Obsession (Dark!AndyBarber AU)

-21-

The rest of the week had been smooth running, with both Fliss and Andy returning to normality. However, she did feel a little as though at times he was keeping his distance. 

Perhaps she was overthinking it, but he had been incredibly busy and had spent most week out of office with all the events in his diary being undertaken. 

She hoped that when he was back in for the week that was now looming, that things would return to how they were. 

She missed it. 

His eyes on hers, watching her as she went about her business, probably even checking her out every now and then. 

Always noticed. 

There was no escaping the lingering gaze of Andy Barber. 

Now as Fliss arrived at her parents' house, she wondered just what kind of reception that she would be met with, once she enquired about the one question that had been lingering in her mind all week. 

"Hey Mom", she hugged her as her mother now opened the door to her. 

"You look well Felicity, much better than you did working at that damn awful grocery store". Diane told her as she closed the door and walked in. 

Ralph Sheridan, her father, was currently sat on the couch watching some baseball, but looked up as his daughter walked in. "Hey stranger, long time no see". He smirked. 

"Just as well" Fliss grinned and leant down to hug him. "How you been?" 

"Same old, same old" Ralph simply waved this off. "So, miss your old man, eh? That why you've come to see us?" 

She laughed. "Always dad". Watching as Diane now brought in the coffee and set it down on the coffee table for them all. 

"Now I only have decaff..." She stated. 

"That's fine Mom". 

Taking her coffee, they began to talk about how her grandma was and what her parents had been up to before Ralph had decided to enquire about how her new job was going. "So, this new job - how you liking it?" 

"It's great, honestly my boss is the nicest guy ever - you'd really like him if you met him". She now made a point of saying, seeing her mother shift slightly in her chair, out of the corner of her eye. She now frowned. "You're doing it again". 

"Doing what?" Diane now asked. 

"Mom, I'm just gonna come out with it. When I told you who I was working for the other day you went all awkward and quiet. What is it about the name Barber? The real reason? Do you know him?" 

"No..." 

"But you recognise the name, so why? Why are you acting all weird? Is there something you're not telling me?" 

Ralph stopped her. "Fliss..." 

"Dad". She fired back. "What the hell is going on!"

Diane looked to Ralph who shrugged. "It doesn't mean say he's connected..." her father began.

"Of course he is Ralph! He has to be!" Diane's voice shook. "Where did you say he was from again sweetheart?"

Fliss frowned. "What do you mean? Boston? But what has my boss got to do with whatever this is?" 

"She'd have only found out anyway, you need to tell her". Ralph said to Diane once more, and then turned to his daughter. "Sweetheart..." he began but Diane now stood up. 

"Let me go get the box..." 

Fliss looked to her father. "It's been hard for her and the rest of the family over the years, your grandma in particular". 

Diane now returned with a shoebox and opened the lid, passing Felicity an old photo of a teenage girl grinning at the camera along with a kid who Fliss recognised was her mother. "This is my older sister, Julia". She now said as she got a few more pictures out. "She died when I was twelve..."

Fliss looked at the pictures of Julia, studying them. "So that's where I got my middle name from..." 

Felicity Julia Sheridan. 

"Mhmmm...she was the eldest of the three of us. Your aunt Michelle being the middle child". Diane now explained. "And when she was nineteen..." Her voice began to crack. "She was murdered..." 

Fliss looked up as her mother reached for the tissue box. "We don't mention her, we haven't been able to since it happened, your grandma simply gave up when Julia died, she's not been the same since, and who could blame her? She was taken brutally from us, and for her to sit and listen in court as they explained how? It just broke her..." 

Reaching for the newspaper cuttings, Fliss now read the headlines, the story being the same. A rape and brutal murder of 19-year-old Julia Matthews. She felt sick at just what trauma her mother and the rest of the family had endured and were still. 

In each cutting her eyes found a name that now stood out. "Bloody Billy..." She now said more to herself than to her parents.

"William Barber was his real name, although the media called him 'Bloody Billy' because of just what he'd done to Julia. It was everywhere, you couldn't go out without someone wanting to give their condolences or to talk about what happened...it was hard for me and Michelle to accept as we were still kids. It still is, hence why your father and I wanted to get outta Boston as soon as possible..." Diane wiped her eyes. "I miss her everyday". 

Fliss looked through the photographs of the aunt she'd never been told about. Julia looking happy and carefree in each one long with her sisters, and her parents. "Did he say why he did it?" She now asked. 

Diane shook her head. "No. Not once did he ever show remorse - and we'll never know why. He just saw an opportunity, and he took it".  She looked at Fliss. "I'm sorry Fliss, it's just it's been a long time since I heard the name Barber, we didn't mean to keep this, but you can understand why. It's never going to leave us". 

"That doesn't mean to say that Bloody Billy is connected to Andy". 

"Andy...is that your boss's name?" Diane now asked. 

Fliss nodded. "Yeah...Mom, look it could be pure coincidence, lots of people have the same surnames". 

"I know, and it could well be, but the fact that they both come from Boston? It just seems too much of a coincidence in my mind". 

Unfortunately, Fliss had to agree, and with Andy being quite guarded about his family enough as it was, her gut feeling told her that this man was connected to him. Either being a close family member or even his father. 

It was probably the second. Somehow, she could just sense it. 

The only way she could find out for sure was to ask Andy tactfully or at least try to get him to open up without raising suspicion, but she also needed answers for her family (and quite possibly herself) from the man who had taken the life of her aunt. 

Felicity decided there and then that she was going to pay a visit to Billy Barber.