And Then She Was Gone

Chapter 1

Chapter One

How was it possible that Brady had woken up one day and become part of something bigger, something that still didn’t seem real?

It was his nineteenth birthday today, and he wasn’t sure what to expect as he walked down the street with his hands shoved in his lightweight black down winter jacket. He took in the familiar sidewalk, one he’d walked a hundred times, and the heavy clouds in the darkening sky. The unusual cold predicted an early snow any day.

As he arrived at Marcus’s two-storey craftsman, he looked across the street to Ryan’s. The two brothers lived in a neighborhood where all the homes were similar. Welcoming light drifted out the living room window. He took a second to look around at the vehicles of his family, reminding himself they weren’t strangers. Harold’s new KIA, Tessa’s older Buick, the sheriff’s car his brother drove, and Charlotte’s Subaru were all in the driveway.

He breathed out fog. It was cold tonight.

“Hey, birthday boy. What are you doing standing out there? Get your ass in here.”

Brady hadn’t expected Luke back yet, and although his older-model pickup was nowhere to be seen, there he was, standing in the open door, wearing blue jeans and a faded T-shirt. It seemed he’d packed on even more muscle. He held a beer, sporting the beginnings of a beard, and his shoulder-length hair was hanging loose. So he was letting it grow back out.

“I didn’t know you were back,” Brady said. And where had he been? No one else asked, but he always did.

“Just got here,” Luke said. “You didn’t think I’d miss your birthday, did you? Kind of expected you to still be at my mom’s place, but you were gone. You walk over?”

Brady stepped up onto the porch, hearing laughter and voices inside. His ears were stinging from the cold. “I stopped for a haircut,” he said, though he wished he hadn’t. He only ever went to Iris’s place to change these days, and he couldn’t remember the last time he’d even slept there.

“Short and neat for your birthday, or is it a girl you’re trying to impress?” Luke said. “Get in here before you let all the heat out.” He ran his hand roughly over Brady’s head.

As Brady stepped inside the warm house, he thought of the girl whose smile had him taking a second and third glance in the mirror to check how he looked and how he dressed. “It was time for a cut, you know—but I probably should’ve asked where not to go.”

Luke leaned on the railing, his expression puzzled, eyebrows knit. Amused? He wasn’t so sure, but he knew Luke was ready to listen, as always.

“Brady, it’s about time you got here,” Ryan called out with a smile from the kitchen, the place everyone gathered.

Brady pulled off his coat. Luke was still watching him with that heavy, patient gaze. He knew Luke had many depths to him.

“So where, pray tell, did you go, and what happened? Give me the scoop.” Luke tossed his coat behind him on a chair as Brady kicked off his sneakers, which had seen better days.

“That place across from the diner, at the edge of downtown.”

“Not Clarissa’s?”

The way his brother said it had him hesitating a second. “Blond, heavyset, cakes the makeup on?”

“That’s her, the very same. Let me guess: She pumped you for all the dirt on my mom…”

There it was again, that uncomfortable feeling he’d had the moment he figured out she knew who he was and was getting too familiar with him.

“How’d you know that?” Brady said. “Yeah, she knew who I was and asked about every one of you, then gave me a blow by blow of your entire lives from her perspective, even though I didn’t ask.”

Then there was the moment the conversation had shifted to Raymond, when she’d said how sorry she was to hear he was dead, and he’d wanted her to hurry the hell up so he could get his ass out of that chair and leave the salon before he said something he knew he couldn’t.

“That’s why she gets her hair done the county over when she’s here,” Luke said. “But you look good—almost too pretty.” Luke rubbed his hair again roughly, playfully, the way he did too many times, and then had them walking into the kitchen.

Marcus was holding Cameron, who had just started walking. His first birthday was only a month away, around the corner, another big celebration, he was sure. He had dark hair and the O’Connell blue eyes Brady didn’t. He wondered if he’d ever feel the close bond that seemed to exist naturally between his other siblings.

“About time you got here, kid. Was about to send out a search party for you,” Owen said as he walked over with an open beer and slipped it to him.

Brady stared at it for a second, not missing the twitch of Owen’s lips, and he didn’t hesitate any further before lifting it to his lips and taking a swallow. “Thanks,” he said.

