on her lower lip under the dark rouge of her lipstick.
Jack continued his visual tour of Iris's body, moving up to take in the squint of her eyes, and was stopped abruptly by her icy blue gaze as she narrowed her eyes on him. He'd been caught. Iris simply moved her eyes up and down Jack's frame and cocked an eyebrow, tilting her head back ever so slightly so she could look at him with the exact degree of derision required of her virtue. Jack held his gaze and smiled to let her know that he approved of what he saw, but not enough to imply that he thought she cared for a second what his appraisal of her figure was. Jack found flirting to be one of his favorite social activities, it was an art and you could never spend enough time assessing strategies and implementing tactical maneuvers. He realized this was one of the reasons he found himself so attracted to Iris Crowe, she was smart and he was sure that there wasn't a single thing that she didn't see. Jack had to keep reminding himself that Iris had already looked him in the eye and lied to him twice, but he found himself willing to forgive her if he might get to press his mouth against her neck by the end of the day, Jack shook the thought from his head. She was trouble, and more than likely she was the woman he was looking for. Not that having given birth to a bastard twenty something years ago made her unappealing to him, but he knew that the drama that always ensues after such revelations would preclude much romance between the two of them.
Jack broke his gaze from Iris after a few moments so as not to come off as overbearing and settled on Justin Crowe. Justin was staring straight at Jack, he'd been caught twice in less than five minutes. Jack made a note to himself that he must always be aware of where Justin was in proximity to his sister. Justin was wearing his cassock from the Sunday service still and Jack allowed himself a private chuckle at the slight ridiculousness of a long black robe in the middle of shining green grass and open cerulean blue sky all around them. Justin just looked rather dour in the middle of their game of croquet, come to think of it Jack thought, Justin looked downright Old Testament gently swinging his croquet mallet as he stood tall over his sister in his vestments, glaring down across the distraction of brightly colored balls and wire hoops at their feet. Realizing this second layer of humor in the situation was almost enough to push an audible chuckle out of Jack. Here were two burly men, Jack refused to count Val Templeton among them, in their respective uniforms glaring at each other over a game of croquet, a game for little girls in Easter gowns or people who take tea and actually use parasols.
Jack had to admit he was a little offput by the sheer size of Justin, it was very rare that Jack came across another man built like him. Jack was a little more than used to commanding a room by simply walking into it. Perhaps that was another reason that Iris intrigued him, years with her brother, himself well over six feet tall and large, had immunized her to the kind of physical feminine frailty Jack tended to despise in women. Jack watched as Justin leaned down toward Iris, whispering something into her ear, placing his hand along her lower back and smiling, he felt his own hand twitching with the desire to be that close to Iris again. Jack kicked himself mentally again for not getting in a few more touches when he was walking Iris to her car a few days before. Jack reminded himself to keep his eyes moving and he looked over at Val Templeton standing next to his wife's chair, dabbing at his forehead with a handkerchief while she fanned him unenthusiastically with her fan, two sweeps toward him for every four toward herself.
Jack looked back toward Justin and Iris, Iris cast a look toward the Templetons and then back at Jack and smiled. Templeton waved at Iris reminding her that it was her turn and she quickly ambled up to the course, positioning herself over her ball with her back to Jack, and he didn't waist any time trying to discern the exact shape of her hips under the blue fabric of her dress as she bent over slightly poising the helve of her mallet to strike as she turned her head and attempted to line the trajectory of her ball with the arrangement of hoops. Then Iris stopped and stood up straight, leaning over her shoulder to look at Jack, "What exactly am I aiming for again?" she asked in a tone of genuine confusion, which she punctuated with a knowing smirk in his direction.
