In Too Deep

“It was safe.”

“Do you still suspect them of knowing something?”

Brendan remained silent for a few moments. When his gaze met Ronan’s again, he said, “I think it’s more than knowing something. I think they did something.”

“What the fuck?” Ronan growled. Everything he’d thought about his brother was off. “Why admit this now? All these years, I’ve been looking for answers and your sole response has been to declare Dad dead.”

“You never asked what I thought.”

“Would you have told me?”

His brother shrugged. “Look. Declaring Dad dead made sense. Still does. It gives Mom closure. It’s obvious he ain’t coming back. At least this way, she can get his social security and his pension.”

“Money isn’t going to fix anything. If she wants to retire, it’s not like we would ever let her live on the street.” He sipped his coffee. “It feels like giving up.”

“I never said give up on finding answers. Declaring him dead shows that we’ve all moved on. We don’t need to hold on to the false hope Mom gave us twenty years ago.”

“It was never about hope. Something bad happened to Dad. We all have a right to know.”

Brendan finished his second cup of coffee. “I agree. That’s part of the reason I became FBI. Local cops can’t be trusted when it comes to the Cahills.”

“Have you been investigating them this whole time?”

“Not since the beginning of my career, but damn close.”

Ronan leaned back. “I guess I’m not trustworthy enough for you to have told me?”

“I never told anyone. There’s not much to tell. I’m going on my gut instinct, just like you.” He slid his empty cup to the edge of the table. “But between you and Chloe, we have an inside track I haven’t had since I was seventeen.”

“Chloe isn’t part of this.” He didn’t know why he needed to make that clear to Brendan, but he did.

“You said she came to you with that information. If she’s working at the Rose, she can eavesdrop. Hell, if I ask her nicely, she might plant a bug.”

“Leave her out of this.”

Brendan’s eyes narrowed. “You two got a thing?”

“No.” Just fuck me, her words echoed again. “She can’t risk her job to break the law for you.”

“Fine. We’ll try it your way. I’ll get you a list of names of guys who were around back then. You can talk to them, but don’t get pushy. The minute you do, and they think you’re suspicious, they’ll all clam up. No one wants to cross the Cahills.” He rose and tossed a few bills on the table.

“I don’t give a fuck about crossing them. If they’ve been keeping secrets for twenty fucking years, they can go on and be pissed.”

“I gotta head to Mom’s. You know how she gets if we don’t visit regularly. Wanna come?”

“Shit. We walk in together actually getting along, she might have a heart attack.”

“True.”

“I’ll stop by in a bit to make sure the porch is good.”

“I’ll call you.” Then he headed out the door.

Ronan finished his coffee and thought about everything Brendan told him. What did it say about his relationship with his older brother that he hadn’t known what Brendan had been thinking? When they were young, they had been inseparable. Right after Dad disappeared, they’d grown closer as they did everything they could to help their mother hold the family together. But as time wore on, they both reacted differently. Brendan was determined to do everything right. Ronan had broken every rule he came across because he was just so angry.

Maybe it was time for brothers to start acting like brothers again.