I considered his words, my thoughts wandering to my conversation with Renaud earlier this week. “You knew why Callaghan was in town, didn’t you? You knew about the blackmail before today. When we spoke that night—”
“He never told me.”
I let go of his arm and closed my eyes. “What else aren’t you telling us?” Desperation broke through my voice.
Adam couldn’t lose her.
I couldn’t lose her. I wanted her as a sister, and . . .
“Please,” I begged. “We have to find her.” Emotion rose to the surface, and even if I was uncomfortable with showing such a display, I couldn’t hold it back. “If you know anything, help.”
“I called the limo driver Callaghan had been using this past week after I found his body. I wanted to see what the hell Callaghan’s been up to,” he began. “He mentioned Callaghan asked him to park outside my club last Friday and wait. Then he said Callaghan got a call, he stepped out of the limo, met with some guy who handed him an envelope, then he came back to my hotel.”
“The envelope,” Adam said. “Is that how Callaghan got the blackmail?”
“I assume.” Renaud rubbed his jaw. “His driver didn’t see a face. Just said the guy had short brown hair and was in jeans and a black tee.”
“We’ve been trying to reach the driver,” Jake said. “We should talk to him.”
Renaud nodded. “He’s downstairs in the lobby right now.”
“What are the odds Callaghan happened to be at your club for the exchange at the same time Anna showed up for the bachelorette party?” Xander interjected, and all eyes went to him.
“Did you phone the prick to let him know Anna would be there?” Adam grated out. “Did you—”
“No, of course not,” Renaud interrupted. “I noticed Holly that evening, but I had no clue the party was happening at my club before then.”
“Someone wanted Callaghan there, though,” Jake said. “And they waited for Anna to arrive to make sure we got Callaghan and Anna on camera at the same time.”
“Sounds like whoever has Anna killed Callaghan and is looking to pin the blame on your father,” Renaud said.
“I’m still wondering if you’re involved.” Adam’s eyes thinned as he observed Renaud.
“I have nothing to gain from any of this,” he said. “And although my security cameras are top of the line, I’m betting they’ve been tampered with to hide the real killer’s entrance and exit into Callaghan’s room.”
“It’d fit the abductor’s M.O.,” Xander said. “If Renaud’s telling the truth, then I think Anna’s abduction isn’t about you, Adam.”
“What are you saying?” Red streaks advanced up Adam’s neck and to the tips of his ears.
Xander’s hands settled on his hips. “I think whoever has her—well, they might just be out to get your whole family.”
Chapter Eleven
Adam
I slammed my fist against the door at the station and whirled around to face Detective Grady.
Renaud, Holly, and I had been escorted from Renaud’s hotel and asked a shit-ton of questions. Xander and Jake had slipped away to continue working before the Garda had arrived.
Da was there now, too. Locked inside one of the interrogation rooms next to where they were interviewing Renaud. Holly and I had been let go fairly quickly.
“Callaghan’s killer has Anna. You’re wasting time questioning my father!” I snapped.
“You should go,” Grady said in a low voice. “Try and get some rest until we know more.”
“Rest?” I faked a laugh. “Someone is now framing my father for murder. The same someone who probably has Anna.” My hands went to my hips. “So, no, I don’t think I’ll be resting.”
He held his palms in the air. “You’ve been through a lot. I know this is hard for you, but—”
“Hard for me?” Now I was really going to lose it. “Hard for me was nearly paralyzing a fighter when I was younger. This is fucking hell. More than hell. This is the end of the world. Anna is gone. She could be . . .” My voice broke, cutting off my ability to finish my line of thought.
Anna had to be alive. I refused to accept any other outcome than her return.
“My fiancée is missing,” I said when I regained my focus. “And now you think my father could be a killer.” The words were absurd. “Someone wanted it to look like my family thought Callaghan took Anna because he was blackmailing us.”
“So, you know about the blackmail?” His forehead tightened. “Your father tell you that or Renaud?”
“If Da was guilty, why would he leave the blackmail behind in Callaghan’s room?”
He leaned back in his dress shoes and crossed his arms. “My theory’s that your father got pissed about the blackmail, and then he went to the hotel and accused Callaghan of kidnapping Anna. They fought, and your father killed him.”
“Well, your theory is total bullshit.” I turned and dragged my palms down my face, catching sight of a man being escorted in by officers.
“Who is he?” I asked; he looked vaguely familiar.
“Renaud’s limo driver. We have some questions to ask him.”
Yeah, me, too. The driver hadn’t been in the lobby like Renaud had said when the Garda had shown up for Callaghan’s body. At least they found him, though.
I swallowed a lump in my throat, and then I faced the detective again. He toyed with the gold band on his wedding finger, and my eyes nearly bulged at the sight, at the reminder of what today was supposed to be.
Acid burned a hole in my stomach as I fought away images of Anna being hurt. The ideas kept blanketing my mind all day, strangling the breath from my throat.
“What about the driver?” I asked. “What if he lied to Renaud about a guy handing off the envelope?”
Or Renaud lied about all of it? Shit, I didn’t know what to think.
