Three Little Truths

by Eithne Shortall

  ‘Oh my God,’ shrieked Fiona. ‘Oh-my-God oh-my-God oh-my-God . . .’

  ‘Girls, come out!’ called Trish, but their mother was already pushing past, squeezing herself into the too-small space between Bernie and Ellen.

  ‘Careful!’

  ‘Oh my God,’ said Fiona when she saw the extent of the mess in the front room. Then one of the rodents reappeared from the side of the fireplace and ran back towards the couch. Everyone started screaming even louder, the twins and their mother springing from foot to foot. Ellen looked like she might faint. Fiona reached across Bernie, who refused to budge – ‘Watch it!’ – and banged into Ellen, who was easily wrong-footed.

  ‘Mind!’ shouted Ruby.

  ‘Mum!’ called one of the twins.

  But it was too late. Trish watched, aghast and exhausted, as Ellen went stumbling into a tower of magazines right at the entrance to the living room. This had a sort of domino effect that sent the other towers of books and newspapers and bags all banging down, one after another, into a massive pile that blocked the doorway from the hall. The entire living room was obscured. For two whole seconds, everyone was silent.

  Then, just as suddenly, Fiona was screaming anew as if the force of her lungs might blow down the wall of rubbish that stood between her and her children.

  ‘This is a complete disaster,’ said Bernie, turning to Ellen who was still regaining her balance. ‘Never in all my years in charge of the pre-Easter street party has it involved the incarceration of minors.’

  Ellen wrapped her arms across her chest. ‘They weren’t meant to be in here. If people just read the booklets . . .’

  ‘Mum!’ came a wail from the other side of the wall. ‘I think there’s a whole family in here . . .’

  ‘Get them out!’ screamed Fiona. ‘Get them out! Get them out before they’re eaten alive!’

  FIFTY-ONE

  Edie watched blankly as Cormac half punched Eddy, half stood on his own foot – and Daniel swiftly switched places so he was now the one keeping two men apart.

  ‘Stop,’ he warned gently, holding Cormac at a distance just as Eddy had done. Her husband’s hand almost spanned the width of Cormac’s chest.

  The three men hesitated, momentarily flummoxed about who was gunning for whom. The house alarm continued to blare out on the road. Cormac eyed up Daniel, who loomed over him, and tried to decide exactly how angry he was.

  ‘I was protecting you,’ Eddy told Daniel, his pride more wounded than his face.

  ‘Mate, I don’t need your protection.’

  Edie had always enjoyed Daniel’s size. Most women wanted daughters and she’d like one too, but she wouldn’t have minded a rake of sons. They could form their own rugby team. She felt a surge of love for her husband. Then she remembered how interested she’d been in Martha’s mystery and how she’d naively thought she could solve it, and she resented him all over again.

  ‘I might not look like a brawler,’ said Cormac, also sounding slightly put out, ‘but I’ve taken a few martial arts classes.’

  ‘You’re wily,’ concurred Daniel generously. ‘I can tell by looking at you.’

  Edie loved and hated her husband in such shattering, equal measures that she could feel the contradiction cracking its way down her heart.

  ‘You were part of the gang that tied up my sisters at Halloween?’ said Cormac, shaking off the perceived slight on his brawn and getting back to the point. ‘Is that right?’

  ‘I didn’t tie them—’

  ‘Yeah, but you were part of it. You know the other men, don’t you? The ones who carried out the tiger raid?’

  ‘I’m sorry. I should have stopped it and I didn’t. I—’

  ‘Hang on,’ said Eddy, raising a hand as if asking a question in class. He stuck his head around the side of Daniel so he could see Cormac. ‘This happened on Halloween night?’

  ‘Morning of November first,’ replied Cormac reluctantly.

  Eddy looked over at Robin. ‘That’s why you were asking about a house robbery.’

  Robin rolled her eyes. ‘This isn’t about you, Eddy.’

  ‘I was dealing with a delivery of Bye Bye TV Bills Dot Coms that night. I’d never be involved in something as fucked up as a tiger raid.’ He placed a hand on Daniel’s shoulder. ‘No offence.’ Then back to Robin: ‘I’m insulted.’

