“Yes, they’re in the back looking over the gun buy-back statistics with Troy.”
“It’s working out much better than we could’ve hoped for. Last weekend was our best yet, with over one hundred seventy-five weapons turned in.” Neil smiled with frank approval. He waited expectantly, Tash knew, to be introduced.
“That’s great. Neil, this is Brandon, Luke and Ash’s brother. It turns out he’s been in the city all along and works as a teacher.”
The two men shook hands, and then Brandon quickly excused himself, joining Dwayne and Wilson at the computers.
Neil stared at Brandon’s retreating back. “I’m going to the back to talk to Jordan about what we learned in the Donovan case.”
“I’ll go get the others. I know they’ll be interested.” Tash entered the library and waited for Ash to finish reading to the children. He motioned to him and Drew.
“Neil is here to talk about the Donovan case.”
As they walked to the back room, Tash couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t right, and it all had to do with Brandon.
Chapter Fifteen
It was bound to happen sooner rather than later. Brandon had heard how Jordan was beaten up as a warning not to open the center, and knew he’d have to meet the detective who was working on the case. The reality of it was worse than he’d imagined as Neil was a seasoned professional, and Brandon imagined he saw right through Brandon’s weak attempt to escape any questions about himself. Of course the fear clawing at Brandon’s chest, willing him to run, wasn’t helping any. He forced himself to remain calm and somehow held his composure together.
After helping Dwayne and Wilson work through a tricky math problem, Brandon joined the group in the back room, where Neil was explaining what the police had learned about the Donovan person. Brandon slid into a seat next to Luke. Neil threw him a quick glance but continued to speak.
“We know Donovan was originally from the Pennsylvania area with ties to Philly and Boston, as well as New York. He would get the guns from down South, then have them transported up the I-95 corridor, making stops in DC, Baltimore, and Philly, before heading up to New York and Boston.” He consulted his notes. “There was never a shortage of people to do his dirty work, whether it was delivering guns or the drugs he happened to be selling. Most often he used drifters in those cities to prevent the police from catching him in a full-scale operation. But we finally got lucky.”
“How’s that? It would seem impossible if he never had any connection to the people who worked for him.” Jordan braced his arms on the table, his chin in his hands. “It’s so damn frustrating.”
“One of our undercover detectives heard a waitress talking at a bar in the Philly area. She mentioned Donovan had been in the night before, and she’s his regular girl when he comes around that way. Seems he’s been cheating on her and she’s pissed at him.” Neil grinned. “Never underestimate the fury of a scorned woman. She was busy spilling her guts to anyone who’d listen about not only what a lousy lay he is, but what he’s going to do when he comes up to New York in a few days.”
As the others peppered Neil with questions, Brandon remained silent, his mind working furiously. When he was younger, he’d done everything short of selling himself to make money, without thinking of the consequences or repercussions to anyone else. It was altogether possible that, when he was living on the streets in Philly all those years ago, he had come across these people and did some work for them, but if he was honest with himself, he couldn’t remember. To speak up would add nothing to the investigation, and Neil might start asking more questions about why he was homeless to begin with.
“Brandon, you lived in Pennsylvania. Did you ever spend any time in Philadelphia after you left home?”
All eyes focused on him at Neil’s question. He slanted a quick look at the detective before gulping down the nerves that were strangling him. “Um, yeah, for a little while. But it was a long time ago. Over seven years.”
Neil studied him, his face a blank slate, revealing nothing. “You were homeless?” His voice was gentle.
No words were necessary as Brandon simply nodded.
“Didn’t you try and find your brothers?” Neil prodded.
Brandon supposed he’d heard the story of their childhood from Luke. “I, um, looked for Luke, but he’d changed his name.”
“It’s fine, Neil,” said Ash, cutting in. “Brandon and Luke and I have worked it all out.”
Brandon threw his brother a grateful look. Neither of them wanted to revisit this painful topic. Neil, however, wasn’t a detective for nothing, and continued to ask questions.
“I’m not trying to pry into anything personal. I’m curious as to why you left home and lived on the streets.”
“Our foster father was a terrible man, Neil.” Luke scrubbed his face with his hand. “You know my story. Brandon has his own stories, but I don’t think he needs to go through them again when it serves no purpose to this investigation.”
Like they had when he was a child, his brothers were stepping up to protect him. And even though he’d told them he was an adult now and didn’t need them to shield him from the horrors of the world, it felt good to have them by his side.
“Brandon’s a teacher now and helping us with the mentoring center. He’s living at Esther’s and is a great role model for the kids.” Tash squeezed his arm. “The past is the past, and we don’t need to revisit it.”
Neil said nothing, merely flipped his notebook shut. “From the information we received, we expect to make some arrests in the next week or so, when Donovan and his crew arrive in the city. I’ll make sure to keep you posted. Before I leave, I want to see Johnny.” Shooting Brandon a troubled look, he said his good-byes and left with Drew and Jordan.
The silence around the table after Neil had left was palpable. Brandon knew Ash and Luke remained curious about the real reason why he’d left home, but were trying to respect his privacy. In truth, he was a fucking coward to the core. The comforting presence of Tash next to him fed the excuses he made to himself. He was doing it for all of them, protecting them, the way they did him. He couldn’t lose them now.
“I should get back to Dwayne and Wilson.” He stood, and Tash rose with him.
