Robert (Fallen Angel Series Book 1)

by Tracie Podger

  ****

  I heard the front door open as I sat on the sofa with my glass of wine, footsteps stomped up the stairs. By the noise I didn’t need to look to know it would be Travis.

  “Hey, bro,” I called out.

  He went straight to the kitchen, grabbed a beer before he made his way over, in silence.

  “You okay?” I asked.

  “Rob, I have a problem, a big problem,” he answered.

  I sat upright, giving him my full attention.

  “What’s wrong?”

  He reached inside his shirt pocket, pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to me. The page was a standard lined piece of paper, torn from a notebook by the looks of it. As I unfolded it, I watched Travis slump forwards a little, his face in his hands, his elbows resting on his knees. I started to read.

  Guess who, brother? I see you’ve done well for yourself and it’s only fair you take care of your family. You fucked off and left us to deal with the shit that was our dad. I bet you don’t care but he beat the shit out of Aileen, because of you, then she left. Broke mum’s heart, you did. He wouldn’t let her come find you and we all paid the price. So, it’s only fair you pay now. I know where you are, who you are. Think you’re some big shot, huh? Well, brother, time to face the past. I’ll be in touch.

  Padriac

  I read it through, then reread. That had always been his biggest fear, a brother finding out where he was. I sighed, our day was just getting better and better.

  “Trav, when and how did you get this?” I said.

  He looked up slowly.

  “It was on the car windscreen, at the office.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me earlier?” I asked.

  We had driven home together. This was the first time he had ever held something back from me and I knew then he was worried and that this was serious.

  “I wanted to check it was legit first. Remember I told you how I got here? Aileen is my sister, her boyfriend drove me. I kept my eye on him from time to time, he’s a good guy. He called someone who called someone I guess and found out Padriac left New York about a month ago, headed this way.”

  Travis had never really spoken about his family, this was the first in all the years we had been friends that I was even learning their names. I never pushed for information, it wasn’t my place. If he had wanted me to know, he would have told me. However, I was concerned for him. It sounded like simple blackmail and it would need to be dealt with.

  “Trav, we need to know what he knows. It might be that we do nothing until he gets in touch again but you need to tell me about your family, so we can prepare. We need the guys in on this as well.”

  He nodded as he took out his cell phone. He called Mack and asked if he could come over. It was rare that we would call a meeting in the evening, if we did, it always meant there was trouble ahead. Whatever Padriac knew, it would have an impact on all of us. I send a message to Jonathan, Richard and Paul, arranging to meet at the office the following morning. In the meantime, while we waited for Mack to arrive, I headed to the kitchen to grab more beers.

  “So, if he put this on the windscreen, he’ll be on camera. We can check that out in the morning. In the meantime, do you want Mack to know about your family?” I asked.

  He sighed, shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t suppose it would hurt. I don’t know a great deal but what I do could be a load of lies. My dad was a drunk, my brothers are drunks. I have no idea if what I learnt was a load of bollocks or not. You know, drunken rambling and all that.”

  “Okay, let me scan this so we have a copy,” I said, making my way to the home office.

  Before I scanned it I read the note again. The handwriting was messy, although the paper was lined, the words were scrawled across the page haphazardly. Perhaps Padriac had been drunk when it was written. I studied the names, typical Irish names. I remembered that Travis had told me his family had fled Northern Ireland, he said to escape the troubles and settled in New York. This was before he was born. New York seemed a long way to come just to escape the troubles, and I started to wonder exactly what trouble they were running from.

  With the note scanned and saved, a copy sent to Mack, I headed back to the lounge. I had never seen Travis look that troubled, there was more to this note and I hoped he would open up to me. He was my brother and I would do anything for him. The Shelly issue would have to take a backseat for the moment, this was more important.

  “Rob, there’s something else. Padriac didn’t just beat Aileen and me,” Travis said.

  I looked at him waiting for him to continue. He swallowed hard, his gaze fixed on the wall in front of him.

