Flawless (29 page)

“Kieran isn't talking to anyone,” Declan said.

“They're going to kill Julie!” Gary said.

“Like you care,” Kieran said. She was terrified for Julie, but she knew, too, that if she went anywhere near whoever had made that call, she would be dead herself.

“Yes, I care, damn you!” Gary said. “Yes, I was a bastard! She's hugely successful in her career, everyone loves her—and she loves those damned dogs. Yeah, I thought I wanted something else, some excitement, someone who was into me. But I was
married
to her, and whether you believe me or not, I still love her. Kieran, I'm scared. I was on my way here to talk to you when someone in a mask and a frigging cape caught up to me just outside my building. Slammed me against the wall and put a knife to my throat. Told me they had Julie, and that if anyone ever wanted to see her again, I had to get you to meet up with them.”

“Where? When?” Kieran asked.

“They're going to call. They told me to get here, to find you and then they'd call.”

They suddenly heard a loud crash from behind the bar.

“I knew that guy wasn't a bartender,” Declan muttered. “Stay here,” he told Gary and Kieran. Then he met his sister's eyes. “And don't you do anything—
anything
—until I'm back.”

As soon as Declan was gone, closing the door behind him, Gary lunged across the desk.

He was reaching for Declan's letter opener.

CHAPTER
SEVENTEEN

CRAIG SAT ON THE
sidewalk just down the street from Finnegan's, an empty cup from a fast-food restaurant at his side.

He had a ukulele with him that he'd gotten as a gift when working a case in Hawaii seven years ago. He couldn't play it, of course. He only knew the practice notes that came out “my dog has fleas,” the way he'd been taught to play.

He wasn't sure if he was flattered or insulted that a fair amount of change, and even a few dollar bills, had been tossed into his cup.

He continued to strum the ukulele, singing ridiculous songs and pretending to be very drunk.

And watching.

Always watching.

He watched as Declan started to close the place and the customers left, and he nearly jumped to his feet when Gary went rushing past him.

But he saw the cops at the door and forced himself to wait, still watching.

Gary hadn't been there five minutes before a couple walked by him, their faces hidden, the man's by a hat pulled low over his eyes, the woman's by her hooded cape.

They went straight to the door of Finnegan's, which he knew was locked at that point, but then the man took something out of his pocket.

A key?

Who the hell had a key to Finnegan's except for a Finnegan?

Craig leaped to his feet, but the couple was already inside. And the second they were in, he heard a sound he knew all too well: gunfire. Muted by a silencer.

Craig raced inside, trying to assess the situation. The couple, both of whom were carrying guns, had taken everyone by surprise. He still couldn't make out their faces, but he was sure he knew who they were.

The gunmen were ordering the cops and Marty to lower their guns. Just as they started to comply, Declan came hurrying out from the back office, and both guns swung in his direction.

Craig started to talk, slurring his words as if he were drunk. “Hey, what is this place? A pub or a movie set? Hey, lady, you look like that actress—what the hell was her name? Betty Grable? No, no... Clark Gable? Hell, no, he was a man.”

He succeeded in confusing them, if only for a moment, and that would have to be enough.

“Shoot the damned drunk,” the man snapped.

Jimmy McManus. Jimmy, who had shot himself for effect, then dismissed his bodyguard and left the hospital without being discharged.

Craig poured on the speed and crashed into the woman, taking her totally unaware. They crash-landed in a pile right in front of the bar. Her gun went flying beneath a stool.

One down, one to go.

A shot was fired, but Craig realized with relief that it went straight into the air.

“Someone get that stupid drunk out of the way!” Jimmy ordered. His voice was different from his usual friendly tone, cold as ice. “Now—or I start killing people. I want Kieran. I want her out here
now
.”

“McManus, you can shoot everyone in here, but I will not let you kill my sister,” Declan announced.

“You can't kill all of us,” Marty said boldly.

Another shot rang out, and Marty screamed as blood oozed from his shoulder.

“I'm a crack shot, and yes, I
can
kill all of you,” McManus said. “Now drag the drunk back there with the rest of you and get Kieran Finnegan out here.”

* * *

“Gary, you bastard,” Kieran snapped, slapping her hand down on the letter opener before Gary could reach it. “You bloody bastard.”

He looked at her, tears streaming down his face. “I wasn't going to use it on you. I was going to use it on myself.”

