They all looked at Richard.
The man looked genuinely surprised that she knew it.
“Ask him about Sheila, his secretary.”
Maureen stared at him. “What?”
“I didn’t…”
“Ask him about the personal trainer who would give him blowjobs in the gym locker room every morning before work.”
Thomas was appalled that this man had cheated on their daughter.
“Ask him about the woman he paid to have an abortion because he got her pregnant.”
Richard stared at her in horror. He didn’t know how she knew.
“I know it all, Richard. I know about the woman in your phone that you’re taking on a cruise next month. You said business, but it’s all pleasure.”
She stood.
Molly growled.
“How did you…?” There was no way she could know that. He hadn’t spoken to her in a year.
He crossed himself as a cool breeze blew through the room.
“Let’s just say that Ireland has been eye opening. Third eye, opening. You all should leave.”
Maureen grabbed her purse. “You’re dead to us.”
That hurt, but Brianna had her family. Laird would never hurt her like that, and she had their baby. “I’m good. I have peace, Maureen. I hope you will one day too. You won’t see me, or my daughter, Circe, ever. I’ll protect her from you, when no one did that for me. I love you, Daddy, but you let her break me. I have to let you go too.”
Tears filled his eyes.
She walked them to the door.
“Oh, and Dick?” she said, listening to the voices in the static.
“Yeah?”
“That rash on little dick? It’s herpes. The personal trainer gave it to you. You should have those oozing blisters checked out.”
He gasped and grabbed his junk.
She slammed the door in his face.
Then she sat on the floor.
And cried.
* * * O R A C L E * * *
Garda Office
Thursday Nine A.M.
When Nate and Bishop arrived, he was flipping through some of the papers he’d left for James Cooley. The man was gone, and the work wasn’t done.
And he was bitching about him going home to eat and shower?
Really?
As they came in, he was writing names on the board, so they could begin working on a suspect list.
“Have anything?” Bishop asked, eating an apple.
“Yeah, a headache.”
They got that.
There were many times in an investigation where they felt frustrated.
“I meant more along the lines of some information on missing women?” she asked.
“Well, it appears that we’ve ‘lost’ around eight women a year for the last ten years. Before that, the paperwork wasn’t electronic, and I don’t have a clue.”
“So eighty people?”
“Yeah.”
“And no one noticed?” Nate asked. “That’s a lot of people to go missing without a trace.”
Yeah, it was, but they also needed to keep something in mind.
“Adare isn’t a metropolis. People come and go,” he stated. “That being said, I’m betting that there will be more than a few on Lucian’s property in the center of that circle.”
They weren’t taking that bet.
“Once the bodies start turning up, it’s going to be one hot mess. This is a cop’s worst nightmare.”
They had all been there.
“Where’s everyone else?” Laird asked.
“We dropped Avalon off with Brianna. They were on their way to the historian’s house, and to the library.”
He was glad.
“She looked upset,” Bishop stated. “Something had her rattled, but she wouldn’t talk about it. Is she okay?”
“Her parents showed up just like Avalon warned. They brought her ex with them. I think it pissed her off.”
“And you?”
“Oh, aye and begorra, it really pissed me off. I feel like killing.”
“Well, I don’t think you have anything to worry about,” Nate said, flipping through missing person reports.
“Yeah, I hope not. I’d chase her if need be, but I’m buried right now. That will be irritating.”
Yeah, he got that.
“Should we get to work?” Nate asked.
Laird agreed.
They divided up the papers.
“I’ll start researching online with social media,” Bishop offered. “If any of these people willingly went missing, they would have continued living.”
He agreed.
“Here’s the autopsy for the latest victim, the one found at the park.”
“Who was it?” Nate asked.
“Patrick Molony.”
Bishop looked up. “Wait. I’ve heard that last name before,” she offered.
That intrigued Nate. “Where?”
It took her a second to place it.
“Maura. She was working on a list of people tied to Lawrence Keane and Maribel O’Sullivan. I happened to pick up her list of people from the coffee table.”
Well, this was likely important. So, he’d head to the source. Nate pulled out his phone.
“Maura?”
“Yo. What’s up?”
“You’ve been tracking Lawrence’s family lines, right?”
She flipped through some papers. “I haven’t gotten far,” she offered. “I was working on Maribel’s lineage. Since we know she had Polly, but we don’t know what happened to her, I figured I’d keep digging.”
“Who did you find?”
“About fifty O’Sullivans and a small branch of the family by the name of…” She found the paper. “Molony. I found her great, great, great, great grandson Patrick.”
That meant that Polly had lived, and she’d likely had Lawrence’s child.
Her father’s child.
It was so freaking disgusting.
