Chapter 46 - Walter Steele

808 22 1
                                        

Walter walked out of the study just as Laurel came down the stairs. He watched as the young woman stopped to talk to her father for a moment before leaving the house. As Lance turned around Walter could see how tired the other man was.

"Detective would you like a cup of coffee?" Walter asked. "I am about to get a cup of tea for myself and you look like you are in need of some coffee."

"Yeah." Lance said as he turned towards Walter. "Coffee would be great."

Walter and Lance walked back in to the study where Raisa joined them a few short minutes later with a tray of tea and coffee. Both men sat in silence for a few minutes before either of them spoke.

"He's going to be fine you know." Lance stated as he could see the worry in Walter's eyes. "He may not look like it, but he will be."

"Oliver's a strong young man." Walter agreed, however he was still unable to rid himself of the worry he had for the health of his step-son.

"You have no idea." Lance said as he nodded his head in agreement. "You've seen his scars right?"

"Yes, when we were in the custody of Malcolm Merlyn." Walter answered, staring at the cup of tea in his hands. "I can't even begin to fathom what he must have had to endure that would have caused such scars to begin with." He stated thoughtfully.

"I'm assuming they told you how much of his body was covered in scars when he got back." Lance stated questioningly. He assumed that Walter knew, however you could never be too sure with this family.

"Moira informed me that it was over twenty per cent of his body." Walter confirmed Lance's suspicions. "However, I never actually saw the scars until Merlyn cut his jacket off. They were truly appalling!" He said with a bit of disgust in his voice. It was evident that Walter still had not forgiven the man for everything that he had done to Walter's family.

"You really didn't like the man did you?" Lance asked with a hint of laughter in his voice.

"I detested the man." Walter replied. "He did nothing but drive a wedge into this family. I would be hard pressed to say that I'm not happy he's gone if I'm honest."

"Yeah, me too." Lance agreed with a hint of laughter still in his voice.

"Detective?"

"Yeah?" Lance could tell that something was bothering the other man as Walter clearly had an unasked question.

"Was it difficult?" Walter paused for a moment, trying to form the rest of the question properly before asking. "To endure the whip from Slade, and then again to watch him as he hurt Oliver?" He knew that it could not have been easy for the other man to be present during Oliver's whipping and was curious how it had affected the other man.

"When Slade whipped me it was with a really thick whip with knots all down it. It felt more like fists than anything." Lance explained. "The whip he used on Oliver was a lot finer and more vicious like the one Merlyn used. It caused lashes across his back, not bruising like the one he used on me."

"I remember the one Merlyn used. That one caused Oliver quite a bit of pain it seemed." Walter commented. "Yet, he still managed not to utter a sound. He is much stronger that I could be in that situation. Oliver proved that by his silence whilst he endured everything that Merlyn did to him."

"Yeah, well. If you think Merlyn was bad you should see what Slade did to him." Lance said ominously, his eyebrows raising for emphasis as he stood and placed his cup back on the tray. "Thank you for the coffee Walter. I think I'm going to head home and try and get some rest. Let the Team know they can call me if they need anything."

TeamworkWhere stories live. Discover now