“She was with me when they came.”
“Who?”
“Dominick Nolan and another man. They were in masks,” the boy continued, “but she called him by name. At first she tried to convince him to go away but then something happened.”
Kate’s hands clenched. She dug her nails into her palms. “Go on.”
“I don’t know why she reacted the way she did. They were quite polite, actually. But she started to scream and wouldn’t stop.” Peter swallowed and waited a moment before continuing. “The other man panicked. He hit her. She was knocked unconscious. I’m not sure exactly what happened after that. I was blindfolded. They drove us somewhere. The next thing I knew, Mr. Nolan came and made them release us. He brought us here.”
Kate looked at Liam. “What about Kevin?”
Neil interrupted. “Most likely he’s outside the country with Dominick. He took the lad out from under their noses at Tranquility House.”
Liam blanched and spread his hands. “I swear to you, Kate, I didn’t know. I had no idea Dom would actually go through with this. Something’s wrong with him, but he won’t harm Kevin. I know he won’t.”
Again Neil pressed him. “But you knew Peter was a target.”
“Aye.”
“Why didn’t you call the police?”
Liam stared at him. “Are you mad? We don’t call the police on one of our own. Nothing in our experience with the RUC would lead us in that direction.”
“Do you still feel that way?”
Liam shrugged.
“Peter could have died and Kevin is missing. You would have been an accessory. Peter is still in danger now that he’s our only witness.”
“The boy saw nothing. He can’t identify Dominick. But if it comes to that, he’s not your only witness. Do you understand my meaning?” Liam looked Neil directly in the eye.
“It won’t be easy for you.”
Liam grimaced. “You don’t know the half of it.”
Kate rubbed her arms. “I’m going to find the doctor and then I’m going in to see my daughter.” She laid her hand on Neil’s arm. “Please find my son.”
“You know I will. Keep your mobile phone on.”
She watched him walk through the automatic doors into the drizzle of the car park.
“You’re very friendly all of a sudden,” her father remarked.
“I’ll explain later. First I want to speak with Deirdre’s doctor.”
John frowned. “The doctor is a woman, a very young woman. Perhaps we should ask for someone with more experience.”
“Why?”
“I’m not sure she’s qualified.”
Kate exploded. “Of course she’s qualified, Da. If she weren’t, she wouldn’t be here. What difference does it make if she’s female or young? This is a hospital. If someone has a question there are enough others out there who can help. What’s the matter with you? This is the twenty-first century. I can’t believe you would judge someone on the basis of her sex. Do you think I’m not qualified to do my job because I’m not a man?”
“Hold on, Katie. I meant no offense to you or your sex. My concern is for Deirdre. All I’m suggesting is that we consult with someone who has more experience in these emotional coma things.”
Her eyes filled. “I’m sorry, Da,” she whispered. “It’s been a difficult two days.”
John’s thick eyebrows drew together. “Did you find what you were looking for in New York City?”
She laughed bitterly. “More than I was ready for. I’ll explain later. Now, I need to find out about Deirdre.”
Dr. Shannon Fahey was young and lovely and intelligent. “We’ve done all we can, Mrs. Nolan,” she assured Kate. “The next twenty-four hours are crucial. Deirdre’s tests have all come back. She’s extremely healthy.”
“Except that she’s unconscious,” Kate reminded her.
“I’m so sorry I have nothing more positive to report to you.”
They were sitting across from each other in the hospital cafeteria nursing two cups of tepid tea.
Kate rubbed the furrow in the middle of her forehead. “If nothing is physically wrong with her, why won’t she wake up?”
Dr. Fahey shook her head. “I can’t answer that. Modern medicine has progressed only so far. Some theorize that a coma is the mind’s way of shutting out something that is too painful to bear. Perhaps your daughter has suffered a trauma she’s unable to deal with.”
“How long does something like this last?”
Again the doctor shook her head. “I don’t know. I’m sorry.”
“Is there anything I can do?”
“Talk to her. Remind her of her life.”
