raised the hand with the knife and gripped the blade between two fingers. He drew his arm back, ready to launch the blade at Devon and Michael crouched beneath the table, fear coming off them in waves.
He was brutal. He was an animal. He had to save his family.
With one sharp twist, Kieran broke the neck of the man threatening his family.
THE SEA BREEZE PLAYED with the ends of Kieran’s dark hair, shoved behind his ears. He’d removed his bloody shirt. His shoulder and upper arm sported fresh, white bandages, courtesy of the EMTs.
One ambulance and one coroner’s van waited to take away the two dead bodies in Columbella House, and another ambulance was awaiting Elena’s body from the cave.
Chief Evans scratched his chin. “So your son’s the one who witnessed the murder?”
Devon glanced at Michael and shook her head at the chief. Was the man a complete idiot?
“Yeah, I saw that old man kill Granny Del.” Michael kicked his toe against the crumbling step of the porch.
“I wish you would’ve told me, sweet pea.” Devon brushed a finger along Michael’s smooth cheek.
He hunched his shoulders. “I was scared.”
“It’s all over now.”
“Is Dr. Elena coming back?”
Kieran gave a quick shake of his head, but Devon didn’t need his advice on this one. “Dr. Elena is sad that her friend wasn’t really a friend, so she went on a vacation.”
Apparently, Michael hadn’t witnessed Elena’s murder in the cave. He didn’t need to deal with the death of another person in his life right now.
“Sure you don’t need to go to the hospital?” The EMT put the finishing touches on Kieran’s bandage.
“Nope, but I want you to check out my son. They shot him up with something to knock him out.”
“It was a big needle, Daddy, but I didn’t cry.” Michael held out his two index fingers about six inches apart.
“You’re one tough hombre.” Kieran picked up Michael and deposited him on the edge of the ambulance. “But it’s okay to cry. It’s okay to admit you’re scared.”
The EMT shined a flashlight in Michael’s eyes, and Kieran stepped away from the ambulance, pulling Devon with him.
“Chief Evans, did you say Detective Marquette was on his way?”
“Yeah. When he called to let us know the true identity of Sam, he told me he was taking a helicopter. That was over two hours ago, so he should be here anytime now. After you called me, I gave him an update.”
Devon folded her arms. “If you had taken me seriously to begin with, maybe my son could’ve been spared further trauma.”
“I don’t think so, Devon. By the time you got here, Sammy Pelicano had already drugged your little boy and dragged Dr. Estrada into that sea cave.”
Devon glanced at Kieran. “So who was that other man, the one who murdered Mrs. Del Vecchio?”
“Not sure yet.” The chief lifted a shoulder. “But Marquette dug up some evidence that Sammy Pelicano was keeping company with one of Johnny Del’s old cellmates.”
“We figured something like that.” Kieran winced as he rolled his shoulder. “You know, the old guy kept insisting to Pelicano that he didn’t take a shot at Devon in Columbella House.”
Evans snorted. “Why would he admit it? Men like that are so accustomed to lying, it’s like second nature.”
Devon wrinkled her brow. “He had a point in there, Kieran. Why shoot me if it was Michael they wanted?”
“Tell me something.” The chief chewed on the toothpick shoved into the corner of his mouth. “Why did Pelicano keep Michael alive? If their plan was to get rid of the witness, why didn’t they?”
Devon gasped and grabbed Kieran’s arm. “The money. Do you believe he ever had the money?”
“What money?” Evans’s gaze darted between her and Kieran.
“He must have. He told Elena about it, didn’t he?”
“Looks like I missed all the excitement.” Detective Marquette strode toward them, his shirtsleeves rolled up and sweat dotting his brow.
“You’re just in time.” Devon jumped from the porch and walked toward the side of the house. “We think Granny Del may have given some of her husband’s stash to Michael.”
“What?” He and Chief Evans spoke in unison.
Devon continued her march to the side of Columbella House and the balcony over the sea. “That’s why they kept Michael alive, thank God. They wanted him to take them to the money, to make sure he had it.”
“Where would a kid keep hundreds of thousands of dollars?”
“In a Thomas the Tank Engine backpack, where else?”
The four of them made their way onto the balcony where Devon had spent her first moments with Kieran. Where Michael had left his prized backpack.
Her heart skipped two beats when she spotted the colorful pack in the corner of the balcony next to the basket of shells he’d examined on that day an eternity ago. It certainly didn’t look like it could contain hundreds of thousands of dollars.
She pounced on the pack and unzipped it with unsteady hands. She peered inside and fell back on her heels. “Oh, my God.”
The three men crowded in beside her and Kieran reached into the pack. He drew out his hand and opened it. The small diamonds in his palm glittered and danced with fire in the setting sun.
“Why? Why would Granny Del give him these diamonds?”
“’Cuz she liked me.” The EMT released Michael’s hand and he skipped across the wooden slats of the deck. “She always gave me stuff.”
Devon pulled Michael into her arms and squeezed him so hard he squirmed. “How did I not know this was going on?”
Kieran dropped the diamonds back in the bag and dangled it in front of Detective Marquette, who snatched it out of his hands. He and Chief Evans, heads together, made their way back to the front of the house.
Kieran dropped to the deck and sat cross-legged beside her and Michael, wrapping his arms around both of them. “How were you supposed to know about a couple of handfuls of diamonds?”
“When did she give them to you, Michael?”
He hunched his shoulders and his lower lip quivered. “She was nice.”
“I know Granny Del was nice to you, but she had some bad friends.” She kissed the top of his head. “Were you afraid to tell me because you were in the dumbwaiter where you weren’t supposed to be?”
He nodded, and she bit her lip. Her fear caused words of anger to flood her mouth, but she swallowed them. He didn’t need a scolding right now… Maybe later, and maybe from his father this time.
“Did you like that hospital food?” She smoothed the tip of her finger along the curve of his ear.
Michael’s eyes widened. “Yeah. I liked the pudding.”
“Good, because we’re sending you back there just to be on the safe side.”
“And Daddy, too?” Michael tapped his finger against Kieran’s bandages.
Kieran stretched up to his full height and scooped up Michael from the wooden deck. “Sure, I’ll be there with you.”
“What happened to the bad guys?”
“The bad guys are gone, Michael. They won’t be around to scare you anymore.”
Michael curled one arm around Kieran’s neck. “You made them go away.”
“Yep.”
Devon scrambled to her feet and skimmed her hand along Kieran’s shoulders. “Daddy will always be there to protect you, Michael.”
Kieran leaned over and kissed her cheek. “I’ll always be there to protect both of you… If you’ll have me, scars and all.”
She returned the kiss to his chin. “I’ll take you just the way you are.”
And as she gazed into his dark eye, she still saw a hard man, a damaged man, a man with a quick temper and a steel edge…but still the man of her dreams.
