A Bloody Kingdom (Ruthless People Book 4) (11 page)

When the door slammed as he exited, Bruce poked his head back in. When he saw my face, he said nothing, just closed the door.

Justice, he said? What he didn’t realize was the Callahan family was justice personified.

EIGHT

“In business, ruthlessness is righteousness.”

~ Justin K. McFarlane Beau

LIAM

He sat across from me, his face expressionless as I poured a shot of Green Spot Irish Whiskey into my coffee.

“Sir—”

The moment I held my hand up, he stopped speaking, allowing me to enjoy my afternoon coffee in silence. Like always, I dipped my pinky finger in it, stirring it around before sucking the coffee off my finger. Inhaling the scent as I brought to the cup to my lips, it tasted like liquid fire going down my throat, and yet I couldn’t stop until I finished every drop.

Licking my lips, I sat the cup to the side, next to the salt and pepper shakers on the diner table, relaxed back into the booth, and focused back on the man in front of me. “You’re going to need to repeat what you just said one more time.”

He swallowed, licking his lips. “We got jacked sir…about ten pounds worth of product and ten large.”

“But you know who did it, right, Flannery?”

“They are nothing but a bunch of bone-headed kids. Viona’s boys. Right after leaving her I was going to see—”

Once again I held my hand up and once again, he shut up. Scratching the side of my neck, I glanced out the window; the clouds above were slowly turning from white to gray, and from gray to black.

“So, what you are telling me is not only did I get robbed, but I got robbed by a bunch of kids, is that right?”

“Sir—”

“Is. That. Right?”

He nodded, adjusting the brown cabbie cap on his head.

“Okay.” I laughed, standing up.

“Okay?”

“You said you were going to see these kids, so let’s go. It’s only two blocks up the road right?” I reached into my jacket and pulled out a hundred dollar bill, turning back to my favorite old waitress behind the bar and sliding it across the counter to her.

“How many times do I have to tell you the coffee is only twenty?” She grinned.

“How many times do I have to tell you that doesn’t even cover seeing your beautiful face?” I replied.

She tried to make a face at me, but she couldn’t stop the grin forming on her cheeks, the wrinkles on her face more prominent now than ever.

“Ever the charmer. How does your wife put up with that mouth of yours?”

“I could tell you but you’d get me in trouble now, Beatrice.” I winked at her, grabbing a toothpick before walking toward the door.

Beatrice had worked at Eastside Diner for almost thirty years now. I’d come every Monday with Declan at first, and now Neal, and always ordered the same thing. She knew it, but she still asked anyway. Five years ago, I bought her the diner so the poor woman could finally retire, but she was so damn enthusiastic to be the owner she now came every bloody day, working harder than she had before.

Stepping out into the cold, I saw Fedel made a move to the car, but I shook my head, walking toward Flannery. He said nothing, just stuck his large scarred hands into the pockets of his trousers and put his head down, obviously thinking far too hard.

“Hi, Mr. Callahan.” Two young girls, maybe three or four years older than Dona, waved to me once we got closer to the neighborhood.

“Ladies.” I nodded to them, moving to give them space on the sidewalk. They giggled, whispering to each other as they walked by hand in hand.

“Mr. Callahan!” A set of teenagers, this time, four boys, rushed across the street. Fedel tensed, but there was nothing to worry about.

“My pops said if I wanted a job to ask you,” the first said, his front tooth chipped.

“As if, Bertie. If anybody workin’ for the Callahans it be me.” The second—and shortest—of the four puffed out his chest. They all just laughed at him.

“In your dreams, Eirnin!”

“Gentlemen,” I said, and they all shut up, looking back at me as if they had forgotten I was there for a second. “If you want to work with my family then you got to be smart…ask me again in ten years.”

Walking around them, we continued on. The two blocks felt like two miles because of all the people who stopped me just to say hello. The East Side had always been home to the Irish, and if they were Irish, they knew who I was, and if they knew who I was, they had to show respect. It was basically an unspoken commandment.

“This is it,” Flannery said when we stopped at a rundown townhouse with what had once been a green door; most of the paint was now chipped away and instead it looked brown. Flannery glanced back at me, motionless.

“Are you expecting
me
to fucking knock?”

