25
Benito’s chest X-ray was clear. The hospital gave him an inhaler to use every day for a month and discharged him.
After the appointment, Mickey drove him straight to Rosetta’s new flat and left him there while he visited other residents who needed his help.
It was dark when he picked him up. Benito was exhausted. Mickey took him back to his house in Northampton and left him dozing on the couch while he got ragey with his laptop and made breakfast for dinner.
Dom Ramos called as Mickey was dumping the dishes in the sink.
Benito waved him away. “Go on, I got it.”
“Leave them,” Mickey said. “Rest.”
“I’m fine.”
Mickey rolled his eyes but left Benito alone with the Fairy liquid and retreated outside. He lit a cigarette and blew smoke into the cold sky as he answered the phone. “Hey.”
“Evening,” Dom said. “I’m just checking in. It’s been a crazy few days, hasn’t it?”
“Something like that. It’s coming together now, though. I took the last household to their new place this afternoon. I can help the council with the rest tomorrow if you can spare me.”
“We can spare you, but I’d rather you took a couple of days off. There’s nothing more to be done that can’t wait or be done by someone else.”
“Someone else?”
“Yeah. Me. Isha. Whoever. You’ve been a hundred miles an hour ever since the fire. You need some time.”
“I’m okay.”
“You deserve better than okay.”
Mickey took another deep drag of smoke into his lungs. “Did Isha tell you he busted me sleeping with a tenant’s son?”
Dom chuckled quietly. “He told me he thought you were in a relationship with someone and you’d done everything you could to make it fall right. Does that count?”
“It’s one way of looking at it.”
“It’s the truth, Mickey.”
“How do you know?”
“Because you’re good people, and there’s nothing you won’t do for the tenants in your care. If you’re trying to convince me you took advantage of the situation to sleep with someone, you’re going to have to try harder.”
“I didn’t do that. I met him before I knew his mum was a resident.”
“You don’t have to explain that to me. Life happens, mate. You did everything right.”
Mickey stubbed his smoke out. “No one’s ever said that to me before.”
“Maybe it hasn’t been true before now, but it is this time round. You identified a conflict of interest and fixed it. There’s nothing else you could’ve done.”
“You don’t think I should’ve told you straight away?”
“What I think isn’t important. Your private life is your own and not even remotely why I called you.”
“Why did you call me?”
“Apart from everything I’ve already said, I thought you’d want to know the preliminary report is in from the fire investigation, and it looks like we’re dealing with a fluke electrical fault.”