Ronan satin Brendan’s car beside his brother, the conversation inside the Rose coming across the laptop speaker clearly. He leaned back in the passenger seat in an attempt to stretch his legs.
“Why the hell did I need to be here for this? It doesn’t take two of us to listen,” Ronan grumbled.
“Because if Nolan doesn’t make them panic enough, I’m going to go in for a beer and make sure both Nolan and the Cahills see me. Let them know I’m onto them. I need you here to keep listening.”
He definitely wasn’t cut out to be a cop. All the sitting and waiting was horrible.
“Besides, aren’t you glad I dragged your ass along? Now you get to have Chloe take you home.”
“Or I could’ve just driven to her house later when she gets off work. And used this time to do something productive.”
“Like what?”
“Anything has to be better than sitting here.” His ears perked up at the sound of Chloe’s voice as she asked Nolan if he wanted to order.
As Alan brushed her off, Brendan said, “Old man’s already irritated. That’s a good sign.”
“Do you know what Nolan said to him to get him to take a meeting?”
“Something along the lines of ‘We’ve got a problem.’ I didn’t ask.”
They dropped into silence and waited to hear the conversation.
“Well?” Alan asked.
“Brendan Doyle came to see me. Asking questions about twenty years ago and the election.”
“What about it?”
“He asked who worked on the campaign, if I was aware of anything shady going on.” Nolan paused. “He asked about whether his father worked the campaign.”
“What did you tell him?”
“Nothing. But he’s FBI.”
“Doesn’t matter. Even if he digs something up, the statute of limitations is passed. Nothing he can do. It’s not worth his time. In fact, you should tell him so.”
“What about his father?”
Brendan smacked Ronan’s arm. “This is it.”
“What about him?” Alan asked.
“Where’d he go?”
“How the hell should I know?” Alan’s voice was sharp.
“Look, I don’t know the details, but we both know there was a lot done back then that isn’t covered by the statute running out.”
Nolan was met with silence.
Ronan’s heart sank. This plan wasn’t going to work. It was their only shot. “Fuck,” he whispered.
“You look here,” Alan said. “Keep your mouth shut. You’ll be taken care of like always. Doyle’s got nothing and we’ll keep it that way.”
“Are you going in?” Ronan asked.
“Nah. My presence isn’t enough of a threat if he thinks I’m chasing him for election fraud.”
“Taken care of how? I’m ready to retire. You gonna make that happen?” Nolan pressed. “And now Danny here is following in your footsteps. How much covering up are you gonna do to make that happen?”
Alan’s voice was a harsh rasp. “Stop being a weasel. I’ll get you some cash. You keep your mouth shut.”
“I guess we’ll see how much you think my silence is worth. It’ll be a lot harder to get Danny into office. The wrong people start asking the right questions and not only will he not get elected, but they’ll come looking for both of you.”
Alan began to sputter, but the shuffling led Ronan to believe Nolan left. Sure enough, the front door to the Rose opened and Nolan strode out. A moment later, Brendan’s phone rang. Brendan stepped out of the car to talk.
Ronan continued to listen to Alan berate Nolan in his absence.
Finally, Danny spoke up. “What are we going to do about Doyle?”