Skipping the stairs two at a time, he walked up to the door and pounded on it.

“I’m coming! I’m coming!”

A second later the door swung open and a short pale woman with her black hair in a loose ponytail and dirt all over stepped forward.

“Flannery? What are you—” Her green eyes slowly panned over to me.

Smiling at her, I took the toothpick out of my mouth and stepped up. “Ms. Feidhelm, are your boys in?”

Quickly she looked to Flannery, and whatever look he had on his face made her eyes widen. I didn’t even think it was possible but it looked like she got paler.

“Ms. Feidhelm,” I called out to her, drawing her attention back to me. “Your boys?”

“Yeah. Yeah.” Her voice shook as she stepped back, opening the door to her house. “They’re just upstairs.”

“You mind calling them down? I’d like to speak to them.” I dusted the bottom of my feet on the mat before entering her home. Flannery followed behind me along with Fedel, who silently stood closest to the door.

“Bryan. Bryan! Robert! Get down here now!”

I glanced up at the floorboards, and dust fell from them as they scurried about.

“Would you like something to drink, Mr. Callahan?” she offered, already walking to the kitchen.

“Thank you, ma'am, but I’m fine. No need to trouble yourself,” I said.

She nodded, moving back to the bottom of the stairs, her hands shaking. She looked to me one more time before yelling, “Bryan! Robert! You got two seconds—”

“Coming!” they yelled, rushing down the stairs dressed in faded jeans and dark blue sweaters with small balls of fuzz on them. The minute they saw me, they stopped halfway down the stairs. They were twins, thirteen years old, with bright red hair.

“Mr. Callahan wanted to talk to you two,” their mother said to them.

“I’m guessing by the expressions on your faces you know who I am,” I said to them when they finally came down and stood beside their mother.

“Yes sir,” they said together; it was creepy as fuck.

“So can you explain to me why you thought it was a good idea to steal from me?” I asked, and the moment I did, their mother looked between them, fear now coating all of her body as she shook.

“Whatever they took, Mr. Callahan, I’ll repay! I swear to God I will repay it.” She sobbed.

“I’m sure you’d try to…but that doesn’t matter if they don’t understand the gravity of their choice. Besides, unless they have already spent my ten grand, I’m not sure why you would need to pay me back. You haven’t spent my money, have you?”

They swallowed one of them stepping forward. “We did.”

He was lying. I could tell he was lying from how shocked his brother looked to see him speak up.

“Bryan!” his mother yelled, sobbing harder as she smacked him on the shoulders. “What have you two done?! How can you be so dumb?!”

“Fedel, help Ms. Feidhelm into the kitchen.” She immediately dropped to her knees in front of me, grabbing my trousers.

“Please. Please don’t hurt them! They’re kids. Stupid fucking kids! I’ll punish them I swear. And we will repay you with interest! Mr. Callahan—”

I nodded to Fedel, and he took her away as she struggled in his arms, still begging and pleading as she disappeared around the corner of the hallway.

“You know it’s a sin to make your mother cry right?” Neither spoke. I stepped forward, and they both stepped back. “Lying to me is an even worse sin. You did not spend my money because I would know if a bunch of gingers were blowing ten grand on the East Side.”

“We didn’t do it on the East Side,” Bryan, apparently the smart mouth of the two argued. He was scared shitless but he couldn’t stop himself.

Grabbing him by the neck, I lifted him off his feet. “Little boy, you are working on my last goddamn nerve.”

“We didn’t spend it!” the other one, Robert, yelled as I let go of his brother.

“Shut up, Rob!”

“This was a dumb idea from the start!” he yelled back, then faced me. “We didn’t spend it. It’s all upstairs.”

“How did you know where and how to steal from me?”

“Uncle Flannery. We followed him.”

I glanced back to Flannery and the little bitch couldn’t look me in the eye.

“It isn’t his fault. We could have taken more, but didn’t want him to get in trouble. We just need to get out of the East Side before it’s too late.”

“Too late?”

Bryan finally spoke up again, rubbing his neck. “Our dad…our dad…he’s a fucktard! He hits Ma and he drinks all the money away or worse, makes bad bets. Some sharks came here sayin’ we gotta pay. Ma works three jobs already! How were we going to get ten grand? You don’t get it! You got more money than God! What’s a few thousand to you!”

