Page 45 of Hunting the Crossbow Killer

Perry leaned across the table and shook Aidan’s hand. “Thank you for agreeing to speak with us, Mr. O’Brien.”

“Did I have a choice?”

Nate subtly nudged Aidan’s foot beneath the table.

Aidan sighed. “Sorry. This isn’t the best time for an interrogation with my son in the ICU.”

“Interview, not interrogation,” Perry corrected. “Any suspicion that fell on you early on during the investigation has been proven to be wrong. What we’d like to do now is discuss a few remaining questions we have that only you can answer. First, let me introduce you to the other people in the meeting whom you haven’t met yet.”

There were several higher-ups in law enforcement for the county, as well as a man in an extremely expensive-looking business suit sitting beside Perry. He was introduced as Raul Garcia, a senior member of the Tennessee Board of Probation and Parole.

Aidan stiffened. His lawyer was already pushing his chair back to stand.

“As a reminder, I’m Nathaniel Barnes, attorney for both the suspect—Niall O’Brien Larsen—and his biological father, Aidan O’Brien. If the parole board is here to consider revoking Mr. O’Brien’s parole, then I must advise my client to invoke his right to remain silent. This setting isn’t the proper one for that kind of discussion.”

Garcia held up a hand to stop him. “I assure you, Mr. Barnes, the parole board has absolutely no intention of revoking Mr. O’Brien’s parole. Consider me merely an interested observer at this time.”

“I appreciate that, Mr. Garcia. But I’m still advising my client not to speak.” He motioned to Aidan. “Let’s go.”

Aidan remained seated. “What about my son? Niall? I was told the main reason for this meeting was to get my side of what happened and any information that might help explain why Niall did what he did.”

“Mitigating factors.” Perry nodded. “That’s why we’re here, yes.”

“Then I’m staying,” Aidan said.

Nate slowly sat. “This is completely irregular,” he grumbled. “And for the official record, I’m still advising my client to remain silent.”

Perry motioned around the room. “There’s no court reporter here. Nothing is being recorded or written down. There will be no official record of this meeting. And if anyone asks after we leave here today, this meeting never happened.”

Aidan frowned at Nate, then Grace. “What’s going on?”

She cleared her throat. “The Mystic Lake police have already provided their statements. I’ve given mine, as well. We’ve been meeting since Niall was shot, exchanging information and reviewing the evidence. Before the district attorney decides what charges to press against Niall, a barely seventeen-year-old minor, they need to know if there are any mitigating factors that should influence their decision. That’s why you’re here, Aidan. To speak to those factors. To speak for your son. Do you understand?”

He stared into her deep blue eyes, her words replaying in his mind. Then he glanced down the table. “Stella? Is that why you’re here, too? Mitigating factors?”

She nodded. “It has to end today, Aidan. No more lies. No more cover-up. Niall’s life is on the line, his future. They need to understandeverythingthat went into shaping who he is, and what may have triggered him to do what he’s done.”

Everything.That one word sent a surge of panic through him.

Grace squeezed his forearm, recapturing his attention. “It’s time to tell us what really happened the day that Niall’s biological mother died, the day that your wife, Elly O’Brien, passed away. Once everyone understands the full truth, only then can they truly understand what Niall has gone through and why he made the choices he’s made.”

“Mr. O’Brien,” Perry began.

Aidan tuned him out and focused on Grace’s beautiful face. “Did you speak to Stella already?”

“I know that she has an audio recording that she brought with her to play for us. But I haven’t heard it yet.”

He sighed deeply. “I can’t do this.”

Ignoring the potential repercussions to her career, she took his hand in hers. “The truth has been a poison inside you for years. It’s been poison to Niall, too. We just didn’t know that until now. Let it out, Aidan. It’s the only way for everyone to truly heal. And the only way to ensure that Niall gets every chance at going home after he leaves this hospital, rather than going to a detention facility.”

It was her last sentence that kept him in his chair.

“Just tell us what happened,” she encouraged. “Start with the fire, then go to the day Elly passed away.”

He let out a shuddering breath, and began to tell the story that had been stuck inside him for all these years. He spoke haltingly at first, stumbling over the words. But Grace took his hand again, this time beneath the table, and held on the entire time he spoke. Without that anchor, he didn’t think he would have made it.

He told them about the fire at his home, finding out that his wife had run through the flames to save their son. That in spite of her burns, she’d carried him downstairs. Then a burning beam had crashed through the ceiling, breaking her spine and pinning her down, but miraculously not hitting Niall.

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