Taking the Town

by Ford Murphy

  “I want to go home,” was all he said to David in the dressing room afterwards.

  David nodded. “I’ll make the arrangements but let’s get the doctor in to look at you first.”

  The doctor, who was very experienced and who knew that these guys fought when they were injured, spared Finn a lecture but made sure he knew that wasn’t clearing him to fight on.

  Finn said nothing. He had made that decision himself anyway.

  The good news was that there was no permanent damage done but he would be out for a few months and it would be a very painful rehab. “The price of doing business, doc,” Finn had said to him as he shook his hand.

  Two days later, they were back in Ireland. Even though Finn had done tremendously well, the trip home had been very subdued. Even David refrained from his usual flirtations. They said very little to each other and slept most of the way.

  It was only after Finn had brought his parents up to speed on the tournament and his injury and they were satisfied he was okay, that his mother said, “I’m afraid I have some bad news.”

  Finn knew what was coming but it was still a shock when he heard that Brian Davis was missing and presumed killed by a notorious criminal gang in Lissadown. There was speculation that Brian had intervened in a gang-related punishment beating and had suffered the consequences for his actions.

  Finn was numb. He cursed the fact that he had been in Brazil when he knew Brian was in danger. Intuitively, he knew it wasn’t his fault but he felt like he was somehow responsible. His thoughts went to Julia and at that moment, he made his decision. He’d failed Brian, but he’d fulfill his promise. He was going to Lissadown and he was going to make this right.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Saturday, July 26, 1986

  Week Five: Day Six

  Finn woke up with a splitting headache. He was devastated. Everything had fallen apart so swiftly. He was furious with Margo but, in his heart, he knew that he was also to blame. He wished he had been upfront with Julia earlier and had told her the whole story, but he had wanted to see if she would fall for him because of who he was and not because of their tangled history.

  In reality, he still blamed himself for Brian’s death and he had been scared that Julia might too. Rationally, he recognized that this was stupid. There was nothing he could have done, but the concern was still there. Now he had blown it completely.

  For the rest of the day, he went through the motions of living. He moved from the farmhouse back into town. He put himself through a hard workout, which he followed up with a long walk.

  All in all it was a long, lonely day and he was glad when it was over.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Sunday, July 27, 1986

  Week Five: Day Seven

  Sunday wasn’t much better. He still felt like a big part of him had been wrenched from his body. Around noon, he put on his running gear and ran out to Roan’s facility where he tried to work, largely unsuccessfully, on a report he needed to hand in by Friday. After enduring a couple of frustrating hours, Finn went to the on-site gym where he lifted for an hour then ran home.

  A little after six that evening, when he was making some dinner, the doorbell rang. Finn’s heart leapt as he hoped and prayed that it might be Julia. He rushed to the door, opened it quickly and saw Mike McGill standing there.

  “Uh…Chief Superintendent,” he stammered, trying vainly to conceal his disappointment. “What can I do for you?”

  McGill looked at him with tired eyes. “You need to come with me to the hospital, Finn. Something bad has happened. Julia’s house was petrol bombed last night.”

  “What? Is she okay? Is she badly burned?”

  McGill shook his head. “She’s not badly burned. A little bit on her hand and legs. She did inhale a lot of smoke though and they’re going to keep her in for a few days observation. She was very lucky. One of my lads out on patrol spotted the smoke and got her out right away. Neighbors came on the scene very quickly and put the flames out, so the house wasn’t badly damaged. All in all, she’s a very lucky girl.”

  “Do we know who did this or is that a stupid question?”

  McGill nodded. “It was them. Now come on, let’s go.” He headed down the driveway.

  Finn stopped him. “Julia and I had a falling out. Thank you for thinking of me but I doubt very much she’ll want to see me.”

  The Chief Superintendent stopped in his tracks, sighed loudly and without turning around said, “Come on you gobshite. She does want to see you. It was Julia who sent me to fetch you.”

  Finn was stunned but delighted. He closed the door and raced after McGill.

  When they reached the hospital, McGill told him that he placed a cop outside her room and that she would be guarded day and night even though he did not expect there would be any trouble.

  Finn thanked him and walked quietly in to the small, private room that Julia had been given. His heart broke when he saw her lying there, eyes covered and both hands heavily bandaged.

  “Is that you, Finn?” she asked quietly after a few seconds.

  “Yeah, it’s me, Julia.”

  “I thought so.” A smile flirted with her lips. “I’d recognize that nice smell of yours anywhere, even here with all the disinfectant. Come over to the bed, please.”

  Finn approached her and she patted the edge of the bed for him to sit down. “Listen to me now. I’m so terribly hurt—”

  “Julia—”

  She waved him quiet. “No. I need to say this. I’m so terribly hurt and I don’t know if I will ever be able to trust you again, but I fell in love with you. Being with you was like learning to live again. You brought me back from the deep, dark place I had locked myself in. I thought I’d be there forever, locked away all by myself. But you changed that. You made me laugh, you were kind to me and so very patient. I’ll always love you for that.

