Hard Irish

by Jennifer Saints

  “We are working on it. First, I think you’ll find this interview interesting.” Jesse pressed a button on his laptop. A burly faced man with watery eyes and a stiff mustache appeared on the big screen. His Irish accent was thick. “Deputy Chief Inspector of Criminal Justice Inspection, David McNall here and you’re going to owe me more than a pint, Mulligan. It’s too early in the morn to be digging up me brothers’ past. Liam was murdered and Finn was executed for murdering Pearson. Let’s leave the ghosts in their graves. It’s all bollocks.”

  Rocky straightened with surprise. She’d thought the murder of Pearson had gone unsolved.

  “Maybe not all ghosts are in their graves,” came Mulligan’s recorded reply.

  “Like you? It’s been ten years. I thought you——

  The video went black then picked back up a few seconds later with Mulligan speaking. “You said once that a few days before the police hunted him down and shot him, Finn told you a story. One that you didn’t quite believe. What was it?”

  “Why ask now?”

  “Because I need to know. It may be related to a case I am on.”

  “I might or might not be willing to share. Ya need to tell me more and who is involved. Since Stakeknife’s exposure folks are edgy, looking for a reason to cause anyone with close ties to the past trouble. Talking about my brothers might have someone questioning my loyalties.”

  “I might know where Anne O’Loughlin disappeared to,” Mulligan said.

  McNall’s eyes widened. “Bloody hell. Who have you said that to?”

  “Only you.”

  McNall looked at the watch on his wrist. “Don’t tell a soul. I’m coming to you. I’ll catch the first flight out. Where am I going?”

  The video ended and Rocky drew a breath realizing she had forgotten to breathe. “Why is he coming here? Do you know more?” Her gaze bounced between Mulligan and Jesse.

  Mulligan shook his head. “Bugger wouldn’t say a word. He’ll be here later today.”

  “You didn’t tell him that Anne wasn’t alive,” Jared said.

  Mulligan shrugged his shoulders. “He didn’t ask and he didn’t volunteer any information. So, I’m not about to either. If just the mention of her name can get that kind of reaction from him then regardless if Anne was alive or not, I’d want to see him.” Mulligan smiled. “Saved me a trip.”

  “And me some money,” Jesse added, grinning.

  These men played hardball even when it came to humor. To come all the way from London, thinking someone was alive...but Rocky had to agree with Mulligan. For someone to have that intense of a reaction upon hearing her mother’s name this many years later, Rocky wanted to meet the man face to face and ask some serious questions.

  Jesse looked at his watch. “That leaves one last interview for now. Ian should be calling shortly. He’s made contact with a relative of Sean O’Prey, which wasn’t easy. The O’Prey’s were heavily involved with the IRA and aren’t easy to find, even in these times. We’re still trying to locate any news about Alan Dunlavey’s family.”

  Mulligan grunted. “I have a hunch McNall will know the fate of the Dunlaveys. And you already know Deidre Finaggan’s little sister, Brianna, was killed by a bomb in Ninety-six.”

  Rocky shivered at how close she came to sharing that fate last night. For the first time she realized just how violent of an environment her mother had grown up in. How frightening to never know from one minute to the next if you would live or die. And how fruitlessly hopeless it would be to know that there was nothing that could stop the madness.

  Jesse’s computer made a sound and he pressed a button. “Ian’s right on time.”

  On the big screen Rocky saw a grim looking man with a gray beard, an odd-looking hat, and somber clothing glaring at them. “I tell ye son, these gadgets are of the divil.”

  “Yes, sir,” Ian said.

  “They’ll lead to a world of sin. Mark my words.”

  “Yes, sir. I just need a few statements from you so we can keep track of this ancestry search. All you need to do is answer a few questions, okay?

  “Let’s get on with it.”

  “Deacon Diarmuid, you’re a relation to Sean O’Prey, right?”

  “Not claiming him or his brother as kin. They’re my sister Fiona’s lot. God rest her soul. Those two boys were bad eggs that met bad ends. Dodgy blokes that’ll stab you in the back while smiling at your face. Tried saving one of them’s gel, but Mary Magdalene had a divil in her that neither God’s rod of discipline nor Father Finney’s exorcism could cast out.”

