“Because Ma told me that was what tipped her over the edge.” Conor stared into the camera, and it was like he was looking straight at me. “Elizabeth told Ma that Alan had investigated Da and had found out that Michelle was his mistress.”
Totally confused, I watched as Michael shrieked when another surge of electricity flayed him alive.
“I think you’re lying to me, Michael,” Conor said grimly. “Is Elizabeth Davidson a part of the ECD?”
“NO!” Michael screamed. “I don’t know anything about that—”
“I don’t believe you. Especially not after today’s news. The ECD wanted Michelle dead for a reason. Why?”
Today’s news?
Oh, Christ. That bullshit from the White House about Davidson supporting a unified Ireland.
Fuck.
“There were reports of her and Alan Davidson cozying up to each other again.”
My brows rose.
“Was Aoife a target too?”
Because she was Davidson’s daughter.
“Y-Yes,” Michael stammered.
“If she was a target, why didn’t you take her out?”
“I couldn’t get to her after Michelle was dead. She had guards on her.”
Guards?
“Do you know who the guards were hired by?”
“No. But they kept a discreet distance—” He paused, and his tongue made a clicking noise before he pleaded, “Water. Please, Conor. I need water.”
Kid grabbed a bottle and allowed a thin trickle of water to stream into Michael’s mouth.
It took a while, and I watched on in horror but with a sense of relief too as it let my mind catch up.
Michelle had been targeted.
Aoife had also been in danger, and might still be despite what Davidson had told us.
I sank to the ground, the wall at my back, and I let my forearms hang over my raised knees so I could continue watching the video.
After a couple minutes, Michael gurgled, and Conor pulled back.
“Who were you working for?” Kid directed.
Michael sucked in a breath, and call me crazy, but I knew the next words to spill from his lips were going to be a lie. “I don’t know. I just had a contact, and when I informed them of the guards’ presence, he told me to pull back. To wait. But then Finn started seeing her, and they married, and that changed things.”
“Is she still in danger?”
“Aidan brokered her safety into the deal.”
“He’s ECD, Finn,” Conor called out. “Ma discovered that nasty truth the other day. It’s taken me all this time to get him to talk.”
ECD?
Those cheile fuckers who thought nothing of blowing up innocents in their fight for a unified Ireland?
How the hell had Aoife and her mom gotten onto their radar? Was it because of their links to Alan Davidson? Or the fact that Eamonn Keegan, with whom they shared a surname, was the leader of the group and he had enemies?
I needed answers so I phoned him.
“I’m busy, Finn.”
“What the fuck is going on, Kid?”
“I don’t know, brother, but something shady for sure. The ECD don’t just target American citizens for no reason at all.”
“Michelle wasn’t a citizen. She was Irish.”
Kid hummed. “She got her green card.”
“She was still Irish.”
Another scream sounded in the background.
“Can you stop that?” I muttered on a growl. “It’s fucking distracting. Ask him. Ask him why they targeted Aoife.”
“You heard him,” he argued. “He just said he got his orders from someone up high.”
“I don’t believe him. I think he’s lying about Elizabeth Davidson too.”
Kid was silent a second. “I’ll work on getting you answers.”
“Thank you,” I rasped, but I couldn’t stop myself from inquiring, “Why has Lena gotten you involved in this, Kid?”
“Because she doesn’t trust Da. Says he knew that Michael was ECD, but he never told her.”
My eyes widened at that, but I persisted, “Why did she stick you on this? Why not Brennan? Aidan? Declan, or even me, for fuck’s sake?”
Conor had a whacked up way of doing this because of his fascination with everything AC/DC—and we weren’t just talking about the band here—but Lena didn’t know that, did she?
“Because she knows I won’t go to Da, and probably because Eoghan doesn’t do close-up shit.” He sniffed. “I might do his bidding, but it’s on my terms. You’re all up his ass.”
I gritted my teeth. “You need to get us some answers, Kid.”
“What do you think I’m trying to do? I ain’t having a ball down here. You know how bad he stinks? He’s lucky that I don’t want him to drown or I’d just projectile vomit all over him.”
Despite the severity of the situation, I rolled my eyes because I knew exactly how Michael would be smelling thanks to Cillian Donahue.
“What do we know about the ECD?”
“The leader, Eamonn, got served a sentence for thirty years back—”
“For that bombing in Canary Wharf in London, right? In 1992?”
“Yes.”
“Think it’s a coincidence that he and Aoife share a surname?”
“No. I know it’s not. He’s her uncle.”
“I guess he’s been in prison all her life. She never mentioned him to me.” I sucked in a breath. “He’s due out?”
“I checked. He’s already out. Got released early.”
Tension hit me. “Has he come to the US?”
“One of his known aliases that didn’t get burned after the bombing flew into JFK just after New Year’s.”
That wasn’t reassuring news.
“Aoife was born in ninety-two in the States. So Michelle couldn’t have had anything to do with the Canary Wharf bombing.” At least, that was unlikely to be the reason why she was targeted.
“Not the bombing there, but they’ve done other shit over the years. Saying that, the States wouldn’t have granted her a green card if she had a record.”
I rubbed my brow. “Don’t kill Michael until we’re sure we’ve got all the answers we need.”
“It’s not going to be easy to keep him alive,” Conor grumbled. “His resources are depleted because of the cancer, never mind what I’ve put him through. If he lasts until tomorrow, then I’d be surprised.”
“Christ. Give him an energy drink or something.”
Conor snorted. “Since when was that an elixir?”
“It might help.”
“I doubt it. But I’ll stop zapping him. He’s starting to rot.”
I sucked in a breath at that imagery. “Just give me a couple hours.”
“Okay.”
Kid, never one to stand on ceremony, cut the call, and I used the number I’d memorized from Aoife’s phone.
“Aoife?” her father greeted, his voice wary.
“Davidson, we need to talk.”
“What do you want?”
His tone wasn’t inviting, but it didn’t need to be. We didn’t have to like each other to have a mutual goal—protecting Aoife.