Luck of the Irish: Complete Edition (24 page)

The little group exchanged meaningful glances and their relief was evident as they released a collective sigh. Inspector Dwyer was the first to speak.

“When can we see him?”

“Mr. Slane is in ICU now, so we can monitor his recovery. He will remain there until he can breathe without the ventilator,” the other doctor answered. “We advise you to go home and rest. All of you. He won’t be able to receive visitors before noon. We aren’t sure he’ll be able to talk even then, inspector.”

“We need to talk to him as soon as possible, doctor. Please, let me know it when he’s fit for questioning.”

“That may take a while, sir,” the younger doctor meant to explain that the patient’s condition was still very critical, but he changed his mind when he saw Mrs. Ashe’s expression. “Rest assured we’ll do all we can to get him there fast.”

“Thank you, doctor, we’ll do that,” Rick agreed and the doctors left with a brief, respectful nod towards Claire and Megan. He turned to Inspector Dwyer, “Could you give us a ride to the hotel? I don’t think I can manage looking for a cab at this point.”

“Absolutely, sir. I’m sorry to say we don’t have any news on Keira’s whereabouts, yet,” Dwyer anticipated the next question the Ashes were bound to make.

Claire dropped her head on her husband’s shoulders and tried to muffle a sob. She didn’t succeed in doing so. Megan wanted to scream at the detective who had let her family down far too many times over the past weeks. However, the oppressive emptiness that had filled her chest, and head, had also rendered her uncharacteristically listless.

On the other hand, Dwyer’s expression of utter misery and chagrin made it clear that there wasn’t any more blame for her to throw at him that he hadn’t already thrown at himself.

“We’d rather stay here at the hospital. We’ll call you if there’s any news,” Colin told Dwyer as he and Brandon sat down to wait for their baby brother’s return.

* * * *

Declan opened his eyes to find a beautiful woman looking intently down at him. She reminded him of Keira, except her eyes were brown. His head was swimming and he wasn’t sure where he was or what had happened to him. His mouth was dry and his throat burned.

“Rick, come here. He’s awake,” the woman called somebody over her shoulder.

He frowned and opened his mouth to speak. Nothing came out of it. He cleared his throat and was about to try again when the woman seemed to pity him.

“Calm down, Declan. You shouldn’t exert yourself. Here, drink a little water. You’ll feel better.”

He did feel better but was still very confused. He was in a hospital, hooked to a lot of machines and medication IV bags. He was so weak he didn’t even try to sit upright. Scenes started to pop up in his head and he squeezed Keira’s mother’s hand.

“Where’s Keira? Is she all right?”

“We don’t know,” her father came to stand beside his wife. “We had hoped you’d help us with information to find her.”

“For how long have I been sedated?”

“You weren’t exactly sedated; but, you were shot three nights ago. You’ve undergone two surgeries; you’ve been in and out of consciousness since then. This is the first time you are able to speak with any sense at all.”

Declan frowned at Mr. Ashe, who added, “I mean, you said some pretty crazy things in between surgeries. At some point, you appeared to be talking to your deceased mother. Then, you accused somebody of murdering ‘her’. We weren’t sure if you were referring to your mother or Keira. You could have been simply hallucinating, too. Either way, we were terrified.”

Declan didn’t remember any of that. He closed his eyes trying to concentrate. His head hurt like hell. Some things started to come back to him. He opened his eyes again.

“O’Hallon came to the safe house when we were packing to leave. I don’t know how he got inside it undetected. I didn’t hear anything until he shot Garda Murphy. He threatened to shoot me in order to make Keira go away with him. She tried to convince me it would be the best thing to do. I obviously didn’t agree with her. He took advantage of our distraction to pull her away from me. He shot me before I had time to do anything,” he paused. “I heard Keira screaming before I blacked out. Everything after that is a blur.”

“He stabbed two police officers outside the house, then, shot at you and the young female officer inside it. He took Keira away in the car you were going to use,” Megan explained. “The investigators believe he hid inside their car because the police didn’t find any other vehicles in the area or any footprints coming in from the road to the house.”

“How did he manage to do that?”

“Earlier that day, Inspector Heller had parked his car in an alley, near Ashling Green’s house, when he went there to investigate her murder. They believe that’s when he hid inside the trunk of Heller’s car.”

“If he escaped from the safe house in the police SUV, they’ll be able to track him down in no time.”

“That’s the thing, Declan. O’Hallon has disabled the GPS.”

“Motherfucker!”

“No argument there.”

“How are the officers doing?”

“Morris and Kerry lost a lot of blood. They are still unconscious, but, the doctors say they’ll recover. Murphy didn’t make it.”

“I’m so sorry to hear that,” there was a lump in his throat that made his voice sound strangled. “She was a sweet girl. She died protecting us.”

“You almost didn’t make it yourself. Although the police got there fast, you had lost a lot of blood from the bullet wound. You were in very bad shape. Unfortunately, they were too late to save Garda Murphy. O’Hallon shot her in the head. She died instantly.”

“How did the police get there so fast?”

“They knew there was something off when the officers failed to contact Inspector Heller at the time they were supposed to call.”

“Lucky me he probably wanted me to die slowly and make me suffer,” was Declan’s humorless reply. “How did
you
get here so fast, Mr. Ashe?”

“We grew tired of waiting in Boston. There was nothing we could do, either at home or here. We were aware of that, but we decided we should come. We wanted to be near Keira, when the police found that monster and set her free.”

“Back then, we still believed these cops were capable people, Declan. A fat lot of good it did us, huh, dad?”

“Megan, we’re all frustrated and worried, but the police officers are doing the best they can under the circumstances. O’Hallon is a certified lunatic. However, he’s no moron. He had eluded the police for years before he attacked Keira. Besides, I know they’ll find her.”