“It’s possible the driver was the one who actually provided Callaghan with the blackmail,” I pointed out. “Maybe the blackmail even came from Renaud. Feck.” I raked my hands through my hair. “Any of them could be involved! Everyone could be lying.”
“Adam, what’s going on? How do you know all of this?”
I’d forgotten Grady had no idea I’d called in reinforcements. I shouldn’t know what I did, and it’d have the detective only asking more questions. And what I needed was for him to focus on Anna.
Instead of answering him, I looked at the room where Da was being questioned.
When the door to that room opened a second later, I caught sight of Da. His head was bowed. Eyes closed.
My entire body tensed, and I staggered back a step as the detective shut the door behind him and found my eyes.
“We got a confession,” the man said.
“He confessed?” Grady took a folder from the other detective and opened it.
No way could I have heard him right.
“Maybe next time you tell me in private instead of in front of the son of a suspect,” Detective Grady hissed.
My body grew rigid, the fight inside of me building more intensely. “You need to find Anna.” I fisted the detective’s shirt and pulled him closer to me. “Da isn’t a killer. This is a distraction. Don’t you feckin’ get it?”
Officers grabbed hold of my arms and pulled me back, but I wouldn’t let go. I’d mow down anyone who stood in my way to get to Anna.
“It’s fine.” The detective lifted his chin, ordering the officers to back off. “He’s upset.”
I released him after a moment and shook my arms loose at my sides once they removed their hands from me. “He didn’t kill anyone, and you know that.” I swallowed. “Did you check the security footage outside Callaghan’s hotel room to see if it was tampered with?”
Grady rubbed at his jaw.
“What about my hotel?” I asked when he didn’t answer. “The security footage showed a guy leaving Anna’s room with a duffel bag.”
He cocked his head. “I’d still like to know how in th
e bleeding hell you know so much?”
I turned and braced the back of a rolling chair at a nearby empty desk.
I had to get out of there. To get back to Jake and the others. I needed them now more than ever.
I couldn’t trust these people to do their job, not with someone out there three steps ahead of us at every turn.
No. I had to find Anna. Right the hell now.
“Where’s Xander and Jake?” I asked once in the hotel room and took a second to catch my breath after charging up several flights of stairs. I had to take the back entrance to avoid the reporters still staked out at the front of the hotel. Word had spread fast Da had just been arrested for Callaghan’s murder.
“We ID’d the guy who hit on Kate, the man who invited her to Renaud’s club. Xander and Jake went to question him,” Alexa explained. “Hopefully they’ll be back soon.”
Thank God for something. “What about my father?”
She turned in her chair to face me. “They uploaded his confession twenty minutes ago. According to the report, your father and Callaghan got into a fight, and your dad stabbed him multiple times with a pocket knife.”
“A pocket knife?” I shook my head. “Da doesn’t carry a damn pocket knife around with him.”
“This is total bullshit.” Holly rose from the bed where she’d been sitting. “Why would he confess to killing him, though?”
Alexa’s face pinched tight. “Your father got a text from an anonymous number two hours ago. The message said if he didn’t show up at Callaghan’s hotel room, Anna would be killed. And if he told anyone,” she began, “well, you get the idea.”
“Jesus.” That explained why Da had been MIA in the last few hours. “How could the Garda not realize this?”
“Because the text was deleted,” Alexa said. “And unless the police thought to dig deep, they wouldn’t have discovered it.”
“So, someone wanted Da there, but do you think Callaghan was dead before Da got to the hotel?” Holly asked, her voice soft.
“The killer may have let him in. Planted the evidence. And then threatened to kill Anna—you guys, too, for all I know—if he didn’t confess to the murder,” she explained. “But I do know for certain Callaghan was a pawn in all of this.”
“What do you mean?” I edged closer to her desk.
“I was able to pull up all of Callaghan’s last calls, texts, and emails. Someone attempted to delete the records from cyber space, but I managed to recover them,” she said. “Callaghan had been in contact with someone who promised him blackmail, which would help him acquire your media business for cheap.”
“Can you track the number?” I asked.
“I’m working on it, but whoever we’re dealing with is a professional. He knows how to cover his tracks.” She gave a light nod. “But I’m better,” she said with confidence. “So I’ll find him.”
I had to cling to the hope we were close to the truth. Closer to getting Anna back.
Alexa refocused on her laptop. Code flashed across the screen. Scrolling green numbers and letters. All illegible to me.
“I still think Renaud is behind all of this.” I brought my forehead to my hand, memories from the last few months resurfacing. “I don’t trust the prick. I feel like he’s at the center of everything somehow.”
What if Anna and I hadn’t canceled our wedding the first time? Would she be safe now?
Was this all my fault?
“Ma’s calling.” I looked over at Holly now sitting back on the bed with her mobile clutched in her palm. “Do I answer?”
“Maybe we wait until we have better news,” I said, hating that I couldn’t be there for my mother when she was probably losing her mind with Anna being gone and now our father being arrested.
My brothers had messaged me on my way to the hotel they were going to the Garda station, as if they could actually talk some sense into the detectives.
No, whoever masterminded all of this had set us up like chess pieces, but like hell I’d let him call checkmate.
