Flawless (28 page)

“Great,” she muttered. “I couldn't keep my mouth shut.”

“You were honest,” Marty said, smiling approvingly.

She leaned back, feeling a chill. The man had been thrown from a car in front of her office. The police were now looking for that car, of course, but not one of the witnesses she'd heard knew anything about the car except that it was dark and had tinted windows.

Naturally, with a body bleeding out on the sidewalk, no one was looking at a license plate.

He'd been dropped there as a warning to her. She was absolutely certain of it.

So both men who had been with Jimmy McManus were dead, and something on Jimmy's phone had been a red flag to Craig.

“Not possible,” she murmured aloud.

“What's not possible?”

“Jimmy is a really old customer,” she said. “He's friendly, sure, always talking to strangers, but I can't believe that he's involved with this.”

The car door opened, and Kieran jumped.

It was Craig.

Relief rushed through her. She wanted to throw herself into his arms, but she reminded herself that Marty was there and managed to control herself.

“Get out,” Craig said. “I'm taking you home.”

“I would have done that, but the police want to talk to her some more,” Marty said, then turned to Kieran and explained, “We work in tandem with the police. We don't take over cases—we offer our expertise, our manpower and all the resources of our agency to—”

“Marty, come on, get out of the car. You did the right thing, but now it's time to get Kieran out of here. The police can talk to her later.”

“Oh, okay,” Marty said, obviously relieved.

As she got out of the car, Kieran couldn't help but look toward the dead man again, though at least by now a screen had been put up to shield the body.

“Let's go,” Craig said.

She could see Detective Mayo standing behind the body. He looked at the two of them and nodded.

“We've got Jimmy McManus,” Craig said as he led her away. “He was attacked.”

“Jimmy was attacked?” she asked. “Is he—”

“He's alive,” Craig told her. “Let's go.”

“Where?” she asked.

“I told you, I'm taking you home.”

She shook her head. “Craig, take me to Finnegan's.”

“Don't be crazy. Finnegan's is much too connected to everything that's going on. Bobby and Jimmy have both been attacked, and two men who frequented the place are dead. You need to be in your apartment, locks double-bolted, safe and secure.”

She looked at him and shook her head. “Craig, nothing has ever happened
in
Finnegan's itself. I need to be with my brothers.”

He pulled her away from Marty, who started to follow, then saw Craig's look and backed off. Craig set his hands on her shoulders and looked down into her eyes. “You're the one in the most danger,” he told her. “I'm certain of it.”

“Right. Tell that to Bobby and Jimmy. And the dead men.”

“Kieran, you've got to go to your apartment. Marty will stay and watch you.”

“Craig, please, he can watch over me at Finnegan's, and when you're finished for the night, you can join us there.”

He looked so torn that she almost relented. God knew she did want to preserve her own life.

But her brothers were part of her life, and she knew that the three of them would be together at Finnegan's, which meant she needed to be there with them.

Craig saw the determination in her eyes and sighed. “Marty!” he called.

“Yes, sir.”

“Marty, I'm begging you, stop the ‘sir' stuff. Finnegan's. Follow me there. And when you get there, watch over her—like a hawk.”

“Yes, sir!” Marty said.

* * *

Craig turned on the Bluetooth as he drove and didn't care that Kieran was listening to him as he called Detective Mayo, who was still at the scene. Mayo told him that he still had cops watching over Finnegan's—two men undercover and two in uniform.

Craig thanked him, then called Eagan and brought him up to speed on what he was doing.

“Just so you know, we sent Jimmy back to the hospital,” Eagan told him. “I've got a man watching him. I think they're going to check him in for the night. He started getting a splitting headache. Possible concussion from the gunshot.”

“Did you find the bullet or the casing? What was he shot with?” Craig asked.

“They didn't find either one at the scene. The shooter must have taken them while he was mugging Jimmy and robbing him blind.”

Craig reached Finnegan's and parked directly in front. “Get out on my side,” he said quietly to Kieran. “And stay in front of me.”

