Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
Declan Fairmont had a face worth studying. Not because he was handsome. Rather, it was the way each of his features seemed to say more than he said with his mouth. I’d read about characters with mobile faces before, but I’d never actually seen someone who fit that bill.
“When I was a wee lad in Tramore, I thought me pa was, well, not a god. Me mother would have me head for blasphemy if I’d thought that.
But he was... more than the rest of us. Today, I suppose you’d call him a superhero.
He could catch more fish than any other man in our village.
Carry more. He was just more. I thought he controlled the seas, like a Gaelic Poseidon come to life. ”
I blinked, trying to figure out why he’d started here, but Millie put a paw on my foot, and I held my tongue.
“You’re probably wondering why I started then.
It matters, trust me. Me pa could do no wrong, as far as I was concerned.
He left us, you see, on a big fishing boat.
He was headed to America to make his name, he said.
And he’d be back with riches beyond our imagination.
I used to dream of him coming back, crowned king.
I’d lie awake in our little cottage and dream about the manor house we’d buy some day.
The horses we’d have. I started writing stories, imagining the feats he was getting up to in America. ”
He trailed off, his pale green eyes fixed on a point behind me. I wanted to turn around, but I couldn’t take my eyes off his face.
“He never came back. I went looking for him when I came of age. Eighteen and determined to find me pa, to figure out what happened to him. Me mother was sick, and I left her behind, hoping to find the man who could fix it all. I found him all right. And that was when I learned he was just a man. As flawed as the rest of us.”
“Where was he?” I asked, unable to stop myself.
“New York. He’d arrived on the fishing boat, but quickly found he was better suited to a life of thievery and mischief. He had a new family by then. I doubt he ever thought of us back home in that cottage. Me mother with the cough and him with a pretty wife and a daughter.”
Something clicked, and I gasped.
“Natalie is your sister.”
He gave me a twisted smile that held no humor.
“Aye. The eyes give it away. Me pa had those eyes. She was the only good thing that came of that trip. I had a sister. And a sick mother. He took me aside, he did. Gave me a hundred dollars and told me to go back where I belonged. I threw that money in his face. When I returned home, me mother was dead. She died alone in that stinking, mildewed cottage while I was chasing a dream.”
My heart ached for this man sitting across from me, knees pulled up to his chin, as if he could shrink himself and make it all not true.
“I’m so sorry. I lost my parents, too. I know how deep that wound goes.”
“Do ya? Aye, you have the look of someone who’s known loss. Who’s to say whose loss is greater than another’s? Not me. I kept in touch with me sister, and she convinced me to move to America. Sponsored me visa, and found me a place to live. And then she did the worst thing of all.”
I leaned forward as he trailed off, unable to help myself.
“What?”
“She gave me a dream. She’d read the things I’d written while I was waiting for our pa to return. Said I had a gift. I just need to apply myself and the American dream was mine for the taking.”
He snorted and spit into the cold fire ring. It glistened on the blackened wood.
“American dream. I put in the time. I slaved. I waited tables, determined to make it on me own. Nat, she offered to help, but I wouldn’t let her.
Stubborn, just like me pa. He died, you know.
A few years back. Left everything to her.
Not a crumb to me, his only son. His wife sold their apartment and moved to Florida.
I don’t know if Nat still talks to her. I can’t abide the woman.
I wrote manuscript after manuscript. Found an agent.
Worked me fingers to the bone, while Nat encouraged me.
Just try harder, she’d say. Until she landed the job of a lifetime.
Everything comes easily for her. If me pa had magic, it passed to her and not me. ”
I glanced toward the briefcase, sitting just out of reach inside the tent, and a sick feeling came over me.
“The manuscript. It’s yours, isn’t it?”
He looked at me then, and the depth of pain in those eyes nearly made me sob. He ruffled his hair with his fingers and spit into the fire ring again.
“Aye.”
“I knew it wasn’t his. I... well, I suppose if we’re being honest here, I snooped inside it when I found it in my shop. The shop you broke into with your dog, by the way.”
He winced and shot me a smile that was almost boyish.
“Sorry about that. Where was it? We searched and searched until I was certain someone would see us in there, even with the window boarded up.”
“Back behind the shelves,” I said, pulling my legs up to rest my chin on them. “I opened it and read the first few chapters. I knew then it wasn’t by Moorehead, even if the title page had his name on it.”
Declan nodded slowly.
“Aye. It was mine. Natalie told me she’d gotten me the opportunity of a lifetime. Her star client would be the one to pave me way to riches. She was so excited. So, I printed it up and gave it to her. She promised me. She said he would help. Well, he helped himself to me work.”
“Did you... register the copyright? It’s illegal to steal someone’s intellectual property in this country. Even if you didn’t have it copyrighted, if you have proof...”
