Page 72 of Mob Saint

I have the temerity to laugh. With a grin on my face, I shake my head. “Aren’t you still in physical therapy?”

“Fuck off, O’Rourke.”

I ignore Vince flicking me off and keep my gaze on Keith as I speak.

“Gladly, as soon as you tell me who you’re paying to fuck with my girlfriend. I, frankly, couldn’t give two shites about your family right now. You’re doing a good job of fucking each other over. I want to know who thinks they can fuck with my girlfriend because they are not long for this world if they don’t stop. As I see it, Keith, you’re suspect number one, with no one behind you in line. So, you can fess up, or I’ll bust your kneecaps too. Then I’ll cut off your thumbs and shove them up your arse. And I might be done when I cut off your dick and make you suck it. But the longer you make me wait for an answer, the pissier I’m going to get. The pissier I get, the more you’ll suffer.”

“I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about. You made this shit up, O’Rourke.”

“You’re really going with that. All right.”

I pull the safety off the gun in my left hand and point it toward his right knee. I slide my finger around the trigger, and I know Keith can see it bending.

“Fucking, all right. Stop.” He waves his hands in front of him as though he could ward me off.

I keep the gun pointing at him.

“You’ve got it backwards. I’m laundering money, but I didn’t hire anyone. Some guys approached me right after Aaron died. I don’t know why Darren arranged the accident, but I don’t think he knew Tiernan was going to be in the car. None of us knew she was in labor when he suddenly left a meeting.” Keith raises an eyebrow, and I roll my eyes.

A meeting. A motherfucking shakedown. Aaron was there probably as muscle or a gunman while Keith and whoever else forced some schlub to pay for breathing. The idiot likely borrowed money or had a business where the O’Briens wanted to store shite they fenced.

“Vince followed him back to his house but waited around the block. He’s sworn up and down from heaven to hell that he didn’t see Tiernan get in the car, or that she was in the passenger seat when they drove past.”

I glance at Vince, and he nods. He’s looking at the floor, and for the first time in all the years I’ve known the piece of shite, he looks ashamed.

“Vince called Darren to tell him Aaron bailed on the meeting and went home instead. Aaron was only there for like five minutes before he pulled out of the garage again.”

“The winter sun was at that fucked-up angle that practically blinds you, so I couldn’t see anyone in the passenger seat when Aaron drove by.” Vince takes over telling the story, and he looks like he might cry. “I never would have called Darren back and told him Aaron left the house if I’d known Tiernan was in the car and in labor. If I’d known, I’d have told him she was there—in labor or not.”

Vince swallows three times then shakes his head. He can’t keep going. I might actually believe the guilt plastered across his face. Keith picks up the story again.

“Vince followed them out of their neighborhood, and by then, I was done with the meeting and was around the corner. Vince and I planned to box Aaron in and confront him. Rough him up a bit. He was at the top of a hill, and I was at the bottom. I’m certain he saw my car, but it was just after twilight, so I have no idea if he recognized it. I kept thinking he needed to slow down, but the car just came at me faster and faster.”

“I was following, and I never saw brake lights. I heard his horn as he kept honking and honking. He lowered his window and gestured for Keith to move his car.” Vince sounds as though he’s a million miles away as he stares blankly forward. “He drove over something, and I watched his tire blow. The car swerved left before it jerked to the right. It careened over the edge and?—”

Vince shakes his head again and looks up at Brant. Tiera’s father’s eyes are watering. He has his right arm wrapped across his chest with his left elbow on his wrist. His left hand covers his mouth. When their gazes meet, fury blazes across Brant’s face. He turns away and runs his hand through his hair. I think he did it to keep from wrapping his hands around Vince’s throat.

“It rolled four times before slamming into a tree. Vince and I ran down there, and we could hear Tiernan screaming. Aaron was already gone. And Tiernan—God there was so much blood.” Keith looks like he’s reliving the event. Good. Let the fucker remember.

Brant turns back and inhales so deeply I watch his chest rise. “There was nothing the doctors could do for Tiernan. They barely kept her alive. I’m the one who told her about Aaron and the baby. After that, I don’t think I spoke for two more days. I never wanted to hear my voice again after telling my daughter what happened. The pain in her voice when she screamed…”

I see the hair on his arms stick straight up. He can’t fake that.

“What was your role in all this Gareth?”

He shakes his head. “I was in a massive fight with Gretchen that night. I had no idea what was going on. It pissed her off because I didn’t take her when I went to Atlantic City the night before to scope out that casino Finn had just bought. She wouldn’t listen that it was purely for work. I didn’t know what happened until Vince called me from the hospital. Tiernan was still in surgery.”

“Explain to me how the three of you went from ignorant or innocent bystanders to tormenting a widow who lost her child. Help me understand how you went from the supposed grief you’re pretending now to making Tiernan feel like shite every day for the past three years.”

I look at Brant, wondering if he’s ever demanded answers. He feels me watching him, so he turns his attention to me. I study his face, then his posture. What does he know?

I don’t look at Gareth when he continues the fucked-up tale, but I listen with ears like a dog.

“Dad called me the next morning. He told me he’d arranged the accident, but he hadn’t planned for Tiernan to get hurt. Since he was tapping their phones, he knew Tiernan called her doctor’s office to see if they thought she should go in. He knew she’d texted Aaron that she was in labor. He might not have planned for her to get hurt, but he didn’t stop it from happening. He’d had someone cut Aaron’s brakes in the five minutes he was inside. Vince couldn’t have seen anyone slip in and out of the garage from where he parked. The day Dad died, so did the man who did that job. I found out he knew Aaron was taking her to the hospital, and he went through with it, anyway.”

“You still haven’t explained why you’ve treated her like shite, played on her grief, her insecurities, her goddamn trauma. Why the fuck would you do that to someone who’s one of you?” I yell the last sentence. It’s the first time I’ve raised my voice since I arrived, and they know it’s rare that I do.

“I don’t know what put Tiernan and Aaron on Dad’s radar. I’ve never figured it out. I started getting cryptic calls about her, saying she’d better do what Dad asked without argument. Dad dismissed them as some guy in Chicago putting pressure on a deal we had going. He said the guy got Tiernan’s number and thought he could force our hand.”

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