Irish Throwdown (What Happens In Vegas Book 4) by Matt Lincoln (short books for teens .TXT) 📕

larger town about fifteen minutes away, so the drive seemed to stretch on forever.

“Thank you,” I said softly when we finally pulled into the parking lot of the hospital.

“Of course,” Felton replied. “And don’t forget to come back any time you’d like. You’re always welcome.”

Somehow, his words just didn’t seem sincere. I couldn’t dwell on it, though. We needed to check on Callahan and speak with Seamus. Maybe he’d know something about why Felton and the police chief had suddenly begun to act so strangely.

I stepped out of the car and watched Felton pull away and drive back onto the main road. The feeling that we were on the outside of a critical secret lingered, and I couldn’t shake the paranoia I felt as we stepped into the hospital.

22

Charlie

“He’s stable, finally,” Seamus informed us as we took a seat in a small waiting room near Callahan’s hospital room. “It was difficult to tell for a while there. He lost a lot of blood, after all. Those monsters riddled him with bullet holes, but good old Callahan pulled through. I always knew he would. There’s no way he’d die and leave me alone. Who would be around to tell me off then?”

He was smiling, but his hands were shaking, and there was a tremor in his voice.

“You care about him a lot, huh?” I asked.

“Course I do,” Seamus beamed. “He’s been my partner since he was a wee rookie, all bright-eyed and eager to please. To think he’s gotten so cynical now. He wasn’t always like that, though.”

“Oh, no?” I asked.

“Not at all,” Seamus laughed. “Don’t tell him I told you this, now, but there was one time when he locked himself into his own patrol car.”

“How did he do that?” Junior chuckled.

“Well, you know how the new ones lock automatically?” Seamus started. “Well, in Ireland, they do, at least. Anyway, Callahan was still a student when he first joined the Garda. He used to carry his books and stuff around in the backseat. One day, he parked the car at the little cafe and reached back there to get something, but I guess it had rolled onto the floor. He crawled inside to get it, and the door closed behind him. And, of course, he’d left the keys sitting in the ignition! So poor little Callahan was stuck back there yelling for help for a few hours. The other customers had to call the Garda to come and get him out.”

“Poor guy,” I laughed. It would be pretty embarrassing for any rookie cop to trap themselves in the back of their own car.

“He used to be a lot more cheerful,” Seamus hummed. “But, then the job got to him. It’s normal, of course. We see a lot of awful stuff, especially in the northern end of Dublin, where we’re stationed. I just wish he’d learn to take a break now and then.”

“You remind me of my mentor, Harry,” I admitted. “He says that kind of stuff to me all the time. He was the one who encouraged me to become a cop, too. We were never partners, but he was on my back enough that we might as well have been.”

“Is that right?” Seamus chuckled. “Well, you can’t blame us old guys for wanting to look out for the younger generation. Paying it forward, and all that.”

“I am glad he’s okay,” I reiterated. “But we had something else we wanted to discuss with you, too.”

“Oh?” Seamus prompted.

“It’s about the Tinahely Fire Chief,” I continued. “I found some documents in the castle that might have been important. I asked the firefighters to bring them to the police station, but they never made it. The chief claimed they were lost and made some cryptic comments about the walls having ears and warning us not to ask questions. Do you know what that could have been about?”

“No,” Seamus replied in shock. “I have no idea why he’d say something like that unless he was involved somehow. Is that the feeling you got from him?”

“No,” I replied honestly. “If anything, he seemed really nervous and scared, like he really believed someone was after him.”

“I see,” Seamus frowned. “I’ll look into it, then, as soon as I have some time. I want to stay here with Callahan for a while longer.”

“Of course,” I nodded.

We left just a few minutes after that. The sun was just beginning to set, and the sky was changed from blue to a rusty orange.

“Nelson arranged a rental car for us,” Junior informed me as he tucked his phone into his work bag. “I called to let him know about what happened with the fire chief. There’s a little rental place about half an hour from here. We can take a taxi there, but it’ll be better for us to have our own car for the rest of the time we’re here.”

“Okay,” I agreed as Junior called a taxi to take us over to the car rental place. We were still in a remote enough area that it took twenty minutes just for the driver to pick us up, so by the time we got to the city where the car rental place was, the sky was dark.

The car dropped us off in front of a small building. Behind it, I could see a large parking lot filled with a variety of vehicles, and I wondered vaguely what Nelson had rented for us.

“Good evening,” a short man with thick red hair greeted us as we entered the establishment. “How can I help you gents today?”

“We’re here to pick up a car,” Junior informed him. “Agent Chapman and Agent Hills. It would have been reserved by an Agent Nelson with MBLIS.”

“Ah, of course,” the man nodded. “Yes, you’re lucky we happened to have an automatic in the back. Most of the cars in Ireland use manual shift, you know.”

“Oh, I didn’t know that,” Junior remarked.

“Yes, indeed,” the man nodded. “Anyway, just sign here, and I’ll take you to her.”

I watched