by Rose Doyle
When he toppled the body over the sheer cliff, it quickly disappeared into the heaving, thunderous grey far below. Joe stood for a few minutes with his head bowed. When it started to rain he climbed back into the car.
“Would you like me to drive?” he asked Julia politely.
“Better not,” she said. “You’re not covered by the insurance.”
They headed back to Dublin, travelling without speaking through the remaining hours of darkness. Julia drove slowly and steadily. No point attracting the attention of the guards with speeding or erratic driving. Christmas Day, with its excess of eating and drinking, meant they had the roads almost to themselves as they passed through sleeping small towns, ghostly villages and the deserted countryside.
Joe made plans in his head as they drove along. He knew Julia must be doing the same thing. It was all about survival now, each man and woman for him or herself. They were on the outskirts of Dublin when he said, “You set me up, didn’t you?”
Julia sighed. “You set yourself up,” she said.
“You knew all about me when I came to your door that day, didn’t you?” Joe said.
“I knew who you were,” Julia agreed.
“Your ad in the Spar was meant for me, wasn’t it?” Joe didn’t wait for an answer. “You read the newspaper reports of the court case long before you met me.” Joe watched her, not expecting an answer. She half smiled but didn’t turn. “You probably did some private investigating as well. You had the contacts. The lag who put me onto the hostel was one. Easy enough, too, to make life unpleasant for me once I got there.”
“I talked to a few people, yes.” Julia spoke at last. “I thought we could be of use to one another –”
“The room was the bait,” Joe interrupted harshly. “It was a way of trapping me into your plan to be rid of your husband and have his money for yourself …” He paused. “It was perfect, Julia. A perfect plan and perfectly done. You’re rid of George Ryan and the money’s all yours.” He turned to her. “But what now?”
“Not so perfect a plan, Joe.” Julia’s face was pale and hard as stone. “I thought you would beat George up, nothing more. Frighten him into leaving me alone.” She shook her head. Her voice, when she went on, was bleak. “I knew your reputation, that you could fly into a murderously jealous rage when provoked. I saw something in your face in the newspaper pictures …”
“You saw James Mulberry in my face,” Joe said. “You saw the part of me that’s given to senseless rage, the madness in me that had already driven me to kill a man because of a woman. The bit of me I thought I’d got rid of when I became Joe Brown.”
“Something like that,” Julia agreed.
“You watched me come and go to the Spar for a while, I suppose?” Joe said.
“I had Angie watch you. I didn’t want you to see and remember me.”
“All you had to do was get me on side.” Joe shrugged. “Your side. You knew your husband would create a scene and that I’d lose it. The jumper was just to make sure, wasn’t it?”
“Yes.” She turned to look at him, briefly. Her expression seemed sincerely regretful.
“Only, I just wanted you to hurt him. Nothing more.”
“You would have kept me on in the house, of course,” Joe said bitterly. “Your pet bully-boy. A sort of in-house bodyguard.”
“That’s an unpleasant way of putting it.”
“It’s the truth of things,” Joe said harshly. “I would have been tied to you then. You’d have made sure of that, allowing me all the comforts of home and friendship as long as I paid the price. Always with the threat that you might expose me.”
“All that’s changed now, anyway,” Julia said. She turned the car up along the Grand Canal. They were only minutes from the house. “I’ll have to go away now. So will you. It being Christmas will make it easy enough to slip out of the country. I’ll give you the money to go too. We’ll get tickets at the airport this evening. You go your way, Joe, and Angie and I will go ours. The guards can’t do anything until they find his body. And that’ll take months – if they ever do find it. We’ll be well hidden by then, Angie and I. We’ll have a new life. So will you, if you’ve any sense.”
“You’re not afraid of me?” Joe said.
“No. I’m not afraid of you.”
She was right not to be afraid of him. He wasn’t a murderer – not him, not Joe Brown. He was someone with an unfortunate other side, someone who flipped, lost to a crazy, jealous anger in certain situations. He would just have to avoid such situations in the future.
The last time Joe saw Julia Ryan she was crossing the tarmac to the plane waiting to take herself and Angie to Amsterdam. The taller of the two men who’d called that night in December was by her side, his arm about her shoulders. She was looking up at him, laughing into his face. It wasn’t until then that he knew, at last and for sure, that she had lied. She had set him up to kill George Ryan.
Joe Brown would find her. Whatever it took, and wherever she went, he would find her. And he would kill her. She’d been wrong to trust him. He would kill her if it was the last thing he did.
OPEN DOOR SERIES
SERIES ONE
Not Just for Christmas by Roddy Doyle (TG)
In High Germany by Dermot Bolger
Sad Song by Vincent Banville (TG)
Maggie’s Story by Sheila O’Flanagan
Jesus and Billy Are Off to Barcelona
by Deirdre Purcell
Ripples by Patricia Scanlan
SERIES TWO
No Dress Rehearsal by Marian Keyes
Joe’s Wedding by Gareth O’Callaghan (TG)
It All Adds Up by Margaret Neylon
Second Chance by Patricia Scanlan (TG)
Pipe Dreams by Anne Schulman
Old Money, New Money by Peter Sheridan (TG)
SERIES THREE
The Builders by Maeve Binchy
Letter from Chicago by Cathy Kelly (TG)
Driving with Daisy by Tom Nestor
The Comedian by Joseph O’Connor
Has Anyone Here Seen Larry?
by Deirdre Purcell
An Accident Waiting to Happen
by Vincent Banville
SERIES FOUR
Not a Star by Nick Hornby
Mad Weekend by Roddy Doyle
Fair-Weather Friend by Patricia Scanlan (TG)
Stray Dog by Gareth O’Callaghan (TG)
The Story of Joe Brown by Rose Doyle (TG)
Mrs. Whippy by Cecelia Ahern (TG)
(TG): Teacher’s Guide available at www.gemmamedia.com