Ryan gave him a smile, and Suzanne rolled her eyes, whereas Marcus angled his head and just shook it. He wondered for a moment whether Marcus would take the beer from him.

“Just FYI, kid, this is a one-time pass,” Marcus said, sounding much like his dad. “I’ll pretend I’m not seeing it, but one beer only, understand?” He gave a pointed look to Owen.

Alison was keeping to the background, her hair hiked high in a ponytail, her eyes coated with smoky shadow. The auburn shirt she wore was cut low in a V. He only nodded before he had to pull his gaze away. The tension still lingered. He wondered if it always would.

“I see you got a haircut, cleaned yourself up,” Ryan said, Jenny leaning against him. “Since dinner isn’t ready, we should give you your birthday present early…” His eyes flickered with the sort of teasing his brothers seemed ready and willing to dish out more and more to him as of late.

He heard the back door and spotted Harold, his blond hair in the same cop cut he always wore. The barbecue was smoking out back, and he was wearing only a navy sweater.

“The barbecue is ready. You want me to throw the burgers on?” Harold said, then walked over to him. “Hey, kid, happy birthday. I see we’re now encouraging underage drinking.”

He knew Harold was teasing, and Suzanne only shook her head from where she was dumping a premade salad into a bowl. She wore a baseball shirt that accentuated her tall, lanky frame.

“He’s nineteen, everyone,” she said. “He’s legal to drink somewhere. And remember when you were sixteen, Marcus and Ryan, what happened to Mom’s bottle of vodka?”

There was silence for a second as Marcus slid his gaze to Suzanne. Another layer was being peeled back, another secret. He figured Marcus and Ryan had a bunch of exploits they’d never share.

Suzanne crumpled up the salad bag and tossed it into the recycling bin under the sink. “By the way, Karen texted. She and Jack are coming tonight. Maybe we should hold off on the birthday gifts until they get here?”

Marcus handed a fussing Cameron, who was rubbing his eyes, off to Charlotte. “No, this gift is just from the brothers,” he said. “You and Karen can add your gift when she gets here. Come on, Brady.”

Marcus had his hand on his shoulder and was steering him into the living room, directing him to Charlotte’s rocking chair by the window, and everyone seemed to follow them. Charlotte had gone upstairs, carrying Cameron, whom he could hear crying now, and Eva and Alison had gone with her.

“You got me a gift?” Brady said.

Marcus rested his hands on the back of the sofa and looked over to him, whereas Luke took the easy chair, and Owen sat on the sofa across from him and rested a foot on the coffee table, dressed in the same blue jeans he’d worn at the job site and his usual five o’clock shadow, because shaving was something he did only every few days.

“Yes. Let’s start with the fact that words matter,” Marcus said. “You’re nineteen, which puts you squarely in that age category I remember well, where you operate from hot emotion and say the first thing that comes to mind. Your mouth is and will be an issue and can land you in a ton of hot water, so learn to dial it back, way back, so you don’t have to wish you could go back and say nothing instead. Think first before you say anything. That will save you from landing in a world of trouble with the kind of words that can’t be taken back.”

Brady just stared at him before looking over to Jenny and Ryan. The way she looked down on him, he wondered whether he had done or said something he shouldn’t have. At the same time, he was still looking for the gift. Had they hidden it? He leaned forward and looked around Luke.

“Okay, fine,” he said. “Watch what I say. Got it—but I’m pretty thoughtful, I think…” He lifted the beer and took another swallow, still not believing that Marcus was looking the other way and letting him drink.

“Be a damn good brother,” Ryan cut in, gesturing toward him before crossing his arms.

Brady just blinked, wondering what this was. “Okay…check. I didn’t think I was a terrible brother. Is there something specific you’re getting at in a brotherly way that I’ve missed? Is this the buildup to the gift?”

Across from him, Owen was giving him everything with that heavy gaze. Tessa sat on the arm of the sofa beside him, her blond hair pulled up in soft, wavy curls that couldn’t be tamed. “Your gift is advice from your brothers,” Owen said, “so listen up. We’re a family. Being the youngest, you didn’t grow up with us, so you don’t know how things work. You’re getting a crash course since you’ve been with us for only almost a year. Family comes first. If you get a call that your brother has found himself arrested and is in jail, you bail him out, no questions asked. Right, Ryan and Marcus?”

