“Nowhere near enough to make me even consider humouring him.”
“Not enough as in triple digits?” I want to know how much that rat bastard thinks I’m worth.
“Go again.”
“I should be flattered.”
Craig scoffs. “Only you could see a potential bullet to the back of the skull as flattering.”
“You’re private security, not a hitman,” Strolling down the hallway, I stop outside the bedroom door and catch a glimpse of Katie’s naked body disappearing into the en-suite. “If you were, I’d send you after my future mother-in-law.” That way, I wouldn’t be breaking my promise to Katie.
I hear a sharp intake of breath before he replies, “Éabhasaid you are seeing someone. I didn’t realise how serious it was.”
Neither did I until I thought I was about to lose her. “As serious as dropping the soap in a prison shower.”
He barks a laugh. “Pretty fucking serious then.” He pauses briefly before pressing, “does she know?”
“That I’m a handsome bastard? Of course.”
“You know what I mean.”
I do. Craig knows without knowing, as in, he knows he’s just never asked for confirmation about his suspicions. He and Jay have kids; they have made a point of saying they’d do the very same thing if anyone were to touch one of theirs.
“She knows,” I nod, not that he can see me. “Kind of hard to bypass that conversation when she had a run-in with Walsh’s men.”I say no more. There is no way I’m leaving anything incriminating that can be later found in the phone company’s storage.
“Is she ok?”
“A little rattled, that reminds me, I want either you or Jay to come up and teach her self-defence. I’d do it, but every time I try, I just end up mounting her.”
Craig stifles a laugh. “Thanks for that image.” The sound of drawers being opened and shut is quickly followed by his admission. “I had the very same problem with Lottie. I get it. I’ll sort something out with Jay and let you know what works.”
“Are you going to tell Lottie?”
“The fuck I am. She’ll think it’s Éabha all over again.”
To be fair, it was more of Jay’s arse on the line with the Éabha thing. I imagine that he hasn’t told his wife about getting a car full of lead and nearly ending up in the Liffey. Tiffany Singh despises me enough as it is, having never gotten asingle charge to stick against me when she was prosecuting a few of my cases back in the day. Hell, she doesn’t even use Jason’s last name in her professional life. I doubt that ball buster would take too kindly to her husband being within fifty yards of me again, never mind working for me.
“Fair point.”
“I’ll let you go, and we’ll organise something later this week, yeah?”
“Yeah, no bother. Thanks, Craig.”
“Don’t mention it,” he mumbles, then hangs up.
This is great. The old gang is coming back together and if I time this right, I can end Walsh and keep the gardaí off my arse for good.
25
CIARA
The place is packed, the music is blaring, drinks are flowing—I really don’t want to be here. Ever since that night at the Orion—that night Katie and I cannot remember—I’ve been feeling uneasy in crowded, noisy places. I have given an awful lot of thought to what Katie said, that if Aiden is responsible for what happened to those men, he most likely saved us that night. My gut tells me that she isn’t wrong, but I can’t figure out why he would do it.
Why would he go out of his way to protect two women he didn’t know?
Why would he fixate on my sister so intensely?
My gut is screaming that Aiden is responsible for those men being missing, but I cannot prove it, and even if I could, part of me wants to repay the favour and keep my mouth shut altogether.
