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I squinted at the bundle in her arms. “He’s small, ain’t he?”
“Niall was premature,” she rasped, and her eyes were huge in her face. “The stress… Callum…”
As I stared at her, pity filled me. Her husband had nearly killed my wife, but she was innocent in all this.
Niall too.
I shoved the door back and said, “Come in.”
She peered around the entrance then whispered, “I-I just needed… I just needed to talk. I don’t need to come in.”
“Yeah, you do. You look like you’re going to drop.” I beckoned her forward. “Sit down before you fall down, Priestley.”
Niall cried harder and, grimacing, I murmured, “Is he okay?”
“He’s hungry,” she whispered forlornly.
“Don’t you want to feed him?”
She pressed a hand to her forehead and started weeping.
Right there in the doorway.
I shepherded her forward, hustling her toward the sofa and carefully taking Niall because she looked like she was about to drop him.
That she didn’t notice I picked him up told me a lot about her state of mind. In a similar situation, Aoife would have battled me for Jake.
“Do you have a bottle?” I asked grimly. “I’m an expert at feeding babies now.”
She sniffled and reached into the soft diaper bag she’d brought with her. When she shoved the bottle at me, I took it then slumped down in the armchair beside the sofa.
Niall’s face made a prune look smooth, but I smiled down at him, laughing when his big blue eyes peered up at me in shock.
“I know, little man, I stink.”
Of stuff he shouldn’t really be smelling: cigars, whiskey, beer, vodka, tequila. My clothes were probably flammable now.
“You’re good with kids,” Priestley commented, wiping her hand over her cheeks as she looked at me.
“Had plenty of practice,” I replied as I started feeding Niall. “What’s going on, Priestley? Why are you here?”
“C-Conor won’t see me.”
“You visited him?”
She nodded. “I did. Well, I tried to. I wanted… Callum wanted him to be Niall’s godfather, but… he wouldn’t let me up.”
“How do you know he was in?”
An exasperated growl escaped her. “Why will no one answer me? Why will no one help? Why is everyone stonewalling me? Callum worked for Conor. He worked for one of the O’Donnellys.
“When a man goes missing, there’s an investigation. When someone from an O’Donnelly’s crew goes missing, the entire city is overhauled!
“Knowing Callum and Conor were tight was one of the only things that used to help me sleep at night. There was security there. But Conor isn’t doing anything to find him. What kind of friend is he?
“Callum’s father is friends with Aidan Sr. himself as well! But I haven’t heard a word from Callum in months!” She leaped to her feet and snatched Niall from my arms. “He has a son. A wife.A family.Why aren’t you telling me where he is? You have to know!”
I stared up at her and rasped, “You should be talking to Mark about this. I’m sure he’s been running his own investigation into—”