Brady realized he was serious. “What! Wait, one of you got arrested?” he said.

Ryan lifted his beer and shook his head, but the expression on his face said everything. “Yeah, at seventeen. Good thing Mom isn’t here. We never told her about it.”

He wondered if his eyes bugged out.

Marcus was still leaning on the back of the sofa, shaking his head. Brady was seeing his brother, the sheriff, through completely different eyes these days. Maybe he was human after all. Meanwhile, from the way Suzanne stared, he was pretty sure this was the first she was hearing of the arrest, as well.

“You’re serious!” she said. “Holy s**t, I never had any idea. Does Karen know?”

Marcus shook his head and let out a rude noise. “No one was supposed to know about it. Remember to take it to your grave. Pretty sure those were your words, Owen.”

“Hey, you’re the one who had the brilliant idea of setting Brady straight on how we work as a family,” Owen said. “At least I haven’t shared all your secrets.”

Marcus grimaced as he stood up and then pulled a hand over his face. “I sold the ’72 Chevy I was rebuilding—I loved that car—to bail your ass out,” he said, gesturing to Ryan.

Suzanne was still staring in horror, while Harold seemed amused. Luke and Owen were shaking their heads. It seemed Brady had no idea of the escapades that went on in this family, among his siblings, whom he was still getting to know.

“Yeah, but the only reason I landed in jail was because of you,” Ryan said. “I was just the one who got caught holding the spray cans.”

“Only because I’m faster,” Marcus said. “I could never figure out why the charges suddenly went away. Guess now we know.”

“Dad,” Ryan said.

“Never got the bail money back, though.”

Harold let out a laugh and shook his head as if this wasn’t the first time he’d heard something along these lines. Brady wondered at times whether Harold understood the siblings better than he ever would.

“Dad did say he was watching,” Suzanne said. “Do you suppose he made sure the charges were dropped and your bail money disappeared to teach you a lesson?”

He spotted headlights outside. Karen, maybe. He missed her, considering she and Jack were now in Missoula, which meant she could no longer stick her nose in every part of his business. He never thought he’d miss that.

“Maybe,” Marcus said. “It’s likely, since Dad seemed to know the details of what we were doing.”

“And what, exactly, were you doing?” Suzanne asked. “You never really answered us, Marcus, when Dad brought it up last year, saying he’d been watching. He mentioned a string of robberies.”

Marcus shifted his stance. Brady could see he was uncomfortable in the spotlight. Something seemed to pass between him and Ryan. They really did seem like partners in crime.

“Dad was right: I was a little s**t,” Marcus said. “But now I’m not. End of story. Let’s move on, because this is about Brady.”

“He broke into several stores,” Owen cut in. “One was to steal the spray paint, and you lifted some parts for the Chevy, stole some camping gear…what else was it?”

Brady looked over to Ryan and then Marcus, who just cleared his throat. Jenny smacked Ryan’s chest, but her amused expression said this was no surprise to her.

“And you knew?” Suzanne said.

Owen made a face and shrugged. “Who do you think helped Marcus get the money for his car and went with him to the cop shop to get Ryan out? You forget how I had to keep an eye on all of you.”

“Okay, we’re getting off track here,” Marcus said. “The point is, Brady, you get yourself in a jam, you call. You don’t try to figure it out yourself. We all are your first call, and that makes you ours. If we call you for help in any way, it’s no questions asked. You just show up.”

Brady wasn’t sure what to make of that. On the sofa, Tessa shook her head, and Owen lifted his gaze to her, resting his hand on her thigh.

“Fine, got it,” Brady said. “So if I get myself arrested, I’ll call you, but seriously, I’m not planning on it.”

“That’s good,” Owen said. “Keep your nose clean, stay out of trouble—”

“And be a damn hard worker,” Luke jumped in, cutting Owen off.

“When you believe in something, you stand up for it,” Owen said. “You do right by your family, and you know who your family is. We have your back, and it goes both ways. You don’t go off half-c****d alone, like Luke,” he added, looking over to him.

Luke seemed to be quite comfortable, but he never really knew what his brother was thinking. Maybe he needed to take their advice and check in with Luke, who hadn’t let on how he was since splitting with Rosemary. He really did hide what he was thinking.