Looking into his eyes, she believed him.

But before she had a chance to tell him to stop being a drama queen, she heard shouting and then...gunfire? Adrenaline raced through her as she realized someone was shooting up the bar!

She hurried out to see what was going on and froze.

It was like something out of
The Godfather
crossed with the Three Stooges. A man in a fedora was standing there with a gun trained on Marty and the cops. Then he looked straight at her and she gasped.

Jimmy McManus.

Meanwhile Declan was trying to help some drunk off a woman in a cape.

None of which mattered because Jimmy was staring at her with hatred, and his gun was aimed at her heart.

“Kieran, precious Kieran, pride of the entire Finnegan family—and the stupid bitch who ruined everything,” he said.

“Jimmy, you piece of dirt. I don't know how I ruined everything for you, but I'm glad I did.”

“My gun,” the woman on the floor muttered. “Where's my gun?”

Jimmy didn't even seem to hear her. He was completely focused on Kieran. “You knew...you heard things—you fucked everything up.”

“I
wish
I had heard things. Then you could have ended up behind bars sooner,” she told him.

“The other guys would have been caught and blamed—even with their ridiculous squirt guns—but no. Who the hell wouldn't think that they killed sometimes and not others, once they were caught red-handed? You went to the damned holdup. On purpose. You heard them talking—you went there to stop it and you did. You're a little snoop, eavesdropping in here all the time. And you think you're a superhero! Any decent person, well...no. Some people know that there are consequences for their actions!”

* * *

The scene had become actively surreal, Craig thought, but he was finally beginning to grasp the truth, or at least what passed for truth in the deluded mind of Jimmy McManus.

McManus had somehow decided that Kieran, not the FBI, had stopped the robbery.

But this wasn't the time to tell McManus that he'd lost his mind, not when he had his gun trained on Kieran.

“Hey, lady, you lost your gun?” Craig said, still using his best drunken slur. “I'll help you find it.”

He pretended that he was reaching under the stool.

Instead, he took a calculated risk.

He made a dive for Jimmy.

McManus's gun went off, and Craig hit the floor.

* * *

Kieran heard a loud scream, then realized that it was hers.

But she was only paralyzed for an instant. Then she raced toward the drunk lying on top of Jimmy McManus. The impact had knocked the gun from Jimmy's hand, but it was still within reach, and the bastard was already reaching for it.

The woman was making a dive for it, as well, but Kieran saw that Marty Salinger and the cops had sprung into action, too.

She slammed a foot down on Jimmy's hand just as his fingers started to curl around the grip of the gun.

It looked like a big gun, too, and then she realized that half of it was a silencer.

What the hell difference did it make what kind of a gun it was? It shot bullets that killed people.

One of the cops was already tugging on the drunk's body, rolling him over.

The other was wrestling Jimmy onto the floor and putting cuffs on him.

Marty, by the book, was reading the woman her rights as he put the handcuffs on her.

As Kieran heard the first cop call for an ambulance, she hurried over to the drunk, praying that she could do something to save the life of the man who had saved all of theirs.

The first thing she saw was that there was no blood.

How? He'd been shot point-blank in the chest. And then she saw that a patch of facial hair was coming off.

“Craig!” she cried, tears springing to her eyes. “Craig, oh, my God...”

He blinked and looked up at her.

He was alive, but he gasped wordlessly as he tried to talk.

“Get the vest off him. The bullet is in the vest,” Marty told her.

She ripped at Craig's clothing. When she got to the vest he winced.

“Broken...” he whispered.

“You're alive, and there's an ambulance on the way,” she said. She could tell she was going to cry and betray all the fear she was feeling.

“Broken ribs,” he managed.

“Lie still,” she said.

“Hey!”

Everyone went still.

Gary had made an appearance.

“Julie!” he said. “What about Julie?”

Kieran didn't even have a chance to get up. Declan walked over to Jimmy, grabbed the man by the lapels and said, “If anything has happened to Julie Benton, I don't give a damn about the law. I'll skin you alive. You're lower than a rat, a roach. You're the worst fucking piece of crap in the world.”

McManus stared back at Declan with hatred in his eyes. “Don't be an ass. Gary is so fucking stupid, he'll believe anything. All I needed him to do was get in here and get Kieran on his side. We watched him flip out and waited outside until the time was right, and then we were going to take care of you and get out of here for good.” He looked over at Kieran. “She ruined a perfect plan. I wanted her dead.”

