Hidden in the Blood: A Novel of the Terribly Acronymed Detective Club (Book 5)

Chapter Twenty-Four: Al, Monday

"Al, are you awake?"

Al opened his eyes and, to his great surprise, saw Joanie standing there. He knew she was tall, but from this viewpoint, lying in his hospital bed, she looked like someone stretched out in a funhouse mirror. Under her open jacket, she was dressed in jeans and a form fitting black sweatshirt that hinted at all of her angles, especially her muscular shoulders and the inverted triangle of her back. He was painfully aware that she could have probably broken him over her knee even when he was at full health, and now... well... he was at her mercy, and from the look on her face, he had a feeling he wouldn't get out of this meeting unscathed.

"Joanie," he croaked. "Hello."

"Is it okay that I'm here?" she asked.

He cleared his throat to rid himself of the dryness, and Joanie took that as a cue to feed him some ice chips. "Thank you," he said once he'd absorbed them. "That's better. I'm surprised to see you, but I'm touched you've come."

"I came once before, at the same time your mother was here, actually. You opened your eyes, but I don't think you really saw us. I gave her a ride home after."

"Oh, yes, I think I remember my mom telling me. That was very nice of you, thank you. I owe you a favour in return."

She ran a hand through her lovely red hair and looked away. "You may change your mind about me when I tell you what I have to say."

He blinked in surprise. "What's that?"

"Your wife has cheated on you."

The statement was so out of the blue that he found himself chuckling. Joanie frowned at him. "What, is that funny? Do you not believe me?"

"I believe you," he said, "It's just that you'll have to be more specific. You are aware of the shenanigans she gets up to with Lauren, often without me there but sometimes with?"

She shook her head in frustration. "I mean with Joe!"

Ah. Now he understood her insistence on bringing this to him. "I know about that too."

"What?!" she squawked. "How can you know? You just woke up. Did she just tell you?"

Now he was confused. "I've known since Rachel and Joe came back from their adventure in Aldergrove more than two years ago."

Joanie shook her head. "No. That's not what I mean. Joe confessed to me last night. He and Lauren, and Rachel, had a threesome on the day Rachel and Lauren were going to confess that Lauren was carrying your baby."

That revelation was new, and it felt like a punch in the gut, but he still couldn't help chuckling.

She shook her head in incredulity. "I still don't see how you find this funny."

"It's not that. It's the way you phrased it. The whole thing sounds like a scene out of a Latin American soap opera."

She huffed and began pacing. "Aren't you angry? I'm fucking pissed!"

He sighed in resignation and said, "I understand why you're angry. When you entered your arrangement with Joe, you'd assumed Lauren was only sharing him with you."

"Yes!" she exclaimed, her eyes a little crazed.

"The thing about that is, Joe is Lauren's to share. If the three of them consented to have sex with each other, there really is no recourse for you aside from breaking off your arrangement with Joe."

She stopped pacing and stared at him, hard. "Why aren't you angry about this? Rachel cheated on you, too, and she didn't tell you about it!"

"Ah, well, Joanie, you see, I have no right to be angry. I imagine Rachel was getting her own back for Lauren becoming pregnant with my baby, an event that happened without her knowledge; you see, when Rachel, Lauren and I began our throupledom--"