It was becoming more obvious that Bridie and Niall were having an affair. Was he stealing the necklace for her? Did Bridie realize that and that’s why she lied for him? Siobhán had to confront Bridie. She’d have to do it alone because if Bridie had been having an affair, she certainly wasn’t going to admit it in front of Séamus.
“Leave it with me,” Siobhán said. “I’ll see if I can make any sense of it.” Siobhán started for the door.
“At first I thought Bridie might be sweet on Niall,” Courtney said. Siobhán stopped. There it was again. That pitying tone. She turned around. “Until I found out who the necklace was really for.”
And here they were. Truth time. “It wasn’t for Bridie?” Siobhán couldn’t hold onto her patience much longer.
“Think about it. Bridie works here. She could have anything she wanted at a discount. It wasn’t for Bridie.”
“Who then?” She sounded agitated now, and she couldn’t help it.
Courtney fluttered her lashes. “It’s a bit delicate.”
“Go on.” This woman could turn a saint into a sinner.
“It’s personal, like.”
Siobhán stepped into Courtney’s personal space. “Personal? To me?”
Courtney swallowed hard and nodded. Oh, God. Courtney wasn’t trying to be infuritating at all. She was afraid. She was afraid to tell her. Siobhán stepped back and exhaled. “You aren’t going to like it,” Courtney said shaking her mahogany-streaked head. “You aren’t going to like it one bit.”
Chapter 21
“Why are we at this stupid castle again?” Gráinne asked, bending over to catch her breath. She and Siobhán had just finished the arduous climb up the limestone bluff to the ruined Conna Castle, eighty-five feet tall and looking out over the River Bride. A pleasant drive from Kilbane, Conna was removed enough to give Siobhán and Gráinne a bit of breathing room from prying eyes and wagging tongues. Courtney had taken pity on Siobhán and insisted she take her car so the two of them could have this little outing. Siobhán hadn’t driven more than a few times in her life, and not at all since the accident. The clutch took some getting used to, but they had made it here alive.
The view from the top of the hill was extraordinary. Ireland’s green hills undulated below them, covered in a gentle mist. In 1653 the castle was consumed by a blaze that took the life of the steward and his three daughters. Siobhán said a little prayer for them every time she read the plaque, and she read the plaque every time she came.
“Mom used to bring me here when I was little,” Siobhán said. “I love this stupid castle.”
Gráinne shrugged, then looked genuinely interested. “I didn’t know that.”
“It was just the two of us. When I was the only girl.” Siobhán laughed, and finally so did Gráinne. “We’d come up here, and I’d run around the castle, then we’d walk into town and have lunch. I thought it would be nice for the two of us to continue the tradition.”
“And?” Gráinne put her hands on her hips.
“And that’s it. Oh.” Siobhán brought the little box out of her handbag. “And I wanted to give you this.”
Gráinne stared at the box like it was poisonous. “It’s not my birthday.”
“Doesn’t have to be your birthday for me to say thank you.”
“Thank you. For what?”
“For not running away.”
“Excuse me?”
“You’re sixteen. I’m sure it crossed your mind.”
“I’m in school.”
“Of course. But I couldn’t help thinking. If it were me.”
“It was you. You were supposed to be in college.”
“And once I was out of the nest, you were supposed to be the oldest girl, getting special attention from Mam and Da.” Siobhán thrust the box forward again.
After a stare down, Gráinne reluctantly took it. Siobhán watched her face as she took in the necklace from Courtney Kirby’s gift shop. Tears came to her eyes.
“How did you know?”
Siobhán shrugged. “Just a guess. Here.” She helped Gráinne put the necklace on. “Ready for lunch?” The two of them made their way downhill. The pink gem glittered against Gráinne’s ivory skin.
“They aren’t really going to arrest James, are they?” Gráinne said once they were seated in a downtown pub with cheese toasties and curried chips.
“Macdara said it was looking like a sure thing.”
“But they can’t think he would actually murder Niall. He wouldn’t, would he?”
Siobhán dropped her toastie. “Of course not. That’s why I have to find out who killed Niall. That’s why I have to find out everything about him. Who he talked to since he came back to town, what he said, and why.”
“Surely it can’t all be important.”
“Maybe not. But there’s no way to know. It’s like putting together a puzzle. The tiniest piece can bring the entire picture into focus.”
Gráinne stabbed at her chips with her fork. “I wasn’t his girlfriend.”
“Then why did he try to steal that necklace for you?”
Gráinne gasped. “How do you know that?”
“Courtney caught him.”
“How did she know it was for me?”
“Bridie told her. Apparently Niall confessed it to her when she confronted him.”
“It wasn’t romantic. I swear. I was helping him. I can’t even believe he remembered me mentioning the necklace. That’s kind of sweet.” She bit her lip, and tears came to her eyes.
“Helping him how?”
“You aren’t going to like it.”
Siobhán had been hearing that a lot lately. “Okay.”
Gráinne finally let her fork fall to her plate. “You promise you won’t get mad?”
“I’ll try.”
“That’s not the same thing.”
“How can I promise when I don’t know what you’re going to say?”
