Caged by His Twisted Love novel · Chapter 12 of 24

Chapter 12: The Message

On Sunday the dining room at Orla's held twenty-two people and not one empty chair.

Kieran sat on my left, his hands flat on his knees.

He had not slept.

Ronan sat on my right, and Declan sat across from us with Lena at his side, wearing a high collar and a polite blank face.

The old captains filled the rest of the long table.

Orla stood at the head with her rosary in both hands.

"The driver," she said to Declan. "Where is he?"

"Gone, Aunt Orla," said Declan, sorry as a priest. "He left for Florida on Thursday. I'm afraid no one can find him."

A hum of disbelief went around the room.

"Convenient," said Ronan.

"It would be, if I had no other proof."

Declan took a phone from his jacket and laid it on the white tablecloth, between the potatoes and the gravy boat.

"I'd rather not do this," he said. "It will hurt someone at this table."

"But my cousin brought a young woman here to accuse me of murder, and I'll defend my name."

He touched the screen.

A voice came out of the little speaker, small and thin and shaking.

"It's me. He's coming. Like you said. Pier 9, eleven o'clock, he thinks it's about the shipments."

I knew that voice.

I would have known it anywhere.

"I did it," said the recording, breathless. "I sent the message."

"Now you wipe the sixty. You said you'd wipe it."

"You swear it, Declan. You swear it."

The line clicked off.

Nobody at the table moved.

I turned my head slowly.

Kieran had put both hands over his face.

Keep reading free with an account. Start Caged by His Twisted Love from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.