by Vi Carter
“I will have your job for this if you don’t get him to step away from my son.” Father is speaking to Brady who pales and moves to Philip.
“They just lost family Philip.” Philip isn’t heeding him and two more Gardai arrive. Liam raises his hands.
“Fine.” He turns around and Philip places his hands in cuffs before patting him down. When he takes his hand out of Liam’s pocket, he shows the officers my bag of cocaine.
“That’s mine,” I say immediately.
“It’s mine,” Liam barks.
“Possession with intent to sell. You could be looking at a long spell behind bars.”
I have no idea what to do. Connor moves towards us and he doesn’t stop as he throws his weight against Philip taking him to the ground. It’s been a long time since I saw Connor fight, all his rage is released as four more Gardai try to stop him but he is tearing them down.
“Uncuff him.” Father grabs Brady who pales and un-cuffs Liam. The bag of coke is kicked along the floor and I scoop it up and empty it into a glass of champagne beside us before I join Connor.
I’m throwing punches. My knuckles aren’t use to the abuse. Immediately they crack and I don’t stop until I’m pulled off a Gardai. Connor is restrained too. He did a lot of damage. The Gardai are rising but each one has sustained injury.
The room is filling with more Gardai and Connor, myself and Liam are pulled to our feet.
I’m looking for Finn, guilt churning in my stomach that we’ve left him alone.
“Dad.” I call and he moves in front of us. “I’m here with Finn. Don’t worry.” His words are filled with sorrow. But he gives me a nod.
I’m looking for Ciara but don’t see her as we are removed from the room.
A Gardai van is outside and we climb in silently. Once the door is closed, I look at Connor. I won’t question him in front of Liam but the fact he won’t meet my eyes makes my theory that the shooter knew him seem more solid.
“It was stupid to attack them,” Liam is facing Connor.
“We did it for you.” Connor sits forward but the strain of the handcuffs on his wrists has him sitting back.
“I was getting arrested, anyway,” Liam fires back.
“Yeah but I got rid of the coke.” I grin at Liam but he doesn’t look pleased.
“That should have never been there in the first place,” he says and I look away this time.
“Poor fucking Finn,” I say not caring about us getting arrested. The charges would be assault, but it was better than Liam going down for possession and intent to distribute. Which was bullshit; There were only a few lines in the bag.
“This will destroy him.” I add.
“He will survive.”
I look at Liam. “Just once try not to be so fucking cold.”
“You’re reckless and emotional. I’m only saying the truth.”
“Are you ready for a road trip, boys?” Philip opens the back door, a black eye is already blossoming.
Connor growls at him.
He sneers. “Hold tight boys, the road is pretty bumpy.”
“Motherfucker.” I slide off the bench and hit the ground hard; I can’t even protect myself from the fall as my hands are cuffed. When the van finally stops, we are all on the floor.
“I’m going to kill him.” I glance at Connor as he tries to sit up. The doors swing open and Philip smiles at us.
“Everyone okay back here?”
I grin. “Yep. Couldn’t be better. How’s the eye? Your woman won’t like that, now will she?” I hadn’t a clue if he was married but the tightness around his eyes tells me I’ve hit my mark.
“I bet you’re all about missionary. Maybe I need to visit her and really give it to her hard.” I get dragged out first and the concrete floor greets me. Blood fills my mouth and I spit it out onto Philips shoes. He dances back, but the damage is done.
“Or maybe your daughter would like my cock.” I brace myself for a kick that I don’t receive, when he kneels down his grin fills his face.
I spit again. “Sorry, I meant your son.” The tightness around his eyes is back as he pulls me up. Two other Gardai get Connor and Liam out of the van. They aren’t manhandled like me.
“It will be a long time before you’ll be out of here.” Philip moves me to the exit door.
“But the moment I do. I’m going to slip into your son’s room.” He doesn’t bite but pushes me through the exit and into Navan Gardai station. I’ve been booked so many times that I do everything before they ask. Once Philips leaves, I try to get the attention of a female Gardai.