  “Remember when we paid your Father Peters a visit?” he said.

  “Yes.”

  “I wanted to deal with Cara’s dad for a reason. I never got to pay Padriac back for what he did to Aileen and me.”

  He didn’t look at me when he spoke and I was glad. The realisation of what he was saying shocked me to the core and he would have seen that in my face. Cara had been abused by her father. Travis was telling me his brother had done the same to him. To what extent, I didn’t know.

  “Do you want to talk about it?” I asked.

  “I don’t want it going any further than us. Maybe, one day I’ll talk about it but not now.”

  He opened the two beers, my wine now forgotten and as we took the first mouthful the headlights of a car swept across the room as it circled the drive. Looking through the window I saw Mack climb out. Heading to the kitchen for another bottle, I heard him climb the stairs.

  “Hey,” he called out.

  “Beer?” I said, handing him the bottle.

  “Sure, what’s up?” he asked.

  I motioned with my head towards Travis. “We have a problem,” I said.

  “Girlfriend?” he mouthed and I shook my head.

  We made our way back to the sofa where I handed Mack the note. In silence he read, like me a couple of times judging by the time it took.

  “Travis found this on the car windscreen earlier tonight, in the office parking lot,” I said.

  He looked up sharply, his eyebrows raised.

  “So we have him on camera then?”

  “Yes, we’ll check it out tomorrow.”

  “Trav, do you want to tell us about him?” I asked.

  He took a deep breath before he spoke.

  “Padriac is the oldest, ten years older than me, I think. After him came Aileen, then Carrig. They were all born in Belfast, I was born in New York. My dad was a drunk, beat us kids and mom. The older boys take after their father. Padriac was the worst, me, mom and Aileen took the brunt of his beatings. He was a prick.”

  “Aileen left didn’t she?” I asked.

  “Yes, after I left she headed back to Northern Ireland, stayed with relatives I think. She writes to me every now and again but that’s all. I’ve haven’t seen or heard from any of the others,” Travis replied.

  “We need to find out who knows you’re here,” Mack said.

  “Aileen’s boyfriend brought me when I was a kid. He was coming this way and Aileen asked him to bring me, to get me out of the way.”

  I told Mack what Travis had said previously, about contacting the boyfriend and finding out that Padriac was in DC.

  “Well, we need to decide if we wait until he makes contact again or track him down first. I doubt he’s going to be a threat physically but do you want someone to shadow you?” Mack asked Travis.

  “Fuck no, Mack.”

  “Could he be dangerous?” I asked.

  “I doubt it, Rob. The only worrying thing is what he thinks he knows,” Travis replied.

  “Okay, we can’t do anymore now. I’ll get the CCTV up first thing in the morning and we’ll talk about it then. You called the guys together?” Mack asked me, I nodded.

  I walked Mack down to his car and outside we continued our conversation.

  “You tell him about Shelly yet?” he asked.

  “No, though
t it should wait. To be honest, I don’t really know what to say.”

  “Leave that one to me. I have an idea and it’s probably best not coming from you anyway. How’s he doing, really?”

  “Worried, for sure. This has always been his biggest fear. I want that guy out of the picture, Mack. We can’t run the risk of him even hinting he knows anything about us.”

  He nodded as he got into his car and I walked back into the house. Travis was still sitting in the same position, slumped forwards on the sofa. I took a seat beside him.

  “Trav, you know this will get sorted don’t you?” I asked.

  He looked at me and nodded.

  “I don’t have any relationship or feelings towards him, Rob. If I catch up with him, he’ll wish he hadn’t started this. I couldn’t give a shit about what he thinks he knows about me, I’m worried about dragging you into this.”

  “Don’t worry about me. We’ve faced worse than this in the past and no doubt will again in the future. We are brothers, Trav, he’s nothing.”

