Who is Alice?

by Miranda Manning

  “You’re great, Cassandra. What did you get?”Nicola couldn’t believe that Cassandra was so quick-thinking.

  “I just had a quick look and there is some correspondence addressed to Tower Properties and some stuff for Alice. I thought that if you were free this morning I would bring it into your office.It might not necessarily be safe here.Obviously the doorman is paid by Jack Madden and I would be surprised if I don’t become the prime suspect if they miss anything.They may go through the stuff when they take it off site and maybe notice things missing, between what I took last week and what I took over the weekend.The doorman may put two and two together.”

  “You make it sound very cloak and dagger,” Nicola replied.But she remembered with a shiver her conversation with Jack Madden and she realised that Cassandra might be right.In fact it was obvious that he was capable of practically anything.How would he believe that he could simply eliminate his mistress and children from his life just by detaching himself from them unless he knew that he could get away with it? He must have been fairly certain that nobody would let the cat out of the bag.

  She stared at the newspaper she had bought on the way into work.Jack Madden, the family man, was staring at her from a large picture on the front page.The Sunday papers had been full of him as well.There were of course pages about arrangements for the funeral but underneath it all the chattering classes were agog about the next Taoiseach.Some of the papers had done biographical articles over the weekend.There were photographs of his parents, his siblings and of course of his wife and two beautiful children.There were quotes from childhood friends, college classmates, even a woman who claimed that she had been his nanny. It was enough to make Nicola want to reach for the Bailey’s. Not a mention at all of the two other beautiful children who he appeared to be able to forget at a moment’s notice literally.Nicola wondered how Alice and the children would take the saturation coverage of the weekend newspapers and how they would get through the next week with the funeral and the succession being the top story in every news bulletin.In fact, despite what Jack Madden had said on the day of the Taoiseach’s death about not making any decisions until after the funeral, the future leadership of the party was getting as many headlines as the funeral. Alice was in for a long and stressful week and Nicola hoped she would hold up.

  Cassandra had agreed to come into the office at eleven and they would go through the correspondence she had taken from the apartment block then.

  But at ten o’clock Pat put his head around the door.

  “Bad news, I’m afraid.Your client has made a formal complaint.She sounds very serious and very angry.”

  Nicola’s heart sank.There had never been a formal complaint against her before and she didn’t even know the procedure.

  “What do I do now?”she asked.

  “You’ll be invited to a meeting with me and the Department Head and the complainant.That will be in about a week’s time – as soon as we can arrange a time suitable for everybody.”

  “And will I be able to continue working or will I be suspended?”Nicola could hear the shake in her voice.

  “No, you won’t be suspended unless it gets to the next stage.”

  “That’s a relief anyway.This is a mistake and as soon as we meet up Christine will realise that she is in error.”

  “You must not contact her between now and the day of the meeting.”Pat was firm. “And if you bump into her accidentally don’t talk to her.This is for your own good more than hers.”

  “Of course.Should I contact my union?”Suddenly in Nicola’s mind this had escalated from something which could be sorted to something which could have serious consequences.

  “Contact your union if you wish but, unless you specifically want to, it might be as well to have the meeting with the complainant as informal as possible – initially at least.If this goes further, of course you should have union representation.”Pat closed the door gently as he left the room.

  To her own surprise Nicola burst into tears but she stopped abruptly when she realised that it was near eleven and she couldn’t let Cassandra see her like this.

  At eleven on the dot Cassandra glided into the room.Her clothes and jewellery were immaculate. She looked as if she was going to a high-powered business meeting.Not the first time Nicola wondered who her clients were.Judging from Cassandra’s lifestyle they must be very wealthy.She sat down with a pleased look on her face and emptied a sizeable Gucci bag onto the desk.

  Nicola stared at the desk and giggled.“Couldn’t you get any more?” She grinned.“What about her supermarket receipts?”