“Will she hear me?”
“Research has shown that brain activity continues during comatose states. We believe that people remain aware of their surroundings at some level. It’s very likely that Deirdre will respond to your voice.” She reached across the table and squeezed Kate’s hand. “It can be a slow process, Mrs. Nolan. Don’t give up. Your daughter is young and healthy. All the odds are with her.”
“I’d like to see her now.”
Deirdre’s hair, dark with a hint of fire, was splayed across the pillow. Kate twisted a strand around her fingers. It was clean and shiny straight. Deirdre was always so particular about her hygiene. In better days Kate had teased her about the number of showers she had taken in a day and the towel she wrapped like a turban around her head. She looked no more than asleep, her chest rising and falling with every even breath. Even her skin looked healthy, except for the bruise darkening her left temple.
Kate bit her lip. Dr. Fahey said to talk. She cleared her throat. “Hello, love. Dr. Fahey says you aren’t hurt at all. That’s very good, don’t you think? She says you’re healthy and there’s no reason for you to be here. I know you don’t want to miss your classes, Dee. You hate falling behind. That nice young man outside in the waiting room is very concerned. He’s all right, by the way. Actually you may have saved his life. Liam might not have interfered if you hadn’t been involved.” She couldn’t go on like this. It was ridiculous. This wasn’t what she wanted to say. She tried again. “Please wake up, Deirdre,” she began. “I don’t think I can go through much more. You and Kevin are more important to me than anything. I can’t bear any more losses. I know it hasn’t been easy for you, but this is such a small part of what your life will be. I’m sorry that your father did what he did. I didn’t know. Maybe that was my fault. Maybe I didn’t want to know. I’m certainly paying a price for my ignorance. Nevertheless, I’m not giving up. I’m going to live, Dee, and so are you. We’re going to live like normal, good people and we’re going to create happy lives for ourselves. You have the world ahead of you. You’re educated and lovely. People love you, more than you know. Your brother needs you, Dee, and so do I. You can’t imagine how much we need you. Please, wake up.” She was crying now, the tears streaming down her face. Resting her forehead against the side bar of the hospital bed, she closed her eyes and prayed.
Neil hadn’t intended to visit Deirdre. His hope had been to catch Kate before she left the hospital. He’d missed the mother but something drew him to the daughter’s room. Deirdre was a mystery to him. Kate had described her often but recent developments had given Neil an entirely different picture of Deirdre Nolan. She was of slight build. Neil could see the lines of her body beneath the blanket. Her features were very like her mother’s, delicate and clearly defined. Her hair was dark with a touch of copper. Long eyelashes curled against her cheeks and Neil could see from the length and shape of her eyelids that her eyes were large. They would be light, of course. Both parents were blue-eyed. She was eighteen, but looked much younger lying there so pale and still under the bed covering. This was Kate’s child. Protectiveness surged through him. Somehow, he would right this. Kevin would go home and Deirdre would heal. He would be there to make sure of it.
Reaching across the bar, he lifted the girl’s hand and held it between both o
f his. “Wake up, Deirdre. Your mother needs you. Wake up. I promise you everything will be all right.”
Had her fingers tightened around his hand, or was it his imagination? Neil couldn’t tell. Gently he squeezed. She squeezed back. “Deirdre,” he said gently, “wake up.”
Again he squeezed. Again, the slight pressure against his hand. He touched her cheek. Her head moved slightly. Eyelashes fluttered. His heart pounded. “That’s it, love,” he said. “Take your time.”
Slowly, ever so slowly, her lids slid back, revealing large, startlingly blue eyes. She stared at him for a long time. “Who are you?” she managed at last.
“Neil Anderson.”
He watched as she processed his information, fitting into whatever memory she had of his name. Then she looked around. “Where am I?”
“This is the Royal Victoria Hospital. You’ve been unconscious for nearly a day now.”
She frowned. “Where is Peter?”
“I imagine he’s at home with his parents.”
She sighed. “That’s all right then.”
“He has you to thank.”
