Authors: Jennifer Fallon
Trása’s eyes narrowed. ‘The Undivided in this realm were betrayed?’
‘Aye,’ the little ninja-
Leipreachán
said. ‘It be a very bad time for all
Youkai
the day that happened.’
The parallels between the worlds were a coincidence, Trása told herself. This was nothing like her reality. Even less like the reality she had just come from. It was not unusual for
a magical reality to have Undivided — or in this reality the
Futagono Kizuna
— who aided sharing the magic with humans. And sometimes events seemed to occur in a similar fashion, no matter the realm. Rift runners from Trása’s reality were not the only Faerie to jump between realms. She had been to worlds where alternate realities traded with each other on a regular basis. Whole economies were built around the stone circles. She’d known other realities where the Undivided — or their equivalent — were betrayed. But she had never seen a reality where the Undivided had turned on their Faerie allies and set out to eliminate them once they’d found a way to wield magic without their help.
Toyoda sighed dramatically. ‘The wood sprites keep watch over the stone circles now, and we wait …’ He began to choke up again.
Trása reached over and patted his shoulder gently, hoping the comfort was enough to forestall his tears. She wasn’t sure she could handle too much more sobbing
Leipreachán.
‘But didn’t you say the
Konketsu
are part-
Youkai
themselves?’
Toyoda nodded. ‘They be very precious about the bloodlines, to keep the magic going, but they be in trouble. The lines be weakening. If the
Konketsu
had known ye mate was
Youkai
, Chishihero wouldn’t have tried to kill him, mistress, she’d have tried to steal his seed from him.’ He straightened his rather ridiculous black hood and added sorrowfully, ‘If the Ikushima be showing ye mate a good time while he be a guest in
Shin Bungo
, ye can bet they be after the same thing.’
‘He’s killed Hayley Boyle and probably his brother and our mystery girl, Trása, as well,’ Pete said. ‘He all but admitted it.’
‘Pity you’d turned the tape off by then,’ Brendá said. The inspector leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes, stifling a yawn. It was past midnight, but nobody was going to sleep this night. The whole world had turned upside down in the past day and people didn’t seem to know what to do with themselves, so they stayed at work where every office had a TV set on, with clusters of stunned people standing around them watching as the madness in America unfolded on CNN and left everyone wondering what would happen next.
‘God … what a day.’ She opened her eyes again and stared at Pete for a moment. ‘At least you’re not gloating about being right.’
The proof Pete needed was sitting in an open file on Brendá Duggan’s desk. It was the report comparing Ren Kavanaugh’s fingerprints to those taken from the young man claiming to come from another reality. They were different. Similar in many ways, but different enough that they could not be the same kid. Between Logan’s photos, Patrick Boyle’s confession, his own eyewitness testimony, Darragh’s admission that he was Ren’s twin and the fingerprint evidence, Pete no longer appeared insane. Now he just looked like a good detective.
The insanity honour firmly belonged to Ren’s twin brother, Darragh, with his insistence that he had come from another reality and that he’d sent Hayley back there to have her sight healed.
There was no sign of his accomplices — Trása and the woman who had cold-cocked Pete in the car who Darragh had identified as Sorcha — or his twin brother, Ren. Darragh kept insisting they had returned to the other reality with Hayley. Pete knew he was lying but hadn’t been able to figure out a way to make Darragh admit it.
‘What do you want me to do with him?’
‘I have no idea,’ the inspector said, shaking her head. ‘Nothing we can do tonight. But we can’t hold him for long unless we charge him with something.’
‘We can charge him with Hayley’s murder,’ Pete suggested. As far as he was concerned
I’ve sent her to another reality
was simply a euphemism for
I killed her
.
Unfortunately, euphemisms weren’t evidence.
‘Not going to be easy to prove that without a body.’
‘We can get him for stealing a car, can’t we? I mean, he pissed off with a patrol car from St Christopher’s.’ Pete smiled thinly and pointed to his two black eyes that had faded somewhat around the edges to an ugly shade of dark yellow. ‘I’d kind of like to add assaulting an officer to the charge list, while we’re at it.’
Brendá smiled. ‘I’m sure you would.’
‘Have you told Kiva Kavanaugh yet?’