“See? You’re getting mad already.”
“I’m frustrated. So what if I get mad? I’ll get over it. I love you no matter what. I love all of you no matter what.”
“I’ve been writing to Billy Murphy in prison.”
It was the last thing on earth Siobhán expected her sister to say, and the shock jolted all promises out of her system.
“You what?” She didn’t realize she’d yelled it until all heads in the place turned to her.
“See?” Gráinne said.
“Why? Why would you be writing to Billy?”
“At first I just wanted to know if he was sorry. It was a pretty mean letter.”
They’d all been through so much. Gráinne didn’t even like to write. So for her to sit down and compose a letter . . . well, it meant something. Siobhán had failed. She hadn’t noticed how much they were all suffering. All her focus had been on running the bistro, continuing a normal routine, biting back the bitterness of giving up on a college education. She’d missed Gráinne’s desperation. Of course she wanted answers. She was too young to realize that sometimes there weren’t any.
“I take it he wrote back.”
“Straightaway. I couldn’t believe it. At first I wasn’t even going to open it. You don’t know how many times I almost burned that letter.”
“What did he say?”
“At first just the usual things. How sorry he was. How he was never going to drink again. How he wished he’d died instead of Mam and Da.”
“Did it help? Make you feel better?” Tears dripped down Gráinne’s face. She shook her head. Siobhán reached out and took her hand. “I’m not mad.”
“You’re not?”
“No. I ache for you. I ache for all of us. Because there are no answers. There’s nothing Billy could have said that would bring back Mam and Da. Sometimes life is cruel.”
“Father Kearney says that God always has a plan. Do you believe that?”
“I don’t know. I do know that we were loved. That if they are looking down on us, they’d still want th
e very best for us. Which is why we can’t let James go to prison for something he didn’t do.”
Gráinne nodded. “Billy and I have been writing for the past six months. He started telling me things. I started to believe him.”
“He told you he didn’t do it.”
“How did you know?”
“Because Niall told me the same thing. Tried to get me to give him ten thousand euro for Billy’s defense.”
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”
“Just get it all out. You’ll feel better.”
“Niall knew I was writing Billy. He was so thankful. He kept saying what a good person I was. That I was doing the right thing. He said he was going to get a good solicitor, one of the best, and help free Billy. He said if I went with him to talk to this solicitor—”
“Where?”
“Dublin.”
“When?”
“That afternoon.”
“What afternoon?”
“The same day he was killed. That afternoon. I was going to have our anniversary breakfast, and then I was going to meet Niall at the cycle shop. We were going to catch a taxi to Charlesville to catch the train to Dublin.”
“Was that why Niall was in a suit?”
“Yes. He said he was going to put it on as soon as he got home from the pubs just in case he overslept. He told me to dress up as well, like. He wanted the solicitor to take him seriously.”
So that’s why he had on the suit and his head was shaved. It meant he’d made it home after he left O’Rourke’s. Why did he come back out again? “Do you know why Niall was at the bistro so early?” Gráinne shook her head. “Did he text you that night?”
Her eyes went wide with terror.
“You have to tell me.”
“He did. He said he had to tell me something. I didn’t answer. It was the middle of the night, like!”
“I think he wanted you to hear about his fight with James before James had a chance to tell you,” Siobhán said. “So you wouldn’t change your mind.”
Gráinne nodded. “He said it meant everything that I was coming with him.”
“Was the text before or after Ann woke you up about hearing glass breaking?”
“Before,” Gráinne said. “And I was terrified it was Niall breaking in.”
“Did you text him back?”
She nodded. “I told him I wouldn’t see him until that afternoon at Sheedy’s cycle shop.”
“And did you hear back from him?”
“No. He didn’t text back.”
“Did you hear anything after Ann woke you up? Did you go downstairs?” Tears came to Gráinne’s eyes again. “What is it?”
“We put on headphones and listened to a story on tape,” Gráinne said. “It was my idea. I was terrified Niall was downstairs, and I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want to hear anything more, and I didn’t want to go down there.”
“Why didn’t you wake me?”
“And tell you I thought Niall Murphy was downstairs waiting for me? Are you daft?”
“Settle,” Siobhán said. Had the gardai found a phone on Niall? Siobhán hadn’t thought of that before. Surely if they had found his phone they would have questioned Gráinne about those texts. It means they didn’t have it. Did the killer take it? “Do you know the name of the solicitor he was going to meet with?”
“No,” Gráinne said. “I swear.”
“Did Niall tell you he had some kind of proof that Billy didn’t do it?”
Gráinne nodded. “A video.”
“A video of what?”
“He said there was a witness to the accident. That they filmed a portion of it. He says the video proves that Billy isn’t responsible.”
“Did he say who the witness was?”
“He said it wouldn’t be safe for me to know.”
Outrage threatened to suffocate Siobhán. The liar. Despicable. “Did he show you this video?”
Gráinne shook her head.
“Did he tell you anything else about what he was going to do with it and when?”
“No. I asked him over and over. He said he needed time.”
Time. Time to get the money. After which his lies wouldn’t matter. And he and Billy would be off to Australia, or God knows where.
