Declan dipped his head. “Sorry. It’s the only picture of me that existed outside of my control.”
“Okay,” Sinead said suspiciously. “Go on.”
“A little over a year ago, I had recently come back from an… assignment only to find out that my dear sister was getting married. I met the bastard one day before the wedding, and unfortunately didn’t have the sense to stop it then, even though I knew she was making a horrible mistake. Therefore, disturbed as I was by the shocking turn of events, I got flat on my ass drunk at the reception and let that picture happen. A full on face shot. I had no idea it existed, as I didn’t spend a lot of time perusing my sister’s wedding album.”
Mary brought the drinks over on a tray and Sinead reached for hers.
“How many times do I have to tell you—he was different back then,” Mary said defensively.
“Um, one million and it still won’t matter. The next man you marry is one hundred percent going to be vetted and approved by me.”
“Wait a minute, Mary,” Sinead interjected. “You mean a man charmed you, swept you off your feet and then it turned out it was all a lie? You’re right—what a scumbag you hooked up with.”
Mary turned back to her brother. “Okay, I really like her.” She took her drink and sat across from them in a large sprawling chair.
“Okay. Why can’t there be any pictures of you?” Sinead asked Declan.
“Let’s just say I have a unique job. And the way I’m able to execute certain… tasks is because no one can pick me up through facial recognition programs. Because no one knows what I, that being a person with a reputation in the world theater, look like.”
“You understand how ridiculous this all sounds.”
Declan shrugged.
Sinead got up and started pacing. Thinking about what she knew. Thinking about everything he’d told her.
“Who is Garrett Huntley, beyond being a scumbag?”
“He’s a lawyer,” Mary answered. “He works for his father’s very high end, very unlawful I’ve since learned, law firm which specializes in international law.”
“How would he even know that a picture of you was valuable? I mean, I assume you don’t go around announcing you’re a…”
“Contract operative,” Declan supplied.
“Yeah, that.”
“I told him,” Mary said quietly. “Garrett wasn’t allowed to know he was my brother. Declan didn’t want any known familial relationships. However, Dec was introduced as a dear friend at the wedding. When Garrett first asked about him I alluded to his career, but I told him about the no picture thing. Just an offhand remark. ‘Oh by the way, he doesn’t like to have his picture taken. Make sure you let the photographer know.’”
“Mary, stop,” Declan interjected. “How many times do I have to tell you this is not your fault?”
“A million,” she said quietly. “And I still wouldn’t believe you. As I told you, the night Garrett… attacked me I had to be taken to the hospital. I had several bones broken. His father came to see me the next day. He said Garrett was sorry, and I needed to come back and be a family with him again. He was willing to offer me a ‘settlement’ to make that happen.”
Sinead winced.
Mary nodded. “Right. That’s when I knew deep inside what kind of people they really were. I told him to shove his money. I told him that if Garrett ever came near me again… I told him… Lucifer would make him pay.”
“Lucifer?” Sinead asked.
Declan coughed. “It’s one of the names I’m known by… on the world theater.”
Sinead considered that. “It fits.”
“Thank you, love.”
“Anyway, I saw his face change,” Mary continued. “Like he knew what the name meant. He left, and Declan packed up my things and got me out of there, but then I remembered… the wedding album with the drive containing all the pictures in the box. I knew about the picture. I didn’t delete it because it was the only one of my husband and my brother, the two men I loved most in the world together. Smiling. I called Garrett from a burner phone and asked him to send the wedding album and box to a PO box in New York. Sentimentality, I told him. Nothing more. That’s when I think he knew.”
Declan swallowed his drink and stood, heading to the bar for a refill.
Sinead looked at the still-full glass in her hand and took a sip. It tasted expensive, which she figured was predictable.
Sinead put the final pieces together. “He puts together Lucifer with the wedding album and realizes he has an actual picture of you.”