  “Oh, Alice didn’t shop in supermarkets much,” Cassandra assured her.“She mainly went to McCambridge’s and Chez Maurice and of course The Vineyard if she wanted a bottle of wine – no supermarket plonk for Alice and her well-got beau.Even her breakfast cereal was gourmet.But actually I think there are some receipts for her groceries in there as well.”

  The women laughed as they sorted through the pile of paper on the desk.

  “This will come in handy,” Nicola said, picking up an ESB bill addressed to a property company.“Tower Properties!They must own the apartment! We can find out who the directors are if need be.”

  “Yes,” Cassandra said. “And here is a letter from the school to Alice, correctly addressed, regarding an increase in the voluntary fees. That’s handy.It’s proof they lived there.I’m feeling quite pleased with myself. Where do we go from here?”

  “You can drop the ESB bill and the other letters addressed to Tower Properties into the mailbox for Number 3.

  “Why?”Cassandra was incredulous.

  “Because it’s an offence to open a person’s mail and a company is a legal person.As a social worker I have to be very careful.All the other stuff belongs to Alice, so we can just give it to her.”

  “I thought you were pleased I got the letters to Tower Properties!”

  “I am.But all we need is the name of the company in order to investigate further.So far I haven’t behaved illegally though you may have.But you’re not an employee of the HSE.So you won’t lose your job if you get caught.In fact if you take back the Tower Properties stuff there will be no evidence against you anyway.”

  “I never knew social workers were so clever,” Cassandra grinned.

  “We have our moments.”Nicola was laughing.“Tell me this? How did you know about The Coven? I have been working in this city for nearly three years now and I never heard of it and I think none of my colleagues know about it either.”

  “They helped out a friend of mine a while ago. They don’t broadcast what they do and I’d say all of their tenants arrive there by recommendation – sort of.They are – how can Isay this without sounding priggish – people who wouldn’t normally expect to find themselves in the sort of predicament they get into.”Cassandra looked embarrassed.

  “Cassandra, you don’t sound priggish but you do sound a bit naïve.”

  Cassandra grinned when she realised that this was the first time she had ever been called naïve.

  “No, seriously. Don’t you know that family violence and abusive relationships cross all social boundaries? You’d be very naïve if you believed that such situations are the sole prerogative of the less well off,” Nicola said grimly. “I recently had a client who was married to a doctor.He punched her hard for the first time on the way to the airport for their honeymoon.She stayed with him for six years, despite regular serious assaults and, yes, she went to the hospital frequently with the ‘I fell down the stairs and I bumped into a bookcase in the dark’ stories.But she left him, in the clothes she stood up in, the day he pushed their four-year-old son so violently that he went flying and needed stitches to his jaw after hitting it off the hearth.No, this problem knows no boundaries.”

  “God, I never thought of it that way.It’s hard to believe.”

  “You can believe it alright.In fact, middle class and wealthy women usually are more adept at covering it up and often put up with it for longer be
cause they are so ashamed.Until it happens to them I’d say they also believe that it only happens to uneducated poor women who aren’t very bright.”

  “To be honest, I never gave it much thought even when it happened to my friend.I thought it was just her bad luck and probably a very rare occurrence. By the way, when are you going to see Alice again?”

  “This afternoon probably,” said Nicola. “She’ll be delighted with all your help. Though she is still probably in a state of shock and may not appreciate all you have done, initially at least.I have worked on getting her social welfare and when she is settled we will have to decide how to go about getting Jack Madden to support her.That is not going to be easy.”

  “No, I suppose it’s not.Tell her I send my love.I would like to go to see her if she would like but I don’t want to go uninvited.”

  “I will tell her,” said Nicola. “I’d say she’d be delighted with your friendship.She will be feeling very alone now.She may feel that she can’t tell her friends about her situation and will probably find it difficult to think up a plausible story as to why she no longer lives in Lady Gregory Court. For professional reasons I can’t befriend her so I’d say you’d be very welcome.”