  “But you also hurt me so very much. Those guys who raped me, it was a terrible thing they did to me but they didn’t pretend to care for or be nice to me. What you did hurt so much more because I loved you and I expected you to care about my feelings. It’s so true what I’ve said to you before. I’m not a lucky person. For everything good that happens in my life there’s a double measure of bad to follow it. I don’t know if I can pick myself up again after this one. I don’t even know if I want to try. I was thinking earlier, how it might have been better if that cop had not saved me. It might have been the best solution if I hadn’t made it out.”

  “God, Julia, no.”

  She waved his protest aside. “But I did make it out and there must be a reason for that. What I want now is for you to tell me everything. All of it. The truth, right from the very beginning. In my heart, I can’t believe that my brother cried out to you for help and you didn’t give it. That does not seem in any way like the Finn I’ve come to know and love. I need to hear your side of the story. It’s the only hope we have of finding a path forward.”

  Finn sat there stunned, with tears rolling down his cheeks. He was trying to process what she had said. The prospect of her not making it out alive chilled him. But she was right. She had trusted him and he had betrayed her. He’d been too worried about what she’d think of him to tell her the truth about who he was and why he’d come to Lissadown. How was she going to recover from this?

  However, he recognized that he had been given a chance to try and make things better, if not right. So he took a deep breath and began to speak. He told her everything, from the very first time they encountered each other all those years ago, to the time in the bar in Cork, to the efforts he had made trying to get hold of Brian when he was on the way to Brazil, all the way up until Friday night, when Margo Kirk had brought their world crashing down around them.

  Julia listened, occasionally asking questions but never commenting or passing judgment. He could sense her stiffen when he explained how he was in Brazil when he had spoken to Brian and how her brother had said everything was fine and that they would
see each other when he got home. He told her that deep in his heart he knew something was seriously wrong. “You can’t be any angrier with me than I am with myself. I’ll always regret not catching the next flight home.”

  “You know that would have been too late anyway if even you had come home then. It wasn’t your fault. I want you to know that I don’t blame you in any way for what happened to Brian. You hurt me by not telling me the truth, not because you didn’t help my brother.”

  “I’m sorry, Julia. I never meant to hurt you. Far from it. I just thought…I thought. God, I don’t know what I thought. I couldn’t stand the idea of you hating me for what I’d done. I thought there would be time to tell you everything after…” I’d made amends. He couldn’t say the words. How could he ever have hoped to make amends? He’d been delusional.

  “Thank you for telling me. Honestly, I know this was tough but I needed to. I’d like to sleep now.”

  Then she said the words that gutted him. “Don’t come back. I just want to be left alone. You’re out of my life. That makes me sad but I can’t take any more risks. Please go. I’ll have happy memories but that’s all it will be between us. Just memories.”

  Finn stood up. He knew there was nothing more he could say that would make a difference. He was glad that she knew the truth about Brian and that she didn’t hold him responsible for his death. It wasn’t much but at least he had that to hold onto. He also hoped that with the passage of time there might be an opportunity to win her trust back and he was prepared to put the effort into that.

  “Good night, Julia. Thank you for seeing me.”

  As he walked down the corridor heading for the exit where he knew McGill would be waiting for him, he resolved that he was finally going to finish the job he had come here to do. “This time it’s for keeps,” he said to himself. “It ends here.”

  Chapter Thirty

  February, 1984

  Edgarville, Kentucky

  Finn was right. He and Whitney became good friends and although she flirted with him a little on occasion, it was all harmless and more in jest than anything else.

  The weeks went by and suddenly he was in his six month. As much as he had enjoyed his time at KenTech, he was ready to go home. He missed his family, his friends and he was eager to return to competitive MMA activity. He had kept up his fitness over the last six months. Indeed, the fitness facilities were so good that he actually believed he was now fitter than he had been at any time in his life.

  Two weeks before he was scheduled to depart, Whitney announced that she and Morgan were going to Chicago for a long weekend. They planned to leave on Friday morning and get back on Monday night. This announcement fueled speculation that they were going to get married, as apparently Morgan had been hinting at this to people for the past few weeks. Before she left for the airport, Whitney came over to Finn’s lab to say goodbye.

  “Have fun, but be safe. Okay?”

  She smiled at him and gave him a hug. “Thanks for being such a great friend. I really do love you.”

  “I know and I love you too.”

  As she headed to the door of the lab, he called after her.

  “Hey Whit, I hope you have a great time.”

  She stopped and turned to look at him. Then she just shook her head. “I will, yeah.”

  Finn was a little taken aback by this but he put it down to Whitney just being her quirky Whitney self. He was looking forward to hearing the story of her weekend in Chicago and genuinely hoped that if she was going to marry Morgan that she would be happy. He loved her as a friend and only wanted the best for her. He had had his share of misgivings about her and Morgan but lately things had been going well for the two of them and she seemed very much in love.