  “Do you know how I can find any of them?”

  “Ye can try the graveyards though none of them deserved to be buried consecrated ground.”

  “So they are all dead?”

  “Sean in 79, murdered by the Brits. Dougal in 87, killed by the premature explosion of a bomb he was on his way to plant for the IRA. I’d already been taken care of his gel, Mary, since he hit trouble with the Brits 82. After Dougal died she up and left in the middle of the night. Last I heard she was on the streets of London. Good riddance.”

  “Ian, the girl’s name was Mary Magdalene O’Prey?” Jesse asked.

  Ian repeated the question and the Deacon confirmed it.

  Mulligan spoke up. “Ask him if Dougal ever mentioned George Pearson’s kidnapping? Or talked about Finn McNall?”

  Ian repeated the question.

  The man shook his head. “Not to me and nothing about Pearson, but on the few occasions Dougal came to see Mary, he’d piss up and go around yelling that Mary and Finn McNall’s brasser ruined the only good chance he had in life.”

  Jesse turned to Rocky. “Do you have any questions?”

  Rocky started to say no. She didn’t want to have to talk to the man. Her stomach churned from the condemning, hatefulness emanating from him. If this man was a deacon, a supposed pillar in the community and the church there, what kind of life had any of the youths had? Especially Mary. It made Rocky know deeper in her heart that programs like Build-A-Future were so very important, not just in the US, but worldwide. “How old was Mary when she left?”

  Ian relayed the question. The deacon’s scowl deepened. “The ungrateful scrubber was fifteen.”

  Just fifteen. Rocky wondered if the girl had survived. She hoped so.

  “Anything else?” Jesse asked. Rocky shook her head.

  Jesse concluded the interview. Before he could say anything else, his cell phone, which he had sitting on the desk, vibrated. As he answered, it suddenly hit Rocky that she didn’t have her cell phone or any of her personal belongings from driver’s license to credit card. She’d lost her and Jared’s phone in the pool and had left with only the clothes on her back.

  Jesse’s gaze shot to her within seconds and she knew something was wrong. He hung up, his expression grim. “There’s a major fire at the nursing home. Everyone is being evacuated to different area hospitals.”

  Rocky jumped to her feet, her vision dimmed as she fought for air and for balance. “My father?”

  “Is fine. One of my men is with him. The other is helping with the fire, which appears to have started in the kitchen.”

  “I’ve got to go to him.” She looked around for her purse and realized she didn’t have it. She didn’t even have her truck.

  “I don’t believe in coincidences,” Jared said as he stood. “Odds are this fire is meant to draw Rocky into a trap.”

  “My thoughts exactly,” Jesse said.

  Worry and a gut clenching rage pumped through Rocky. To have someone come after her was one thing but for him to put the lives of vulnerable, infirm people in danger, chilled her to the bone. “Then let’s give this bloody bastard what he wants. Me.”

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  That Jesse had a plan in place didn’t stop fear from tying Jared’s gut into a knot. With the explosion last night and having come so close to failing to protect Rocky, he realized the only safe place for her was in the Sherridan-Weldon Solutions’ R& D penthouse with
just Jesse and Mulligan in the know. Having her be anywhere else was like planting a target on her back, which was exactly what she was determined to do.

  Jared fully understood the anger and the guilt she felt over the cowardly low-life putting her father and other completely helpless people at risk, but moving out into the open wasn’t going to change what happened and just might get her killed.

  This is what Jesse did day in and day out. He gave people protection, which was great when locked in a secure place, but out in the real world it was hell. There were too many variables beyond control. And for the first time on a gut level, Jared understood why his mother wrung holes in her dish cloths. He was praying harder than he’d ever prayed in his life.

  The evacuated residents of the nursing home had been split up and transferred to different area hospitals. Roxy’s father was now at Memorial Hospital’s extended care unit, located on the third floor of the hospital’s newest wing—an addition that Shamrock Construction had built and served as another example of excellent work followed by bad decisions. He and James had squandered the proceeds with their born-to-be-wild-bachelor lifestyle on fast cars, women, and parties.

