Callahan's Fate (15 page)

He scrubbed the tears from his face with
one hand.
 
His soul seemed lighter, his
burdens less, but something else nagged at his brain.
 
What
the fuck was it?
Something that matters now.
 
Callahan pondered it and nailed it.
 
Dante.
 
The man who
had shot Anthony had been named Dante, and in the earlier conversation he’d
heard between the Marsh brothers, Snake had blamed Callahan for Dante’s
death.
 
He hadn’t got the reference then,
but he did now.

This wasn’t just about sending Snake to
jail.
 
It was Old Testament-style
payback, retribution for Dante’s death.
 
It upped the stakes and increased the danger, but now, freed of guilt,
reminded of his brother’s last benediction, he thought he could handle it.
 
He had everything to live for now, he possessed
a future.

With another sigh, he stood up.
 
“Peace
be
with you,
brother,” he said.
“And to you, too, Aidan.
 
I used to think I failed you, too, but I
didn’t.”

****

Stronger, freer, and determined,
Callahan left the cemetery.
 
His concern
for
Raine
remained but he had gained confidence that he
could handle it.
 
He wouldn’t make the
same mistake, he vowed, grandstanding or trying to impress anyone. Some of his
burdens, he shed there in the quiet Brooklyn graveyard, and the rest of the day
stretched out with possibilities.
 
He had
plenty of time to find a gift for his lady, and he had a date.

 
Hope made his step lighter as he headed back
to Manhattan.
 
The future, he thought,
begins now. And he promised himself that they would get there, no matter what
it took.

Chapter Ten

Traveling between one place and another
always proved challenging for
Raine
, but on the
perfect late October day, it became almost impossible.
 
She didn’t want to face another classroom, or
visit another at-risk student, or talk about
A Tree Grows
In
Brooklyn
.
 
Raine
wanted to
abandon responsibility and duty to be with Callahan but she couldn’t.
 
The deep blue sky above the skyscrapers had
never seemed more beautiful, and the autumn chill in the breeze tempted her to
run away for the day.
 
She didn’t,
though, but struggled through the day, her mind on Callahan, not literature.

By her last stop, a drug rehab facility
in lower Manhattan a few blocks from Church Street,
Raine’s
steps were dragging.
 
She watched the
clock worse than any student, willing it to move faster, and her sense of
confinement increased until she could relate to the caged canary birds her
grandmother once kept.
 
She remembered
the bright little songbirds and how their music often filled the kitchen. But
she also could recall how sometimes they beat their wings as if they wanted to
escape.
 
More than once as a child, she’d
pulled over a chair and attempted to free them without any success. Now, she
wished she could fly as much as they must have longed to go.

If she could have,
Raine
would have taken her handful of students outside, down to Battery Park if
possible or into the tiny courtyard, but their rehab status prevented it.
 
So she muddled through the lessons, and for
once, she thought she was as glad as they were when the session ended.
 
She gathered her books and papers into her
bag and paused to check her appearance in the restroom mirror.
 

The second she hit the street, she
searched for Callahan and found him within moments.
 
He stood on the closest corner, out of the
way of passing pedestrians, hands behind his back.
 
In his jeans, simple shirt, and denim jacket,
she found him incredibly attractive.
 
And he’s mine,
she thought. A rush of
happiness welled up as she ran to meet him, smiling.
 
As she reached him, he handed her a single
red rose. “Hi, baby,” he said.

“Hi, thank you.”
Raine
smelled the flower. “It’s lovely.”

“I’m glad you like it.
 
Did you have a good day with the kids?”

She laughed. “It was all right but it
seemed so long.
 
How was your shift?”

Callahan hesitated before he spoke, and
she wondered why.
 
“I had a good day,” he
said after the pause. “It was a really good day in a lot of ways.
 
I managed to settle some things within myself
about Anthony and all that.”

Raine
studied his
face.
 
His calm expression and the lack
of shadows in his eyes confirmed what he said. “I’m glad.
 
Did you go home already and come back? You
must’ve flown.”

He put an arm around her. “Let’s walk,
all right? We’re taking up space.”

“Okay, sure.”

Her confusion must be evident because he
said, “I didn’t work today, doll.”

“You didn’t?”

“
Naw
, not today.”

“But when you left, I thought you were
heading to your precinct.”
 
Raine
cocked her head to look at him, puzzled. “What
happened?”

Callahan shrugged. “I didn’t feel so
good, so Joe suggested I take the day off, and I did.
 
I came down to the ferry so I could get my
head on straight, then I went over to Brooklyn and visited my brothers’
graves.”

Worry gnawed into her contentment. “Are
you sick? If you don’t feel well, we can go back to your place so you can take
it easy.”

“I’m fine now, baby, I swear it.”

She scrutinized him.
 
He appeared to be in good health, so she
relaxed a little. “You were all right when you left me, weren’t you?”

“Yeah, don’t sweat it.
 
It’s no big deal.”

“It is to me. Did you get a migraine or
something?”

He removed his arm from her shoulders
and took her hand. “Come on, let’s walk down to the ferry terminal and catch a
ride.”

“Callahan?”

“You
ain’t
going to let it go, are you?”

“No, I’m not.
 
