“I am,” I barely got out.
“Your wife was attacked,” the woman said shakily. “But she fought him off.”
I looked down and Maeve looked up.
“Dermot,” she said.
“We called the police,” the woman said. “They’ll be here any second.”
“I’m going to sit down outside,” Maeve said. “Wait for them. I need some fresh air.”
I all but picked her up, hustlin’ to get outside. Once I sat her down, feelin’ all over her body for injuries, she shook her head at me.
“I’m okay. I did just like you taught me. Except he got away.” She looked down at my hands. “Where are those men?”
I nodded to the street over.
Sirens wailed in the distance.
“We should go!” Maeve said, tryin’ to stand but not findin’ her footin’.
I picked her up again and rushed toward the other side of the street. I sat her in the passenger seat before I took off. I pulled up in front of where Spider and Web looked like ghosts sittin’ against a tree. I picked up Spider and set him in the trunk, then did the same to Web. I took off toward the clinic.
Maeve was quiet, starin’ out of the window.
We didn’t have much time.
As soon as I stopped in front of the clinic, Keenan and Fiona rushed out to meet us. Keenan had an egg-sized lump on the side of his head. My guess, Dermot had gotten loose and knocked him out. That was goin’ to be a sore spot for a while. Not the actual lump, but his pride.
Neither of us said anythin’ as we each grabbed a corpse and took it to the back of the place. Fiona was already back there, the flames of the fire stoked and waitin’ for somethin’ to turn to ashes.
Salma and her sister had no idea we used their property for this when we had the need to. Higgins knew, but he didn’t want his wife or sister-in-law to ever know. It was easier that way, he’d said. We paid him extra to use the big oven.
Once Spider and Web’s bodies were in, I could no longer see the flames takin’ ’em back to hell, but I imagined it.
My wife’s arms came around me, cold and shiverin’. “Cian?” she whispered.
It was hard for me to look away, but I did.
“It’s over,” she whispered. “Let’s go home.”
When we got home, there was more smoke and ashes.
Oran Craig had set fire to our house.
Chapter37
Maeve
It was irrational to feel this way, but…I couldn’t help feeling guilty about the way things had gone down with Spider and Web.
Fiona had told me their names. She’d said the last time Cian had seen them was the night they killed his parents. Oran kept them hidden, thinking Cian would go looking for them, drawing him out. It was Keenan who had, but he couldn’t ask around too much or Oran would know.
I wondered if, as Cian was killing those awful men, the boy hidden inside of him had his hand on that knife too. If he felt a deep satisfaction knowing the men who stole his life were bleeding out at his feet.
It was a short satisfaction, though.
As soon as they were dead, he’d come for me.
