“Thanks, you two.”
Cormac shrugs. “It’s what real family does.”
“Although I do hate corpse duty,” Seamus grumbles.
39
FINN
The place still stinks like smoke. I suspect it always reeked like this under the surface. This wasn’t where they abused me—that was out in their vacation home and I plan on personally bulldozing the whole damn structure—but it’s still a kind of hell anyway.
I pick my way through the rubble. Some spots are still smoldering. The fire was put out a few days ago, but the department said it still isn’t safe in here. Fortunately, those sort of rules don’t quite apply to the Whelan clan, considering half the NYFD is on our payroll.
Caroline’s in a back room. It’s not her father’s office. I doubt she’ll ever go in there again after what happened a few days back. She’s kneeling over books and I have to lean over to see that they’re filled with photographs.
She’s looking at a page that’s clearly filled by beach vacation images. Young Caroline, probably eight years old at most, is grinning hugely in the sand. She’s got a black eye. Her brothers are in the background, indistinct figures.
“My mom took all these.” She flips the page. More photos of her. Dozens of them. Her brothers aren’t in a single one. “I thought it was weird, honestly. When I saw it the first time. I asked her, how come nobody else is in here? It’s just me and her. A few of Dad. But none of the boys. You know what she said?”
“Tell me.”
“She said, Caroline, one day you’ll want to remember there were some happy times too, and maybe this will help.” She smiles to herself.
“Was she right?”
“Fuck no.” She slams the book shut and throws it aside. “But it was a nice sentiment anyway.”
I help her to her feet and kiss her lightly. She leans against my shoulder in the wreckage of her family’s den. A flatscreen TV is partially melted. The wallpaper is cracked and peeling. The couch looks surprisingly untouched. I can imagine sitting on it and watching movies with Caroline late into the night.
“From what I’m told, you’re going to inherit this mess.” I nudge a blackened coffee table with my foot. “Although I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I don’t think this place is salvageable.”
“I’m already looking forward to the day when they rip it all down.”
“That’s my girl.”
She leans against my arm. “I don’t want anything else though.”
“Not even the money?”
“Blood money. Hard pass.”
“But it’s yours now. Your father had a lot put away over the years, and I have a feeling a very good lawyer could make sure you end up with all your siblings’ stuff too. You’ll be set for life.”
“Yeah, that’s true. I won’t ever have to work again.” She laughs to herself. “No more cleaning apartments.”
“Like you’d ever find an attractive rich man like me again.”
“Right, my next client won’t be such a perv.” She tilts her chin up and gets on her toes to kiss me softly. “I like it though. Just a heads-up.”
“I know you do.” We walk back through the house slowly, my arm around her shoulders. “Did you talk to Declan yet?”
“He called me this morning.” She doesn’t look at me as she says it. We wander through the kitchen and end up in the back. Her father’s blood still stains the concrete, but we ignore it and go out into the small garden.
“What do you think?”
She shrugs and runs her fingers through a perfectly manicured bush. Some ash still flecks its leaves. “I really don’t know what to say.” She glances at me. “It’d be a big change.”
“I know, but it’s your choice.”