#7-9--The O’Connells

by Lorhainne Eckhart

  “You sure you want the letter back?” Tibo said.

  Marcus knew the DA was playing him, and he could almost hear Jack warning him not to take the bait.

  Jack laughed under his breath, the kind of laugh that meant Tibo was pushing in a way that could bite him. “Yes,” he said, “and let me be clear: If any of the contents are leaked to the press or used in any way to intimidate my client or her family, you’ll have a problem, more of a problem than you do now, considering that stunt you and Lonnie pulled this morning.”

  “I never told Lonnie to say what he did,” Tibo said. “The charges against your mom were dropped…”

  “Not good enough, Tibo,” Jack said, cutting him off. “Either you issue a direct and very clear statement that the remains are not those of Raymond O’Connell and you completely, publicly exonerate my clients, meaning Iris O’Connell and all the O’Connell siblings, or I will bring down on this office the kind of lawsuit that could bankrupt this county, and we’ll fight it out in the news. I’ll pull out every skeleton this office has hidden, the cases it hasn’t prosecuted, the preferential treatment you’ve shown, the deals you’ve given to one class of people while running roughshod over others. I will show easily that this office has continued to wield systematic racism and classism against the people, and the fact is that this all started because the sheriff wasn’t willing to let anyone walk because of who they were.

  “I’ll even go so far as to bring up how the DA’s office has overlooked the unfair sentencing practices of Judge Root, the discrimination, the rights violations. Then there’s the prosecutorial misconduct. We can go back years if you want. I will turn this into a living nightmare for you and bring all of this to your doorstep, Tibo, and you know what will happen when I turn this into a media circus? You won’t be able to shut it down. The people will be demanding your resignation, especially when they find out how they’re on the hook, tax wise, for the county bill after your mishandling of this case, which I will win. The cost will have to be paid by the very people you’re supposed to be protecting.”

  “What do you want?” Tibo said.

  Eileen was hiding a smile, Marcus thought, by the way she lifted her hand and pulled it over her face. He crossed his arms, because he rather liked this pit-bull side of Jack. He found himself leaning back against the desk, taking in the show.

  “Well, one, by end of day, Marcus had better be re-appointed as sheriff, with a public apology that clears up any misconceptions that he did anything wrong—and you know what I’m talking about, Tibo. You’d better clear from the minds of this community, with one hundred percent certainty, any illusions about Marcus being involved in any kind of misconduct.”

  “Well, there is the matter of the knife,” Tibo started.

  “What knife?” Jack snapped. “You had better produce this knife right now, because I’m tired of hearing about it.” He took another step closer. “Be careful, because what you’re doing is setting a very dangerous precedent that any suspect can fabricate a story with no evidence in order to get a deal. You damn well know that Marcus has been fairer to the people here than any sheriff. He hasn’t been a crook or anything like that. I’m pretty sure you’ve already had a call this morning from Senator Edwards, telling you to clean up this mess.”

  Tibo made a face as if considering, and his eye twitched ever so slightly. Jack really was good. This was the first Marcus was hearing about the senator, and he couldn’t pull his gaze from Jack.

  “I’ll make the statement,” Tibo said, then glanced over to Marcus. “But whether Marcus is reinstated is up to the mayor and the council, who, as I understand it, are expecting him to answer some questions this morning.”

  Jack stepped back. “I think we’re done here,” he said. “Let’s go pay a visit to the mayor and council.”

  Marcus knew Jack was behind him, his hand on the door, ready to pull it open. He took in Eileen, who’d said nothing, then dragged his gaze back over to Tibo and took a step toward him. “Answer me this,” he said. “How much of this was because I rocked the boat with Judge Root, because I stepped on toes I was told not to?”

  “You don’t think your actions have consequences?” Tibo said. He jutted his chin to Jack. “I’ll call the press and make an announcement by noon.”

  Jack pulled open the door. “Marcus,” was all he said.