  “Good,” said Cassandra. “I’ll be glad to befriend her.”

  Driving out to The Coven late that afternoon Nicola wondered what she would find.She had made some progress getting Alice’s social welfare payment sorted and once that was done rent allowance wouldn’t be a problem.She had left her visit until late deliberately.She wanted to meet the children and see how they were settling in.

  The large front door was wide open and Eliza appeared in the hall before Nicola had a chance to ring the bell.

  “Nicola! Hello. You’ll be looking for Alice,” she said cheerfully.“She’s in the kitchen teaching me to make gingerbread men.She’s a marvellous cook.”

  Eliza led the way into the large kitchen.Alice was there with Grace and Orla. The girls were tucking into gingerbread men as if they had lived in The Coven for all of their short lives.Alice still looked a bit fragile but otherwise she appeared to be coping admirably.

  “It’s lucky we have such a large kitchen, Nicola,” Eliza said, “despite the fact that all the apartments are self-contained.”

  “Why is that?”

  “I run a catering service on an occasional basis.It’s sort of a hobby but it helps pay the bills if our other sources of income let us down.Also, most weeks, all the residents have dinner together – usually on Friday. That way we form a sort of community.So Alice and the girls had a baptism of fire on their first night but I think they enjoyed it.”

  “We sure did!” It was Grace who spoke.“It’s really nice here.There are other children to play with and we’re allowed make as much noise as we like!”

  “Well, not quite,” Eliza joked.

  “Our other house was full of adults.I think we were the only kids there.Even when Uncle Jack came we had to keep quiet.”

  The women all looked at each other at the mention of Uncle Jack, and Nicola guessed that Alice had confided in Eliza at some stage over the weekend.

  “Can we go out and play with the dog?”Orla was animal mad and of course they couldn’t have a pet at Lady Gregory Court.

  “Yes, if that is okay with Eliza,” Alice said.

  “Of course,” Eliza said.“He’s well used to children and loves the attention.”

  The two girls skipped out the door as if they hadn’t a care in the world.

  “I suppose the saturation news-coverage hasn’t passed the girls by?” Nicola said to Alice.

  “They’ve seen it all right but it doesn’t seem to bother them.It’s an explanation in their minds as to why Jack isn’t here but Grace asked me when he would be down again just this morning.”

  “And what did you say?”

  “The truth, in a way.I said I didn’t know.”Alice smiled weakly.

  “Cassandra got some correspondence from your apartment,” Nicolasaid then, anxious to change the subject. “I’m afraid workmen have been in over the weekend and have stripped the apartment bare.Cassandra swiped this stuff from crates outside the door.”

  The dismay in Alice’s face was pitiful to see.Until that moment she had harboured a hope that somehow this was all a mistake and she would be back in her apartment when it was sorted out.It was obvious now that she would never be going back.Her eyes widened and her chin began to quiver.Nicola could have kicked herself.She had been so insensitive.She knew that Jack Madden had detached Alice and her children from his life but she should have realised that Alice had not taken this completely on board.

  “Oh, I am sorry, Alice.That was completely insensitive of me.”

  “Don’t be sorry.In a way it is a good thing.I can’t kid myself any more.He’s not coming back – not unless you drag him kicking and bellowing in any case.”She smiled a bit and uttered a very weak laugh.

  “I don’t see myself dragging anyone anywhere but we will follow him for maintenance.” Nicola was determined. “It is a fairly routine procedure but if he denies paternity – and I imagine he will – it will take time and could be very messy.That is why we have to fix you up with a welfare payment as soon as possible.”

  “Don’t worry about money too much,” Eliza interrupted. “As I told you, we are in a position to support Alice and the girls indefinitely.In any case, Alice might be able to help me out with the catering business.She’s an excellent cook.She prepared the starter for dinner on Friday and it went down a treat.”

  “Jack likes good food.And since we never ate out – except for the occasional lunch – I had to learn to cook.I enjoy it and it became a sort of a hobby.”