“Hey,” Luke said, gesturing with his beer and taking them all in. “We all need time alone sometimes, but know I’m one call away and always have been. No questions asked, ever. You know that, all of you. Lost count of the jams and scrapes I’ve found myself in, cleaning up after you all.”

“If you’re hurting, scared, screwed up, or confused about anything, you come here, to us,” Marcus said. “You get stuck in your head at times, Brady, and you wear your heart on your sleeve. That’s good sometimes, but others it isn’t.”

“And you always do your best,” Owen said. “There’s no shame in doing average hard work, the kind you’re doing. You’ve got a trade under your belt now, and you’re set. You finish the job, no complaints.”

Brady was working for his brother now in his plumbing business, apprenticing, because he hadn’t come up with a better option. That day almost a year ago, before Iris and his dad had left again, Owen had simply pulled up in his plumbing van and said, “Get in!”

“You never gave me a choice,” Brady said. “I finished high school and thought of taking a few courses at college, but when I couldn’t get in, you said I had to do something instead of sitting around, so you made me carry your tools and watch over your shoulder, crawl into holes, get dirty every day… Have I complained yet?”

Owen didn’t seem impressed. His older brother didn’t say much but seemed to always have his eye on him, telling him where to go, which job site to be at, and what to do. He wondered when he should start looking for something else, but what? He had no experience and had never worked before, because his dad had always moved him to some new city or state before he could get too comfortable.

“Well, you just make sure you don’t start complaining,” Owen said. “Anyway, when it comes to family, we stand beside each other, all of us, no questions asked until after.”

He heard a car door outside.

Marcus went over to the window and glanced out. “Karen and Jack are here,” he said before striding back over to the sofa and resting his hands on his hips, dragging his gaze over to Brady. “So I’ll leave you with this, young man: I stand up for what I believe in because it matters to me. I screwed up a lot. I had a head full of steam, and, as Owen has pointed out too many times, I was hell on wheels. But I was proud of that when I was your age. I still cringe, thinking back on what I did and what I said, but I cleaned up my act and got my s**t together after a lot of years. Even though I’m proud of being, as people say, just an average guy, I’m always there for my family first. I’m a damn good brother, husband, father. If you get in trouble, I’m your first call, because I’m there, standing beside you no matter what. All of us are.” He walked around the sofa and rested his hand on his shoulder. “You may not have the same last name as us, Brady, but you are an O’Connell, so don’t forget that.”

He heard the door open, then his sister’s voice.

Marcus was still staring down at him. “So why don’t you tell us about this girl you’ve been seeing?” he said.

Brady wondered for a second whether he was being followed. “What?”

“That’s another thing about us,” Marcus said. “We know everything that’s going on, and we’re in everyone’s business. You think we don’t know about that cute waitress you make eyes at every day at the diner? You stop in almost every day for lunch and take her out, and you think word wouldn’t come back to us? Yet we haven’t met her, so I figured it was time to sit you down so you understand how things work here.”

What the hell was he supposed to say? This was his family, and they obviously knew about Cassie, but there was something appealing about keeping his love life separate from the O’Connells. He realized they were all staring at him, waiting for him to say something as he fought the urge to squirm under their scrutiny.

“I see you’re having some trouble, Brady, so let me help you out,” Marcus said. “Are you messing around with her, or is it serious?”

There were times brother Marcus became sheriff Marcus, and he felt the cop staring down on him now.

“Can I plead the fifth?” he said, squeezing his beer.

Marcus took a step back and shook his head. “Nope. So let’s say you bring her around tomorrow night so we can meet her.”

He wondered what would happen if he said no. No one said a word, and Marcus didn’t move.

“Fine,” was all he said.

Marcus stepped back and gestured to Luke, who reached behind his chair and slid a wrapped box over to him, saying, “Your other gift, young man. Happy birthday.”

As he reached for the box, all he could think was that he’d been pulled into the most unusual family. He glanced up to Alison, who was following Charlotte and Eva down the stairs. There she was, the reason he hadn’t brought Cassie around and was still dancing in the shadows with her.

Awkwardness still lingered with Alison, but maybe Marcus was right. It was time to move on.