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I don’t know why, but my stomach suddenly sinks. I have this overwhelming feeling that whatever Nolen is about to reveal is going to change everything forever.
He sits tall, meeting my eyes, and I see it. He knows what happened to my ma. “Yer da—”
But his confession will never be heard because in its place is a thunderous bang.
I reach for my gun in the small of my back and spin around frantically, locked and loaded on whoever just shot Nolen dead. Who I see in the dim lighting leaves me shook.
“Uncle Sean?” I exclaim, shocked but also ragin’. He just shot the answers I’ve been searching for, for sixteen years, right between the eyes.
With a flop, Nolen’s neck droops backward, and I hear a drip…drip…drip of blood onto the cold ground.
“Why d’ya do that?” I bellow, furious at him. “Do ya realize what y’ve done?”
“Aye, cub, I’m savin’ yer life,” he counters, lowering his gun.
I, however, can’t do the same. My gun is aimed at him as I attempt to process what’s just happened.
“He was no threat!” I shout, shaking my head. “He had information I needed.”
“And ya believe him?” Uncle Sean reprimands, walking into the room. “I taught ya better than this. A desperate man will say anythin’ to live. Ye know this!”
“How’d ya know?” I yell, waving my gun in emphasis.
Uncle Sean isn’t scared that he currently has a firearm pointed at him. He continues walking toward me.
“Because Nolen Ryan is a liar. That’s the reason he’s here. That’s the reason you were supposed to kill him. But ye were gonna let him go.” His disappointment in the decision I made is evident.
“It’s not like that,” I reply, but when looking at the situation in black and white, that’s exactly what it is.
“Naw? Ya weren’t gonna let him go then?”
Silence.
Uncle Sean stands in front of me and grips my wrist, placing the muzzle against his chest. “Ya wanna kill me? Yer own flesh and blood? Go on then.”
My grip on the gun falters and my arm grows slack. “Course not.”
Uncle Sean sighs and lets me go, and I replace the gun at the small of my back. “Ach, I knew ya weren’t ready for this. Yer dad is so fucking stubborn! That’s why I’m here, just in case.”
I shouldn’t be angry with Uncle Sean because he’s right. A desperate man will say anything to save his own arse. But I can’t forget the look in Nolen’s eyes. He was telling the truth.
“Yer not ready.”
“Don’t tell me what I am.” I’m affronted he thinks so little of me. “I had it under control.”
“From where I was standin’, it certainly didn’t look that way. He’d tell ya what ya wanted to hear and ye’d let him go, only for him to see yer clemency as a weakness. The Kellys can’t be weak, cub. If this got out…ya know what it would mean for us?”
Nodding firmly, I accept him reprimanding me because as always, he only has my best interests at heart.
“Good, lad. I’m sorry yer angry with me, but I’d rather ya be mad at me than dead, which is what would happen if yer da found out ya let a traitor go free.”
“He said he knew Ma,” I confess, her voice long gone from the violence which took her life.
Uncle Sean’s face turns nostalgic. “Everyone knew her, Punky,” he shares, which is news to me. “She was an angel.”
“Then why does no one talk about her? It’s like she never existed. But she did, Uncle Sean. She was my ma, yer sister-in-law. I’m sick of the lies and the secrecy. I want to know what happened to her.”
“Ack, lad, let it go,” he says, shaking his head.