  As they drove up to the hospital, it really hit Jared hard that Rocky and McKenna Construction hadn’t put Shamrock Construction in jeopardy of bankruptcy by outbidding them job after job. He and James had done it all by themselves. Part of the change in his viewpoint came from seeing his life in hard comparison to hers. But the seriousness of the recent events and the realization of how fragile and fleeting life was also held Jared’s feet to the fire.

  He was a low dog for even being with her at all. She deserved so much better than who and what he was. He could rationalize it a number of ways, but the real reason he hadn’t told her the truth and why he hadn’t called his twin since going to see her was because...he didn’t want to be Jared Weldon—player and squanderer. He wanted to be the man who Rocky thought he was...someone worthwhile and worthy.

  He wanted to be a different man. And the sad truth was that by misleading her about himself, he wasn’t improving himself. He was only adding liar to player and squanderer.

  What a loser.

  Jesse pulled up to the side entrance to the hospital and Jared shoved his thoughts to the back of his mind. He needed to be completely focused on keeping Rocky alive and would have to deal with how to tell her who the real Jared Weldon was later.

  The ten second walk from the protection of a bullet proof car to inside the lobby had him sweating bullets. Rocky was sandwiched between he, Jesse, and Mulligan. She also wore a bullet proof vest beneath a light jacket. But none of that eased Jared’s angst. There were just too many damn strangers around and every move made by the people around him rocketed his fear higher.

  He reached the elevators and stabbed the up button, then scanned the area again with his jaw clenched. Thankfully the elevators opened quickly. They moved inside. He stayed closest to the door and as the doors started to close, he breathed a sigh of relief. Suddenly, at the last moment, a man shoved a briefcase into the opening.

  Startled, Jared reacted, seeing all kinds of bomb-in-brief-case horrors flash through his mind. He grabbed the hand and pulled hard, assuring whoever it was couldn’t drop the package and run. The doors, already reacting to the intrusion, widened and a man in surgical scrubs cried out in surprise as he flew off balance into the elevator.

  Jesse and Mulligan shoved Rocky to the side out of harm’s way. The man bounced off the back wall of the elevator and stumbled back cursing.

  “Good God. What in the hell is wrong with you?” He shoved a swath of blond hair back from his eyes and glared at Jared. “Have you lost your mind?” The man dropped the briefcase and flexed his hands, clearly assessing their function.

  Jared already had a grip on his Glock behind his back, ready to pull Rocky out of the elevator and run when he noticed the embroidered name over the left, breast pocket. Dr. Brad Swanson, Chief of Neurosurgery. A vague memory of Jackson saying Nan had dated the man at one time flashed across Jared’s mind. He slid the pistol back into his waistband.

  “I’m reporting this to security.” Swanson said, reaching for the alarm button on the elevator’s control panel. Then he made a sudden halt, narrowed his eyes, and bounced his gaze between Jared and Jesse. “Wait a minute. You two are related to Jackson Weldon, aren’t you?”

  “Maybe,” Jared said, coming to the conclusion that he’d over reacted a little and not liking just how hard his heart was pounding in his chest. The elevator doors re-closed and they moved up the shaft.

  “Does irrational violence run in the family?” Swanson asked, bristling with irritation. “I didn’t think anything could top Jackson’s kidnapping me from my office, but assaulting me in the elevator is the height of idiocy.” He looked at Jared. “So you’re Jesse the security man?” Then he looked at Jesse. “That makes you one of the twins. Jared or James? Hate to say it but your company did an excellent job on building this new wing. Shamrock Construction isn’t it?”

  “What in the bloody hell is this?” Rocky gasped and Jared’s heart sank.

  “Something like that, Swanson,” Jesse said grimly. The anger in his gaze bore a hole right though Jared. Jesse glanced at Rocky. “I’ll explain shortly.”

  The elevator doors opened.

  “No you won’t.” She grabbed Jared’s arm and pulled him out of the elevator. “He will.”

  Jared’s tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth. Jesse and Mulligan followed, their movements hurrying to assess and secure a perimeter of safety for her.