  ‘Why are you talking?’ shouted Cormac. ‘You don’t even live here!’

  ‘Neither do you, pal.’

  ‘I don’t understand why you haven’t left—’

  The door to the office flew open, Martha stepping out of the way just as the handle was sent flying towards the wall. At least Edie knew the doorstops worked now.

  Ellen, Bernie and Ruby came tumbling into the room, arriving in descending states of panic.

  ‘Oh, thank God,’ said Ellen, breathless as she leaned against the doorframe. Her typically sleek hair was staticky and the heat of her skin was pushing through her make-up. Edie, who suffered from rosacea, had recently discovered an excellent foundation. She’d probably never get the chance to recommend it to her neighbour now. And she loved passing on that kind of thing. She had done so well making friends, ingratiating herself with the neighbours, becoming part of the community. She wanted to take Daniel’s face in her hands and scream.

  A few hours ago, today had been the first day of the rest of her life. Now, it felt like the last.

  ‘We need help,’ said Bernie, side-stepping Ellen. ‘Men, preferably. There’s a bit of lifting involved.’

  ‘What’s going on?’

  ‘There’s been—’ began Ellen, but Bernie interrupted again.

  ‘Two children are trapped over in Rita Ann’s house, with a number of rodents. I think we’ve found the source of Pine Road’s rat problem.’

  ‘Oh gosh.’

  ‘Yep,’ said Ruby, surveying the whole new dramatic scene into which she had just arrived. ‘Turns out Rita Ann is a hoarder. If you’re looking for that electrical goods receipt you lost in nineteen ninety-six, she probably has it. The house is stuffed with junk. And rats.’

  ‘Yes and a whole pile of the junk fell over blocking the entrance to the front room and now Fiona’s twins are caught in there,’ said Bernie. ‘If they’re not eaten alive by rats, they’re going to hyperventilate from the screaming. We need to get them out. Now.’

  Ellen’s eyes landed on Robin, then Cormac and Eddy. ‘What are you doing? Where are your high-vis jackets?’

  The three of them looked at one another.

  ‘Have you given up on the treasure hunt?’

  ‘You can hardly blame them,’ surmised Bernie. ‘The whole thing is such a disaster it’s almost impressive.’

  ‘We were doing it, but other stuff got in the way,’ Robin apologised.

  ‘I tried my best, I really did.’ Ellen’s voice was wandering into the hysterical as she threw her arms up in the air. ‘But I’m dealing with barbarians and two-bit criminals. Thieves, cheaters, people going into houses that aren’t on the route, setting off house alarms. It’s not my fault!’

  ‘I thought it was a good egg hunt,’ offered Edie gently. She really didn’t like to see anyone upset.

  ‘It was not a bloody EGG HUNT!’

  ‘That’s all very interesting, but we need to get the girls out,’ said Bernie, in a voice so calm and commanding it made poor Ellen look even more unhinged. ‘Now.’

  The three men looked at one another.

  ‘Come on!’ barked Bernie.

  Cormac and Eddy moved for the door, while Daniel glanced from Edie to Martha. Edie looked to Martha too and she nodded her consent.

  Just as they were following the new arrivals out, Jack came bursting into the room.

  ‘I found it, Daddy! Mammy! I found it!’

  He was waving a package back and forth so fast Edie couldn’t make it out, but the wrapping was familiar . . .

  Robin bent down to her son’s level, in the middle of the bottleneck at the door. ‘What’s that?’r />
  ‘The prize, mammy!’ he shouted, face covered in chocolate, delighted with himself. ‘I can read that. I know that word. I know lots of words.’ He was speaking to the other adults now. ‘It says prize.’ Jack stuck out his tummy proudly as he looked up at his attentive audience.

  Robin took the package from him.

  ‘Oh. No,’ said Edie, realising what it was and starting to get up but Jack was louder.

  ‘I won the treasure hunt!’

  Ellen frowned, looking down at the box. ‘That’s not one of mine. I didn’t sanction wrapping paper and laminated adhesives. None of that can be recycled.’

  Edie had used wrapping paper leftover from a christening gift for her cousin’s baby a few months ago. She hadn’t had time to go out and get something else. She’d only found out this morning.

