Fatal Series 01 - Fatal Affair

Lowell, Massachusetts. I was so proud of you up there today. You’ve grown into one hell of a man.”
    “Thank you. That means a lot coming from you.”
    A knock on the door ended the moment between the two men.

Chapter 37
    “I’ll get it,” Nick said. He strolled to the door, opened it and gasped at the face that greeted him. John’s face. Rendered speechless, Nick could only stare at the young man. He had a wild, unfocused look to him that put Nick on alert.
    “I’m Thomas O’Connor. I understand that my, um, grandfather is here?”
    Recovering, Nick said, “Yes. Please. Come in.”
    As he ushered the young man into the room, Nick experienced the same prickle of fear on the back of his neck that he’d felt once before—the day he walked into John’s apartment and found him dead. Sam, he noticed, had stood up and was watching Thomas’s every move as he approached Graham.
    “Who are you?” Thomas asked Nick.
    Surprised that Thomas didn’t seem to recognize him or Sam, he said, “I’m Nick Cappuano, your father’s chief of staff, and this is my girlfriend, Sam.” Nick met Sam’s steady gaze with one of his own, using his eyes to implore her to go along with him. Until they knew what Thomas wanted with Graham, he didn’t need to know she was a cop.
    “You’ve taken me by surprise,” Graham finally said as he sized up the grandson he hadn’t seen since the day he was born twenty years earlier.
    “I imagine I have.”
    “I thought we might see you and your mother at your father’s funeral,” Graham said.
    “She got tied up in Chicago and couldn’t make it,” Thomas said.
    Sam and Nick exchanged glances, and he knew she was picking up the same uneasy vibe.
    Thomas turned to them. “You two can take off. I came to see my grandfather.”
    “That’s all right,” Nick said, the tingle on his neck intensifying by the minute. “We’ve got nowhere to be.”
    Thomas pulled a gun from the inside pocket of his winter coat. Pointing it at Sam and Nick, he said, “Then take a seat and shut up.” He gestured to the sofa.
    “Thomas,” Nick said, taking a step toward him, “you don’t want to do this. What difference will it make now?”
    The younger man stared at him, his eyes even more wild and unfocused than they were when he first arrived. “Are you serious? What difference will it make? My grandfather ruined my mother’s life. He shipped her off like unwanted garbage to protect his political image.”
    Sam rested her hand on Nick’s arm to pull him back. Nodding her head, she signaled for him to take a seat with her on the sofa.
    Once they were seated, Thomas turned back to Graham. “All you cared about was yourself.”
    “That’s not true. I cared about your father, and you, too. I sent money. For years. I made sure you had everything you needed.”
    “Everything except my father and my family! You took everything from us. We got him for one lousy weekend a month, and you know what he was doing the rest of the time? Fucking his way through Washington with one stupid bitch after another.”
    Watching Thomas gesture erratically with the gun, Nick’s heart slowed to a crawl.
    Sam poked his leg to get his attention.
    He watched as she raised her pant leg and removed the small clutch piece she had strapped to her calf.
    She pressed it into his hand and drew her primary weapon from the shoulder harness she had worn for the funeral, keeping the gun hidden in her suit coat in case Thomas turned to them. Mouthing the word “wait” she used her finger to indicate that he should go right while she went left.
    Nick nodded to let her know he understood.
    “You know what he told me a couple of weeks ago when I introduced him to my girlfriend? He advised me later that I shouldn’t get ‘tied down’ to one woman. That a man needs to ‘mix it up,’ that ‘variety is the spice of life.’ It was a real touching father-son moment, and it was the first time it ever occurred to me that he’d been unfaithful to my mother. She’d waited her whole life for him. Ever since you banished her, she’s done nothing but wait for him and settle for whatever scraps he tossed our way. And then he comes and tells us he’s running for re-election! He actually expected us to be happy about his big news. He’d promised us one term. One term for you, his beloved father. Then it would be our turn. He lied about everything . Everything!”
    “He loved you.”
    “No, he loved you! You were the only one