Page 154 of Dirty Eoin

“Paul.”

He turns back to her.

“Yes, she knows, Delaney. Never mind that for now. Molly’s daddy could turn up any goddamn minute. Your Glock.” She holds out her hand and he pulls it from the back of his jeans and passes it to her. She removes a bullet and tosses it in the puddle of brains before sticking the weapon in the back of her leather pants.

“Take this and go.” She hands him the sniper rifle. “On your way, call Dylan. Let him know what’s happened. We need picking up. Tell him we also need the cleaners here urgently, along with a Molly-sized body bag. Tell him that Eoin is to stay away. He can’t come here. He’ll react, and it’s neither the time nor the place.”

“On it, Jaine. I’ve got Blaze and Jamie keeping the place under observation until the others get here.”

“Thanks, Delaney.”

He places her rifle in a holdall, they hug tightly, and then with a nod in my direction, he leaves.

We sit side by side on the pew.

“Dylan knows?” I ask.

There’s a pause before she replies. “And Padraig.”

I’m proud of my boys for keeping her secret. That they’ve both shown such loyalty they’ve not even revealed it to the immediate family.

“You said Eoin would react.”

She laughs dryly. “He would. You know he would.”

“At what?”

“At the state I’m in.”

“You’re right. He would. Have you seen what he’s capable of?”

“I had a front-row seat in an old shipping container at the docks. He ripped out a pedo’s heart and made him eat it right in front of me.”

I don’t show my surprise, but even I’ve not witnessed Eoin kill. He typically does so in private. He really has shown all three hundred and sixty degrees of himself to this girl.

If that’s not a declaration of love, then I don’t know what is.

“And did you find his sentence harsh?”

She chuckles. “Not in the slightest. I passed judgment personally. Eoin merely delivered it on my behalf.”

I smile.

My Fergal was right. Jaine is indeed Ma Duster material. Even more so given she’s the surreptitious sniper.

CHAPTERFIFTY

EOIN

The O’Connell Home, Darling, New York

We’rein the family room at home. Ma and Dylan are sitting whereas I’m doing my usual pacing of the floor.

“I need to see her. It’s been two days.”

“Give her some time.”

I stop my pacing and stare at ma. “Time to do what exactly?”