Page 127 of Vicious Hearts

The day I almost lost one of the few people I actually care about in this world,again.

No, I haven’t forgotten.

I glance at a grim-looking Castle, who I know also vividly remembers that horrific day. “I know what we all saw. But…sheheard him.”

I jam a cigarette in my lips. I’ve been getting better about this, smoking less every day for the last few weeks. Or Iwas, until two nights ago when Una opened her soul to me.

Hades clears his throat, turning to Shane. “What happened to Seamus? His body, I mean.”

Our friend in the Bureau nods slowly. “Buried at a Bureau forensic facility in New Jersey. Only a number on the grave, to keep his fans away.”

Kratos scowls. “Why wouldn’t you burn that son of a bitch, or dump him in the sea?”

Shane gives a wry smile. “Bureau policy. Piece of shit that he was, he was also a Catholic. Even monsters like that get a proper burial.”

Ares hisses something vicious sounding in Greek under his breath, violently looking away.

Hades frowns. “What happened with the psych Doc?”

Shane lifts a brow, glancing my way before he clears his throat. “I’m…not sure what you’re talk—”

“Shane.”

He swallows, glancing at me again when I growl his name.

“Where’d you hear about that?”

“Notfrom you,” I mutter dryly. “Which would have beenmuchnicer.”

“C’mon, Cillian. Those were sealed files from before my promotion.” He frowns, turning to glare at Hades. “You also could haveaskedbefore you, what, broke into some server somewhere?”

Hades shrugs. “Homeland Security guys with gambling issues can be very helpful in a pinch.”

Shane sighs, looking away. “Okay. So, that cat’s out of the bag I guess…”

“I don’t under-fucking-stand. O’Conor was the most incarcerated man in the country, and you geniuses let him out to go have fun-time in a cushy little psych ward, with visits from his goddamnchildren?” Ares hisses. “How the fuck does something like that even get approved?”

Dorsey snorts. “Are you joking? You’re talking about the same FBI that kept illegal surveillance flies on Elvis, John Lennon, and Groucho Marx, not to mention a few hundred other famous individuals. The same FBI that used faked evidence and psychological warfare to discredit civil rights activists like Dr.King.” He laughs bitterly. “I’m not gonna sugarcoat this. Letting a shrink study a crazy asshole so she can write a book about it is pretty goddamn low on the list of skeletons the Bureau’s got in its closet.”

“I’ve dug into the doctor from Coal Creek who was interviewing him, Dr. Gail Thompson,” Hades says. “But it’s like she doesn’t exist anymore. What the hell happened to her and that whole project?”

Shane shrugs dismissively. “Administrations come and go, leadership changes. The DOJ and the Bureau did another evaluation of her work and decided it wasn’t nearly worth the risk of him breaking out. So, they shut off the funding and canceled the whole thing. Seamus went back into his hole, and I presume Dr. Thompson went and found some other pet psychopath to put under her microscope. I honestly have no idea where she is now, and I doubt anyone at the Bureau gives a shit about her.”

He sighs, steepling his hands as his eyes lift to mine.

“Look, all respect to your wife, Cillian. But…” he frowns. “Seamus isdead. You were there. You saw the damage Ares did, and it’s clearly laid out in the autopsy report I’ve read—and signed off on—listingmeas the shooter…”

Yeah. Some truths were blurred to keep both of our families out of the newspapers that day. It also made Dorsey’s career, putting a close friend to the Kildare empire in a high place. Win win.

“‘Massive chest trauma, complete arterial destruction, and fatal blood loss’.” Shane lifts a shoulder. “He’sdead, Cill.”

“Did you see him?”

He gives me a look. “Cillian—”

“Did. You.See. His. Dead. Body.”

“You did, Cillian,” Castle murmurs, finally interjecting as he stands from where he’s been lurking quietly in the corner. “Look, stress and trauma can fuck you up. You can hear and see shit—”

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