She nodded, and moments later they entered the pub together.

Music was playing through the speakers, the bar stools were full and so were most of the nearby tables. Some of the customers looked familiar, but there was no one he really knew.

He saw the two cops in uniform at a table near the door, and a couple he pegged immediately as the undercover cops sat drinking coffee at another.

He turned and kept his eyes on Kieran as she left him to join Declan at the bar.

“Kieran. What are you doing here?” he asked his sister.

Maybe Declan could talk sense into her.

Or, knowing Kieran, maybe not.

“I'm here to be with my family, and that's that,” she said firmly.

Declan looked up as Craig approached. “Damn, she reminds me of my grandmother sometimes. Sweet little thing with blue eyes and rosy cheeks—and stronger than steel. Hell on wheels once she got something into her head.”

Obviously there was going to be no help from Declan.

“Danny and Kevin here?” Craig asked.

Declan nodded, indicating the floor. “Debbie's off, and Mary Kathleen is staying with Bobby, giving Julie a break.” He looked at Craig. “I hear Jimmy McManus was attacked.”

Craig realized Declan hadn't heard yet about the dead man in front of his sister's office, so he filled him in on that, too.

Declan stared at his sister. “What on earth are you doing here? You should be sleeping in a locked room at FBI headquarters!”

“Declan, they're killing their own. They're scared. Whoever's the head of this thing is covering their tracks so they can take the money and run,” Kieran said.

And that was a possibility, Craig had to admit.

They might never find Sylvia Mannerly or even identify the fourth killer.

No, he promised himself. He would be damned before he saw it go down that way.

Marty came up behind him just then. “I'm here,” he announced. “I'll be here until the bitter end.”

“Nice way to put it,” Declan murmured.

Craig turned to Kieran. “I
will
be back. Don't even think about leaving until I get here. That goes for all of you,” he said to Declan.

Declan nodded. “Whatever you say.”

Craig wanted to take Kieran in his arms, but he couldn't, not with things the way they were. Most of all, he just wanted to stay wherever she was and watch over her himself, but he couldn't do that, either.

He didn't touch her and hardly looked at her, just nodded at the three of them, turned and left.

He drove to the offices of Clean Cut Office Services.

Mike was supervising a half dozen officers as they went through the place.

“Anything?” Craig asked him.

“It looks like our Ms. Mannerly was very careful. Everything of hers—everything personal—has been removed. The way I figure it, she was setting up her thieves with her employees—young, innocent girls, many of them recent immigrants—and getting her employees jobs at the places she intended to hit. You know the address that Kieran found on the table at the pub?” Mike asked.

“Yeah?”

“That store was on a list of new clients. I think it would have been hit soon, but maybe the thieves must have gotten wind that the cops were watching the place, or maybe it just wasn't next on the list. I think Mannerly was smart. She knew the FBI was investigating, so she tried to keep ears and eyes on us.”

“Maybe Kieran saved another life,” Craig said.

“I heard about the dead man in front of Kieran's office.”

“Throat slit,” Craig said. “They've got an APB out on the car.” He shook his head. “Ice-cold, huh? A guy dies trying to keep Bailey Headley from describing Miss Mannerly, who just disappears nice as can be, and suddenly the guy's buddy is murdered, too. Nice functional work family, huh? Who killed him, do you think? The unknown fourth killer or our Ms. Mannerly—who definitely isn't Ms. Mannerly, by the way. Eagan called me on my way over. She was using a social security number belonging to a woman who died in 1980.”

“Figures.”

“We're trying to find out who she really is,” Craig said.

Mike nodded.

“Anyone search her apartment yet?” Craig asked.

“We would—if we knew where it was,” Mike told him.

“She must have an address listed.”

“She does,” Mike said, and smiled grimly. “It's in the middle of the Hudson River.”

Craig swore in frustration. Mike had this covered. Mayo was on the most recent body, which was on the way to the morgue. He wasn't needed here or there.

Mike must have read his mind. “Go,” he said. “I'll let you know if anything new turns up. Where are you headed?”