She looked at him, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.
“Is my mother here?”
“She was along with your grandfather and your uncle.”
Her eyes clouded. “My uncle?”
“Liam Nolan. He brought you here.”
“I don’t remember.”
Neil pulled up a chair and sat. “What do you remember, Deirdre?”
She wet her lips. “I’m thirsty.”
Neil looked around, found a paper cup and filled it at the sink. Then he slid his arm behind her head and lifted her to an upright position. She drained the cup.
“Thank you.”
“Can you tell me anything about what happened that day?”
“I don’t think—” Again her eyelids fluttered. “I’m so tired.”
Disappointed, Neil smoothed the blanket over her. “Go to sleep, Deirdre. The next time you wake up, your mother will be here.”
Neil left the hospital wondering whether he’d done the right thing by notifying the nursing staff of Deirdre’s revival. By the number of hospital staff and the complicated machinery entering her room, it didn’t look as if she would get much sleep.
Kate, who had borne everything remarkably well, broke down in tears when he called her. “Thank God,” she sobbed. “Oh, Neil, I’m so grateful. I don’t know what I would have done if Deirdre—”
“She’s going to be all right, love. You can relax a bit now.”
“Whatever did you do?”
“I’m not sure,” Neil confessed. “I was looking for you. When I couldn’t find you I decided to check on Deirdre. I told her that everything would be all right. She seemed to understand. More than likely, it was nothing I did. She was ready.”
“Thank you.”
“There is something else.” He hesitated.
“Go on.”
“Dominick has been linked to Tom McGinnis’s death. He’s a suspect.”
“The newspapers say that Tom died of natural causes.”
“The autopsy revealed differently.”
“What does this mean?”
“Dominick Nolan is a very dangerous man. He hasn’t much to lose. We must be very careful. Peter Clarke is under police protection. I think it would be a good idea for Deirdre.”
Her voice was tight and strained. “What about Kevin?”
Neil relaxed. He should have known Kate would be sensible when it came to her children. “I’ll be in touch. Come to the hospital and stay with Deirdre. I’ll take care of Kevin.”
Twenty-Six
Liam Nolan shook his head. “It’s too dangerous. Dominick isn’t stupid. After what I’ve done, he won’t be trusting me.”
Neil leaned back in his chair and thought. Liam had agreed to meet him at a pub near the edge of the harbor. He sat across from him, his eyes narrowed and suspicious. “From what you’ve told us, there is no real proof that Dominick kidnapped Peter Clarke. The boy was blindfolded. Deirdre believes she recognized the man in the mask as her uncle but no court will convict a man on that kind of evidence. Your interfering in his plans for Peter didn’t put Dominick in any danger. The McGinnis murder is different.”
Neil could see the light dawn in Liam’s eyes. “In other words, I might go so far as to prevent my brother from kidnapping the son of a constable as long as no one is implicated, but I wouldn’t betray him to the police for something that would put him away.”
“Precisely.”
Liam shook his head. “You’re right about that, Mr. Anderson. I can’t do it. Dominick is my brother. Betraying him is like betraying myself.”
Neil changed his strategy. “Your brother is on a crash course, Liam. He’s not going to stop here. You said that he’s not himself. Perhaps he isn’t. Do you want more innocent people killed and the Peace Accord compromised because Dominick has gone off the deep end?”
“He’ll go to prison.”
“Yes,” said Neil, “he will. But he won’t be the target of a Special Forces Team. They don’t ask a man if he’ll come along nicely. Dead or alive it’s all the same to them.”
Liam paled. “Will you speak for him?”
“Only if he surrenders. Tom McGinnis was IRA. There won’t be much sympathy in the courts for him.”
Liam hesitated.
“You’ll be helping him if you can get him to turn himself in.”
“Dominick won’t do that.”
“Then we have no choice.”
Liam sighed. “I’ll think on it.”
“We don’t have much time.”