“Excuse me I’ve been assaulted by one of your colleagues. Who do I complain too?” She glances up at me and raises a brow.
“You can file it with Gardai Philips he will be interviewing you.”
Fuck.
“But he’s the one who assaulted me.” She lets out a heavy breath, while pushing my finger into black ink before pressing it against a page. “You like touching me?” I grin at her and she releases my hand before looking up at whoever stands behind me.
“Take him to interview room twenty-one.” Fingers tighten around my forearm as I’m escorted to room twenty-one. The corridor is tight as we pass another Gardai who’s walking in front of Art. I pause when our eyes clash.
Fucking Snitch.
“You okay man?”
“Yeah fuckers got me in on an overdue parking fine.” I smirk. The Gardai with Art doesn’t comment on him calling them fuckers.
“You need any help?”
“Move along Mr. O’Reagan.” My own Gardai isn’t as patient but I plant my feet firmly on the ground, refusing to move.
“You don’t look like you’re in a good position to help me.” Art says back and I want to hurt him.
“I’ll be out soon. Don’t worry about me. You need anything just let me know.”
The Gardai have enough of our conversation and I’m pushed along. I let the Gardai move me. It’s hard to look Art in the eye and not want to hurt him.
I’m left in the interrogation room alone. I want to know how Shane and Finn are. Jesus, Ciara must be terrified. I can’t let these thoughts seep into me now. I need a clear head. The door opens and Philip arrives in with a file. He takes a seat and points at the chair across from him.
“Sit down Mr. O’Reagan.”
I just want this to end.
He’s shuffling fucking papers spreading them out across the table like I’m not here. I want to sit still and not allow him to see my impatience but I need to get back to my family. I slam my hand down on a piece he is reading. Philips looks up at me and grins. His dark eyes hold a smile. The bruising around his eye is expanding.
“Are you in a rush?” He asks. His fingers are perfectly manicured. He was a pencil pusher. I wonder what took him out into the field.
“Nope. Just bored.” I lean back in the chair and fold my arms across my chest.
“You assaulted five officers. How do you plead?”
“Not guilty and I don’t want to talk to you anymore since you assaulted me. I’ll wait for my lawyer.”
His lips form a straight line and he sits back.
“I’m going to be honest with you Darragh. I can call you Darragh?”
“Go for it, Philips.”
He joins his hands on the table. A move I’ve seen before. It’s making him look relaxed in his delivery of what must be very bad news for me.
“Liam will be released since he didn’t assault anyone; the possession charge won’t stick since the drugs are missing.” He’s smiling and I want to smile too because for me, that's good news. He can get me a lawyer and check on our family.
“Connor on the other hand has been released which is hard to wrap my head around. I can’t seem to get answers of why he hasn’t been charged with assault.”
I don’t speak. I have no clue why Connor has been released he did the most damage. But I don’t feel comfort at the idea of him leaving. Especially if he had anything to do with
this.
“So Connor knows people, or he’s just lucky. But you on the other hand, you’re not so lucky. The five accounts of assault rest on your shoulders.”
I stay quiet.
“You see your family has left you to take the fall.”
I glance away not biting but the seed of doubt with Connor has already been planted and growing rapidly.
“Even your friends have betrayed you.” I glance at Philips now.
“What do you want?” Everyone wants something. He wasn’t wasting his time going through this with me unless he wanted me to do something.
“Nothing Mr. O’Reagan. I am simply informing you of what you are facing. Which is a very long time in prison.” He gathers up the pages and puts them back in the file.
“You can’t charge me with anything. Where is your evidence?”
He stands and smiles down at me. “Your sister-in-law is dead. Your brother is fighting for his life and you will soon go to prison. How do you think your family will fare with all this?”
I keep my mouth shut.
“I don’t think they will do so well.” He leans in close to me. “One by one I will take down your family. Paying off the Gardai will no longer happen once I’m here.”
