“He could have gone back to do it,” Willow argued.
“With his brother fighting for his life in the hospital? Keiran can be a cold bastard, but he isn’t that unattached to human emotion.”
“So where was he for the week he was gone?”
“I don’t know, but something tells me he didn’t do it. It just doesn’t make sense.”
“It doesn’t matter. Keiran is responsible for their deaths whether or not he lit the match.”
“Well, what are you going to do? He can’t find out you turned him in.”
“He already knows,” I admitted slowly. To them, things just went from bad to worse.
“How could he know?”
“I told him.” I shrugged noncommittally when I was anything but. I was a wreck, but no one had to know that but me. My battle with Keiran was mine alone. He’d already shown he wasn’t above using the people I loved and cared about against me. This time I wouldn’t make it so easy for him.
“Why did you tell him?” Sheldon gritted. Willow looked as if she wanted to strangle me as she pinched the bridge of her nose.
“I don’t know. He called a few days ago. I got really upset and it just came out. I know it was a dumb move, but I needed to show him I wasn’t afraid anymore.”
“So you do and say the one thing that would put you in deeper shit with him than you already are?”
“I don’t know what you want me to say,” I snapped defensively. Sheldon released a curse and began pacing the tiled kitchen floor while shaking her head.
“Do you think he’s here for you?” Willow asked.
“I know he is,” I said, glancing back out the window, but this time, not catching sight of Keiran or Dash.
“How are you going to handle this?” Sheldon demanded. “I hope you have a plan of action because no way is Keiran letting this go. This is the second time Keiran landed in jail for what he thinks was your doing, only this time, it really is.”
“I don’t care. He murdered two people.”
“Let me know how explaining that to him will work out for you.”
“Where are the guys?’ Willow asked.
“I don’t know. They are awfully quiet.”
Too quiet. I peeked back out the window but didn’t see them.
“Maybe I can get Dash to talk to him. If Keiran knows you turned him in, then Dash knows, too.”
“Do you know why he was released?” Willow looked back and forth between the two of us.
“No clue,” Sheldon answered before looking to me for answers.
“Detective Daniels and Detective Wilson said it came from over their heads.”
“Well, my dad didn’t get involved this time and neither did John. In fact, John reacted very little to Keiran being arrested. He’s barely been to the hospital to see his son.” Sheldon’s voice choked over her tears on the last part. I could tell Keenan’s condition bothered her, especially on the wake of their breakup.
“Did they ever take a paternity test?”
“No. John said he didn’t want to.”
The day I turned Keiran in, and Sheldon called to tell me Keenan’s only lung was failing, I’d thought a paternity test had been given. I later found that much hadn’t been done to determine paternity at all. Keenan was able to sustain a patch to his lung to buy him more time, but he wasn’t out of the woods. I made a mental note to visit him when the coast was clear. Being shot and finding out your father wasn’t your father and your cousin was your brother, and then losing his girlfriend, who he loves, had to be taking a toll on him.
“Did anyone else get the impression Keiran wasn’t too surprised that they are brothers?” Willow asked.
Sheldon cocked her head to the side before nodding slowly. “Yeah, I got that, too. Do you think—”
The sound of the front door opening drowned out whatever Sheldon had been about to ask. I could hear heavy footsteps heading toward the kitchen, but the blood rushing to my head made it impossible to hear clearly.
Was it one or two sets of footsteps?