“Well, he’s dead. He’s victim four that we found last night at the school.”
There was a pause.
“Uh, that’s not going to be a coincidence.”
Yeah, he didn’t think so either.
Bishop had an idea. “What if this killer ‘THINKS’ he’s reincarnated, but is cuckoo? When you start screwing with genetics, and bumping uglies with your blood relatives, bad shit is going to happen. What if he’s killing people in his bloodline?”
They’d never thought about that.
“Maura, I need you to work your magic. Get Jagger, Roxy, and Luke to start searching that old book. You know the one that had the people who showed up dead in his basement when they came looking for Lawrence.”
Bishop wished that Tierney had found Kyra’s book of who she was frequenting. If this killer was on the list, they could have cross checked it.
This sucked.
“If he killed them, they couldn’t carry on a bloodline,” Maura stated.
“If he’s crazy, they wouldn’t have to,” Bishop offered. “He’d think they did, and that would be enough.”
He looked at Laird.
“We need to know who was buried under that tree.”
He picked up his phone and dialed the coroner. They had the bone, and he needed DNA.
Fast.
He put a rush on it, schmoozing the lab technician as best as he could.
They couldn’t get blood from a stone, and DNA took time. They were going to have to be patient.
“They’re working on it as fast as they can,” Laird offered.
He was so glad to have help.
This was a mess.
“Brianna and Avalon are going to be digging, too, and maybe between all of us, we can figure out who the next victim is, or who is doing the killing.”
Maura got her team on it.
“We’ll find him.”
Laird reminded her. “We have two killers. Look for someone related, someone like brothers, or someone who might ju
st know a little too much about history.”
That would work for her.
“ON IT.”
They all got to work.
They had their fingers crossed.
This had to work.
They were running out of time.
* * * O R A C L E * * *
Avalon and Brianna walked arm in arm through the streets of Adare. It was a beautiful day, and she hated that her family had ruined it.
“Want to talk about it?”
“Family sucks.”
Avalon laughed. “Yeah, it does. Mine was particularly horrible. I’m glad my father killed them all, and then he was blown up.”
It was said so matter-of-factly.
“Um, I’m sorry?”
She laughed. “Don’t be.”
“The house is right up here,” Brianna said, looking at the address on her phone.
“Great! I can’t wait to help solve this. I don’t get to do this part all that often. I’m usually the one in the background telling them where to look. This is a fun change.”
Brianna assumed. Oracle was important, and she was going to give birth to the next one.
That was staggering.
“My girl will be just like you?” she asked.
Avalon smiled. “She’s going to help a lot of people. Circe will be happy.”
That’s all she needed.
The fact that Oracle knew the name she’d picked, said it all. This was the real deal.
She didn’t want to treat her daughter the way she had been treated by her parents. Circe would be loved.
Brianna knocked on the door.
When a man in glasses appeared, she recalled seeing him around town.
“Brian Higgins?” she asked.
“Yes, you’re that teacher who married the detective, aren’t you?” he asked.
“Yes, I see you spoke to your boyfriend.”
He laughed. “He was jealous. You’re writing a book, and he loves things like that. History is our thing.”
“I was wondering if you could help us.”
He looked intrigued.
“With?”
“Information. I need to find someone’s lineage. It’s going to be in the book about Sir Lawrence Keane.”
The man’s face lit up like a tree on Christmas.
“I know a great deal about him. I wrote a college dissertation on him. What happened here…it’s very interesting and all people should know about it.”
Avalon was listening.
There was buzzing in her head.
She knew Brianna felt it too.
For the first time, Avalon really wished the killers were psychic. That would make this a million times easier.
“Maybe we can go to the library and work there?” she asked. “Your boyfriend can help,” she offered.
He clapped his hands. “I’ll meet you there! I have to head to the basement to find the paper. Can you grab a coffee and meet me there in say…twenty minutes? It’s a mess down there, and I have to dig through some bins.”
She could do that.
“We’ll see you there.”
The man watched them walk away, and he grabbed his phone. “Willie, get ready. I have news for you.”
“What?”
“We’re going to be in a book!”
Then he told him all about it.
Avalon loved coffee, and they had a few minutes to spare, so Brianna led her to the park.
Once on a bench, she described everything.
“It sounds lovely here.”
Oh, it was.
“I have a question,” Brianna said, hoping it wasn’t personal. “How do you see through Lucian’s eyes when he’s not your other half?”
She laughed. “I have no idea. I just knew I could.”
“Can you do it through mine?” she asked.
“Nope. I don’t know why some psychics it works with, but others…not so much.”
“Are there lots of us out there?”
“So many, Brianna. I have to help them. I’m like you in a way,” she offered.