  “It’s quite a hobby,” Nicola smiled.“And so useful.”

  “Actually I have a great line in novelty birthday cakes and would always provide the cake when it was a friend’s child’s birthday. I have, or should I say I had, a pile of recipe books.God knows where they are now.”

  Alice was grimfaced and somehow she didn’t look as fragile as before. Nicola was beginning to feel that she could get her through this and that Alice would emerge stronger for it.

  “Let’s look through the correspondence in your apartment, together with the documents Cassandra already gave you,” Nicola said. “I need birth certificates for all of you, proof of your last address, proof that the children are at school.That will be enough for the moment.I will try and fast-track getting your PPS number and after that things should be easy enough.In the meantime we can get your Community Welfare Officer to continue giving you an emergency payment.”

  Nicola and Alice made their way up to the apartment. Alice spread out the correspondence and the documents she already had on the table and Nicola took what she needed for her immediate purposes.

  “How are you settling in?” asked Nicola then.

  “It’s very nice,” Alice smiled.“The house is beautiful and very comfortable.Having our own apartment is great because we have our privacy and I need that.”

  “I’m delighted you’re happy here,” Nicola said.“It is lovely.”

  “On Saturday night when the girls were in bed I just bawled my eyes out.I couldn’t stop.I must have cried for three or four hours solid,” Alice said ruefully.

  “That’s hardly surprising after all that you have been through.But, yes, it was good that you didn’t have an audience.How did the children get to school this morning?”

  “Eliza drove us in the jeep.I went with them for the first day.They are used to me taking them to school.We took the other children with us. But the jeep has limited capacity so I probably won’t go with them again unless I am needed to drive them.I think the girls won’t mind.They are taking this in their stride.”

  “That’s great anyway. The fact that the place is so nice helps. Have you been in touch with any of your friends?” She had to establish how isolated Alice felt.

  Alice seemed surprised at the question. “Not yet.I will but I’m not ready to explain. And they
can’t contact me since my mobile got cut off.” Her voice trailed off. “And in any case it might not be wise for me to broadcast my situation.If I get in touch with any of my friends and say that we have been deserted they will surely get more curious about who deserted us.It’s all so complicated.” She looked downcast again.

  “It is and I think the less we make public the better until we can find a way of making him live up to his responsibilities.I think if we went public at this point he would go for us with all guns blazing and he might succeed in stopping my investigations.If he isn’t sure I’m investigating him he won’t do much.He has too much to deal with nationally to bother with me if he thinks I’m some ineffectual ‘jumped-up slip of a girl’, as he called me the other day when I rang him.”

  “You never told me you rang him!”Alice was aghast.

  “I didn’t want to upset you any further.I did and he denied knowing you and suggested that you might be a stalker with a fixation about him.He threatened me and insinuated that he had the power to have me fired.He was quite nasty.”

  “Oh God,” Alice gasped.

  “I knew this was not going to be easy so don’t worry about me.But we will have to take legal action if he denies that the children are his.In particular if we want him to take a DNA test.So this is going to get worse before it gets better.But don’t worry, you have a lot of support and Eliza and Hugo seem great.So you are very safe.This is an opportunity for you to get on with your life and figure out what to do next.”

  “I do feel safe here,” Alice said.“Shattered, but safe.”

  Chapter 6

  Jack Madden had barely time to bless himself in the aftermath of the Taoiseach’s death.The funeral had to be arranged and the Cabinet had to be briefed.He was on a constant round of radio and TV interviews both nationally and internationally.The whole world seemed shocked at the suddenness of the death.The Taoiseach had been popular – even at an international level. In Strasbourg and Brussels he was regarded as genial and easygoing and a consummate negotiator, though some of the European media had adopted a more jaundiced view since the country’s economic troubles began to emerge.However, they were anxious to have details of the funeral and many wanted to do a profile of this charismatic leader of a small country.