Family Portrait (Fam Series #1)

Chapter 107 - Kew East, Victoria

Adeline -

'What do you want, Paddy?' I ask, snapping as Paddy Dow opens my door and stands in the doorway, watching me.

'Hi' he says quietly.

'I haven't seen Cam around, sorry' I say, predicting his next question.

'Do you know much about the slasher girl everyone always talks about? The one who went missing last year?' He asks.

'Ashleigh Templeton?' I ask, curiously looking up from my laptop.

'Yeah, her' he says.

'Enough to know you shouldn't go trying to get involved with her, Patrick. She's a whole ass mess and already has two men shes killing' I say.

'Yeah...who are they?' He asks quietly, glancing down at his feet.

'I don't know - some staff member from her university and a bulldog player. Why?' I ask.

'Oh, okay. I was a little scared you'd mention someone else then' he says.

I spin around and face him as I look up expectantly.

'Who else would I mention, Paddy?' I ask.

'Alright, it might've been me. It was before she went missing when I was just drafted. She said she liked my face and that was that. We had one night together but I got Polson to math everything out and her daughter would've been conceived around the time we did it' Paddy says, almost yelling at me as he suddenly catches his breath.

'Feel better?' I ask, raising an eyebrow. He clutches his chest and nods.

'Man, I've been sitting on that for almost a year. Kay, it was good seeing you again' he says, going to leave.

'Uh - Patrick. You're just gonna shout all of that at me and leave it there?' I ask.

'I'm sorry, please don't yell at me' he says, covering his face.

'I'm not gonna - what on earth, Paddy? Did this really happen?' I ask, shocked. If anything I'd believe Silvagni did it with Templeton before the Gatorade king.

He looks at me seriously, before bursting out laughing.

'April Fools!' He yells, laughing as he turns around and leaves the corridor.

I look at the door he just exited through as I shake my head. Someone has got to straighten that kid out.

I quickly call Zac Fisher and hold my phone to my ear, waiting for his answer.

'You want ANOTHER coffee? Bro, that's the third one today' Zac exclaims.

'No, just grab me Dow before he leaves the foyer.' I say, hanging up.

I wait around for 5 minutes, before Zac drags Paddy into my office by the crook of his elbow.

'You wanna explain?' I ask, looking at him.

'Okay, so maybe it wasn't a joke' Paddy says.

'Couldn't half tell, I mean, April fools is in April, not March' I say, rolling my eyes and folding my arms over my chest.

'Wait, what's happening?' Zac asks.

'Paddy, if this is serious - why aren't you doing something about it?' I ask. He shrugs.

'I don't know' he says.

My phone suddenly rings before I can get my next words out, calling him a deadbeat.

'Patrick, hold that thought and Zac, hold him here' I say, putting up my index finger as I quickly answer the call.

'Hey Josh' I say.