  Marcus knew he wouldn’t get anything else, and he took in Jack, who was clearly waiting for him. So he took one step and then another out the door, Jack right behind him.

  As they headed over to the stairs, he thought of Raymond O’Connell. His father was alive, and this entire nightmare was almost over, but the answers he had were ones he hadn’t expected or wanted.

  “So was that you who was responsible for the senator’s call?” Marcus said as they stepped off the last stair and made their way to the mayor’s office.

  “Well, considering that press conference this morning didn’t officially clear any of you, I knew the DA was going to need a little more persuasion.”

  “So what did that call cost you?” he said. He knew the life Jack had come from. Calling in that kind of favor always cost something.

  Ahead of them were the glass doors to the mayor’s office, but Marcus dragged his gaze over to Jack, who could’ve written the book on pulling off a poker face.

  “A favor down the road,” he said. “Nothing I can’t live with to rescue my family from a witch hunt.”

  They stopped just outside the door, and Marcus took in the man his sister loved, whom he’d never really accepted into the family. He wondered when Jack had really become one of them.

  “In case I didn’t say it, Jack, thank you for having our backs—my back.”

  Jack glanced away in amusement, he thought. “That was hard for you to choke out, wasn’t it?”

  He didn’t need to say anything else. Jack was married to his sister, yes, but he realized that he was also a brother to him. “You have no idea.”

  Jack laughed under his breath, and Marcus pulled open the door and stepped into the mayor’s office.

  He still had more questions to answer, more hurdles to jump through, before he could get a piece of his life back. And, as far as he was concerned, Lonnie was still someone he had to deal with.

  Chapter Nineteen

  “So where is Mom tonight?” Ryan asked, handing Jack a short glass of bourbon. Jack didn’t drink often, but tonight was different.

  “She opted to stay home,” Luke said, holding a beer, from where he lounged on the sofa at Ryan and Jenny’s place. “It’s been pretty quiet since that news conference at noon. Still don’t know how you managed to pull that off, but it had all the reporters packing up from outside Mom’s house and leaving her alone.”

  Charlotte was sitting on the loveseat with Marcus, her bare feet up on his lap for him to massage. Her hand rested on her pregnant belly. His gun and badge were at his place, Jack knew, where he’d taken them off just an hour earlier.

  “I’m not sure that’s a good idea, Mom being alone…” Ryan started. He sat on the arm of Jenny’s chair, and she rested her hand on his thigh and shook her head.

  “Your mom needs some time alone after what she’s been through,” she said. “Come on, you guys. She just needs to find her footing again. I know how that feels. She’s probably exhausted, with the stress of everything. Just give her some time and space. Besides, I think it’s best we talk it out without your mom here to overhear. For one, how about that news conference this afternoon? I can’t believe the DA got up and publicly apologized to Iris and all of us, saying they were contacted by Raymond O’Connell and the remains discovered have been confirmed not to be his, and the DA’s office confirmed that the evidence in the case was circumstantial, with unfounded allegations manufactured to accuse Iris.”

  Jack lifted his glass, knowing that Tibo had followed exactly the outline he had given him. Senator Edwards had made it clear that the investigation of the remains was to be shut down and filed a
way under national security, because that was all he needed to say to put an end to any local investigation.

  “You mean how he made himself look like the hero, as if he had personally investigated and made sure an innocent woman wasn’t wrongly convicted?” Luke cut in. “Yeah, that was quite the show.”

  Jack pulled in a breath to speak, but there was a point, after all the talking, that he didn’t want to talk anymore. He was exhausted from looking at the pitfalls and problems his family had created because of a secret that had been kept for too long.

  “So what happened with the mayor, Marcus?” Owen said from where he sat in the window seat with Tessa beside him. Alison was upstairs with Eva, but they still kept their voices low. “I see you were reinstated as sheriff, but with this hunt for the knife that they were so dead set on finding, are you honestly saying they’re dropping it?”