"Well," Jack said, walking up behind Iris and allowing his hand to graze every so lightly across her back, "you're trying to get your ball through that series of hoops." Jack pointed toward the curving series of hoops. "Also, you might want to try and knock your opponents out of the way, so you can get to the goal first." Iris looked at him putting on an appearance of utter confusion that turned Jack on to no end, not the stupidity of course, but the absolute gaul with which she was putting on a show, and how well she was doing it. "It's kind of like billiards Ms.Crowe," he said, "you want to try and predict the trajectory your ball is going to take after it strikes your opponent's." Iris looked at him blankly. "Here, Ms. Crowe, let me show you." Jack wrapped himself around Iris, allowing himself the briefest of intakes of her hair as he reached his arms around and laid them along hers, covering her hands along the handle of her mallet. He turned his face into her hair and whispered in her ear, "Just let me use your body to do it." Jack felt Iris relax underneath him surrendering control of the mallet. Jack brought the mallet back and tapped Iris's ball at skewed angle.
Iris giggled like a little girl as her ball rolled smoothly through two of the hoops. Jack let his lips rest on the back of her neck for a split second before unwrapping himself from her body, as he slipped his hands away from hers she squeezed at his fingers, and it sent a spark through his whole body. Justin was still gently swinging his mallet in his hand, but he was more insistent now, and Jack knew he was merely acclimating himself to its exact weight and heft should he decide to swing it at Jack's head. Justin walked briskly to his ball behind Jack's, calculating force, angle and trajectory between his mallet, his ball, and the other balls in play in a few short moments before pulling back his mallet and taking his swing. Jack was sure that Justin's quick temper was going to cost him this game. Justin smiled smugly at the loud crack as his ball knocked Jack's out of play. He turned quickly, making the skirt of his cassock flourish slightly in the breeze, "Oh, I'm sorry Mr. Tiernan." He walked up to Iris and put his arm around her shoulder gruffly, "I guess your out of play for awhile."
Man of God or no, Jack didn't like Justin Crowe. "That's quite alright Mr. Crowe." Jack smiled, "I've got Coreen to keep me company while the three of you work it out."
"Oh yes Detective," Coreen gushed, "do come have a seat and tell me all about this case that Iris is helping you with."
"It would be my pleasure my dear," Jack cooed back at her, casting a look at Iris who was nearly swallowing her lips to stifle her laughter, before turning his back on the croquet game and heading toward the hermit crab waving him in to her murky cove in the dark shade of the trees.
Jack sat across the low table from Coreen in a matching deck chair, which managed to leave his large frame more breathing room that hers.
"Don't be discouraged Jack," Coreen said smiling at him, "it's just since Tommy Dolan, well, Justin is very protective of his sister."
"Oh, I'm not discouraged in the slightest." Jack said grinning widely.
"Good, Jack, because I do love train wreck." Coreen said whistfully, leaning back into her chair as much as was possible.
"Excuse me?" Jack said craning his head to look at her.
She laughed heartily, "Oh, come on Jack, you heard me. The two of you, it reads like disaster."
"And what happened to the sweet woman who wanted to hear all about the case I'm working on with Iris?" Jack asked genuinely confused.
"Oh, she's right here Jack. I'm sweet, but I'm not stupid."
"I feel like I don't know you in the slightest." Jack said shaking his head, unsure of whether to laugh or walk away while he was still relatively unscathed.
"Listen Jack, you've got the town gossip at your disposal here for only the most fleeting of moments." Coreen smiled at him coyly, "Now why don't you ask me about something you really want to know about."
Jack regained his composure realizing that Coreen obviously liked him more than she did anyone else on the lawn, and that it was in his best interest to take advantage of that fact. "What can you tell me about the Dahlias?" Jack asked dropping all pretense, and speaking plainly to her the way he would an informant.
"Which incarnation of the Dahlias would that be Jack?" They both leaned back in there chairs, not looking at each other, but watching as Justin, Iris, and Val took turns swinging their mallets and chasing their balls through the grass. Iris reached up and fidgeted with the collar of Justin's robe. He grabbed her hands and pushed them away, before beginning to unbotton his robe, he took it off and hung it across the branch of a nearby tree, walking back to reveal blindingly white shirtsleeves.