  ‘It’s mine,’ she said weakly, though she knew it was too late. Robin already had the paper off and Jack was looking at the white stick like he might burst into tears. ‘Tha-at’s not cho-o-lat,’ his voice warbled.

  Edie sat back down. She knew how he felt.

  ‘It’s . . .’ Robin trailed off. She knew what it was. All the women standing over her at the door knew what it was.

  ‘It’s a pregnancy test,’ supplied Ruby.

  ‘It’s mine,’ said Edie, the accumulating weight of the injustice getting too great to bear. For months she’d been imagining the way she would tell people, first Daniel then everyone else.

  This wasn’t even close to what she’d planned.

  ‘It was meant for Daniel. It was the prize at the end of his treasure hunt.’ She looked over at her husband. ‘That was what you were meant to find.’

  It was his fault it had happened this way. And it was his fault that what should have been the best day of her life, the day she found out she was pregnant and got to tell her husband, was now the worst.

  ‘You’re pregnant?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Look, this is great,’ said Ruby kindly. ‘Really. Congratulations, Edie, but we need to get the twins out. So . . .’

  Eddy and Cormac followed Bernie from the room, Jack running at their feet.

  ‘Congratulations,’ said Cormac as he left, and Edie nodded.

  Ruby and Ellen left then too.

  ‘Edie,’ said Daniel.

  ‘Go on,’ she replied, barely able to look at his joyous, remorseful face. ‘All this will still be here when you get back.’

  ‘I . . .’ He was going to say ‘I love you’, she knew he was, but he stopped. He nodded. And then he was gone.

  Edie, Martha and Robin were all that remained.

  ‘Congratulations, Edie.’

  ‘Thanks.’

  ‘Yes, congratulations,’ said Martha. ‘I’m very happy for you.’

  The trousers looked much better on Martha; she didn’t seem to find them itchy at all. Edie felt foolish for all the time she’d put into today, picking her outfit and doing her hair, making an elaborate treasure hunt so she and Daniel would always remember this day. And they would, of course, always remember it, but not for the reasons she had intended.

  Another siren joined the house alarm and Edie didn’t need to look out the window to know what it was. Robert had called the guards. They’d all just been waiting for them to arrive.

  ‘I’m sorry for what my family did to yours, Martha,’ she said. ‘I didn’t have any idea until today. But Daniel’s a good person. I’d bet my life on it. He shouldn’t have gotten involved and he’s been suffering. I knew he was. I just didn’t understand why. He’ll never fully forgive himself. So you know.’

  Martha gave her a sad smile as the sirens outside stopped. ‘I’m sorry too, Edie. But I have to report it. For my family. I am really happy for you, though, about the baby. It’s great news.’

  Then she walked slowly, gracefully, out of the house. Edie stayed where she was, staring at the blank space on the wall in front of her as Robin came over, sat at her feet and quietly took her hand.

  *** Pine Road Poker ***

  Ruby:

  Did anyone see who they put in the back of the squad car?

  I missed it. I was in at the rescue mission.

  Carmel:

  What I want to know is where that dog came from?

  Ruby:

  Was it Martha’s dog? Their door was open for the treasure hunt. Just a pity Ellen’s was open too.

  She’s still out there, scrubbing away.

  Carmel:

  I don’t think she’ll be getting another Easter out of that crucifix.

  Ruby:

  Well, at least now we know *all* chocolate makes dogs violently ill – even the no-sugar, no-dairy, no-taste kind.

  Carmel:

  I didn’t see who the cops took away but a woman from Elm said it was ‘a tall man’.

  Also, I hate to steal Fiona’s schtick, but two police visits in as many months? This is not a great look for Pine Road.

  Rita Ann:

  I may or may not have seen something, but I’ll be answering no questions until someone takes responsibility for the destruction to my house. It will take me weeks to get everything back in order.

  Ruby:

  Order, she says ...

  Rita Ann:

  And that’s to say nothing of the trauma suffered by my pets. I haven’t been able to coax them out from under the couch all evening.

  Fiona:

  They’re rats, Rita Ann! Not pets! And what about the trauma suffered by my girls?