  “Weldons are just weird,” Swanson said. The elevator doors closed.

  Rocky shoved him up against the wall. Jesse gave him an “I told you so” look. Mulligan seemed amused. Both men turned their backs, shielding him and Rocky from approach. Jared was so disgusted with himself, there wasn’t a rock low enough to crawl under.

  “You’ve got ten seconds.” Hurt and anger clouded Rocky’s green eyes. Lines of tension, worry, and pain creased her brow. This had hit her hard at a vulnerable moment.

  Jared opened his mouth. Shut it then opened it again. “I lied,” he whispered. “Pure and simple. I led you to believe something that wasn’t true. I work with my brother James, not Jesse. We own Shamrock Construction. We were at the bar Sunday night looking for information on how McKenna Construction was consistently outbidding us.”

  All the color drained from Rocky’s face. “You deliberately lied to me? Just like that? You wormed your way into my life...my home...my hear—” Her voice broke. Tears filled her eyes.

  Jared knew he was losing her. And considering how betrayed she felt with everything else that had happened, that loss could be forever. He grabbed her shoulders. She was stiff and unyielding. “No. It wasn’t like that. You have to believe me. I didn’t know who you were at first. Didn’t find out until after James and I left Sally’s. I came back the next day to apologize. To explain maybe, but then the planter fell...and...and I couldn’t walk away...and then things started to happen...and hell.”

  “Christ, is there anyone in my life who isn’t hiding something?” She planted her finger in the center of his chest and pushed him away from her. “The man I thought you were would have never done what you did.”

  He exhaled. Sucker punched. He wasn’t the man he’d been pretending to be. He was a wastrel and a jackass and he didn’t deserve her.

  “Why should I believe anything you said to me ever?” she choked then wrenched away from him, almost running down the corridor to escape him. Mulligan was on her heels.

  “Because...” Jared whispered, floundering for words. Why should she believe him? He started to go after her.

  “Later.” Jesse shoved him back, his disgust evident. “You screwed up royally. So give her some space and get lost. We’re lucky she didn’t tell all of us to take a hike.”

  Jared shook his head, unable to wrap his mind around the idea of walking away from Rocky, ever. And especially not now. “Someone
is trying to kill—”

  “Mulligan and I can handle it,” Jesse muttered as he turned away and headed down the corridor. Rocky and Mulligan had disappeared behind double doors at the end of the hall.

  With his heart and gut in knotted turmoil, Jared watched Jesse follow after Rocky. He didn’t have to get lost. He was already so lost he didn’t think he’d ever be able to find his way.

  Rocky couldn’t see where she was going from the tears flooding her eyes. Every part of her body felt numb except for the ball of pain centered in her chest. There was so much deceit and intrigue whirling around her that she couldn’t see anything at all.

  She thought Jared was an anchor in the midst of the storm and to find out he wasn’t who she thought he was left her free-falling again. If he could lie to her so easily from the start, then he wasn’t much different than her ex.

  Swiping her eyes, she made a beeline for the nurses’ station just ahead. Though the hospital staff moved about in a calm, orderly manner, you could tell they were in rush mode, doing their best to process the evacuated patients. A quick glance behind showed that only Jesse and Mulligan had followed her. She thought she’d be relieved not to face Jared at the moment, but somehow the pain inside her sharpened. It wasn’t rational. But then what had been rational ever since Collin came after her in the bar? Nothing. Especially Jared.

  Did she have “lie to me” stamped on her forehead?

  A nurse in blue scrubs with a floral print lab coat looked up from her clipboard as Rocky approached the desk. “May I help you?”

  Rocky straightened her shoulders and gathered her wits. “Yes. I’m Roxanne McKenna. My father, Rory McKenna was transferred from Stonebrook.”

  “You’re his daughter?”

  “Yes.”

  “We’ve been waiting for you. Your father is fine. No exposure to smoke or trouble during the evacuation. You’ll want to see him first, of course. Then we’ve a few admission papers for you to sign and some information on his medical history we need to get. Your father must be well loved. He already has several visitors. A room full in fact. Room 310.”