Floe de Lir

Chapter 4

"He's been found, Kelly."

"No," Kelly had said, looking closer into Steve's eyes, "no."

That was the last time Kelly had spoken, until sitting at that sidewalk café.

"It is him," said Valerie. "His dental records match. If there was the tiniest possibility that it wasn't Brandon, I'd be out hunting for him right now, but Cindy and Jim know their son, Kelly."

"Then how do you explain the pocket watch?" Kelly had fired back. "Jim said he had never seen that pocket watch in his life."

"Could've been a gift from a colleague," said Val. "Jim doesn't know everything."

"Why would Brandon's colleague give him a pocket watch with an inscription that he should use it for his sister?" Kelly had asked.

"Why would Jim and Cindy not know their own son?" asked Valerie. "Are you trying to mess with me, Kel? Are you trying to give me false hope? Do you hate me that much?" Valerie had abruptly stood. "Fuck this. I'm outta here."

"Where are you going to go?" Steve had asked.

"I'm going to see what Donal knows," said Val.

"I'm going to check the footage again," said Kelly. "It isn't Brandon. It isn't."

"And where are you going?" Steve had asked as Dylan had also stood.

"To buy a wetsuit," Dylan had said. "You coming, or what?"

Steve had chosen to come along, needing the distraction himself.

"What were you and Papa Walsh talking about last night?" Steve had asked.

"The twins," said Dylan, though it was clear he was hiding something. "What else?"

"You seemed to be yelling at each other."

"That's what Jim and I do."

"Is that all?"

"Drop it, Steve. Just drop it."

Dylan had appeared defeated enough to the point that Steve had temporarily given up on the subject of Jim Walsh.

But not on investigating what had happened between Dylan and Brenda to bring them to the distant place they had stood before Brenda had disappeared.

"I asked Mags why she can't stand you," Steve had said.

"And?" asked Dylan. "What'd she say?"

"'The one time Brenda tried calling that wanker after he left, she stained her carpet.' Any idea what Mags is talking about?"

"None."

"Bren didn't try to call you at any point?"

"Sanders, I think I would know if Bren tried to call me." Dylan had sifted through rack after rack. "When was the date of this alleged phone call?"

"I didn't ask." Steve had helped Dylan browse. "Do you think there's any truth to what Kel's saying?"

"People don't come back from the dead, Sanders."

"Jack did."

"Yeah, well, my father was never dead, was he?" Dylan had bitterly asked. "Brandon isn't pulling a fast one on us the way Jack did. The only thing I can do for Brandon now is to find his sister."

"Bren could also be -"

"Don't." Dylan's hand had balled into a fist and rested atop a hanger. "Don't say it."

"What makes you so sure she was kidnapped?"

"Because she's still alive," said Dylan. "I can feel it."