‘I didn’t have to, thank God,’ Brendá said, shaking her head. ‘Eunice Ravenel had already broken the news before I got to speak with her. She’s at home, probably composing a press release, as we speak.’
‘What was her reaction to the news that her son has an identical twin she knew nothing about?’
‘Shock,’ Brendá said. ‘And vast relief. Although given what Eunice Ravenel’s firm charges for her services, that might have been for the legal bill she won’t have to pay, rather than the welcome news she’s not going to be arrested for harbouring a fugitive.’
‘Even though she was? And so was Patrick Boyle, for that matter. And Jack O’Righin, too, if you want to include everyone who helped them get away from the golf course.’
‘Technically, they weren’t doing anything wrong, as the lovely Ms Ravenel went to great pains to point out. Ren was the one on the run. His brother Darragh was not a fugitive at that point. We didn’t even know he existed until a couple of days ago, and he wasn’t involved in Ren’s earlier troubles, so he did nothing wrong. Much as it pains me to agree with a single word that comes out of that smug little bitch’s mouth, I fear Eunice has the right of it.’
Pete knew she was probably right too. Still, it didn’t seem fair that all of them could just walk away from this, scot-free. ‘Did Darragh say anything useful to Kiva?’
‘I gather not. He was trying to convince her he was Ren. He managed to do it too. She was clueless.’
That bothered Pete. Ren had grown up far from his brother. They should know barely anything about each other, and yet Darragh had known enough of Ren’s life to keep his mother fooled for nearly forty-eight hours. Kiva Kavanaugh was a self-centred woman, but surely she wasn’t so wrapped up in herself that she didn’t notice the difference between her son and the brother posing as him, if he was just winging it. ‘I’d like to talk to Darragh again. There’s a few discrepancies in his story I want to clear up.’
Brendá smiled wearily. ‘Which one? The one about him coming from an alternate reality? Yes, by all means, let’s iron out that minor inconsistency.’
‘I mean how he managed to fool Kiva for as long as he did. And this woman, Sorcha,’ he said. ‘Boyle says he helped two of them get away from the golf course. He says she was at Jack O’Righin’s house. Darragh claims she went through the rift with Ren, Hayley and Trása.’
‘On balance, I’d be going with Patrick Boyle’s statement on the matter,’ the inspector said. ‘Unless, of course, you’re buying the alternate-reality thing?’
Brendá Duggan was joking. At least Pete hoped she was. ‘Yeah,’ Pete said with a thin smile. ‘That would be it.’
Brendá closed the file and handed it to Pete. ‘Talk to him then. If you think you need help, see if Annad Semaj is feeling well enough to have a go at him. Eunice Ravenel isn’t representing him any longer, but remember he’s still a minor. If you get anything useful out of him, I want to be able to use it in court.’
‘I have to ask you if you want a lawyer,’ Pete informed Darragh when they resumed their discussion some time later. Symes was gone and so was Eunice Ravenel. Although the shrink had wanted to stick around, Duggan had politely but firmly informed him his assistance was no longer required.
Darragh shook his head. ‘I believe my brother had instructions never to say a word to the police without a lawyer present. I do not share his fear. You strike me as an honourable man.’
Pete smiled at that. ‘Honourable?’
Darragh pointed to the recording equipment. ‘You are recording this, yes? And you have rules you must follow. Why should I fear you?’
‘So for the benefit of the recording — you’re formally declining legal representation, yes? Even though you’re under eighteen?’
‘I am, and I’m not under eighteen. My brother and I will be nineteen on October fifth. Your October fifth. The date is quite different in my realm.’
Damn
, Pete thought.
Just when he was starting to sound sane.
‘My file lists Ren Kavanaugh’s birth date as December tenth, nineteen-eighty-three.’
‘Then your file is wrong, sir.’
‘What else am I wrong about?’ Pete asked, fascinated by this young man’s calm assurance. He wasn’t lying, Pete could tell that just by watching him, but his story was insane. He was like those alien abductees who could pass a lie detector test, convinced they’d been kidnapped and anally probed by little green men. Whatever stories this kid was peddling, they might not be the truth, but he believed them. It was going to be next to impossible to get the truth from Darragh unless someone could rattle his cage enough to prove, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that his version of events was bullshit.
Darragh smiled at Pete’s question. ‘What else are you wrong about, sir? By
Danú
, I don’t even know where to begin.’
