Aftermath

by Joanne Clancy

  “That’s about all I need for now, Mrs. Darcy,” Isabel smiled, getting to her feet. “Thank you for coming in. As soon as I have any more information I’ll be in touch.”

  Isabel finished the last of her double shot Americano coffee and braced herself for the interview she had scheduled with Hope that afternoon. She was mentally and emotionally exhausted already. The interview with Kerry that morning had taken a lot out of her. She felt very sorry for Kerry. The woman seemed very tired, broken almost, like she’d had about all she could take. Nobody could blame her, she thought as she made her way down the hall to the waiting room where Hope and her mother were waiting for her.

  “Thank you for coming,” Isabel held out her hand to Hope which she shook limply.

  “Did I have a choice?” Hope asked rudely.

  Isabel chose to ignore her and instead led them back along the corridor to the interview room.

  “How are you?” she asked.

  Hope shrugged. Isabel could see that, just like Kerry, she was very pale. The dark rings under her eyes seemed even more pronounced than Kerry’s but there was a defiant glint in her dark eyes.

  “I won’t take up too much of your time,” Isabel continued. “I need to clear up a few things. The sooner we sort it out the better.”

  Hope glared at her mutinously. “What do you need to sort out exactly?”

  “Well, there’s obviously quite a serious situation here and it’s in everyone’s best interests to resolve it,” Isabel replied, finding it difficult to keep the note of irritation out of her voice. Hope’s attitude was beginning to grate on her nerves. After all, she had a job to do. It wasn’t her fault that she found herself in this situation.

  “You believe her, don’t you?” Hope shot Isabel a contemptuous glare. “Mrs. Lady of the Manor, you think she’s his wife, don’t you?”

  “I don’t know what to think,” Isabel replied evenly. “I just want to do my job and find out the truth.”

  “This is just a job to you. You don’t care about the human element involved. You want to close your file and move on to your next pathetic case.”

  “Hope, please,” Chantale patted her daughter’s arm. “None of this is Garda Murray’s fault.”

  “I never said it was her fault,” Hope turned on her mother, “but this is none of her business.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong,” Isabel interrupted. She’d had about enough of Hope’s bad attitude towards her. “Unfortunately, it’s very much my business, and you’re correct in thinking that I want to resolve the case and move on.”

  “Why don’t you go and catch some real criminals? Aren’t there some murderers or rapists who need locking up? I suppose it’s more interesting to poke your nose into other people’s private lives instead.”

  Isabel took a deep breath to calm the temper that was beginning to rise. It wasn’t for nothing that she’d been born with red streaks in her hair; she had the fiery temper to match. It was all she could do to restrain herself from reaching across the table and giving Hope a short, sharp slap across the face. Members of the public were constantly telling her the same thing “go away and catch some real criminals.” She’d lost count of the number of times she’d had that particular insult shouted after her in the street. Police work was so much more than catching serious criminals, in her opinion, but the public would never appreciate that fact.

  “Did you bring your marriage certificate as I requested?” Isabel asked Hope, getting straight to the point. She couldn’t be bothered making an effort with pleasantries at this stage and clearly Hope wasn’t interested either.

  “Yes,” she rummaged about in her bag for a moment and slammed it down on the table in front of the police woman. “I’m not insane, you know. My marriage isn’t just a figment of my imagination. Believe it or not Niall and I are legally married.”

  “I haven’t accused you of anything,” Isabel said as she carefully studied the marriage certificate. “I see your witnesses were Chantale Decoursiere and Rosanna Maloney.”

  “Yes, my mother and my chief bridesmaid.”

  “I see. Were any of Niall’s family there?”

  Hope shook her head. “No, he was in and out of foster homes throughout his childhood so he didn’t have any family at our wedding.”

  Isabel sighed. Sometimes she hated her job and having to tell people things they didn’t want to hear, especially when those people usually blamed her for the bad news. “I interviewed Kerry Darcy earlier and she has a marriage certificate too,” Isabel delivered her bombshell.

  Hope’s eyes glittered fire. “I don’t care if she does or does not have a certificate. It must be a fake.”

  “It looked very authentic to me,” Isabel replied. “It seems very likely that they are legally married.”

  “Maybe they’re recently divorced and she kept the old marriage certificate,” Hope retaliated, desperately clutching at straws. “I know my husband loves me. We have a wonderful life together and there’s no way that he can possibly be married to someone else. He wouldn’t have done that to me. It would mean that he’s been living a double life and lying to me for the past few years, which is not true! I’d know about it if he was. I’d have sensed it.”

  “Was he ever away from home for long periods of time?” Isabel asked gently. She could see how distressed Hope was becoming. “Maybe he cancelled your plans together at the last minute?”

  Hope remained tight-lipped.

  “I know it seems preposterous,” continued Isabel, “but we have to break down his movements so we can try to work out the truth of the situation.”

  “What does it matter?” Hope sighed.

  “Lots of things matter,” Isabel replied. “We need to establish your legal rights and entitlements as a married woman for one thing. Why, if he was married to Kerry, did he decide to marry you too? What were his ulterior motives?”

  “He didn’t have any ulterior motives!” Hope cried. “I’m not rich or about to come into a huge inheritance. He married me for me.” She covered her face with her hands.

  Isabel watched her, wishing for her old, sleepy work life. She said a silent prayer that there weren’t any more wives waiting in the wings as she really didn’t know if she could handle the stress of it.

  “I’m having his baby for crying out loud!” Hope cried. “He wanted a baby for ages but I wasn’t ready and then I found out I was pregnant the day he went missing. Why would he have longed for a baby so much if he already had two daughters with another woman?” She wiped her tears away with the palm of her hand.

