Page 59 of Fighting Salvation

Val regarded Niall and saw the resemblance. Not so acutely as this man did, but she’d never known Niall’s father either.

Niall pointed at the chairs. “May we sit?”

The man nodded. “Yes, of course. My apologies, you have me all of a dither.”

“My father thought very highly of you, Mr Joffrey. He always said he couldn’t do his job without you.”

“Yes, well, he was a good man and a fine boss. We were all heartbroken over what happened to your family and you. None of us believed you were involved for a second. I still remember you visiting your father here even after you joined the military. It always made me smile how affectionate you were with each other, even as grown men.”

“Thank you for saying that. I truly appreciate it.”

Niall looked away and she wanted to reach out and take away all his pain, but she couldn’t, so she pressed her leg against his so he knew she was there. He glanced at her and placed his hand on her knee as if he needed the contact too.

Mr Joffrey leaned forward and locked his hands together and Val saw no malice or attempt to conceal his thoughts or actions. That was unusual but she got good vibes from this man.

“So what would you like to know?”

“Did my father have any enemies that you knew about? Anyone he’d fallen out with leading up to his death?”

Joffrey pursed his lips and looked away as if he was seeing the past. “Not that I can think of. There may have been the usual issues in government with visas etc but nothing that stands out. As I said, there were no ill feelings I was aware of. Everyone loved him.”

That fit with everything she’d been told by Niall and the research that Watchdog had originally done. Thinking about him made her heart hurt so she blocked it out until the time came when she could deal with it all.

“Even Mr Hansen liked him and we were concerned after he was passed over in favour of your father for the job of ambassador.”

Niall’s head shot up. “He was? I didn’t know that.”

“Oh yes, Mr Hansen was all set to take over and then your father was brought in at the last minute.” He nodded his head, clasping his fingers as he leaned back. “It was for the best. Mr Hansen was a good man, but he wouldn’t have been well suited to this position. His temper was too short.”

“Did anyone ever visit my father here that was out of place?”

“Now you mention it, there was something, but it wasn’t obvious at the time. Looking back now, I wonder about it sometimes.”

“What was it?”

“That friend of yours came to see your father a few weeks before his death. It wasn’t a long visit and I thought little of it, but I remember hearing raised voices and the boy angrily slammed out of the room a few minutes later. I went to check on your father and he seemed upset and shaken, but when I asked he said it was just kid stuff. I assumed it was something to do with you or Sean.”

“Why Sean?”

“Sean and that boy had visited a few times together and seemed chummy.”

“Did Sean visit my father often?”

“No, not really. Just a few times and every time with the Hansen boy in toe. Although I suppose he would have been a young man by then. He was in the military, too, I believe.”

Niall stood and offered his hand to Mr Joffrey who stood too. “Thank you, Mr Joffrey. If you remember anything else would you call me?” Niall handed over his card with just his number on it and the man took it.

“Yes of course.” He looked Niall up and down like he was taking a mental snapshot and it was easy for her to see the loss he still felt over his boss’s death. “He’d be proud of you, Niall. I don’t know you or what you do, but I know goodness when I see it. I can see the man you’ve become and I know my friend would have been brimming with pride.”

“Thank you.” His voice sounded husky to her ears and she blinked away tears of her own as her heart filled with love for this man.

She took his hand as they walked away, the silence comfortable between them as they made their way to the car.

Once they were inside she turned to him. “Talk to me.”

He shook his head as if clearing the cobwebs. “I don’t know what to think. All of this keeps leading back to my parents somehow. Is it possible my father was Hansen’s bio dad and I didn’t know?”

“Surely that would have come out when they did forensics at the time.”