Kieran felt a chill sweep through her. She rose and walked over to Jimmy McManus. “You used Finnegan's. You used this place, our hospitality—you used our friendship. You made us a part of killing people. I hope to God someone knifes you to death in prison.”

“He could get death. This might be a federal case, since it crosses state lines,” Marty pointed out.

“I'm fine if he's just locked away to rot slowly, thinking about the fact that I'm alive and well and enjoying my life,” Kieran said. She was shaking, and she felt sick. Jimmy had been a customer forever.

He'd probably been using them forever, too, learning things to help him cheat and steal—and kill.

She was glad she didn't have a weapon, because she was afraid she would have used it, she was so angry.

She spit on him instead.

“Did you see that?” McManus demanded. “I want her charged with assault.”

“You have to be kidding,” one of the cops muttered.

“I didn't see a thing,” the other said.

“You know what? I didn't see anything, either,” Marty said, and he grinned down at Craig, who smiled back at him, then started trying to get up.

Kieran watched her spittle drip down Jimmy's face, then went back over to Craig and knelt down beside him. An ambulance was coming.

She would be in it with him.

As she took his hand, she looked at the woman, who was staring angrily at McManus. “You are a moron!” she said. “If you hadn't had such a stick up your butt about this stupid girl—”

Marty jerked her cuffs, and she cried out.

“Oh, sorry,” he said, not looking sorry at all.

“Who the hell
is
she?” Kieran asked Craig.

He managed to smile at her and squeeze her hand. “I believe she's about to be an inmate at a federal prison.”

“He did it! He killed them all!” the woman cried.

“Bitch!” Jimmy said. “You were the one who wanted Maria dead!”

Detective Mayo and assistant director Eagan walked in just then, followed by a pair of EMTs, and suddenly the night was alive with people and action.

Kieran followed Craig into the ambulance, but before the doors could close, Declan put out a hand to stop them.

“Only one escort, I'm afraid,” the EMT said.

Assistant director Eagan stepped up and said, “I think we can make an exception.”

The EMT, clearly faced with a power greater than his own, gave in.

Declan climbed in and hunkered down on the floor while Kieran held Craig's hand and the EMT checked his vitals.

The siren blared as the ambulance raced through the late-night streets.

* * *

The impact of the bullet had caused three fractured ribs. Other than that, he was fine, and happy to vent his annoyance at being forced to stay in the hospital overnight.

Kieran told him that he was a horrible patient, but really, it wasn't so bad. Julie and Mary Kathleen and the Finnegan men all stayed at the hospital through the night, going from his room to Bobby O'Leary's.

Even Mike came, and Craig was glad to have him there to field questions about the case and explain what they knew about Sylvia Mannerly and Clean Cut Office Services.

When morning came, they learned that Sylvia and Jimmy had actually met online through a dating service, of all things.

They'd discovered how much they had in common. As in a desire to pull off enough robberies to get rich enough to retire to the tropics.

They'd agreed on copycatting the original gang but going further and killing witnesses, because witnesses could get you caught.

But when Kieran had become involved and that involvement had led to the original thieves being caught, Jimmy had been convinced that she knew something, that she'd overheard something and was going to get him caught, too.

From there it had just been a short step to him deciding she had to die.

The next day, Craig was let out of the hospital, but he was, as Mike had been, forced to take medical leave.

And that meant he was free when Kieran asked him to go and see someone with her.

The someone was Tanya Lee Hampton. They met her at a small duplex in the Bronx with a little playground in front. Her two toddlers were there, and they were delighted with the presents Kieran had brought them. They talked about Tanya's legal situation, which was looking up. Her lawyer had made a deal with the district attorney's office; she was on probation and would do community service. But Dr. Miro had also found her a job that she could do with her children. She was going to become a secret shopper, testing out restaurants and stores that that were geared toward kids and families.

When it was time to go, Kieran and Tanya hugged tightly, and Kieran thanked her as they exchanged a speaking look.

“What was that all about?” Craig asked her as they walked back to his car.

She was thoughtful and then turned to him.

“We have to accept that sometimes we're going to have secrets. It comes with our jobs. Like the other night. I'd never even heard of Sylvia Mannerly or whoever she really is. You can't tell me everything all the time. And in my line of work, people have to be able to talk to me and expect confidentiality.”