The O’Malleys all stared at him.Seems this so called street man was much more than he appeared to be.
Arthur went on, “I’ve seen her as she comes here a lot to watch over her son.She doesn’t trust him any further than she can throw him and she’s got reasons not to.That man is a disaster waiting to happen and he finally got pinched last night.She’s just arrogant enough to think she’s invisible, that no one here actually knows who she is and what she’s up to.She also doesn’t think anyone here knows how she’s been making her money for the last forty years but some of us do know.”
Finn narrowed his eyes and studied him for a long moment, “And just what has she been up to since my brother kicked her to the curb?How has she been surviving all this time?”
Arthur turned his head and told him, “Running a smuggling ring under the guise of an import/export business.She thinks she’s got a sweet business, but she doesn’t know the FBI and Interpol are watching her carefully and they are about ready to pounce and shut her ass down.”
Darleen gasped.“And how do you know that?”she asked in a whisper.
Arthur turned to her and smiled.“Who do you think has been giving the FBI information on her warehouses and secret storage areas?”
Finn, his brother and all the men were stunned.They looked at one another then back at Arthur.
Chapter Six
“Just who the bloodyhell are you, mister?”Finn demanded to know.
Arthur just smiled faintly and shrugged.“I’m just a street guy.Just a bum, really.”
Seamus shook his head.“No sir, you’re not just a street guy, you might just be a hero to this city.You serve each and every one of them, all people you don’t know but you watch over them all, don’tcha?”
Arthur stared at him for the longest moment then he swallowed hard.“I wasn’t always a street person.I was a real part of society at one time years ago.In fact, I was in the military if you can believe that.”He looked down at his hands then back up at them all again.“When I first came home after serving my country, I had a wife and a son.I was a different man back then.I was young and I also had a big mouth.I had nightmares about what I’d done in the service of my country.I admit I took that on the wrong path to see if I could make it all stop and I started to drink.One night I got into a fight when I was drunk.I won but I pulled a knife when I didn’t have to.I hurt someone when I should have just walked away and gone home.I didn’t even remember who he was.After work the next day when I got home, I saw his reminder on my front door.The guy had a club and they got into my home.They had painted their coat of arms on my front door in blood.I still remember that I felt so afraid about whose blood they used.I trembled like a man walking through a land mine field.I never felt fear like that before.Even in war.Then I opened the door and I wished I never did.”
“What did they do?”Liam asked softly as if he knew this was gonna be bad.
The whole room seemed to collectively hold their breaths as they stared at him.
“They busted my door lock to get in and they wrecked the house,” Arthur whispered.His eyes were haunted as he recalled what he’d found the day his whole world, as he knew it, ended.His voice sounded low and shaky as he recalled, “T-they broke what could break and they r-ripped apart what could be ripped apart.But none of that registered in my head.They violated my wife and then they slit her and my baby’s throats.”He paused to stare at some point faraway from the room he now sat in, then he went on, “The police couldn’t do anything.They had some evidence but no real DNA proof of who actually did it.This was back in a time when there weren’t as many video cameras around.So no one saw anything, or so they all claimed.My mind went blank.My soul was empty.My heart kept beating but I could believe it did.I buried them three days later then I walked out and left that life behind.I walked away from everything I held dear.None of it mattered anymore.I changed my name, left behind my property, cars and my pride.I guess you could say I cleared the fog in my brain.I no longer had nightmares from the war.No, those disappeared and were replaced by the images of my ...family covered in blood.”
Darlene’s face went white as she slowly reached over and patted his hand.
Arthur looked like he didn't know she was even there next to him or felt her hand on his arm.“Then I began hunting.The hate inside me burned hot and I wanted to burn the whole world down.”He paused again.“I wanted to die but I also wanted them to pay for what they did.So, I formed a plan.”He let out a sigh.
The silence in the room filled with tension.
Finally, Finn asked, “Did ye ever find the men that did the deed?”