Liam’s thoughts turned to Kevin. His nephew, blackhaired, blue-eyed, young, his lean adolescent body as thin and long as a deer rifle, a carbon copy of all who carried the Nolan name, caused him a sharp pang of regret. It was too late for Dominick, but not for Kevin and, perhaps, not too late for Liam as well.
There was no death penalty in Northern Ireland. Prison wasn’t forever, not like dying. Nothing was as bad as dying and Dominick was anticipating his demise as surely as if he were standing out in the streets with an Uzi crying, “Shoot me.”
“All right,” he said, not bothering to hide his reluctance. “I’ll do it, for Kevin’s sake.”
“Have you any idea where Dominick might be?”
“Aye.”
“I won’t tell you what to say to him. You know him. You’ll have to work that one out yourself.”
Liam shook his head. “This isn’t going to be easy no matter how much we plan it. Dominick is my brother. He knows me. It won’t be easy to fool him.”
Neil’s gaze was steady, level, icy. “Under normal circumstances, I might agree with you, but you’ve done this before. I’m not worried about your ability to keep yourself tight under fire.”
Minutes ticked by, long, intense minutes where the two men, one who lived outside the law and the other sworn to uphold it, measured each other. It was Liam who spoke first. “I’ve done things I’m not proud of. I admit it. And so have you, Mr. Anderson. The difference is I was never paid nor protected by the government because of my position.” He smiled slightly. “What have you to say to that?”
Neil’s gaze never wavered. “I’ll admit to my share of things I’m not proud of, however, killing isn’t one of them.”
“You’ve never killed a man?”
Neil shook his head. “Not by arrangement. We Brits frown on that sort of thing.”
Liam snorted. “You haven’t been in Northern Ireland very long. You Brits thrive on killing the Irish and you’ve been doing it for eight hundred years. Have you ever read the Penal Laws, Mr. Anderson?”
“I seem to recall they were rescinded a while ago,” Neil said dryly.
“Rescinded my bollocks!” Liam’s face was red. “We had a bloody revolution and gained our independence. That’s when they were rescinded in the Republic, never here, in the North. History wasn’t your subject, was it, Mr. Anderson?”
“I’m ashamed to say that I don’t know very much Irish history,” Neil said quietly.
“I wouldn’t have expected you to,” Liam fired back. “No Brit knows Irish history because they all believe that nothing of historical significance happened outside of England. Answer this for me. Isn’t it strange how we Irish all know English history?”
“It makes sense,” said Neil. “I believe the two are interwoven.”
“My point exactly,” replied Liam triumphantly. “We know yours but you don’t bother learning ours.”
“I think that gives you a definite advantage. What do you think?”
“I think you’re all arrogant sons of bitches.”
Neil grinned and held out his hand. “I can live with that.”
Surprised, Liam blinked, and then stretched out his hand to grip Neil’s.
“I suppose you really are out of the common way, but then you’re not a real Brit, are you?”
“Excuse me?”
“I heard that you hailed from Wales.”
“I was born and raised in Swansea.”
“That’s all right then,” Liam said, smiling reluctantly. “The Welsh have been treated nearly as poorly as the Irish.”
Neil hated to disturb the camaraderie that had so suddenly and unexpectedly cropped up between the two of them, an officer of the law and a member of the Irish Republican Army. This was new for Neil, cooperating with a self-proclaimed terrorist.
He stood. “One more thing. The movement of weapons that you leaked through Kevin. Is it authentic?”
This time it was Liam who grinned. “Not entirely.”
“I’m counting on it being a sham.” He added, “For Kevin’s sake.”
“I don’t understand.”
“If Kevin is seen as an unreliable witness, he’ll be pulled out and sentenced differently. It’s what he and his mother want.”
“The weapons will be shipped. But the route will be changed,” offered Liam.
Neil waited.
“I won’t be giving you that information, Mr. Anderson. Murder I won’t go along with, but I’m not for giving up all our leverage. No one would be listening to Sinn Fein if it weren’t for the IRA. When we Nationalists get what we need the same as everyone else, we’ll demilitarize. Not before.”
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