He waved an elegant, long-fingered hand.
“It was me word against his. And I’ll give you all the tea in China if you can guess whose word they took.”
“Not yours.”
“No. Natalie promised me she’d get it back. She said she’d make it right.”
“But you didn’t want to wait for her?” I asked. “You planted the car bomb, tried to find the briefcase, and then took it from him when you killed him?”
“What? No. And I’ll thank you not to lump me in with me Northern brothers who are overfond of incendiary devices.
I didn’t kill him. I stole the briefcase.
I saw him there in the park. Natalie had talked about him like he were a God.
But just like our pa, he was just a man.
I thought he was sleeping. I took the briefcase and high-tailed it back here. I didn’t find out...”
“Until Natalie surprised you and picked you up yesterday,” I said, finishing for him.
His long-lashed eyes flew open.
“What? How?”
“I saw you. I was following her yesterday. I knew when Fang,” I said, nodding toward the dog who was still glaring at me. “wiggled like that when he saw her that you two knew each other. I didn’t realize, though...”
“He has a soft spot for her. We both do. But I didn’t kill her client.”
He didn’t look happy to be admitting his innocence, and I had a feeling I knew why. We both knew who’d killed Jackson Moorehead.
“So...”
“This is the part where I say now that you know, I have to kill you,” he said, raising an eyebrow. “If literature was anything like reality.”
I tensed, my fingers straying to the pocket that held my phone.
“But I find myself unable to do something so wretched. You’re a woman who likes to walk with her cat. And you love books. Oh, yes, I know a fellow book lover on sight. I’m sorry about your shop. That made me heart hurt to see all those books destroyed.”
It was telling that he cared more about the books than Jackson Moorehead, but I couldn’t find it in me to blame him.
“Is she... capable of something like that?” I asked as silence fell between us.
“Nat? Oh, she has a powerful temper. And I’m afraid our pa taught her everything he knew. See, when he quit fishing, he worked for the Westies.”
At my blank look, he smirked.
“Irish mafia in New York. They were mostly done dealing by that time, but a few of the old-timers hung on. Don’t feel bad.
I didn’t know they existed either. In fact, that’s what me book is about.
I planned a whole series around a reluctant enforcer.
I guess it was a good idea, considering that Moorehead decided to help himself to it. ”
I nodded, as everything became much more clear. I still didn’t know how she’d done it, but I was certain Natalie was the killer. And the bomber. I shuddered and focused back on the man across from me.
“You know what needs to be done, Declan.”
“Aye. But I find myself loath to be the one to do it. I was hoping to run into you again. That tall lady, the one with the bun that can’t decide which direction it wants to tilt?”
“Jo?” I said, smiling at the thought of my friend.
“Fine name. I overheard her talking to the little one, the redhead. That’s where I heard about you. I planned to throw myself on your mercy and ask for help. And here we are. You found me on your own. I guess Jo was right.”
“You want me to turn her in? Are you sure?”
He nodded, and that’s when I noticed a faint sheen of unshed tears in his eyes. He dashed them away with the back of his hand and stared into the forest that surrounded us.
“Aye. I’m a coward just like me father.”
I reached for him, surprising us both. His coat was slick under my fingertips.
“I don’t think it will be as hard as you think.
As far as I know, she was stopped last night and is in custody.
I told my boyfriend about what I’d seen; he’s the chief of police here, and he was planning on interviewing her last night.
I don’t know what happened, but if she’s guilty, he’ll arrest her.
You’re no coward, Declan. I understand why you don’t want to be the one... ”
He cut me off.
“Do ya? Because I sure don’t. But I know what needs to be done. I’m just not man enough to do it.”
A branch popped loudly behind me, and I spun to see a woman walking out of the trees. I gasped as Natalie emerged, a gun trained on her brother, her pretty face twisted into an expression that would surely haunt my dreams. If I lived long enough to have them again.
“Truer words have never been spoken, me brother,” she said, putting on a fake Irish accent. “No wonder Pa didn’t want to go back to you and your simpering mother. He knew he’d struck gold with us.”
I blinked, shocked by the pure vitriol pouring out of her mouth. I risked a glance at Declan to see a similar expression stamped on his face. Fang’s tail wagged, and a pleading whimper came from his chest.
“Nat, no, what are ya doing?” Declan asked, making as if to stand.
Natalie gestured with the gun.
“Sit. Down.”
He sank back down. I debated what I could do.
I reached for my cat, only to realize she was no longer at my feet.
The odds of my reaching my phone and calling for help were slim to none.
At least Millie would get away. That was the only hope I could cling to as Natalie walked closer, her face still twisted in a vicious scowl.