I grin back. “Let me know how that all turns out for you.”
He steps away but I want to fucking hurt him.
“One thing I know. You won’t be able to keep your promise about my family. But I’ll keep mine about yours.”
The tightness in his shoulders gives me satisfaction as he leaves the interview room.
CHAPTER TWENTY
CIARA
“Drink this.” Mr. O’Reagan hands me a glass of brown liquid. It’s so cold in the hall that someone has placed a jacket around my shoulders. I can’t even remember who.
“Thank you.” I take the glass.
Mr. O’Reagan sits beside me. “You saw what happened?” His voice is low as he leans into me.
I meet his eye and nod. My bottom lip trembles so I take a deep drink of whiskey.
“They just shot her.” It was chaotic, we were moving while trying to stay together and I’d looked up to see a man pointing a gun in our direction. I had frozen, I hadn’t been able to run or scream like some of the others. The shooter had hesitated and then pulled the trigger. The bang resounds in my head and I close my eyes. “He didn’t care.” I remember how he had reloaded the gun. The red cartridge that he’d emptied had hit the floor. After all that, all I saw was blood.
“I tried to stop the bleeding.” I speak into my glass before finishing it off.
“Did he say anything?”
My shoulders hunch forward. The Gardai had asked me the same questions. I wish I had something to help them but I didn’t. “I’m sorry Mr. O’Reagan. But that’s all I saw.”
He pats me gently on the back. My eyes wander to the area still soaked in blood. Siobhan had been removed. Oh God, poor Finn. He was allowed to leave the room with her.
I want to ask about Darragh and Shane but I don’t. No one is allowed to leave the room, so no information was getting in or out. Ava and Una huddle together at a table across from me, both of them still crying.
“Una,” I say more to myself. When the gunman had raised his gun he had been pointing it at Una, but Siobhan had moved in front of her and got in the way of the bullet. I had seen the slight hesitation in the shooter stance, but then he’d pulled the trigger anyway.
“It’s nothing,” I say now.
“No tell me.” Mr. O’Reagan leans in again.
“It’s just the shooter had pointed the gun at Una, but Siobhan had gotten in the way. He had hesitated like he wasn’t sure. But he shot her anyway. I’m sorry. I don’t think that makes any difference.”
“Maybe it does.” Mr. O Reagan rises as the door opens and Liam steps into the room. I’m trying to see if anyone trails behind him but he’s alone. Liam scans the crowd and his eyes land on his Father. He’s walking towards us and I stand.
“How’s Darragh?” I ask.
Mr. O’Reagan looks at me but I don’t let Liam’s gaze go.
“He will be fine Ciara. He’s still being questioned.”
Liam walks away and his Father follows. I sit back down. Una follows them. “How is he?”
“I don’t know. I came straight here.”
“Why? He’s alone and hurt.” Her tears fall faster now. Her hands tighten into fists.
“Go be with Ava,” Liam tells her, but she stamps her foot.
“No!” Her voice carries across the room. “You can leave. Go and find out what’s happening with him.”
Liam is aware that everyone is watching. His eyes flicker across the room quickly before they settle back on Una. This time I can’t hear what’s been said. But after some words Una turns on her heel and returns to Ava.
The Gardai are still gathering bullets and evidence from around the room. No one is watching the door. I stand and shiver out of the jacket. No one seems to notice me as I move along the wall. My heart pounds as I reach the door. Sweat gathers on my neck and palms quickly.
The doorknob is slick in my hand but the click sounds like freedom.
The hall is empty as I make it outside. Two Gardai are outside but they look at me and say nothing. They must assume that I’ve been let go.
Taking out my phone I ring a taxi and ask for them to collect me at Dun Na Ri Park. It’s only ten minutes from here.
“What are you doing?” I don’t stop walking as Liam falls into step beside me.
“I don’t know. I just know I can’t stay in that room another minute longer.”
Liam’s fingers touch my bare skin it’s brief, but it makes me stop. “You can’t help him right now Ciara.”