  Karen was holding a glass of water, her second of the night, as she slid her hand around his shoulders and sat on his lap. He leaned back in the dining chair Marcus had dragged into the living room, letting his arm slide around her waist, his hand on her thigh. She wore a pink cotton sundress with a cream cardigan overtop.

  Jack looked over to Marcus, knowing he likely didn’t want to talk about it anymore.

  “They had no choice but to give Marcus back the position,” Harold said from where he stood, leaning against the post at the entry into the living room, with his arm around Suzanne. He was dressed down in blue jeans and a T-shirt, and everyone gave everything to him.

  He was still working his way back into everyone’s good graces, even though Jack was well aware that everything he’d done behind the scenes had been to protect this family, having found himself between a rock and a hard place.

  “Harold is right,” Jack said. “When Marcus and I arrived, you should all know that Harold had just finished calling the mayor and council on the carpet, advising them as to how Tibo had used an accusation from a suspect in another crime, and there was no evidence, and he had found nothing to warrant an investigation. As far as Lonnie is concerned, Harold told them he has a history of police overreach and misconduct, and Marcus has had to reprimand him many times for his mishandling of investigations. It was actually the former sheriff, Osbert Berry, who called the mayor personally this morning from where he’s now retired, down in Arizona. He not only vouched for Marcus and his character but went to bat for him, calling out all the charges as bullshit.”

  Marcus pulled in a breath, appearing so tired. “It wasn’t entirely that easy, Jack. You know the mayor and council had their minds made up, regardless of what anyone said, before we walked in there. I was done. You all should know that the mayor asked about the blood on the letter, the one in evidence, that matched the remains at the scene. Yes, apparently either Tibo or Lonnie shared all the details, which was totally not okay. Talk about misconduct… They also asked about the knife Owen buried, even though not even five minutes before that, Harold had been standing there, telling them there was no evidence that the knife burial had even happened. But you know that once a question is in people’s mind, convincing them it’s not true becomes downright impossible. Nevertheless, Jack left them no choice, not after that press conference from Tibo.”

  “I thought you mentioned that the mayor received a call while in that meeting,” Karen said, cutting in and tapping his shoulder. It wasn’t lost on him that she hadn’t had one glass of wine that night.

  Everyone was looking at him, because no one knew the contents of the call the mayor had received in the middle of their interrogation. Jack knew they’d never have agreed to reinstate Marcus otherwise, but that call had ended the meeting, and his badge had been returned. Jack knew well that the senator had made his position clear, first to Tibo and then to the mayor.

  “So you called in a favor, did you, Jack?” Luke asked.

  All Jack did was stare at the amber liquid in his glass, wondering when he’d be reminded to fall in line, when he’d get that call. Sooner, probably, than later. He figured next year, his family would start filling him in on plans to have him run for governor, then for senate. It was everything his family had expected of him, which he’d tried to turn away from, being part of a world where he’d be expected to give favors to a class of people who already ran the country and created the laws everyone else conformed to.

  “No more than any of you would have done,” he finally said.

  No one said anything at first. Then Marcus cleared his throat and took them all in. “Since we’re talking, I think we need to come clean. No more secrets, right?”

  Jack felt a tightness in his chest. From the glance between Marcus and Luke, it seemed that whatever he was going to tell them, Luke already knew.

  “Am I going to want to hear this?” he said. Leaning against him, Karen stiffened and sat up, and her expression turned pissed. Suzanne turned to Harold, and from the way his mouth opened, Jack wasn’t sure if the man was ready to hear anything else, either. Owen and Tessa, meanwhile, were relatively quiet again.

  “Someone had better say something, because I’ve had enough secrets,” Suzanne said.

  “Yesterday, when you all received the news about how the charges were being dropped because the DA had received a letter from our dear old dad,” Luke began, “Marcus and I were out back. Marcus had seen something, or someone. When we went into the alley, Dad was there.”

  Karen stood up, and he didn’t think he’d ever forget her expression. “What? Dad… Why didn’t you bring him inside? Are you sure?”