“Whether it is ten cents, ten dollars, ten thousand dollars, or ten fucking million, it matters to me because it is MINE. It’s my hustle. My sweat. My blood. You think you’re the only kids on the East Side with a fucked up father? Why aren’t they stealing from me?”

“Because they don’t have the balls!” Bryan yelled.

Reaching over to the stairs, I pulled one of the legs off the rail, breaking the wood clean off.

“What the fuck man—”

“This is what your balls have gotten you,” I snapped, using it as a bat when I turned back to hit Flannery right across the jaw. He fell to the ground and yet I didn’t stop even as they screamed. Smashing the wooden post over his face and arms, blood sprayed up into my face each time it connected until the damn thing broke, splinters flying off and falling all over him. The end of the post was covered in his blood as I pointed it back at them, both of them standing in horror.

“Get my money or you’ll end up like Uncle Flannery.” They didn’t move. “NOW!”

They ran, tripping over themselves as they went back up the stairs. I watched them go before bending down next to Flannery, his face beaten so badly that if hadn’t been for his loud gasps for air, I would have thought he was dead.

“You were tailed by two kids. Those two kids stole from me. You tried to keep it quiet to protect them. If I hadn’t found out, you would have covered it up. Those were your mistakes, Flannery. The only people you protect are me and my family. In return we protect you and yours, That is the deal. That is how we all live in fucking peace. That is how I don’t BEAT your no good fucking ass with a goddamn stairwell post!”

I heard them rush back down and they handed me a duffle bag.

“Fedel.”

In a flash he was back, their mother running toward them only to stop when she saw Flannery on her floor.

“Thanks for inviting us in, ma’am. You should warn your sons. Back in the old days, they used to cut off the hands of thieves.” Fedel held the door open and my car was already waiting for me.

Without another word, I got into the back, pulling off my bloodstained tie and suit jacket.

“Find the sharks, pay off their debt.” I sighed, leaning back into the leather of the seat. “Then find their father and let him know he owes me ten grand. If he hurts his wife or sons again it will be an extra ten for each of them…and make sure he gets the message clearly.”

“Of course, sir.”

Before I could get comfortable, my phone rang.

“Callahan,” I answered, not recognizing the number on the caller ID.

“Mr. Callahan. This is Principal Lounsbrough, at—”

“What’s going on? Are my kids all right?” I interrupted, sitting up and tapping on my driver’s shoulder.

“There was a shooting.”

NINE

“Here once the embattled farmers stood,

And fired the shot heard round the world.”

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

LIAM

By the time we got to the school, it was absolute chaos. Ambulances, police, reporters, sobbing parents swarmed around the gates of the Pennington Academy. The car didn’t even get a chance to stop before I rushed out the door. Pushing my way past the other parents around me, I made my way up to the yellow police tape where three officers were standing guard.

“Oh my God!” A middle-aged woman screamed no more than a foot from my ears. Following her eyes, I watched as tiny body after tiny body was hastily pushed into ambulances, blood coating their small jackets, their hands…but that sight was better than the ones who were covered up.

Nine.

Nine dead.

Looking away, I moved up to the gates toward a fresh-faced officer who stood head up, chin out, solemn, and serious. The moment his brown eyes met mine, he put his hands out as if he could really stop me with only a pair of hands. “Sir, you need to stand back until—”

“Move.” My voice was low but hard, ready to add to the death count if need be. Every second I was out there was a second I was away from my children. My heart pounded painfully against my chest just at the thought of it.

“Sir, until—”

“Let him through.” It was none other than Chief Defective Beau Brooks, aka Melody’s favorite police dog.

“But sir?” The baby officer faced him, forcing a glare from the dog. No other words were needed for him to step aside.

Waiting for no one, I moved through the side door with Brooks two steps behind me. The first thing I noticed when I stepped into the hall lined with deep blue short lockers was the lunchboxes, dozens of them all across the tile floor. Sandwiches all smashed from tiny footprints, a half-eaten apple tucked into the corner… All the doors to the classrooms were closed, and the glass panels that allowed you to look in were covered with some sort of gray sheet.