Chapter 2

Luciana Della Rocco glanced around the bar in surprise. At the mention of her brother's name, the bar had gone completely still. Finally, the bar tender said, "Come on over, miss. Let's g-get ye a dry towel. Fuck! Ass!" The swearing took her by surprise, but before she could speak a tall, handsome guy with an Irish brogue motioned her over.

"Don't mind him…Tourette's Syndrome. He can't help himself. What's yer name, then?"

"Luciana Della Rocco." She said as she peeled off her coat. She realized she was being closely scrutinized. Trying, to appear braver than she felt, she asked, "And you are?"

"Connor MacMannus, and this is me brother, Murphy. Did ye say ye was looking for Rocco?" Murphy leaned into his shoulder waiting for her answer.

"Yes, he's my brother. I haven't heard from him in months. As soon as, I could get the money together, I came in from Ohio to find him. In his letters, sometimes he would mention this bar. I looked for him at his apartment but there was another name on the door. I wasn't sure where else to go besides here."

"Ye say he sent ye letters…Do ye mind if I see one?"

Looking puzzled, she handed over a letter. It was in a messily scribbled hand, and the signature said Miss You, Sis…Love, David. The sharp intake of breath told her they recognized David's handwriting. She felt the penetrating gaze of both brothers like a tangible thing. Before anyone could speak, Doc came back with a towel for her, and looked questioningly at Conner. He and Murphy stood up and gestured towards a booth in the back. He said gently "Ye better come and sit down over here with us."

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Connor and Murphy exchanged a glance. The girl, Luciana, had been rocking back and forth in the booth with her hands covering her face. Occasionally she would mumble something unintelligible. Murphy slid out of the booth and nodded at Connor. Connor knew Murphy was counting on him to field this one. Murphy was a man of action, comforting sobbing women always seemed to fall to Connor. As Murphy headed over to the bar to confer with Doc, Connor slid into the booth next to her and put his arm over he shoulders.

"Shhh, it'll be alright, lass." Connor rubbed her back and whispered in her ear. After a few minutes her sobs slowed down and she sagged against Connor. "Miss, let's get ye out of this bar and into some dry clothes. Where are ye staying? Me brother and I will take you there and we can talk some more."

"I'm not staying anywhere. I mean, I don't have anywhere to go. I was going to stay with…" Tears welled up in her eyes as she tried to finish her sentence.

"Not to worry, we'll take good care of ye." "Hey, Murph, let's go! We're taking Luciana back to our apartment."

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Murphy gave Connor a searching look as they headed for the door. Connor just nodded and shrugged his shoulders. Clearly, this girl was in shock. She was no longer crying but she was also not saying a word. She seemed unaware of Connor leading her towards the door. Murphy grabbed the small backpack that Luciana had set beside the booth and headed after them.

Murphy watched as Connor took off his pea coat and covered Luciana's head with it to keep her out of the rain. As he followed them back to the apartment, he wondered how on earth they had never known about Roc's having a sister. At first, he had been skeptical that she was actually Roc's sister, but after seeing her reaction he had changed his mind. This girl was clearly devastated. But where had she come from? How much did she know about Roc's life and the kind of work he did? There were too many questions for Murphy's liking but clearly they weren't going to get any answers out of this poor girl until she had some time to process what she had just heard. He resigned himself to the fact that there probably wouldn't be much info until the morning.

Pulling out his lighter, he stepped under an eave to light a cigarette. This was turning into an eventful evening.

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Tramping down the darkened street in the pouring rain, Luciana started to come to her senses. She realized that these two must be the guys her brother had mentioned in his last letter.

Sis, I'm finally doing something positive with my life. After all these years, I'm doing good work with 2 friends. They are Irish brothers, if you can believe that. Me, hangin' out with 2 micks!

He never said what type of work they were doing, but the tone of the letter had been so much more upbeat than his previous ones. Not just upbeat, she thought, frenetic. Then the letters had stopped. At first, she assumed that his new "work" was keeping him busy but after 6 months, she realized something must be wrong. He had never gone more than 3 months without sending a letter and the modest check that came with it. Now, here she was, at 2 AM, walking home with two strangers who could hopefully shed some more light on what had happened to her brother.