I love you…”

His grin flashed bright. “I like hearing
that.”

Raine
refused to let
him distract her. “And I’d like to hear why you didn’t feel well.”

“Aw, my stomach kicked up a little,” he
said. “It hurt for a while but
it’s
good now.
 
I’m hungry.
 
You
wanna
go eat?”

“Well, yes, I did…or do.
 
Are you sure you feel okay now?”

With his free hand, he made an
X
over the center of his chest. “Cross
my heart and hope to die, if I don’t.”

“So what happened?”

Cal sighed. “This isn’t the best place
to talk about it, but you won’t let up, so here goes. After I left your place,
I was on my way to the subway until I saw Snake and Bull.
 
I got worried they might be stalking you so I
hung around, caught up with them, and listened to their bullshit.
 
I got so tense, my stomach tied into a knot.”

Her mood dimmed. “Oh, man. Why didn’t
you tell me sooner?”

“I didn’t want to upset you or make you
scared.”

She snorted. “Well, I’m both.
 
So are they?”

“What?”

“Are they stalking me?”

He tightened his grip on her hand.
“Well, yeah,
kinda
, but mostly it’s me they want,
honey.
 
Like I told you, I made the
arrest that got Snake sent to Riker’s Island, but he wants payback for a street
thug I killed named Dante.
 
He’s the guy
who shot my brother.”

 
Raine’s
head whirled. “I feel like I’ve been knocked off my
feet and whacked in the head,” she told him. “None of this is making much sense
to me.
 
What are you telling me? Some
criminal named Dante shot your brother and you shot him? Which brother?
Anthony?”

“Yeah, Anthony,” he said. “Look, it’s my
fault. I’m telling it too fast.
 
There’s
a café down the block.
 
Let’s go sit
down, order something, and I’ll explain.”

“All right, please.” She needed to hear
it, but this wasn’t the romantic date she’d dreamed about all day. The sooner
he got it over with, the better.

Inside the traditional café, they found
a table near the back.
 
Callahan ordered
coffee for them both and opened his menu.
 
“What do you think you want, doll?”

At the moment, she didn’t care.
“Explanations,” she told him.

“I’m having a hot roast beef sandwich,”
he said. “It comes with plenty of potatoes and gravy.
 
You want one?”

She glanced up and melted at his broad
grin.
I want him.
 
Aloud, she told him, “Sure, it sounds good.”

A waitress delivered their coffee, and
she stirred sugar into her cup, noting Callahan drank his black.
 
Raine
cradled the
mug between her hands and sighed. “Okay, tell me from the start.”

“Well, I met this beautiful gal at the
Fulton Street Station one day…”

Raine
smacked his
hand in a playful gesture. “Be serious, okay? Although you
are
in a good mood, and I like it.”

“
Awright
,
awright
, so here it comes,” he said. “I left your place,
saw the Marsh brothers, and I trailed them.
 
I overhead enough to know Snake’s out for me, mostly because I got him
sent to jail, but also on account of this Dante.
 
And they’re after you because you’re with
me.
 
Snake means business, too.
 
He’s a mean bastard.
 
After the night we had, baby, and being in
love, it upset the hell of out of me.
 
I
got worried, and my belly started griping me.
 
I was already late to work by then, and Joe noticed I looked like
shit.
 
I played it up a little and took
off so I could clear my head.
 
The main
thing that matters is keeping you safe,
Raine
, and I
will.”

She had never doubted it. “I know.”

“Thing is, I heard them say Snake took
out a guy named Juan, an open murder case we’ve been working.
 
Snake Marsh is our top suspect, but there’s
no evidence.
 
And, I
gotta
tell you the truth—when I get uptight, it brings back Anthony’s death and all that
shit.
 
It’s just been a year and a half,
you know? Still pretty damn fresh, and it still hurts.”

“Of course it does,” she said. “But
you’re talking about it so that’s progress, right?”

“Damn straight,” Callahan replied. “I
told you I’d tell you what happened and I will, in just a minute.
 
So I left the precinct, went home,
then
knew where I could clear my head.
 
I rode the ferry and realized I had to deal
with all my baggage.
 
So I headed over to
Green Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn and went over what happened to Anthony.
 
God, it hurt, but I realized something.
 
It wasn’t my fault,
Raine
,
and he died telling me so.
 
My brother
didn’t blame me.”

“I’m sure he didn’t. From everything
you’ve told me, he loved you.”

“Yeah, no doubt about that,” he said.
“You
wanna
hear what happened?”

“Yes, I do, very much.”

Callahan sketched the story, and she
could imagine it all with such clarity it could have been a movie she
watched.
 
Raine
listened as he told about the Saturday afternoon, the Yankees game, the steaks,
and the camaraderie with his brother.
 
She sipped coffee as he spoke and before he finished, their order
arrived at the table.
 
They paused for a
simple blessing,
then
ate as Cal continued.
 
When he reached the last of it, the holdup,
and how Anthony died, she wept a few silent tears of compassion.
 

“So, that’s how it went down,” he
concluded. “The other thing I figured out after all this time is that the guy
who robbed my brother, the one I shot, was Dante.
 
Must’ve been one of Snake’s
buddies because he’s out for revenge.
 
I’m the target.”