"Well, I've been trying to locate someone that would have worked there between 1908 and 1910. They don't have employee records for that far back. They directed me to Iris, they said she might be able to remember names and faces. Dr. Dahlia is quite advanced in years now."
Iris was prairie dogging again, looking out over the camps, her hand shading her eyes. Her whole body was stretching up. Jack caught himself looking towards the camps as well, trying to see whatever it was that she was looking at. All he could see was swarms and swirls of people moving about, and the shining white canvas flaps of tents.
"I can tell you why there aren't any employee records, and just so you know Jack, Dr. Dahlia's faculties are not the reason he can't remember names and dates. The man is sharp as a tack, his daughter told me so." Coreen put her fan over her face as though the croquet players might be able to read her lips as she leaned across the table. "The first Mrs. Dahlia, the one that was around back then, she left Dr. Dahlia after she found out he'd been paying one of the maids for certain services, and the poor girl had gotten pregnant. Turns out that she wanted even more money, and the whole thing blew up in the poor girl's face. I imagine that Mrs. Dahlia destroyed any records she could get her hands on to avoid the humiliation, and of course the pay out." Coreen went back to fanning herself mildly, smirking at Jack.
"I don't understand, what kind of payout?" Jack asked.
"Well for some bastard of course. She wouldn't want any other children dipping into her finances. It's a hard world out there Jack, especailly for a woman without a decent man to rely on." She batted her eyelashes mockingly at Jack.
"And just where did you hear all of this gossip?"
"My mother." she said very primly.
Jack frowned slightly, not quite understanding.
"Just before I married Val my mother sat me down and explained to me about poor Mrs. Dahlia. Let that be a lesson to a woman, never hire young pretty girls to do the cooking and cleaning, its only a matter of time before they're doing the marrying and breeding. That was how she put it." Coreen raised her eyebrows at Jack unapologetically. "Oh please Jack, in your line of work you haven't learned yet that life isn't fair?"
"Of course I've learned that Coreen, but really, you should at least try to have a heart." he said contorting he face into a mild grimace of disgust.
Iris's hair was falling down and Justin picked something up off the ground. He presented it to Iris and she grabbed at her hair, exasperated. Jack watched as Justin stood behind Iris dutifully tucking the hair back into place, and sliding what must have been one of her hair pins back into place. She turned to Val, he seemed to be sizing her up, he nodded at her affirmatively, that Justin had fixed her hair well enough and they went back to playing.
"Don't you go feeling sorry for those little guttersnipes, they would trade me places in an instant without a second thought to putting me out on my oversized posterior." Coreen said half laughing.
"Can you tell me anything else about the pregnant maid?"
"Me, no. But I wonder if Iris might?" she looked at Jack like a sly fox. "What do you think Jack?"
Jack looked over at her bristling slightly at the implication, but knowing that it could very well be true. He relaxed his features and smlied weakly at her before turning his attention back to Iris and her brother in the center of the shining verdure all around them, leaning on each other as they watched Val take a shot. Iris looked over her shoulder at Jack smiling. Jack smiled back at her.
"One thing I've learned about people is that you never really know them." Jack said, catching himself waxing philisophical but deciding to finish the thought anyway. "You might think you do, but you don't. I don't think anything would surprise me anymore. Though I never stop hoping."
Justin, Iris, and Val started heading back toward Coreen and Jack at the table. Iris was laughing and talking to Val, he was watching the ground in front of him and it looked as though he was trying to stifle his own laughter. Iris looked up toward the sky and began moving her arms up and down in an exaggerated motion. Justin grabbed her arm suddenly and moved her out of the way of something on the ground in front of them. Jack sat up as they approached the table. Val came up to Coreen and kissed her on the cheek. "I hope my wife was good company for you Jack."
"Oh, most certainly Val." Jack responded perhaps too enthusiastically he thought.
"I'm going to run inside and freshen up dear." Val said to Coreen before jaunting off toward the house. Iris and Justin were still a good twenty feet away. Iris was examining the back seam of Justin's shirt, trying to see how far a loose thread had unravelled it seemed.