“Maybe I just want to go home and wash all this blood off.” We stare at each other until Liam finally nods.
“Let me get my car. I’ll drop you home. You’re better off waiting here and not drawing any more attention to yourself.”
Once Liam leaves, I wrap my arms around myself and stay on the side of the road that leads to the gates.
Liam’s Bentley rolls down the drive at such a slow pace like he doesn’t have a care in the world. The car slows down beside me and I get in.
“Are you okay?” I ask him once I’ve strapped myself in.
He hesitates in answering. “Yes.”
He doesn’t ask me if I’m okay. “I’m not okay.” I say as I watch the green fields and trees pass us.
“I’ve watched people die. But it was for drugs or money. Watching someone in their wedding dress being shot is unthinkable. And for what? It was meant to be the happiest day of her life.” I laugh now. “It was the happiest day of my life.” I can’t seem to cry anymore. “Why did someone do that?” I face Liam.
“I don’t know.” His answer is clipped and it’s the first time I’ve heard emotion in his words.
“You don’t know why someone would hurt your family or you or don’t know who did it.”
His eyes slide towards me. “I don’t know.”
His answer has me sitting back. We pull up into Kingscourt and the thoughts of being alone causes my heart to beat rapidly.
“I don’t want to be alone.” I tell the window as tears blur my vision.
“Unfortunately I don’t have time to sit around and babysit.”
My tears dry up quickly and I get out of Liam’s car. I don’t have the door closed when he pulls away.
Taking the steps two at a time I race to my door. My keys jangle in the door from trembling fingers. It takes me several attempts before I get the door open. I spill onto the floor unable to contain the horror of the day. I wait for the onslaught of tears that seem to rise through my body but they don’t come. Peaches weaves through my arms as I try to hold myself up. I kick out my foot and the door shuts behind me. The purr of peaches is what I focus on as my stomach roils and reels.
Digging into my bag I remove my phone and dial Darragh’s number. Pushing myself
up I lean against the wall as his phone just continues to ring and goes to an automated voice mail.
“Hi. It’s me. Are you okay?” Peaches makes her way onto my lap and I stare at the ceiling as I speak into the phone. “I’m not. I’m at home now. Call me when you can.” Hanging up. I sit for a while and try to not picture Siobhan with a hole in her stomach.
My stomach lifts again and I rush to my bathroom just in time before I empty the contents of my belly into the toilet. I have to hold on to the toilet bowl as I rise. I don’t know the girl I met in the mirror. There’s blood on her chest and neck. My hands have their own coat of blood on them.
Blood that gushed through my fingers as I had pressed down on Siobhan’s wound.
The blue dress slips to the floor and I step out of my shoes, before shedding my underwear.
No matter how many times I seem to wash my body more blood twirls down the drain. I close my eyes as I picture his arm hanging over a black sack. That was the first thing I saw. The needle that he had used to inject himself with still hung out of his arm. Each step I took further down the alleyway revealed a bit more of my dad. His eyes were still open. Devoid of life.
The worst part was, I hadn’t tried to perform CPR on him. I sank to the ground across from him and just stared at him. I didn’t want him to live, but seeing his death did something to me. Maybe knowing that I was kind of happy he was dead made me feel like such a bad person.
Drops of water make a path down the shower doors. My wriggly fingers touch the moisture as I follow it down the door and onto the shower tray. I meet it at the bottom as I let the water pour over my head. I sit there until the hot water turns cold and goosebumps coat my body. I finally get out and wrap myself in a large towel. Turning on the TV I leave it on any station as right now I want the noise. The radio has someone being interviewed about climate change. I leave that station on and get Peaches some fresh food before returning to my room and getting dressed in to trousers and top.
The buzzer rings and I can’t get to it quick enough. It could be Darragh maybe he got out.
“Hello.”
“Ciara Michaels.” The formal voice has me hesitating. “I’m Gardai Philips and have a few more questions to ask.”
