The Bloomsday Dead by Adrian McKinty Read Free Book Online

That’s what our taxpayers’ money goes on.”
    “Since when did you ever pay taxes?” he asked.
    “Sales tax.”
    “Ok, so what’s this I hear about you wanting to fly to Dublin?”
    “I talked to Bridget. Her daughter’s gone missing and she wants my help to find her. She’s willing to wipe the slate clean.”
    Dan smiled.
    “It’s a trap, don’t you see that?” he said without inflection.
    “Does she have a daughter?” I asked.
    “She does.”
    “Is it Darkey’s kid?”
    “It is,” he said flatly.
    “How come I never knew about this?”
    Dan looked embarrassed.
    “Why would you need to know? Bridget never took the stand, even as a witness, so it never came out in court. Furthermore, it was information we did not wish to share with you because we didn’t think it was important,” Dan said. It was an answer filled with weasel words.
    “You didn’t want me to know she was pregnant when I killed her fiancé and rolled up her fiancé’s gang; you thought it might throw me a bit, didn’t you?”
    “It wasn’t relevant, Michael, it still isn’t,” Dan insisted.
    “It’s relevant. While I was waiting for you, I called up the police in Belfast. Bridget did indeed file a missing persons report three days ago.”
    “That doesn’t mean anything. It could still be a setup. The kid could be in the room with her right now,” Dan said.
    “I know.”
    “Michael, come on, we’ll go to Midtown, get you in a nice hotel, maybe the Plaza. Take it easy for a few days and then we’ll send you somewhere new.”
    “Dan, that’s precisely it. I’m tired of this. Tired of running. Tired of moving to new cities. I want to check this out, if there’s any possibility that this could be real I want to investigate.”
    “Big mistake,” Dan said, shaking his head.
    “I don’t think so.”
    Dan sighed. “Let me remind you who we’re talking about here,” he said. “After you helped put the rest of Darkey’s crew behind bars, Bridget was off the scene for a while. She wasn’t a natural successor to Darkey White. There were at least two other candidates Duffy could have put in charge of Upper Manhattan and Riverdale. He wasn’t a sentimentalist. He didn’t owe her a goddamn thing. Bridget made her own way to the top. Murdered her way up. She started with next to nothing. Not even Darkey’s name, remember. She got a few loyal men, she took out the opposition without a second—”
    I didn’t want to hear this right now.
    “I read the papers,” I interrupted.
    “James Hanratty, shot on the way back from his sister’s wedding. Pat Kavanagh, shot in front of his wife and two kids. Miles Nagobaleen, pushed in front of a subway train. This isn’t the girl you used to know, Michael. She’s ruthless. When Duffy died someone ordered the murder of Duffy’s brother the very same night, so he was out of the picture too. We suspect she’s ordered at least three hits in the last year, not counting the ones on you. I mean, come on, Michael. Why do you think the Boston mob stays out of New York? They’re scared of her. And they’re right to be.”
    “She’s a killer,” I said, trying to sound blasé.
    “No, Michael, more than that. She’s the general behind the killers.”
    “She’s also a mother,” I said.
    Dan took a sip of my beer, put the bottle back on the table, shook his head. His eyes were sad, he knew he wasn’t going to convince me.
    “We can’t look after you outside United States jurisdiction,” he said.
    “Dan, I’m not that bad at looking after myself, as you well know.”
    “Michael, if you go to Ireland, there’s nothing I can do to protect you.”
    “I realize that.”
    “If we lose you, it’ll be a black eye for the whole program, a huge setback. It’ll discourage other potential informants. It won’t be good for anyone.”
    “Least of all me.”
    “Least of all you, exactly.”
    Dan looked at me for a long time. He leaned back with a big exaggerated sigh.
    “But