"It's too bad our time is up Jack." Coreen whispered. "You should have asked me about that."
Iris sat on the edge of her bed letting herself get lost in the patterns endlessly turning in her rug, the sound of Rose's voice, the laughter of children from down in the camps, the feeling of Sofie's hair against her cheek, the feel of Jack's kiss against the back of her neck that afternoon, they all came together and infused each other. All the sensations of her life diffused into the air around her, the spaces in her head that she could never quite seem to clear. She recalled again the sound of the match as she struck it and a wave of sadness crashed over her. She didn't want to chase it away, she tried to focus on it to make it grow into something big enough to overtake her so that perhaps should could finally feel something about it, and begin to repair. She was tired of feeling like a wicked thing, she wanted to feel broken. Iris walked over to her dresser and opened the drawer full of fragments of her broken mirror. She ran her thumb across the jagged edge of one of the shards, before deciding that the summer months would make hiding the cuts more difficult. Iris walked back to her bed and perched on its edge again, with no idea what to do with herself and her weird grieving.
"We don't have another Tommy Dolan on our hands do we?" Justin said from Iris's doorway. Iris looked up startled.
"What do you mean?" Iris said, tilting her head.
Justin walked across the threshold into Iris's room and sat down next to her on the bed. "I mean, some outsider, coming in to stir up trouble."
"Justin," Iris said, exhaling deeply "you were the one that brought Tommy in to stir up trouble in the first place."
"No Iris," Justin protested, "he came to suspect you all on his own. It perhaps wouldn't have been a problem if you hadn't put him in the position to get rejected in the first place."
"Justin I don't even want to talk about this, why revisit old wounds?" Iris got up from the bed and began pacing around her room, worrying the chain of her necklace like a rosary.
"No, Iris, let's talk about this." Justin said raising his voice, staring up at his sister from her bed as she paced back and forth in front of him. He reached out and grabbed Iris's arm, stopping her. "This is the root of all our problems isn't it? This whole business with Tommy."
Iris looked down into Justin's eyes, "The root of all of our problems, goes much, much deeper than Tommy Dolan."
Justin stood up so that he towered over her again, "What did I do to you?" He pushed himself into her space, "What did I ever do but love you and save you?"
Iris met his look, setting her jaw into a stern expression of defiance. "How can you look at me and say that, all of your petty torments?" She pushed her self up into his face as she continued, "You know exactly what is that you've done...that you do Justin."
Justin grabbed Iris and pulled her to him hard, "You're the one who set the fire, don't forget that!" he said in a heated whisper, punctauting each syllable with a tightening of his grip.
"If it wasn't for me you wouldn't have any of this." Iris growled back, "Look around you, I earned it on my hands and knees, I earned it with my soul, so that you could have everything you see before you." Justin pushed Iris away from him. She found herself backing away, unsure of what emotions she had just inspired in her brother, but still burning with her own anger too keenly to think clearly.
"You don't think that anything you do is wrong Iris," Justin said calmly, almost smiling at Iris as she smoldered against her bedroom wall, "your hubris astounds me at times." Justin walked over to Iris placing an arm on either side of her so she couldn't escape. "This detective is up to something, what is it?"
"He's just looking for someone." Iris focused her eyes down.
"If he was just looking for something then why does he keep coming around?" Justin pressed in on Iris more.
"I don't know Justin," she said bringing her head up but keeping her eyes closed, "maybe he's interested in me." she said, opening her eyes and rolling her head to the side, training her eyes on the opposite wall.
"I love you Iris," Justin's voice was clear and calm, "I won't watch someone take you away from me." he wasn't making a threat but rather what sounded almost like a plea. "Is there anything in your past, anything I don't know about?"
Iris returned her gaze to Justin, looking him straight in the eye. "No, Justin." she said, "There are no secrets between us."
Justin knit his fingers into Iris's hair and pulled her face to his, kissing her forehead. "I want to believe you." he mumbled into her hair, "I want to trust you."