  Travis finished off his beer and headed off to his apartment. I read through the note one last time before locking it away in my home office and heading downstairs. Standing under the shower, I closed my eyes. When I had asked Travis if he thought Padriac was dangerous, I didn’t mean in the physical sense. We couldn’t take the risk that he knew anything of our past. No matter how careful we had been, there was plenty that could put us away for a very long time.

  I was more concerned, however, about what he would say where Travis and Aileen were concerned. Would he be dumb enough to shout his mouth off when he realised there was no money to be had? As I climbed into bed, my last thought before I drifted off to sleep was of Travis. I pictured him as a little boy, remembering how he looked when I had first met him. No matter what had happened to me physically, he had gone through worse. I didn’t want to imagine the horror he and his sister had been subjected to. What I knew was, Padriac would never live to have the opportunity to tell. I would protect my family any way I could.

  ****

  I was up and dressed as Evelyn made her way upstairs. Sipping my coffee, I greeted her.

  “Morning, Ev.”

  “Oh, you startled me. You’re up early.”

  “Early meeting, just waiting on Trav.”

  “He was in the garage when I came across. Do you want something to eat before you go?”

  “No, I’ll grab something later. Just another shot of caffeine will do for now,” I answered as I placed my cup under the coffee machine.

  “You drink too much coffee,” she scolded.

  I smiled, kissed her on the cheek as I passed to meet Travis. She had always worried, fussed over us and as much as I had told her she didn’t need to, it didn’t stop her.

  “Hey, bro. You okay?” I asked as I crossed the drive.

  “Yes, ready to take on the world,” Travis replied.

  The worried look had been replaced with a look of steel. I climbed in the car and we headed off to the office. I watched as his jaw worked from side to side and knew he hadn’t slept a wink. He had closed down. I recognised the look, it was the same I saw for years every time I looked in the mirror. Because of who we were, because of the upbringing we’d had, we understood each other far greater than just friends. But I didn’t know how to help him deal with this and he wouldn’t want me to try.

  Because of the early hour the foyer was empty, save for security, and we travelled up to our floor. Richard, Paul and Jonathan were waiting when we arrived, Mack followed shortly after.

  “Thanks for coming in early, we have a problem that I want to discuss with you,” I said as we sat on the sofa in my office.

  “Yesterday Trav found a note stuck on the windscreen of the car, downstairs in the parking lot. It was a note from his brother, Padriac. A simple blackmail letter by the looks of it.”

  Mack passed around a copy of the note.

  “Mack, what did you find on CCTV?” I asked.

  “Excluding security there are three individuals who enter the lot. This one is your man but it’s not a great photo.”

  He handed around a rather grainy photograph of a guy, overweight in a dark jacket and with a baseball cap pulled down low to shield his face.

  “In the clip he comes into the lot and walks straight to the car. Bearing in mind there are three Range Rovers, he knows which one is yours, Trav. He puts the note under the wiper and walks out, his head bowed so we don’t get a shot of his face at all. Does he look familiar?” Mack asked Travis.

  “I haven’t seen him in over twenty years, if he stood in front of me, I probably wouldn’t recognise him.”

  “Any logo’s or markings on that jacket?” I asked.

  “Nothing, just a plain dark blue probably, jeans and dark shoes. Nothing distinguishable at all,” Mack replied.

  “Do you think he knows where the cameras are?” Paul asked.

  “Probably, he keeps his head low all the time. The cameras cover the whole lot,” Mack answered.

  “So he’s already checked the place out,” Jonathan added.

  “I would say that would be a good guess.”

  “There’s some things I should tell you, a bit of family history. But first you should know, I have no idea if this is true or not. Paul, you might be interested in this. My parents fled Northern Ireland in the mid seventies with three kids. I was born just after they arrived in New York. They were taken in by a family and for a couple of years they moved around. Remember, I don’t know if this is nothing more than a bit of family folklore. Padriac used to talk about our dad being a butcher, and the reason they fled was because the security forces were after him. He had something to do with the Shankill Butchers, part of the Ulster Volunteer Force and responsible for some horrific deaths. Death by a butcher’s knife.”