  Everyone was talking now, and there it was: the ache, the pain, the hurt. He could hear it in each of them.

  Marcus shook his head. “He gave Luke a copy of the letter to make sure Mom got off. He’d heard about it, and he came back to make it right…”

  “Or he’s been here all along,” Luke cut in. “You should know that he said the body in the woods would never be identified, because he didn’t exist, just like Dad. I suspected as much already from my own searching for him, but, as I told you all before, it’s like he was a ghost. He had just disappeared, and then there he was again. Since Marcus is hell bent on everyone knowing, you should also know that whatever happened downstairs in the basement, even though Dad took the fall for killing that guy, he was clear that it wasn’t him. Does Mom know more?”

  Jack knew then that he’d never let them see the letter the DA had given back to him just that afternoon. It hadn’t said just goodbye. It had said that Raymond hadn’t planned to fall in love with Iris, to have six kids, but he’d made the mistake of becoming too comfortable in a life that he would never be allowed to have. He should have known he wouldn’t be able to hide forever. Raymond O’Connell didn’t exist, and he had to go, because the men that had shown up had made threats, and next time, it wouldn’t be him they’d come for; it would be the kids, each of them. They wouldn’t just disappear, either. Their bodies would be found one by one, and what would happen to them would be something from a parent’s worst nightmare.

  Even though Raymond had never said who he was, Jack knew that Iris not wanting her kids to see that letter had been the protective act of a mother. He knew Marcus would ask about it, and so would each of the siblings, so after Jack had pulled the letter from his jacket pocket that afternoon, he’d considered his actions for only a second before shredding it.

  “You know what?” Jack lifted his tumbler and finished off the bourbon, feeling the bite. He stood up and took Karen’s hand. “Let it go. Your mom’s been through enough. Marcus, you have your job back, and disaster has been averted. We can question everything, but Raymond O’Connell wasn’t who he said he was, and I, for one, can’t imagine what it would’ve been like for your mom to learn this. He may have done the right thing and come back to clear her, but remember that all of this started because of him, so I’m going to say goodnight and take my wife home.”

  As he listened to the goodnights from everyone, seeing the toll it had taken on them all, he took in the odd expression
on Ryan’s face.

  “You said Raymond O’Connell was here?” Ryan said. “…Ray! This may sound totally crazy, but you know the boy who was over here, that friend of Alison’s, Brady? She was just telling me this morning that they’re leaving now, and they’d just moved here. She said that Brady’s dad was named Ray, and he acted weird and said he knew me, and she thought he said he knew you too, Marcus. I don’t know. Am I just looking for ghosts when there aren’t any?”

  Luke stared at Ryan, and the rest of them exchanged glances.

  Owen stood up and said, “You know what, Ryan? Sounds like a reach. If it was good old Dad, then evidently, he’s gone now, so at least he did the right thing. But remember, he left all of us a long time ago. So, that being said, I think Tessa and I are going to follow Jack and Karen and go home.”

  Then they all started to leave, to say goodnight, and no one said anything else about Raymond or the case.

  As Jack started to his Mercedes and unlocked the door, Karen stopped him and ran her hands over his arms, his shoulders. He opened the door for her.

  “You know I love you,” she said. With Karen, he knew anything could be coming next.

  “Okay,” he said. “Yes, I love you too.” He felt a smile tug at his lips as he waited for her to get in, skimming his hand over her butt and hip, letting it linger.

  She lifted those mysterious O’Connell blue eyes, which were so vivid even in the dark of the Montana night. “You said this morning that you want to start a family, you know, have a baby…”

  She suddenly seemed so shy as she lifted her hands over his shoulder and around his neck, settling against him, and there was a tightness in his chest, a hope that he didn’t want her yanking away from him, so he said nothing at first, just stared long and hard at her.

  “Come on,” he finally prompted. “Don’t leave me hanging.”

  “Well, I think you’re right. I think now would be a great time to start a family.”