Gráinne looked at Siobhán with pleading eyes. She instantly looked like a little girl again. “Do you think he was killed because of me?”
Startled, Siobhán looked at Gráinne. “Because of you?”
“Niall said if I told the solicitor I believed Billy was innocent, it would help. Maybe the killer knew. Maybe that’s why Niall was left in our bistro. They were trying to warn me, like. Get me to stop helping Billy.”
Siobhán put her hand over Gráinne’s. “Niall was a liar. You telling a solicitor you believed in Billy wouldn’t have changed the facts. He was drunk. He was the only one in the car. Macdara said there isn’t any truth to what Niall and Billy have been saying.”
“James drinks too. What if it were him who killed someone’s parents? Would we hate him?”
Siobhán sighed. “You’re asking a lot of complicated questions.” Gráinne played with the necklace. “How did you mainly communicate with Niall?”
“Texts.”
“Can I see them?”
Gráinne looked away as a deep blush rose in her cheeks. “I erased them all. After.”
“After he was killed.”
Gráinne swallowed and nodded. “I was afraid people would think it was me who killed him.”
“We have to tell Macdara what you just told me.”
“Does it help?”
“It tells us why Niall was in a suit and had his head shaved. And I think it means Niall came to the bistro that night to confess his fight with James. Make sure you were still going.”
“Why would he do that in the middle of the night?”
“Why do lads do anything in the middle of the night? Because they’re full of drink. Only the killer followed him to the bistro.”
Gráinne shivered. Siobhán quickly reached for her hand and held it. “I won’t let anything happen to us,” she said.
“Niall didn’t act like he wasn’t making it all up,” Gráinne said. “About Billy being innocent.”
“I agree,” Siobhán said.
“You do?”
“If the two of you really were going to meet a solicitor, if that’s why he needed ten thousand euro—”
“He told me he needed twenty thousand euro,” Gráinne interrupted.
“He asked me for ten. Guess he was giving me a discount.”
Gráinne’s eyes brightened up. “Maybe because I was helping.”
“Not the point. He needed a lot of euro. That means something or someone convinced him of his brother’s innocence. I don’t think it was true, of course, but maybe someone had him fooled. Maybe someone made up a witness or lied about having a video. Maybe they told Niall it would get his brother off. Only they weren’t going to share it with him unless he gave them twenty thousand euro.”
“That’s a lot of maybes.”
“But it’s better than no maybes.”
“So who do you think it was? Who was tricking Niall Murphy, and why?”
“Whoever it was, they needed to get their hands on a substantial amount of money.” John Butler? To keep his business open?
“We find that person, and we find the killer.” The tears were gone, and Gráinne’s eyes actually started to sparkle.
“There’s no we.”
“There is now.”
“No. You are to stay out of it.”
“I’m part of this family too.”
“But I’m your legal guardian. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
“I won’t let anything happen to James.”
“You can help by writing down everything that was said between you and Niall, and even Billy. Write Billy again. Ask him if he knew where Niall got this crazy idea.”
“I could pretend I still believe he’s
innocent.”
“That would be a huge help.”
“What if Billy doesn’t know?”
“One thing at a time.”
“Do you think we’re on to something?”
“I do.”
“I do too. Are you going to tell Macdara straightaway?”
“I don’t know.”
“Do you still like him?”
“What are you on about?”
Gráinne grinned, and she flipped a strand of her black hair back with a flourish. “Your face matches your hair. I rest my case.”
What a cheeky thing to say. Siobhán raged silently and paid the bill. Gráinne sang to the radio on the way home, while Siobhán tried to think of a good retort, something to convince Gráinne that she wasn’t in love with Macdara Flannery, but nothing came to mind. She was so lost in thought she almost didn’t see John Butler dashing out in front of the car until Gráinne screamed. Siobhán slammed on the brakes, stopping just short of knocking him down.
“I hope Courtney has good motor insurance,” Gráinne said. Siobhán’s heart pounded in her chest. She was never going to take somebody else’s car in her hands again. Imagine, another accident. What was she thinking? Courtney was probably looking out her window too, just in time to see her almost wreck her car and kill John Butler. That would be some bad luck, to kill the town undertaker.
John’s face had a sickening green tint as he gaped at Siobhán through the windshield. He was the one in the middle of the street, like.
Siobhán stuck her head out the window. “Sorry. I didn’t see ye.”
“My fault,” he said, holding up his hand. He hurried out of the way and took off down the footpath at a fast clip.
“That was weird,” Gráinne said. “I thought for sure he was going to take your head off.”
“Me too.”
“I would have if I were him.”
“He just darted out in front of me.”
“Certainly was in a hurry.”
“Certainly was.” Siobhán kept her eyes on him. He was headed in the direction of the bank. Was he still trying to get a loan for twenty thousand euro? It was obvious Niall was no longer blackmailing him, so who was? Had Mary Murphy picked up where her son left off? She could tell Macdara to check it out, but he was already browned off with her snooping. Sometimes old adages were true. If you wanted something done well, you had best do it yourself.
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