Page 38 of Dublin Debacle

As Jack gently guided her away from the crowd, Emily looked back at Finn talking to the Garda officer, Rory and his men talking angrily. “I can’t leave my brother.”

“You can’t force him to come home,” Jack reasoned. “He’s legally an adult.”

“But he’s still just a teenager.” Emily glanced back once more, knowing the truth. She had no control over her brother’s life. As much as she wanted to keep her promise to look out for him, she couldn’t if he pushed her away.

The danger of escalating tensions between the Radical Nationalists and the Travellers Finn had chosen to align with terrified Emily. “We have to do something. Do you really think finding the people pushing the propaganda will help?”

At the Mercedes, Jack opened the passenger door for her, his face grim. “At the rate the anger and violence are growing, I don’t know.”

Emily slid into the seat. Her brother’s rejection and the image of all the women and children taking refuge in an old distillery basement weighed heavily on her mind.

They had to do something before more people were injured or killed.

CHAPTER9

Jack drove backto the Tap & Tankard and parked the Mercedes at the side of the building.

“You don’t have to come in,” Emily said. “I’m sure you have things to do.”

He gave her a crooked smile. “If it’s all the same to you, I’d like to ensure you get inside okay. Then, you’re right, I need to touch base with my people. Hopefully, they have some information that could help us locate the people pushing the internet hate messages.”

He exited the car and hurried to the other side to open Emily’s door.

She was already out and pulling her keys out of her pocket. They walked around to the back of the building.

Emily stopped short of the door, her gaze sweeping the area where she and her Uncle Paddy had been attacked the night before. “I need to install brighter lighting and security cameras back here.”

Jack didn’t bother reminding her cameras did nothing to stop criminals. They might think twice about committing crimes if a camera was pointing at them, recording everything they did. In the case of the attack the night before, cameras would have done little to protect Paddy O’Brien and his niece. It wasn’t like they had a twenty-four-seven employee monitoring the video feed. And the attackers had retained their anonymity by wearing ski masks.

Jack stood beside Emily as she unlocked and opened the back door. She reached in and switched on the interior lights before stepping across the threshold.

Emily strode down the back hallway, bathed in the dim yellow glow of inadequate overhead illumination, and flipped on the lights for the bar and barroom.

Chairs had been neatly flipped upside down and stacked on the tabletops. The floors, tables and bar appeared clean and ready for customers.

“Do you mind if I hang around and make a few phone calls?” Jack asked.

Emily smiled up at him. “Make yourself at home. Can I get you a drink?”

“Do you have coffee?” he asked. “I could use an infusion of caffeine.”

“Did you sleep at all last night on that hard floor?” Emily asked, going to the coffee maker at the end of the bar.

“Enough,” Jack answered. “What time do you open the pub?”

“Around two,” she said. “It will fill early this evening as there’s a big football game between a couple of Irish favorites tonight. We’ll have the game playing on the monitors throughout the pub.” Her brow furrowed as she stepped behind the counter and opened a box full of whiskey bottles. “I hope Bridget doesn’t call in sick tonight. We barely kept up on a non-game night. Uncle Paddy won’t be able to help out as usual.”

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Jack asked. “I could help serve drinks, take orders and bus tables.”

She looked up, her eyes narrowing. “You’d do that?”

He smiled. “I wouldn’t offer if I didn’t mean it.”

“Don’t you have to look for the people spreading the hate?” she asked.

“I have to have more data. Dublin’s a big city. I can’t search every pub, internet café or library without a clue as to where to start. I started here because my computer guru said some of the posts came from this IP address.”

“Right.” Emily nodded. “If you don’t mind, I’ll take you up on the offer. Game nights are chaotic at the least. And it gets loud.”

---