  “Fuck,” Paul said.

  “Exactly,” Travis replied.

  Paul had married Rosa, someone he had met on a trip to Southern Ireland, a business trip. Not that Joe had any connections with her family but, if not part of the IRA, they were certainly sympathisers. It was a business deal that Joe pulled out of because he didn’t want to deal with the Irish but Paul had come back with Rosa. And because of her heritage, he understood what Travis had told us.

  “Although I found all this out just before I left, it wasn’t the reason I ran. I wouldn’t have been old enough to understand what it meant. No one has ever spoken about it except my sister,” Travis said.

  “Your sister’s back in Ireland isn’t she?” Richard asked.

  “Northern Ireland, yes. But not Belfast. She’s further up country. It’s one of the reasons I don’t know if it’s true. Would she head back to any part of Northern Ireland knowing what her father was involved in?”

  “That’s a good point. You know, I could speak to Rosa’s dad, see if he can find out anymore,” Paul said.

  “No, thanks though, Paul. I don’t think we need to draw any attention to that at all. We have to assume Padriac knows Trav has a bit of money, he might think he knows how he got his money, but no specifics,” I said.

  I caught movement from the outer office, Gina had arrived. I turned over the papers and photograph we had sitting on the small coffee table between the sofa and chairs as she tapped on the door. She would have seen us sitting there, through the glass wall.

  “I’m sorry to interrupt, Mr. Stone, I wondered if you guys would like coffee?” she asked.

  “Yes, that would be good,” I replied. Travis continued once she had left.

  “Anyway, whether it’s fact or fiction, Padriac does love to tell a story when he’s drunk and he might have run out of an audience for the ‘my dad’s a Shankill Butcher’. I might be his next source of bar talk,” he said.

  “To be honest, Trav, him living on an alleged reputation might work in our favour. Who the fuck is going to believe his dad was in the UVF and his brother in the Mafia, that’s one unlucky bastard,” Jonathan said.

  That comment broke
the tension in the room and we laughed as Gina brought in a pot of coffee and cups. Once the coffee was poured and she had left, I continued.

  “Padriac had left it that he will be in touch although I doubt he’ll come back to the lot. He must know we would check the cameras and he has got to be one dumb shit if he does that again. Mack, get hold of Tony, see if we can track him down. My guess is he would hang around the Irish bars if he’s a drinker and would probably want to be around his own.”

  Tony was an investigator we had used on and off over the years. He was especially good at tracking people down and quickly.

  “Once we know where he is, we can deal with him,” I added.

  There was no need to explain what I meant. The guys stood and headed off to start their day. Mack left to contact Tony and Travis and I finished our coffee.

  “Didn’t get very far, did we?” he said.

  “What do you mean?”

  “We think we shed our old lifestyle but it’s always there, in the background.”

  “It’s not always, Trav. Just every now and again it will rear its ugly head. And you know what, if we didn’t have that background we wouldn’t be sitting here.”

  I was surprised by Travis’s comment. I was always the one that had pushed for a different life. I had always believed that, if left to Trav, we would still be in that office between the two stores hijacking lorries and God knows what. I chuckled, maybe he had finally grown up too.

  It was about midday when Mack called through.

  “You’re not going to believe this but Tony has a location for Padriac already. Seems he does have a big mouth after all. He was in a bar last night, just around the fucking block. Seems our guy really does have shit for brains. The barkeeper threw him out after he started singing rebel songs.”

  “So he’s staying local then. I’ve had a thought,” I replied.

  I ran my thought past Mack before disconnecting the call and getting back to work. Luca had sent through his proposal for our build in Manhattan. He wanted to supply the workforce and instead of payment we would give over some apartments. On paper it didn’t seem a bad idea but I would arrange to meet with him and discuss it face to face. He had no idea what my apartments would sell for but I had an idea of build cost so a meeting would start negotiations. He was due to visit DC so I arranged to catch up with him them.