“That traitor better not be dead by the time I get there.”
Brennan nods. “Kieran knows what he is doing.”
I straighten my jacket.
It’s going to be a hell of a long day, but the sooner I get it started, the sooner I can get back to Ciara.
“Brennan, I need you to stay with Ciara. Cormac and I need to head out.”
Cormac frowns. “Where are we going?”
“We need to go and tell Stephen’s wife that he’s dead.”
Brennan takes a sip of his espresso. “Suddenly, I’m grateful for babysitting duty…”
Cormac and I head through to the garage and climb into the Range Rover. Neither one of us speaks on the drive to Stephen’s house, and the silence settles between us with the weight of what we’re about to do.
Tamara doesn’t know her husband’s dead, and I have no idea how I’m going to tell her.
The air is heavy when Cormac and I step out of the car, both of us looking out of place on the quiet suburban street.
I can’t imagine Stephen living somewhere with perfectly manicured hedges and station wagons parked in every driveway. But that’s probably why he chose it. It’s peaceful and unassuming, a stark contrast to the world he was caught up in.
Cormac hesitates as we approach Stephen’s house. “Do you know what you’re going to say?”
“No idea.”
The porch light flickers above us despite the daylight, and I knock once on the front door.
It instantly opens, and Tamara stands there. She takes one look at me, then at Cormac behind me, and her face crumples.
“No. No, no, no?—”
“Tamara…” I say quietly.
She shakes her head, her eyes wide and her chest rising and falling fast, as if she can’t get enough air. “He’s dead, isn’t he?”
I don’t answer. I don’t need to.
Tamara lets out a broken sob as she turns and walks back into the house, her legs looking like they’re about to give out at any moment.
She doesn’t invite us in, but Cormac and I follow her inside anyway.
The living room is warm and welcoming, with toy cars and stuffed animals scattered across the floor, and countless family photos dotted about the shelves.
Fuck. This is going to be so much harder than I thought.
She collapses onto the couch. “I knew it. The second I saw your faces, I just knew. Why else would you be here?”
Cormac hovers by the doorway while I take a seat beside Tamara on the couch, resting my forearms on my knees as I try to think of what to say.
“It wasn’t supposed to happen like this, Tamara… I’m so sorry. There was an accident, a car crash. It was sudden but… quick.”
It might be a lie, but it’s a necessary one. There’s no good in her knowing what really happened to Stephen. The betrayal and the mess he left behind is for me to deal with, not her. Right now, she needs to grieve the loss of her husband.
Tamara shakes her head again, her eyes glassy with tears.
“How can he just be gone? H-how do I tell the boys their father’s gone?”
