Arthur shook his head.“You have the night shift coming in soon anyway.And you would be wasting your time and energy making those calls.You have to think smarter than her.Right now you need to get a hold of your brothers and warn them all about what she’s doing.None of you O’Malleys are safe, not just the ones here.”
Chapter Three
“G’way outta that!”Seamus exclaimed as he nodded.“He’s right, we need to warn all your brothers.She ain’t only after you and yours but everyone in the family.I was too young to understand what happened that day but I remember it.I remember the rage in my da’s eyes when she came to the house.I never saw him like that before.I never heard him go off like that.Effin and blindin too.and I never wanted to see him like that again.My mother was the only one who could get close to him that day and I was worried about her safety but of course, my da would never hurt her.”
“No laddie,” Finn agreed.“He would have never hurt your mother.He never raised his hand to her or you and he never would have no matter how pissed he was at the rest of the world.”Finn shook his head then looked at Arthur.“But you are right, we do need to get a hold of the others and have them search their own business and houses too.This is all arseways.”
Liam looked over at Arthur and narrowed his eyes at him.“Just how did you learn of this plot?"
Arthur nodded as if he expected this question.“Well sir, when you live the life that I do, you hunker down wherever you can.Find a place that’s safe and keeps you warm, you know?”
Liam cocked his head at him.“And so?”
“I have to keep warm when winter hits here.And one place that I frequent a lot, just happened to be in the back of Jerry’s garage.I think you know him, he works here at the brewery.Well, he has a lean-to that he always keeps clean and he sometimes leaves a pool blowup mattress and a blanket out there.He’s seen me enough that what he leaves he knows gets used.He’s a good man with a good heart.He doesn't bother me and I sure as hell never bother him but I stay there on occasion.Now Jerry’s place is a short ways down from where Chrstopher lives and that boy has a habit of partying a lot, he likes to drink and he isn’t quiet either.And when his mother is in town she often comes over and they get a little loud when they argue.You can hear a lot more than you’re ready for when you just lay there and listen to folks.”
Liam nodded.“Aye, you can I suppose and we thank you for repeating what you heard but this opens a whole other can of worms.It’s all rag order.”
Seamus looked over at him to ask, “What do you mean, Uncle?”
Liam let out a heavy sigh and explained, “On the one hand, we are under attack by Shanon White and her family.Then now, on the other hand we’ve got this banjaxed Ria Sanchez to worry about.So between her plans and Shannon’s plans we have to figure out which one is the greater threat right now.They are both maggots eating the same apple.Both are a real and present danger to the whole damn family.”
Arthur just leaned back and stared at him.“Mr.O’Malley.Do you have so little faith in your own men?”
Finn looked up and glared at him.“And just what is that supposed to mean?”
Arthur heard a noise in the parking lot area behind them.He stood and looked out through the window to see a group of Finn’s employees heading toward the entrance.“You’ll see.Your workers are coming in, just lay it out straight with them and ask which of them has been bribed.You’ll get your answer.”Arthur shrugged.“But listen to what your man has to say before you condemn him for what you consider treason against your family.You might be surprised by what he tells you.Then you can use that to notify the rest of your brothers.”
Finn stared at him before he turned toward the workers coming inside.
His night crew gathered just inside the doors.Upon seeing the place was full of people, they paused to look around.
One of them stared at Arthur and Darleen then he gave Arthur a nod.He turned back to face Finn and the men sitting at the table.
Finn got to his feet and raised his gaze to his employees.“Mornin’ to ya all.Something has come up in the wee hours of this morning and I hate to have to ask this question but it has to be done.Now I know each and every one of you.Most of you have been working for me for a long time and the trust between us has benefitted both you and me.But I was told that one of you has betrayed me and my family.That you might have been given a bomb to plant and set off tomorrow on some deranged anniversary that an old woman named Ria Sachez marks in her books as the only time in her life that anyone ever told her no.You don’t know this but years ago my older brother, a married man with a small boy, refused to give that woman a place in his heart.A place I might add that was already taken by his wife that he cared deeply for.This Ria Sanchez was all banjaxed, for sure.She actually went on to murder his wife.This happened a long time ago but being crazed, she still harbors a hatred for the O’Malleys.She is still looking for revenge, we now hear.So I hate to have to ask you all but has anyone here been approached by this woman and given something?Mainly, a bomb and asked to place that device where it will go off and destroy the factory?”
“Aye.”Jerry stepped forward.“That would be me.”He was the man that helped them to get Chris Sanchez to come out of his house.Jerry shrugged then pulled something from his pocket.“I knew of her as her useless son lives a couple of houses over from me.I went along with her insane demand just to see how far she would go to see if she was just crazy or crazy serious.”Jerry set the device on the table and looked Finn straight in the eyes.“She gave me this yesterday.Offered me a good amount of money and said I would be paid after the building was destroyed.Well, my brother works in construction and he looked this bomb over very well.He told me there was no timer on it and as soon as I lit it, the bomb would go off killing everyone near, including myself.”Jerry shook his head.“But I was never going to set that thing off anyway.I knew she was shady enough to kill all of us here.But Finn, she was for real about wanting to hurt you and yours.”He nodded and motioned at the bomb.“My brother disabled the device and I was bringing it to you this morning.”Then he studied Finn’s face and said, “I also called the cops this morning about this and they should be here soon.Her scheme wasn’t going to happen like she thought.We all know what kind of crazy woman she is if we live in this town.But every one of us knows what kind of men you are.You and yours are good people, you pay us well for a fair day’s work and that means something to us.”He shook his head.“You treated all of us like family right from the start so there was no way in hell I would ever hurt you or your family.Besides, I’d rather go home at the end of my shift than be scraped off the floor into a plastic bag with a shovel.That evil woman didn’t care how many people died when that bomb went off.”