‘How about you start with where Sorcha is?’
‘She returned through the rift.’
That’s a lie
, Pete knew. The first actual lie he’d caught Darragh in.
‘According to Patrick Boyle, she was in the trunk of the Bentley with you.’
Darragh’s eyes clouded for a moment, which intrigued Pete. For the first time, he appeared to have shaken the young man’s equanimity. ‘Patrick Boyle? Is that how you found me? Patrick betrayed us?’
‘You said
us
,’ Pete answered. ‘So Sorcha
was
with you?’
He wasn’t listening. Darragh muttered something under his breath, shaking his head, and then looked at Pete, his eyes filled with regret and self-recrimination. ‘You would think, given how heinously my brother and I were betrayed in our own realm, I would have listened to Sorcha when she warned me Amergin would betray me in this realm, too.’
Pete stared at Darragh for a moment, resisting the temptation to simply respond with ‘
huh
?’ Instead, he thought over what the boy had said, trying to find the truth in it. Darragh wasn’t lying, he was living a fantasy, but there would be a kernel of truth in it somewhere that Pete had to find if he was ever going to locate Hayley Boyle’s body.
‘Who is Amergin?’ The only Amergin Pete knew of was the mythical ancient poet that every kid in Ireland had probably heard of. He was disappointed. Darragh’s story was going to be far too easy to unravel if that was the best he could come up with.
‘The Vate of All Eire in my realm,’ Darragh told him. ‘At least he was. He has been replaced now by Colmán.’ Darragh rolled his eyes, adding, ‘A less-talented bard it would be hard to find in any reality, I have to say.’
‘Amergin … in your realm, was also a bard?’ Pete said, deciding to play along for the time being.
The lad didn’t miss a beat. He nodded in agreement. ‘It is a popular name among parents who hope their sons will achieve greatness.’
‘And how did this Amergin betray you?’
‘He was the one who threw Rónán into this realm.’
Neat
, Pete thought.
He’s really thought about this
. ‘And Rónán is Ren’s true name, you say?’
He nodded. ‘I’m not sure where the Ren comes from. Perhaps he recalls what our mother called him. She was Gaulish and called him Renan, I believe, more often than not.’
‘What did she call you?’
Darragh closed his eyes for a moment and then looked at Pete with a rather forlorn expression. ‘Do you know, I cannot recall. That is so sad. Every year, a little more of Sybille’s memory slips away. Soon I won’t remember her at all.’
His regret was so heartfelt and genuine, Pete had to remind himself this kid was talking about a world that existed only in
his head, and that he had, more than likely, been responsible for killing two people — one of them his own brother. It also occurred to Pete that Darragh had rather skilfully taken charge of the whole discussion. They were talking about his alternate reality as if it really existed.
Time to take back the control. ‘So how is it you blame Patrick Boyle for Amergin’s betrayal?’
‘I don’t blame Amergin,’ Darragh said. ‘Patrick Boyle is Amergin’s
eileféin.
He was probably always destined to betray us, no matter the reality he occupies, which I should have accepted instead of hoping Amergin’s betrayal was just an aberration brought about by his connection to the
Tuatha Dé Danann
through his
Leanan Sídhe
wife and the corrupting influence of Marcroy Tarth.’
Pete sat back in his seat, shaking his head. ‘The
Tuatha Dé Danann
? Are you fucking kidding me? Your alternate reality is populated by fairies?’
Darragh seemed puzzled by his reaction. ‘I have angered you, Pete. Why? I am trying to explain what happened to Rónán and Hayley. Surely her family wants to know what has happened to her? It would ease their minds greatly, I would think, to know that she is well and undoubtedly able to see again, by now.’ He stared at Pete with a look of such ingenuous expectation, it was hard to believe this was all in his head — a grand delusion he’d created to save himself from … what? A lifetime of abuse? A guilty conscience he couldn’t live with? Pete was inclined to believe the latter.
‘Yeah, “she’s safe with the faeries’ll do it”,’ Pete said, rising to his feet as he glanced at his watch. ‘Interview suspended at twelve forty-three a.m.’
Darragh looked up at him in surprise? ‘Are we done?’
‘We’re done,’ Pete told him. ‘At least you are.’