Dressed and pulling my hair into a messy bun, I grabbed the black heels I had left for my dress and followed her out the door. She was already on the phone, most likely with the office, which would undoubtedly be full of press.
“O’Phelan, let Liam know I’ll be out until dinner,” I stated when the door opened. He bowed slightly.
“Of course, ma’am.”
“Good morning, boss.” Murphy held the door for me.
“It’s hardly a good anything,” I muttered to myself when Mina slid in beside me. Pulling out her tablet, she handed it to me. All over the news, just like the day before, were police, the media, and weeping parents.
“I’m getting updates as we go, however, just like yesterday, they used some bullets from a Norma?”
I nodded. “It’s a 6.5 Norma but it’s being fired from a Truvelo sniper rifle; whoever is shooting is a long-range professional. It is lightweight depending on the barrel length of course. It is compact enough to lug around and the accuracy is 1 MOA at—”
I stopped when I realized she had no idea what I was talking about, even though I hadn’t even gotten into the actual details of the thing yet.
“Funny, you don’t ramble about anything else but guns.”
“I wasn’t rambling, you just didn’t know what I was talking about,” I replied, leaning back into my seat. When I looked out, I noticed we weren’t heading toward the office.
“Murphy—”
“Yes, ma’am—boss.”
“Where are we going?”
“The hospital,” Mina answered for him.
I fucking hated hospitals.
“I thought we were not going to see the victims—”
“We aren’t,” she stated, not looking up as she texted quickly. “We are going to see the families who survived. Just do what you always do: smile, pretend to cry and care.”
I glared at her. “You know you grow increasingly more bossy with each passing day. I don’t like it.”
She paused, looking up from her phone. I didn’t see fear; instead, she smiled. “I’m just looking out for you. We are family after all.”
She and Cora both did this, pretending we were close enough to be…to be…friends? But I didn’t have friends. They were necessary because they kept Declan and Neal happy, which in turn made Liam happy. His family was happy; everybody was just shitting unicorns and rainbows of happiness while I sat in the corner trying not to lose my mind.
“Smile—no, don’t smile,” She spoke quickly when the car came to a stop at the hospital and, sure enough, the press were there. “Be solemn and don’t get off topic. Just say we are sorry for the loss of more innocent lives. The police are on it…blah blah blah…right now you want to pay respect to the families. Got it?”
Again I glared.
“Got it, boss?” she asked again, her voice going down an octave.
Nodding, she tapped on the window and Murphy opened the door. Stepping out, I heard the same questions I’d heard the day before.
“Governor Callahan, do you have any comments?”
“Governor, do you have a moment!”
“Did you not run on a platform of safer streets?”
“What do you have to say to the parents?”
“Are there any leads on the Sandbox Sniper?”
You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. Had they already given this fucker a name?