Chapter 2 - THE GIRL WHO KNEW WHAT WAS IN THE ICE
Cormack Brennan had survived assassination attempts before.
A car bomb in South Boston.
A sniper outside a courthouse.
A poisoned business partnership that ended with three men in prison.
But nobody had ever tried to kill him with a sixty-dollar whiskey in his own private club.
And nobody had ever stopped it by slamming his hand against a bar.
He watched Dela Marsh carefully.
She was twenty-seven.
Small.
Thin.
Her dark hair was tied back in a loose knot.
A pale scar crossed the side of her neck.
And her left leg moved stiffly when she walked.
She looked like someone life had tried to break.
And failed.
Cormack sat across from her.
“Tell me what you know.”
Dela looked at him.
“Why should I?”
“Because someone tried to kill me.”
“And that's my problem?”
He almost smiled.
“You made it your problem when you stopped the drink.”
She looked away.
He waited.
Finally, she spoke.
“Three years ago, I worked in a warehouse laboratory.”
Cormack leaned forward.
“Doing what?”
“Quality control. Chemical storage. Sample testing.”
“For whom?”
Dela hesitated.
Then whispered, “Harborpoint Industrial.”
Cormack's expression changed.
He knew the name.
Harborpoint had burned down three years earlier.
Two employees died.
One disappeared.
The newspapers called it an industrial accident.
Cormack had never believed that.
“Who hired you?”
Dela looked at him.
“My father.”
Cormack went still.
“Your father worked there?”
She nodded.
“He was the operations manager.”
“Name?”
Her lips trembled.
“Daniel.”
Cormack stared.
“Daniel what?”
Dela closed her eyes.
Then whispered the name she had spent three years trying to forget.
“Daniel Varela.”
Cormack's face changed.
He stood so abruptly his chair scraped across the floor.
Dela flinched.
Cormack stared at her.
“Daniel Varela was your father?”
She nodded.
For a long moment, he said nothing.
Then he whispered, “Jesus Christ.”
May you like
Because Daniel Varela had once saved Cormack Brennan's life.
And Cormack had spent three years believing Daniel's entire family was dead.
