Free The Focaccia Fatality by J. M. Griffin Page A

Aidan and I were ready to roll. Billy Badass swung the bike into traffic and motioned for us to follow him. We took Benefit Street, wove through a few side streets and shortly hit South Main Street. The motorcycle slowed and the dude pointed to the alley where Sean supposedly hid.
    I held my breath as Aidan pulled to the curb. With a backhanded wave, Billy Badass roared away on his Harley. We left the car, walked slowly toward the alley, and heard Seanmhair’s voice. Her fear lay in the sound of her words.
    “You get out of here, right now. I’ve no business with the likes of you,” Sean said in a worried tone.
    “Give me your bag, old lady, and you can go on your way.”
    “I’ll do no such thing,” she answered.
    The crash of metal and a sudden oomph brought me to a run. I yelled, “Sean, where are you?”
    Footsteps pounded the hard surface of the alley’s pavement, echoing off the brick walls. When I didn’t hear Sean, I groped around for her. Though the alley wasn’t completely dark because of the street lights, Sean lay in shadow. My fear mounted as I reached her. Aidan held his phone near Sean while the small light from the instrument showed she was alive and shaking.
    She grasped my arms and said, “I thought you’d never get here, Melina. Eddie said he’d find you for me.”
    “Sean, can you get up?” Aidan asked as he hovered awkwardly over us.
    “I can, I was just frightened.”
    “I’ll help you up,” I said and hauled the plump little woman to her feet.
    As she tried to stand, she yelped in pain, and I quickly put my arm around her. “She needs to go to the emergency room, Aidan. Help me get her to the car.”
    We’d set her in the front seat and I rode in the back as Aidan wended through traffic to the hospital. While I prepared to rush inside to get an orderly to help Seanmhair, Aidan spoke softly to her. Grateful for his ability to calm us both, I hurried indoors and returned with a young man in a white uniform, pushing a wheelchair.
    We’d gotten Sean out of the car and into the wheelchair without causing her much duress when Aidan said, “Sean’s either got a bad sprain or she broke something. I think she might be happier if you stay with her until she’s been seen by the doctor.”
    “I think you’re right. Are you coming in?” I asked him.
    Aidan assured me with a sweet smile and a nod. “After I park the car. I’ll be in the waiting area should you need me.”
    I left him to handle that and followed the orderly through the automatic doors. He’d gotten Seanmhair into a curtained cubicle and was assisting her onto a gurney while I watched. Adroit at his handling of the sick and elderly, the man knew his stuff, and I smiled in thanks when he said we’d be seen shortly.
    The wait seemed to take forever, but as triage is handled, Sean’s injury wasn’t life-threatening, just painful for her. I stood next to her as she lay waiting and asked softly, “What were you doing in that alley?”
    Her look was one of pleading. Clearly, Sean didn’t want me to be angry.
    “I’m not upset, I’m worried. Now, tell me what you were doing there.”
    “I was on my way home from a card game and remembered I’d forgotten to pick up a gift I’d ordered for you. When I parked near Miss Esposito’s shop, I saw two men walking up the street and into a pub. One of them was that Mr. Gallagher fellow. I followed and watched from the alley across the street. They sat in the window, so I got a good look at what was going on.”
    I sighed and asked, “What was going on?”
    “They were arguing. Mr. Gallagher seemed to be making a demand and the other man kept shaking his head ‘no’. What do you think it was about?”
    With a mental eye-roll, I whispered, “I don’t have the slightest idea. Don’t you think it would have been wiser to go about your business instead of putting yourself in a dangerous position?”
    A shiver shook her stout body as Sean nodded. “That man was a beggar. He