“Shit.” Holly was on her feet, her eyes wide. “Ma texted.” She showed me the mobile.
“What’s wrong?” Alexa faced us.
“Ethan and Sean were in an accident.” I immediately dialed Ma.
“Holly, are you with Adam?” she cried out.
“Yeah, we’re together,” Holly said. “What happened?”
“Some guy ran Ethan and Sean . . . off the road and . . . pushed their car right over the bridge,” she rushed out between broken sobs. “They’re okay. They got out of the car before it went under the water. But . . . what’s going on?”
I looked at Alexa, and I knew her thoughts were a mirror of my own.
I needed to get Holly and Ma somewhere safe. And now.
Chapter Twelve
Adam
“Just stay with security and don’t leave the room until this is over. You understand?”
Holly held her hands up between us. “And what about you? They could come after you, too.”
I’d hired half the city to guard my family. I wouldn’t let this sick son of a bitch get to them.
I probably should’ve done the same with Anna when Donovan had threatened her way back when, but I’d given in to my desire to fight.
But this was one fight I couldn’t mess up. I had to save her, and the right way.
And I had to protect my family in the process.
“I’m not in danger.” I flicked my wrist, waving her back into the room.
“If you’re not, then why are you protecting the rest of us?”
“Don’t you get it?” I placed a fist over my heart. “They already got to me. They took Anna, and that’s worse than a thousand deaths.” My voice strained with emotion, and I couldn’t hide the waver in my tone as guilt plunged a knife in my heart. I couldn’t help but feel responsible for her being taken.
“Someone wants revenge,” she whispered. “Who would go to such lengths to hurt our family?” She braced a hand on the interior frame of the door. “It can’t be someone from Donovan’s past. This is way too planned out. Too—”
“Personal,” I finished. “I have to go. Just promise me you’ll stay in this room until we get Anna back.”
“Renaud and that limo driver were both at the Garda station when you were there, right? So, it couldn’t be them who ran them off the road.”
“Yeah, I mean—the Garda may have let them go right away after Da’s confession, but shit, I don’t know.” I was so confused about everything. I couldn’t think clearly with Anna in danger.
“What if . . .” She shook her head, not wanting to finish her line of thought. And thank God, because I couldn’t stomach offering an answer.
“This will be over soon. I promise.” I turned before she could argue and headed to meet up with Alexa.
I was relieved to see Xander and Jake back.
“What do you know?” I asked once the door closed behind me.
“We spoke to Lenny Johnson. He’s the one who invited Kate to Renaud’s club. But he wasn’t the same man who hit on Anna. That may have been random, or hell, he was also paid off to hit on Anna,” Jake said.
“What do you mean ‘also paid off’?”
“Turns out Lenny was offered five hundred euros to convince Kate to go to Renaud’s that Friday,” Alexa answered. “He got half the cash the night he first talked to Kate, and he’d get the other half if she actually showed.”
I shook my head at his words, at the extent at which this arsehole had planned out everything to get to my family. “What happened?”
“Lenny decided to pocket the two-fifty and never even went to Renaud’s that Friday,” she said.
“If it was Renaud who staged all of this, he wouldn’t need to go to such lengths to get Callaghan there,” Xander said.
“Unless he was trying to throw the trail off himself.” I wasn’t ready to let Renaud off the hook.
“Maybe.” Doubt clung to the word when she’d spoken, though.
>
“Well, uh, did this Lenny guy say what the man looked like who paid him?” I asked. “And can we trust he’s even telling the truth?”
Jake handed me a photo of Lenny. “He doesn’t look like the man who left Anna’s hotel room, but that doesn’t mean he’s not lying.”
I stared at the image, nearly crumpling it. “What else did he say? Anything useful?”
“He claims the guy had short brown hair. Green eyes. About five-ten,” Jake said. “We showed Lenny a hundred different images from the list you gave us of people Anna or you’ve encountered in the last few months.”
“None matched?” I handed him back the photo.
“No,” she replied. “Renaud said his driver saw someone give Callaghan an envelope outside the club, but if someone went to such lengths to ensure we caught Callaghan parked outside the entrance around when Anna showed—we would’ve seen the exchange of the blackmail on camera.”
“And all we saw was Callaghan leaning against the limo as if he were waiting for someone,” Xander added.
“So, who is lying? The driver?” I cursed under my breath. “I saw him at the station. He has brown hair, but hell, so does half of Dublin.”
Alexa looked to Jake for a long beat before her eyes traveled back to mine. “My gut’s telling me we’re missing the big picture.” She was on her feet now with folded arms. “I think we need to determine the abductor’s connection to both your father and Callaghan.”
“As far as I know, Renaud and my father never crossed paths until the station today. Are you thinking whoever took Anna already knew both Callaghan and my father?”
Shit. We needed the Garda to let us talk to Da, to find out what he knew about the son of a bitch who threatened him into confessing.
“I think this is personal for whoever took Anna,” Jake said and stood next to Alexa. “He took your fiancée on your wedding day. And then he had your father arrested for murder. Your brothers were driven off the road.”
Dublin Nights Series Box Set: On the Edge & On the Line Page 36