Page 145 of Dirty Eoin

“Set it up.” Malky addresses his side kick.

We all turn our attention to the heavy. He’s dressed head to toe in black and is reminiscent of a fatter, older version of Dec. He puts on a pair of leather gloves before removing a replica of the Sword of the Spirit from the wall. What are they going to do? Run us through. Decapitate us?

The heavy takes some rope and ties it firmly around the hilt, then throwing the rope over the exposed beam in the room, he positions the sword so it’s directly above Roisin’s head.

“We thought the driver would be a man, so perhaps this will be over quicker than we thought.” Malky smirks at his comrade.

The goon’s expression remains impassive as he walks over to me. Using tape, he binds my left arm to my body before taping up the fingers of my right hand, leaving only my thumb exposed. He smirks, his first facial expression of the day as he places the other end of the rope between by taped fingers and my thumb.

I look at it, then stare at Roisin.

I let the rope go and the sword drops on her head.

“So, your plan is to kill Roisin?” I ask the obvious question.

Malky looks at me but doesn’t make any attempt to move towards me this time, which I’m grateful for. I still feel partially dazed from the backhanders I’ve already received.

“Molly has shut herself away. She feels sullied. She told her friends that she was going to be the next Ma Duster. Now she feels like a laughingstock. She’s as good as dead inside. Given that the Dusters have destroyed the most important woman in my life, I think it only right that I destroy the most important woman in theirs. Wouldn’t you agree, Nicole?”

I don’t respond. There’s no point. It won’t change anything.

In the distance, I hear a phone ring. It’s my business phone.

The others will have noticed our absence not long after we’d gone, I’m sure, but given we’ve been AWOL for the best part of an hour, I guess they’ll now be realizing that something is wrong.

I then pray to God that no one tries to ring my burner.

It’s on silent, but it will still vibrate.

CHAPTERFORTY-SIX

EOIN

The O’Connell Home, Darling, New York

“I’ve tried both numbers.Neither Jaine nor Ma is answering.”

We’re gathered in the kitchen, each of us pacing the floor while running our hands through our hair, which seems to be the O’Connell men’s way. Sarah and Jessie are putting the little ones down for a nap. I halt my pacing to stare at Dylan as he speaks. This is not what any of us wanted to hear.

We’ve just found Ma’s note. We all stupidly assumed that she and Jaine were sitting down and sorting out their boatload of differences.

Obviously not.

Obviously, they’ve gone out without telling a fucking soul when we all currently have targets on our backs.

“Try the deli. Ma’s note says they were on the way to the deli. Call them. See if they’ve arrived, and if they did, how long ago it’s been since they left.”

We all watch as Dylan dials the number then laughs and jokes with Aoife, the lady who runs the place. She and Ma are friends. They have been most of their lives. Even with that in mind, he’ll want answers, but he won’t want to give anything away. It’s at times like this when all you can trust is blood.

If they never turned up, then this is not good. Not good at all.

Dylan’s face pales. He disconnects the call. We don’t even need to ask, but he says it out loud anyway, just to reaffirm what we all already know.

“They haven’t been into the shop today. Aoife says the order Ma placed is still under the counter. I’ve told her I’ll get one of the drivers to drop by and pick it up. That Ma must have gotten waylaid as she had a few errands to run today.”

I nod. “I’ll ask Dec to go.”

“Shall I try Jaine’s other phone?”

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