“The street,” Craig told him. “I want to find a bullet.”

As he drove, he called the office to get the exact location where Jimmy had been assaulted. It turned out to be very near to where Bobby had been found.

Very near Finnegan's.

Craig headed to the address. The bullet had winged Jimmy McManus on the left-hand side of the head.

Craig worked all possible trajectories and searched the buildings one by one, running his hands over stone and concrete, paint and graffiti.

He couldn't find the bullet.

Eventually he gave up and decided to head back to Finnegan's.

But not until he made a stop at home.

At his place, he changed. He was all set to leave when Eagan called.

“May mean nothing,” Eagan said once he'd finished talking.

Or it could mean something big.

In fact, Craig was pretty sure it did.

Glad that he had decided to change,
Craig left hurriedly and headed to Finnegan's, careful to park his car well down the block.

* * *

The night seemed especially long, even for a Tuesday.

At ten o'clock Declan ordered his younger brothers and Kieran to go home.

Kieran, of course, refused. She was waiting for Craig.

Danny and Kevin argued, but they finally agreed, promising that they would stay together, go straight to Declan's place and phone when they arrived, which they did not long after they left.

Danny would return with Declan in the morning, while Kevin had another acting job for the dating service.

Declan shook his head at his sister. “You should have stayed home, all locked in, too.”

“No, I would have imploded, worrying about all of you. And now I'm not going anywhere until Craig shows up.”

“Well, we're going to close early. We'll lock up and wait for him.”

He announced that they were going to close by midnight. The only people left in the place were a few regulars and the cops, so no one objected when the last call went out.

Kieran saw the couple she'd pegged as plainclothes cops stop to speak to the uniformed officers, and then they left.

The two in uniform stayed. “We're here to keep an eye on you all night,” one of them assured Kieran.

“I'm waiting for Agent Frasier to get back,” she told him.

“Then we'll wait until he does,” the second officer said.

Kieran had walked their last customer to the door and was ready to lock it when someone came running toward the door from the street, calling her name.

“Kieran, wait!”

It was Gary Benton. He looked like hell, as if he'd been in a fight.

As if he'd been crying.

She backed away, so surprised by his appearance that she didn't think to protest.

“Gary, what the hell? We closed early tonight.”

One of the cops came forward. “If you need us to—”

“No, no,” Gary said. His voice dropped to a whisper. “Kieran, please, I have to talk to you. About Julie.”

Declan had come forward by then, along with Marty.

She lifted a hand. “It's all right. Give me a minute. I'll talk to Gary in the office.”

“Wait,” one of the cops said.

“Wait?” Gary murmured. He looked at them and lifted his arms. “Frisk me, if you think I have a weapon.”

The cop took him at his word, then nodded at Kieran. “He's clean.”

Gary followed her as she led the way to the office, Declan following close behind. The cops and Marty waited at the bar, ready to leave whenever she was.

“Care if I fool around behind the bar?” she heard Marty ask as they walked down the hall toward the office. “I did some bartending in college.”

“Go for it, Marty,” Declan said. “Knock yourself out.” Then he joined her and Gary in the office.

“What the hell is it, Gary?” Kieran demanded, closing the office door behind them. “Because if you're in on these thefts, I'll strangle you myself.”

“I'm not, I swear,” Gary said desperately. “But I think I know who is. Those guys who were in here with Jimmy.”

“We know that already,” she said, her tone cold and hard.

“They're working with someone. They talked about their investor when Jimmy and I met with them. They wanted to know all about where I was working. I think...I think they were watching all of you...maybe afraid you saw something, heard something, when you were waiting on people. And then after you helped catch those thieves, they seemed to be watching you in particular. I didn't think that much of it at first. I mean, guys watch you all the time. Then—then there was the subway thing. Kind of fishy, I thought. But then tonight I got a call. It was a raspy voice. I don't know if it was a man or a woman. And they seemed to think that I knew something, too! They said they had Julie, and that they'd kill her if they couldn't talk to you.”