  On Tuesday morning when neither of them appeared in the lab, speculation intensified. By Thursday morning, when there was still no sign of them nor any word, people were convinced that the happy couple were now in Paris, where Whitney always said she wanted to spend her honeymoon. There were expressions of concern from some quarters who thought it was decidedly out of character for both of them not to contact anyone and share the good news.

  Finn was initially a little put out that Whitney hadn’t said anything to him but he figured that she was entitled to keep something this big secret. He was looking forward to teasing her when she returned and his biggest concern was that if she was on honeymoon for more than two weeks, he would be back in Ireland before they were back.

  “That would be terrible,” he admitted to Paul at lunchtime. “I would honestly be devastated if that happened.”

  Paul, who actually had grown fond of Whitney himself these past few weeks, tried to reassure him. “No way that’s going to happen, man. You two are best buds, remember? She wouldn’t do that to you. I’m one hundred percent confident that she wants to be the one who organizes your leaving party. There’s no way she’s going to trust anyone else to do that.”

  Finn smiled. “I hope you’re right.”

  After a heavy workout, he was back in his apartment shortly before eleven that night when his doorbell rang. He opened the door to see an anxious looking Paul standing there.

  “Come in. Is everything okay?”

  Paul sat on the couch. Took a couple of deep breaths then looked at Finn with anxiety written all over his face. “I think something really terrible has happened.”

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Saturday, August 9, 1986

  Week Seven: Day Six

  Julia had been discharged from hospital the next day and returned to work a few days later. Finn had spent the next couple of weeks actively planning his next move. She did not seem to want to speak to him or be anywhere near him. Anytime they encountered each other, she averted her eyes and kept going.

  As a result, he stopped going to canteen for lunch. Instead he ate a sandwich alone in his office and caught up on work. He had to smile at the irony. Julia, who for the longest time had been completely ostracized until he came along, was now extremely popular and ate lunch at a packed table every day. He didn’t begrudge her this new and improved work environment in any way. He just missed her.

  He and his office mate Laura had also done a one-eighty. He was at work, every day, on time and even worked through lunch, while she was often late and had called in sick a couple of times.

  “Don’t judge,” she told him as she rolled in at ten, one Monday morning.

  He held up his hands. “I’m in no place to. But are you okay?”

  She grinned. “Yeah. I’m having a blast with my new boyfriend. Cam’s a great guy, he just doesn’t believe in taking life too seriously. I think he’s exactly what I needed. I’ve never really cut loose before.” She smiled sheepishly. “It probably comes as no surprise, but I was pretty bookish at university—not a party girl at all. I’m just having a little bit of fun.”

  “Fun is good. Just be careful that fun doesn’t turn around and bite you in the ass.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Sure, Mom. I’ve got it covered.” She snickered. “Or at least, he does.”

  Finn laughed. “I was thinking more about your job, but that’s good too.”

  It was good to see her having fun. Lissadown had been dark and oppressive for too long. In fact, it was nothing short of remarkable that the petrol bombing of Julia’s house hadn’t scared people away from her as it would have in the past. This was a sign to him of the progress the whole town had made in the last few weeks.

  He was working out very intensely these days and he could feel that his body was nearing peak physical condition. This was crucial because he would only have one shot at getting this right.

  Finally, all plans were set. About a month ago, Finn had discovered, quite by accident really, that the four top leaders in the gang met every second Saturday night at a house about five miles outside town. The house was in a pretty remote location with little or no traffic. Although the gang leaders all arrived and left separately, they didn’t seem to take any extra preca
utions.

  Finn had driven by the place several times to scope it out and there were no signs of any security measures. Cocky bastards don’t think they need it. This is it. Here’s where it will go down.

  Now the day had arrived.

  At about seven-thirty that evening, Finn walked into town. He headed to Nutt’s Haven, a small bar in the center of town that was usually frequented by Roan employees. When he arrived there, he saw four guys from Roan sitting at a corner table. He walked over, greeted them and offered to buy a round. They agreed enthusiastically. Finn sat with them for about twenty minutes then joined another group, once again buying a round of drinks.

  Each time he was at the bar, he took care to speak with as many customers as possible and made sure to tip the barman generously. His plan was simple. He was going to establish his alibi with as many witnesses as possible who could place him in Nutt’s Haven and swear that he’d been drinking heavily all night. In reality, he wasn’t really touching his drinks at all. He constantly seemed to have a pint that was three quarters empty in his hand with at least another full one waiting there.

  As his companions continued to drink more and more pints, it became less and less likely that anyone would notice what he was up to. Over the course of almost three hours, Finn worked the room, constantly making sure that the thirty or so customers in the bar would have clear memories of his presence. He joined in a raucous singsong at one stage and gave a good impression of someone who was beginning to feel the impact of too many pints.

  Finally, at ten-forty, he excused himself and headed to the bathroom. He lingered until there was no-one else around then slipped out the side door. It was only used for deliveries and locked from the outside. He would not be able to get back in through that door. He walked steadily down the little lane leading to the river without being noticed.