Brennan wasn’t the only victim in that situation. Michael Oliver had also died, and Emmit had been shot. It still seemed illogical to me. Carlton and Hanson Oil and Gas had the most to gain by preventing Brennan’s ascension to the court, and therefore had the motive to kill him. But the rest of the violence was meant to hurt those companies. Could there be killers on both sides? It seemed very, very unlikely.
But in the court of Gallagher, I had already milked it for all it was worth. Based on my last conversation with him, I think it had accomplished a lot. But he seemed intent on convincing himself without any more help from me, and I could only hope that he’d do so quickly.
But that was just a hope, and I couldn’t begin to rely on it. So Brayton would go on the back burner while we found Bryan.
It was while I was walking through the station that I saw the report on the television. There was another explosion near the site of the property in Brayton. It happened in the parking lot, adjacent to where the residents had set up their protest camp.
One person was believed killed, but either the identity of the victim was unknown or they weren’t yet ready to report it. Another person, identified as Tommy Rhodes, was shot in the head and died at the scene. The Mayor, Edward Holland, was again pleading for outside intervention, and railing against those who were not providing it.
The way things were going, I figured that by the time I got back to focusing on Brayton, they would have all killed each other.
We have strong reason to believe you are in a bomb shelter in northwest New Jersey. We have a massive manhunt going on to check every single shelter in three counties. Barone has mobilized a huge number of state police officers, and every one is looking for you.
This is in addition to the Gallagher news I told you about. I’m openly telling you all this because I’m hoping he’s reading the e-mails. Gallagher, if you are, please contact me as soon as possible.
We’re coming, Brother.
“I have no easy way to tell you this, Jules.”
Julie Somers braced herself for what was going to come next. It was going to be bad; Lou Rodriguez was not prone to the dramatic.
“Tell me,” she said into the phone, but not really wanting him to.
“Gallagher is dead.”
The news hit her in the chest, and pushed her back against the wall. “How?”
“Someone blew up his car in a parking lot in Brayton … where the protesters are camping out.”
“You’re sure it was him?” she asked, knowing the question was a stupid one.
“I’m sure. I’m sorry, Jules.”
“Any idea who did it?”
“No, I was watching him while someone must have rigged the car. If it helps, he had gone to Carlton’s house, and was in there about twenty minutes. Based on the yelling I heard, it wasn’t a fun visit for Carlton. I looked in the window when Gallagher left, and Carlton was holding his arm at a weird angle and still moaning to some other guy who had been there.
“I left to follow Gallagher, and he went to the place he died from there.”
“What was he doing there, do you know?” She was trying to get as much information as she could for Lucas; he might have a view of the big picture in a way that whatever Lou saw could be helpful. She doubted it, but had nothing else to hold on to.
“Just walking around, looking at some of the drilling equipment, checking out the dirt, or something. I couldn’t tell, really. He spent some time talking to a woman there, the one who was on TV. Then he went to his car and that was it. The explosion took out a bunch of cars around him.”
Julie pumped Lou for additional information, but he didn’t have anything more of value to offer, and in fact wasn’t yet aware that Rhodes was also murdered nearby. And the truth was, she doubted that what he did say could help Bryan in any way.
Gallagher’s only value to her was his knowledge of where Bryan was. At the moment, she couldn’t care less if he had solved the Brennan murder, or the violence in Brayton, or the Lindbergh kidnapping. He was the only one who had known where Bryan was, and that knowledge had died with him.
And now she had to tell Luke.
We had two chances to find Bryan, and then suddenly we had one.
What Julie had to tell me was even more devastating than that simple math makes it appear, because Gallagher represented by far the greater of the two opportunities. What we were doing in searching for shelters was a long shot at best.
Weird as it may sound, hearing about Gallagher’s death made me realize for the first time that Bryan might die as well. Of course I had known that intellectually for quite a while, but I was so wrapped up in the “hunt” that I kept the truth about Bryan’s situation tucked in the back of my mind.
Now it was front and center, and it made me so scared that I felt nauseous.
“How bad is it?” Julie asked.
I wasn’t going to lie to her. “It’s very bad,” I said. “And it’s my fault.”
“How is that?”
“I should have started this search days ago. Instead I focused too much on Brayton, and on convincing Gallagher to let Bryan go. I thought that was our only real shot, so that’s where I spent my time.”
“It was the logical thing to do,” she said.
“No, the logical thing when you have a kidnapping is to look for the victim. I was too intent on convincing Gallagher, and not spooking him.”
“Are you going to tell Bryan?”
“I don’t know,” I said, because I didn’t. “I’ve been getting his hopes up, because mine were up, and because I don’t want him taking those pills. I’m afraid if I tell him what happened he might panic and take them. What do you think?”
“I think we need to keep him alive until we can’t keep him alive any longer,” she said. “Hold off on telling him.”
“OK. For now.”
“You want to hear the rest of what Lou said, about Gallagher going to see Carlton, and then going to the site of the drilling?”
“Will it help us for me to hear it?” I asked.
“Probably not, but you never know.”
She told me the rest of it, and I filed it away to use after Bryan’s rescue.
“I’m coming out there,” she said. “I want to help search.”
“OK. I don’t blame you.”
I told her where I was staying, and that I’d book a room for her. Unfortunately, I only would need to book it for one night, because that’s all we had left.
The media was not yet reporting that Chris Gallagher was the person killed in the blast. Based on what Julie had said, it was unlikely that the body had been ID’d yet or, for that matter, even recovered remotely intact.
If there was enough left of the car they could probably trace it to Gallagher in that way, especially if it was owned or rented by him. If it was borrowed, it would take that much longer. Trying to recover and test DNA would take longer still.
I couldn’t stop myself from wondering what the hell Gallagher was doing at Carlton’s house, or the disputed land after that. But that was for another day.
Soon Julie would be here, and together we would find Bryan.
Or we wouldn’t, and then nothing would ever be the same.
Lucas … it’s great that you seem so optimistic. I trust that you’re telling me the truth.
This afternoon there was no news on, so I watched a movie. It was called The King’s Speech; I doubt that you saw it because it had no explosions or nudity. It was a true story about a relationship between two men, a Royal Prince and the therapist who helped him cure his lifelong stammer.
The Prince had a brother, who became King and then left the throne for a woman, making the stammering Prince the new King. Though they were brothers, they had no relationship at all, or at least not one worth having.