Rock Point (Sharpe & Donovan) Read Online Free

across the sunlit hills, tufts of white clouds floating high above Kenmare Bay in the distance. How could he last a year without seeing this place?
    Yet he had to leave. Nothing was the same since the deaths of Sally and the girls, and yet everything was the same, but he knew that was only part of it. He was meant to be in Rock Point. He could feel that truth more than he could explain it.
    “Ah, Fin, what a day,” Declan said next to him. “We’ll miss you, but you’ll be back.”
    “I will.”
    His brother—so like him, so different from him—drank from his water bottle. Declan, too, looked out at the hills and the sweep of the barren hills and glens. “I don’t feel abandoned,” he said as he returned his water bottle to his pack. “You might be a priest now, but you’ve always been and always will be my brother.”
    “And you mine, Declan.”
    “No matter what madness we face in this life.”
    The bond between them had always been strong—as fraternal twins, as two brothers with three younger sisters, then as business partners.
    Tilters at whiskey windmills, they’d called themselves in the early days.
    They continued down the hill. The trail was narrower, rockier, even quieter. Finian felt the sun warm on the back of his neck. He’d dressed in hiking clothes. No need for the clerical suit out here. It told others who he was, but it didn’t make the priest.
    He imagined Sally’s smile and amusement at the thought of him as a priest.
    “ Father Bracken ... Oh , Fin , that’s just delicious. ”
    Seven years this summer since her death, and he thought of her and their daughters every day. How could he not?
    Embracing grief, recovering from it, didn’t mean forgetting.
    Less and less did he let himself slide down into the dark hole of wishing the past could be different than it was. He had his regrets. They were a part of him now. If only he’d been with Sally and the girls that day. He didn’t know enough about sailing to think he could have saved them, but at least he could have died with them.
    At least they wouldn’t have died without him.
    A rogue wave it was, capsizing their small yacht.
    Sean Murphy had explained several days after the tragedy. “ They went overboard , all three at once. They didn’t stand a chance. They drowned , probably soon after. There were no other boats in the vicinity. The water was very cold. Hypothermia would have set in quickly even if they hadn’t drowned. ”
    Drowned. Finian remembered trying to understand what that meant. He couldn’t make sense of it. He’d been in his office at Bracken Distillers. He’d slept there, unable to go home. Divers had rescued the captain of the chartered yacht, but it was touch-and-go whether he would survive. Divers had also recovered the bodies of Finian’s wife and daughters.
    Gardai—led by Sean—were conducting a thorough investigation.
    Sean knew he was under suspicion. Did he sabotage the small yacht? Hire someone who did?
    “ The captain is recovering from a head injury and hypothermia ,” Sean had continued . “ He regained consciousness and explained what happened. He tried to save your wife and daughters. They wore life vests , but they didn’t help in this situation , at least not enough. ”
    “ Then it was an accident? There’s no question of anything else? ”
    Sean—Garda Murphy—had paused, leveled his gaze on Finian . “ We have no reason to suspect it was anything else. ”
    “ Where are they now? Sally...Kathleen , Mary? ”
    “ Their remains will be released to you. I’m very sorry for your loss , Mr. Bracken ”
    The investigation continued, and the sinking of the yacht was deemed an accident. A terrible, unforgiving accident that had resulted in three deaths. The captain left Ireland for Australia soon after, but he’d died of natural causes a year ago. He’d blamed himself for the tragedy, although no one else did. He and Finian had never met, never talked. After all, what was there to