There was a brief silence in the room. The Ashes held their breaths waiting for Declan to explain himself. When he remained quiet, Claire grew impatient.

“What do you mean? How can you be so sure?”

“Honestly, I don’t know how I know it. I just know it. You can call it intuition, or wishful thinking; but, I’m sure Keira will come back to us soon.”

Another long silent pause stretched itself before Megan broke it.

“Now who’s the lunatic? Or is it the meds talking?”

Declan didn’t answer her petulant remark because he had fallen asleep again.

“Well, that answers my question, doesn’t it?”

“Megan, go get some air, will you? You’re driving us crazy.”

She was about to tell her mother off when she realized she had been pretty unreasonable since Keira had been attacked. She couldn’t help it. She loved her little sister too much and would never forgive herself if anything happened to Keira. After all, wasn’t she the one who had convinced Keira she should go on that damn trip? Hadn’t she told Keira, time and again, she should be more adventurous, more self-confident? She hated herself for having said those things. Now, there was nothing she could do to change that.

When Declan woke up again, half an hour later, he was surprised to see Dwyer, Colin and Brandon sitting down and waiting to talk to him.

“How are you holding up, little rascal?”

“Wow, it took us a deadly wound to reunite the Slane brothers, huh? Do me a favor, Brandon. Next time you want to see me, get yourself shot, will you?”

The two older brothers managed to hug Declan without knocking over any of the medical apparatus surrounding his bed. It wasn’t an easy feat. Although they joked about the situation, Brandon and Colin had been worried sick about Declan since they had heard about Keira’s attack on the news. They had contacted the Gardai early on and had been updated about all developments. The brothers might not have had time to meet often over the years, but they never lost touch. They loved one another very deeply.

“How is my new sister-in-law doing? When was that, two years ago, right? It’s about time she realized the mistake she made when she married you, Brandon.”

“Fuck off! She’s blissfully happy with me. And it’s been almost four years.”

“Wow, that long? Congratulations, brother. I mean it! When are you going to give me a nephew? I’d love to have a niece, too. Or several,” Declan laughed at his brother’s terrified expression.

“God forbid I should have a bunch of daughters. I wouldn’t know what to do with them.”

“That’s true. I have two and they’re a handful. You wouldn’t survive a house full of them.”

“How are Iris and Allyson, by the way? I miss them so much. I’m sorry I haven’t been down here as often as I should.”

“Nonsense. You have your life, and your work, in Dublin. Erin and I know that quite well.”

“Why didn’t you tell me about father’s disease the last time we spoke, Colin?”

“You never ask about him. I don’t blame you for that,” he raised a hand to stop Declan’s argument. “I know your reasons. I respect your decision to wipe father’s memory out of your life. I preferred a different approach. I also don’t want to have anything to do with him, but I had to keep in touch with his nurse. I manage his expenses, remember? Last time I spoke with Mrs. Michaelson, she told me he wasn’t doing so badly, considering his disease.”

“When was that?”

“About six months ago.”

“What about you, Brandon?”

“I kept my distance from the bastard, much like you did. Colin told me about the old man’s disease once, when we went out for dinner. I think he’s got what he deserves.”

“What about Kim? Does her family live in Cork, too?”

“No, she’s from Galway. We have a few friends, here; but, to be honest, except the occasional dinner or lunch with Colin’s family, Kim and I prefer to keep to ourselves, enjoy our married life before the children start coming, you know?”

“Wow, brother! You sound like you’re hoping for a big family.”

“Yes, Declan, I want a lot of kids, but not only girls. Don’t change the subject. Why do you ask about father? Have you seen him? Have you been to the house?”

Declan just nodded.

“You had sworn never to set foot there again. What made you change your mind?”

“Yeah, I said that, and a bunch of other stupid things. I was younger and dumber. Keira made me change my mind. Well, not exactly her rather than the possibility of losing her, if I didn’t do anything about my relationship issues. That’s a long story, Brandon. I’ll tell you about it some other time,” Declan promised when the Ashes came back.

“What aren’t you telling your brother, young man? Don’t you know it’s a bad idea to postpone telling people things you want to say to them? You never know if you’ll have another chance to do it in the future.”

“You’re right, Mrs. Ashe. I’m sorry.”

He was surprised she was able to tease him in a time like that. However, underneath her light tone, her words sounded true and reminded him of the last night he had spent with Keira.

“That story is really too long and I’m tired. I can wait for a better time to tell it to them. There are other more important things I regret not saying when I had the chance. Like telling Keira I loved her. I had the chance and chickened out at the last moment.”

Claire patted his forearm and smiled into his eyes, “Don’t worry, son. You’ll have plenty of time to tell her that, once the police return her to us. I agree with you it’ll be soon.”

Declan returned her stare in silence for a moment. He was speechless. Claire Ashe wasn’t the fragile flower she seemed to think she was. She was tough as steel. Even in the middle of her grief and pain, she found it in herself to cheer up her daughter’s boyfriend – a person she barely knew. Keira must have gotten that trait from her mother.

Her words stirred a dormant memory in the back of his mind. A conversation he had had with a woman, but he couldn’t recall it. It seemed more like a dream than a real conversation and he let it go. He looked at the detective, who had stood a couple of feet away from the small group, while they talked.

“That’s quite a vote of confidence, Dwyer. I can’t say I agree with Mrs. Ashe about your role in Keira’s return.”

“I don’t blame you, Slane. Believe me when I say we’re doing all we can.”

“Have you found out anything else?” Rick Ashe was eager to hear the news. Any news. “I haven’t spoken with you or detective Heller today.”