“How’s that?”
“I teach.”
Yeah, she kind of did.
“I want my daughter to learn from you, and the rest of your team. I haven’t felt this welcome in…ever.”
Avalon leaned over and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “You’re always welcome. Always. If you need us, we’re here for you. You have a family. You have us.”
Brianna was so happy.
Now, if they could only save Laird, their lives would be complete.
Avalon went completely still.
The alarms inside her head were going off. They were in danger.
Before she could say something, Brianna was being ripped away from her.
Avalon called for Laird and Nate.
She couldn’t see anything and it scared her.
“HELP!” Brianna shouted, as she was roughly shaken.
“You’ve ruined everything!” he hissed.
Brianna was being manhandled by an angry man, and she’d never been more afraid in all of her life.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Detective’s Office
Thursday
Mid-Morning
H e was sitting at his desk, trying to find some connection to the killings. As Laird compared them, he wasn’t seeing anything blatantly obvious. It was confusing as hell to him as an investigator. Something had to be there.
But what?
As he was sitting there, his skin began tingling as if there were a million ants crawling all over him.
Then he heard it.
Brianna!
She was screaming in his head for her.
Laird was up, Nate not far behind him as they raced to the park. Avalon was sending him information via their link.
Laird didn’t know what was going on, but if Richard was trying to take Brianna, he’d kill him.
He wanted to hurt someone.
Anger.
Hate.
Rage.
Laird was feeling it all.
He had to get to his wife and save her. If anything happened to her, or their unborn child, Laird knew the truth.
He’d never be the same again.
* * * O R A C L E * * *
She was so scared.
Brianna was being shaken so hard that her teeth were rattling together. As he continually shook her, she bit her lip and could taste blood.
“Stop!” she shouted, only to have James Cooley shake her even harder.
“You’ve ruined him! He was a good detective until you spread your legs for him,” he hissed, right before he shoved her to the ground.
Brianna hit her head on the bench, and tried to scoot away from the man.
“He used to be about justice, and now he’s focused on you. You’re nothing but some slut!”
Avalon reached down and found Brianna’s hand. “They’re coming,” she whispered.
When James tried to grab her again, Brianna kicked him in the balls.
He became furious.
Grabbing her by the leg, he flipped her over and pulled her arms behind her back.
“Ye just assaulted me, lass. Y’er going to jail,” he hissed, cuffing her.
Brianna didn’t know what to do. She began crying as the man yanked her to her feet, nearly pulling her arms from their sockets. Her body sang in pain.
All the while, she prayed he didn’t hurt the baby beginning to grow in her body.
That’s when she heard him.
He sounded like some wild animal, coming out of nowhere. He yanked James Cooley away from her as Nate caught her from falling.
“You’ve hurt my wife,” Laird said, pinning the man to the tree behind them.
His fist found the man’s face, over and over again.
Brianna sobbed harder.
Laird dropped him, knowing his wife needed his help. When he saw her leaning on Nate, her aqua eyes filled with tears, his heart broke.
There
was blood on her chin.
“A grá,” he whispered.
Laird uncuffed her arms, and she immediately went into his body for protection. He held her against him as she sobbed.
“Are you okay?” Nate asked his wife.
“He didn’t touch me. I couldn’t see who it was. Is Brianna okay?” she asked.
“Yeah, she’s a little battered. What happened?”
Laird wanted to hear this.
Then he was going to finish killing the Garda on the ground. He’d crossed one hell of a line, and he was going to pay.
“We were sitting here talking as we waited to go to the library to work with Mr. Higgins and Mr. Byrd. He came out of nowhere and grabbed Brianna.”
Laird glared at the man who was trying to get up from the ground. There were people gathering.
“He’s done,” Laird said.
While he’d tolerate the man ratting him out to his boss, and not following orders, he wouldn’t tolerate him putting his hands on Brianna.
She was off limits.
“You struck a pregnant woman, James. That means you’re going to jail.”
Brianna sobbed.
“Shhhh, A grá, I have you. He’s never touching you again.”
“You’ve changed!” James accused. “You used to be a good detective. Now you have bodies and no clue. She’s the reason. You can’t have both things in life, and you know it!”
Oh, he would have both, or he’d only have Brianna. That’s all that mattered to him.
“You’re terminated. You can call my boss, and you can tell him you assaulted a woman in the park. I’ll be filing the report as soon as I go back. You made her bleed. Jaysus! James, are you out of your mind?”
“I don’t want to file charges,” she said. “Just let him go. I don’t want more people making your life difficult because of me,” she whispered.
Oracle Haunting (The Phoenix Files Book 4) Page 37
