How the hell did Angus find out about the clause in my father’s will?
“Why didn’t you tell me the truth at the funeral?” Cormac presses.
I run a hand over my face as I exhale slowly. “I didn’t tellyou because I didn’t want to put that kind of pressure on you to come back. I wanted you to have a choice.”
He lets out a bitter laugh. “Thereisno choice, Ronan. If I don’t come back, we lose everything.”
“I can find a way out of this if needed. I know what you have waiting for you back home.”
He rakes a hand through his hair. “I’ve built a new life for myself away from all this, and now…”
He doesn’t need to finish the sentence.
“I wasn’t trying to screw you over. I just didn’t want you to feel trapped.”
“We’realltrapped, Ronan.” He finally takes a long drink from his pint, then sets the glass down harder than he needs to, causing the dark liquid to spill down the side and onto the table.
“There’s something else.” His voice is barely audible over the low hum of the pub. “I went looking through Da’s phone.”
That gets my attention. “I didn’t realize I gave you access to that.”
Cormac narrows his eyes at me. “I might not have been around the last few years, but he was still my father too, Ronan. I have a right to look into his death.”
That shuts me up, so I wave a hand at him to continue.
“Anyway, I figured maybe there was something in there we missed, but it was completely wiped clean. No texts, calls, notes… Literally nothing.”
My spine stiffens. “You’re sure?”
“I had a friend of mine run some recovery software on it, and he managed to get most of the metadata back.”
“And?”
Cormac reaches into his pocket and pulls out his phone, quickly unlocking it and tapping on the screen a few times before sliding it across the table. “The only thing of note wassix separate calls in the last few weeks before his death, all to one particular number.”
I stare at the screen in complete disbelief as I read the name linked to each of the six phone calls.
My pulse quickens as I read the name three more times. “Callum?”
“Yeah. The lengths of the calls vary, anywhere from five to thirty minutes.”
“Which indicates they weren’t pocket dials.”
“Exactly.”
I slide the phone back across the table and lean back against the booth, my mind racing.
“That doesn’t make any sense. Da didn’t have any dealings with the McCarthys,especiallynot Callum.”
Cormac shrugs. “Apparently, he did, and whatever it was about, he clearly didn’t want anyone knowing.”
What the hell was he hiding?
“Don’t say anything to the others yet,” I say firmly. “Not until I figure this out.”
Cormac nods, but something like doubt flashes in his eyes as he looks at me.
“What?”