  Rita Ann:

  They’re pet rats, actually. House-trained and very friendly. And your girls are lucky I’m not having them arrested for breaking and entering.

  Fiona:

  I didn’t see who was in the squad car because I was SLIGHTLY preoccupied with the welfare of my daughters. But I think I saw Edie Rice driving after it.

  FIFTY-TWO

  The last time Edie was in a police station it was also because of Daniel. Only that time, it had been a visit she was excited to make. She’d come to collect his passport. It had taken all of ten minutes and she’d never considered that any of the people waiting around her were there for anything other than joyful holiday preparations.

  This time, as she sat in one of the uncomfortable steel chairs, three hours into a wait that the officer at the desk had said could go on all night, she watched the people come and go, and not one of them did she see produce a passport renewal form. Maybe it was the time of the year or maybe she was projecting, but as she waited for her own criminal to be released, suddenly everyone entering and exiting the station appeared to be living a life of crime too.

  Two guards bustled in through the main station doors. A young woman walked between them, her shoulders and head down. A few people queuing at the information desk turned to watch.

  A man in a pair of trainers so high they went halfway to his knees jogged in a few minutes later. He rapped on the window of the information desk and signed the big ledger that the on-duty guard had been producing for people all day. Then he jogged back out and Edie watched through the glass doors as he hopped into a Land Rover almost as shiny as his shoes.

  Four more guards came in, this time escorting two teenagers who began hurling abuse at the officer sitting behind the information-desk window in the middle of reception. Not that the term ‘reception’ seemed accurate for a place as grey and uncomfortable as this. If they just painted the walls a different colour – from grey to light blue, even – it’d be far more welcoming. Although, Edie considered as she shifted her weight from her left bum cheek to her right, ‘welcoming’ probably wasn’t what they were going for.

  ‘All right, Stephen, Jason,’ said the on-duty guard in response to various slights on her mother.

  ‘Fuck you, Maura,’ one of the teenagers shouted as they disappeared through the frosted-glass door at the other side of the room. ‘Your ma’s in the Black and Tans.’

  ‘And your da sells DVDs!’ hollered the other.

  An elderly couple sitting on
the steel chairs opposite Edie visibly stiffened at the language. They didn’t look like hardened criminals. She watched as the woman crossed and uncrossed her ankles. Maybe they were the parents of one, or the grandparents, or maybe they were the victims.

  Edie’s phone buzzed in her back pocket. She couldn’t bring herself to look.

  She thought of the person she’d been at eight o’clock that morning when the timer on her phone had gone off and she dared to look at the stick resting on the toilet cistern. She’d left and reentered the bathroom three times, just to be sure wishful thinking hadn’t overruled vision and that the little ‘plus’ symbol really was there. This morning, the biggest hardship in her life was that she’d have to wait three whole hours for Daniel to get back from the garage so she could tell him. Now Daniel had her waiting all over again. Except this time, all the joy had evaporated.

  The door off the reception room opened and Edie’s heart rose. But no. It was one of the teenagers from earlier, more subdued and sombre as he left the station unaccompanied.

  Edie got up and walked over to the on-duty officer.

  ‘Excuse me,’ she said quietly, glancing over at the elderly couple. She bowed her head and generally did her best to appear more like a victim than a perpetrator. ‘I’m just wondering if I can check—’

  ‘I told you you’d know when I did,’ said the guard, without looking up from her computer.

  ‘I know,’ agreed Edie, speaking at half this woman’s volume in the hopes that this might encourage her to do the same. ‘But could you maybe check if they’re still questioning him? Or if there’s any idea of when they might be done?’

  The guard looked up at her.

  ‘I don’t mind waiting. I’d just like to know.’

  The woman sighed, reached for her mouse, and shook it. ‘Carmody, right?’

  Edie all but whispered: ‘That’s right.’

  The guard squinted at the computer screen, then back up. ‘Still questioning him.’

  ‘And how long do—’

  ‘Don’t know.’

  ‘Would you say an hour—’

  ‘Don’t know.’

  Edie took a step back. That was all she’d be getting. ‘Okay. Thank you. I’ll just be over here . . .’