Forces Beyond The Grave

2.4

"Maybe I was too hard on her." Jay considered, dodging Rawson's swing and retaliating with a left cross. 

His fellow detective defended himself and stepped back to take a breath. 

"Maybe. But did you have a reason to be?" He picked up his bottle from the side of the ring as Jay thought to answer his question. 

He'd been sparring with Rawson everyday, sometimes twice, since Lennox returned. It'd be good to get the frustration out, he'd thought. But Lennox had been back a week and as of yet, it hadn't helped. 

"I guess. I don't know. Patrick texted me last night to tell me Lennox is staying in town." 

"Oh, for real?" 

"Yeah. She and Kaila are gonna stay at the house until they find something more permanent." 

"You don't seem too happy about that." 

"I am. I should be. I mean she's alive right? That's all I wanted." 

"Yeah but Jay, you went through a lot when she disappeared. I mean you thought she was dead all this time right? You cared about her, a lot, but you mourned her. It's gonna take a while for you to readjust to her being here."

Rawson had a point, but it didn't do much for Jay's state of mind. Perhaps he'd not been so kind to Lennox because he hadn't gotten over...well, Lennox. Two years was a long time to come to terms with his feelings, and having them destroyed wasn't something Jay came back from easily. After his sparring session with Rawson Jay headed home, exhausted and ready for the day to be over. But instead of trying to get some well-deserved rest, he tossed his keys aside when he got home and sat down at the coffee table, scanning the abundance of papers taped and tacked to the surface. His eyes stopped at the photograph in the centre of the table and he picked it up, sighing as he looked into the eyes of Lennox's identical twin. He had initially received the photo just a few days after Lennox's five-day stand-off with the manor; it's what convinced him Lennox had survived. But when she never came back to town he was forced into the mindset of someone or something playing a cruel joke. A joke or not, Jay dedicated spare time over the next two years trying to discover who Ekaterina Quinn was.