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“So tell me, inspector.” Father Brown starts casually “How’s Sid doing?”
The inspector trips on his own feet before looking back at him.
“What?”
“I asked how’s Sid been doing, inspector.”
“How on earth would I know how Sid's doing? As I think you know as well as me he hasn’t been in Kembleford for a long time.”
“I am aware.” The father replied, lowering his tone. “But I also know he’s been in London for quite a while. Just as you have, Inspector.”
Sullivan let out an exasperated sigh.
“London is big, Father, two people can live there for their whole lives and never even see each other.”
“Yes.” He paused and the inspector's shoulders immediately dropped in relief. “But the odds of them meeting rise exponentially when they share the same address, don’t you think?” He said as he lifted a letter from Sullivan’s desk. Sullivan quickly took the paper from his hands. It was one of his apartment’s bills. The tension came back immediately.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He spewed fast. Too fast for it to be true.
“I think you know, inspector.” He rushed to correct himself when he saw the fear in the face of the police officer. “I’m not here to report you.”
Sullivan let out an unamused laugh.
“You came to convert me then? To tell me about my sin?”
“What sin?” Sullivan stared at him struggling to formulate an answer. “Why do you think you’re a sinner, Inspector?” The priest relented when he saw the flabbergasted look on the other man’s face. “As I see it, loving someone else isn’t a sin anywhere.”
“Your church seems to think so.”
“My church can sometimes misinterpret god’s word.” He smiled tenderly. “I’m not here to judge you, Inspector, I merely want to know how Sid is. He hasn’t written much these past few months. Probably because he doesn’t want to hide your relationship.”
Sullivan sighed, this time the relief was clear.
“He’s doing okay. He works as a chauffeur when Lady Felicia’s there. The rest of the time he bounces in between gigs. He’s worked at a bar, a hotel, a barn, and a motorcycle shop.” He let out a small laugh. “I keep telling him he can stop for a minute. My apartment is paid off and the bills are manageable with just my pay but he seems unable to stand still.”
“That sounds like Sid.” The father said.
“Yeah.” Sullivan continued softly. “He says he wants to be able to have his own money. He wants to buy me nice things and in his words ‘spoil me’.”
He smiled lovingly and the father couldn’t help but smile back.
“Sounds like you love him a lot.”
“I do. Gods, I love him more than anyone can ever know.”
“It sounds like he loves you too.”
Sullivan let out a small laugh.
“I sure hope so.”
Father Brown hesitated.
“May I ask you something?”
“Go ahead.”
“Why is he still in London? Now that you know you’re here to stay.”
“That’s a complicated question, father.”
“I’m listening.”
“In all honesty,” Sullivan hesitated “I haven’t told him yet.”
“Oh?”
“Coming back, both of us. It would be… complicated.” He paused waiting for an answer but the father remained silent. “We lived together in London. It’s fairly common for working-class people to share houses to save up money. Everyone thinks you’re bachelors, of course, and with the right strategy you can perfectly live like that. Big cities are easier. You have the advantage of being mostly anonymous. Just another face in the crowd.”
“But Kembleford is diferent.”
“Yes. I have no idea how we could manage it. Living together would be too suspicious but then again anything will. It’s a small town. Any and all movement will be watched by someone.”
“I see.”
“I just- I don’t what to do, Father. The loneliness is killing me. I miss him every day and every night. We write each other every day, he calls me every night, and yet I always feel his absence.” He passed his fingers through his hair. “But I don’t think my heart can handle pretending we are strangers all over again for god knows how long.”
“And why would you have to pretend you’re strangers?”
“Because- So don’t people get suspicious, of course.”
“Inspector, you and Sid are good at many things” he paused “But lying surely isn’t one of them. If you pretend you’re strangers everyone will become suspicious.”
“What do you suggest we do then?”
“Let him come home. He’ll officially stay with me. And before he arrives you and I will start to have dinner together. Once he arrives you’ll just be continuing your routine. You are more than welcome to spend some nights there with Sid, of course. And the rest, well, with Sid’s past I’m sure he’ll figure out a way into your house.”
“You’d be willing to do that for us?”
The father placed a friendly hand on his shoulder.
“I can see you’re happier and from what Sid has been telling me in his sparse letters so is he. I’m just trying to find a way to keep you both together.” He paused. “It’s a sad world, full of hate and disaster, so when you find someone who keeps that sadness away you must do everything you can to not let them go.”
“That was very deep, father.”
The priest smiled tenderly before getting up.
“Call him, tell him, make him come back home.”