Deep [Niall Horan]

Chapter Twenty

Two song lyrics in this chapter.  I've said this a million times, but I love you so much. <3

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I stare at him for several moments until the realization hits me.

"You're Stephanie's father?"

Detective Horan slowly sits back down in his chair and glares at me.

"You know my daughter?"

"Yeah, we go to school together," I say, "I have a question. So it was you who adopted Niall after Mr. and Mrs. Whittaker passed away? You obviously aren't his birth father."

"Definitely not," he laughs looking down at his skin color, "but I did adopt him after what happened and I view him as my son, so you should understand why I am a little agitated with your reluctance. I thought my wife could get it out of you but I guess-"

"That nurse is your wife?" I ask.

"Yes, Corinne is my wife."

"Stephanie's mother?"

"Yes. And you probably wonder. Why is my firm in a hospital? And the answer to that is I want to be close to my beautiful wife," he smiles.

"Oh. I assume you were married to her when you adopted Niall?"

"Yes. The death of Edith and Thomas struck us all," he says, "but it was hardest on the boys. I knew them well so it was easy for me to accept Niall into my home, but it was hard for my family because he was a very angry teenager."

"How many people are in your family?"

"Just me, Corinne, and Steph."

"What happened while he was living with you?"

"He cried a lot. He broke things. He even shattered one of my priceless vases but I'm over that now."

I swallow hard; a sour taste is in my throat.

"He got along well with Stephanie," he continues, "they became very close friends and talked a lot. She was the one who helped him the most. He wouldn't listen to anyone else. We tried therapy, but nothing worked. Stephanie broke through to him, and we just let her worker her magic and we saw a major change."

My mind reverts back to Stephanie hiding the fact that she is close to Niall. Why wouldn't she tell me?

"He went to school," Clark says, "but at home, before Steph got through to him, he would lock himself in his room and never open it, not for anyone. We would hear him crying in there and it hurt all three of us. We tried all we could for him."

"Oh my god..."

"But we were lucky. We heard about what happened in the homes that the other boys went to, and I have to say, I was lucky to have him!"

He starts laughing but my eyes widen and cover my hand with my mouth.

"What happened at the other homes?" I say.

"That's not important. Back to what happened tonight," he says shifting back to his previous intense tone, "tell me what you know."

I take a deep breath.

"Uh...Mr...uh...Detective...Horan-"

"Call me Clark."

"...Clark...I really can't say. There has to been some other way you can investigate."

"You would make this investigation so much easier if you could just tell me what you saw."

"I don't want to. Please, it's really late and I have school tomorrow."