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“Who, Dad?” Daley’s voice trembles only slightly.
He looks at her slowly. “Shane.”
Daley sinks back into her chair and takes a long drink. She looks numb and bloodless. “Shane and Queenie.”
“Q and S,” I say quietly.
“Like I said, I don’t know how it started. I wasn’t watching him as closely as I should have back then. Him and Queenie began sneaking around together under our noses, fucking around, falling in love, and by the time I found out it was much too late. Shane said he’d never stop seeing her, even though I tried, believe me. I tried my best.”
He stands abruptly, drink in hand, and walks to one of the shelves. He takes down a picture frame with a photograph of Callum and Nolan with their arms around each other, pops off the back, and slips out another picture. He passes it over to Daley, and I lean over to look at it.
A boy stands with a girl. She’s beautiful, like Fergal said. Dark hair, bright eyes, a huge smile. Shane’s hugging her against him, a big, strapping young man, handsome like his brothers but with more intense features. Daley stares at it and blinks back tears as she hands it over to Fergal.
He puts it away and returns to his seat.
“How long has that been there?”
“Since he left,” Fergal says with a shrug. “I found it in his room and didn’t have the heart to get rid of it.”
“What do you mean, since he left?” I ask, not looking at Daley.
Fergal takes a deep breath and lets it out. “Queenie’s father found out about their relationship, and I suppose Don Campi wasn’t as progressive as I am. He beat his daughter bloody, really fucked her up, and locked her away in their house. Shane lost his mind. He was panicking, freaking out. I tried to calm him down, but he wouldn’t listen. I promised him this would be for the best, but there was no reasoning. Like I said, the boy was in love. So one night, he broke into the Campi house, killed one of their guards, and brought Queenie back here, into this office.”
He looks up at the ceiling and sighs. “I still remember that night. Queenie was so small and scared. Shane had blood all over him from killing that Italian guy. We all knew there was no future for them. I wanted to kill Shane. I wanted to strangle him so badly. How could he be so stupid? He murdered a made man and stole away the don’s daughter. The Italians would never stop looking for him. They’d kill them both in retribution. I told Shane as much, told him to return the girl and be done with the madness, but do you know what he said?” He smiles and looks at Daley. “He said he was going to marry her with or without my help.”
“What did you do?” Daley asks quietly.
“I helped. I’m soft like that, I suppose. We got them documents, new identities. It took less than a day to get them set up. We brought in a priest. They did a ceremony, signed their fake names, and I told Shane he could never show his face here ever again. He was no longer Shane Halloran. Shane Halloran was dead. He could never contact me, never contact the family, never speak to anyone in the clan. Shane died that night. He chose to kill himself to start over with Queenie. They moved north of the city and settled in Doylestown, not all that far from here.”
Daley stands up abruptly. My heart’s racing. I can barely believe this mad story. Daley paces back and forth until she finally whirls on her father. “He’s still alive.”
“As far as I know, yes.”
“My brother is still alive.” Her voice trembles with sorrow and fury. “When Shane died, it was like losing myself. I was broken for so long after that, but he wasn’t really dead.”
“You don’t understand. We had to kill him and make it real. Queenie disappeared, allegedly kidnapped by one of the biker gangs, and Shane died while trying to protect her. That lie finally got Don Campi to negotiate with me for peace, and that alliance has lasted all these years. Shane got his wife and his family, and we got our peace. All he had to do was die and stay away.”
“Family?” Daley chokes out the word.
“Children, last I heard. I check in on him once in a while.”
“Children.” Daley’s pulling at her hair. “What does this have to do with Megan?”
“This part I’m not sure about.” Her father looks uneasy and glances at me. “I’m sorry you’re only hearing it now. But about a week before Megan died, I spoke with Shane. He told me one of the clan girls found out about him and Queenie. Apparently, they ran into each other at the King of Prussia mall, if you can believe it, and she followed him around before approaching. She took his picture and started blackmailing him. Shane told all this to me in a frenzy. He was so angry and terrified that his family was in danger. I told him not to do anything stupid, to keep giving the girl what she wanted, and we’d figure it out together. His secret would hold. His family would be safe. But a little while later, the accident happened, and I knew.”