  “I’m very sorry, Hope,” Isabel’s heart went out to the poor woman sitting crying in front of her. She seemed so forlorn and utterly desolate. “I really don’t understand why he would treat someone he loves in such a manner.”

  “He stays away from home a lot,” Hope said quietly. “He has to travel quite a bit for work, so yes, in answer to your question, there were many times when he wasn’t at home with me and he could have been with her.”

  “What about Christmas and holidays, was he around much for those?” Isabel continued.

  “We spent our first Christmas together in Barbados,” Hope answered, with a faraway expression on her face “It was absolutely amazing. We had dinner on the beach by firelight. It was magical. The second Christmas he asked me to marry him. We spent the holidays with his family in Switzerland. Well he calls them his family but really they’re a group of his closest friends from college. He likes to say that he didn’t get to choose his family growing up, so he chose his friends very carefully and he regards them as his spiritual family.”

  Hope glanced up from her notebook where she was furiously scribbling her notes. “Can you tell me their names?”

  “Edward and Sylvia O’ Callaghan,” Hope replied. “They’ve known each other since their school days. Ed and Sylvia were married shortly after college.”

  “What about last Christmas?” Isabel prompted gently.

  “Well, that wasn�
��t so good,” Hope reluctantly admitted.

  Isabel raised her eyebrows enquiringly.

  “We’d been arguing a lot in the weeks before Christmas. I was very busy with work. I’d just gotten the role of a life-time acting in Dublin and he wasn’t very impressed with the amount of time I’d be spending away from home. I thought that he, of all people, would understand but he didn’t. He was away on business for most of December and we hardly even spoke on the telephone the entire time he was gone. When we did eventually speak he seemed very distracted.”

  Isabel nodded thoughtfully. “He seems to have spent weeks at a time away from home.”

  “It’s the nature of his work,” Hope jumped to her husband’s defence. “There’s always some conference or meeting to attend.” She blinked, realisation beginning to dawn on her. “Are you trying to say that he may not have been at business meetings? That he was with her and her brats instead?” Her voice was becoming more and more high-pitched. “What are you saying to me?”

  “I’m not saying anything,” Isabel held her hands up. “I realise this must be extremely stressful for you. It’s obvious that you love your husband but it’s becoming more and more likely that he was still married to Kerry when he married you.”

  “Why would he do that to me?” Hope cried. She slammed her fist on the table. “He had no reason to get involved with me. Nobody forced him to love me. He asked me to marry him, for God’s sake! I was reluctant about getting married again after the disaster of my first marriage. If he wasn’t in a position to marry me then why on earth was he so persistent? How could he have married me knowing that he had a wife and two children at home already? How could he tell me that he couldn’t wait to start a family with me? He said that all he ever wanted in his whole life was to be part of a real family.”

  “I don’t know the answers. I wish I did,” Isabel said gently. “I really don’t understand the man. It’s not something that I’ve ever come across before. I’ve never heard of a case where a man has married two women without any apparent reason. Usually there’s money involved or some sort of immigration issues.”

  “There was an apparent reason!” Hope shouted in disgust. “He loved me and that’s why he married me!”

  Isabel didn’t know what to say. Chantale sat quietly beside her daughter and reached for her hand. Hope stared miserably out the window.

  “If it’s true, if he married me when he was already married to her then I have no legal entitlements do I?” she said eventually.

  Isabel remained silent.

  “I mean, if she’s his first wife, then she’s the one that everyone will talk to. I’ll just be seen as his cheap bit on the side. What happens the day we eventually find him? What if he can’t remember me? She’ll be the one who makes all the decisions and that’s just not fair!”

  “Maybe you and Kerry will be able to reach a mutual agreement,” Isabel said tentatively.

  “What planet are you on?” Hope glared at her in undisguised anger. “She’s fully convinced that I’m his mistress, nothing more. I’m not. It was never like that between us. I would never go near a married man. I love him and I’d do anything for him. I’m the one who stayed up late at night with him when he couldn’t sleep. I’m the one who massaged his aching shoulders. I’m the one who showed him how to Skype and become more technological. What’s she ever done for him? Nothing much if you ask me. Everyone will take her side, just because she married him first. It’s so unfair! If she was that wonderful why did he marry me?”

  “I have no idea what the man’s reasons were for acting the way he did,” Isabel replied, trying to be as tactful as possible. What I need to investigate are his reasons for marrying you?”

  “I already told you. He married me because he loved me.”

  “Like I said before, what would he have to gain by marrying you? I’m sorry to have to ask you this, Hope, is your family wealthy? Were you expecting to come into an inheritance in the future?”

  Hope laughed a bitter laugh. “Quite the opposite in fact, whatever money I have I’ve earned and as far as I know there aren’t any unexpected windfalls lurking in my future.”

  “The only reason that I can think of for his behaviour is that he must have been after money,” Isabel continued apologetically.

  “How many more times do I have to tell you?” Hope shouted. “I’m not rich! Sure, I live in a nice apartment but my husband pays most of the mortgage and bills. My parents aren’t wealthy either. Is it so difficult to believe that he might have married me simply because he genuinely loved me?”

  “I have to ask these questions,” Isabel said. “I don’t like asking but finding out the truth is part of my job.”

  Hope turned very pale. “You don’t think Niall had a life insurance policy on me, do you?”

  “I don’t know,” Isabel replied. “We have to consider everything. Did he ever suggest it to you?”

  “Well, yes, he did mention something once but I was quite shocked by the suggestion. I laughed it off and he never brought it up again. Are you trying to imply he was planning and plotting to murder me and pocket the insurance money?” Her voice was full of contempt. “This isn’t television. It’s real life, my life.”

  “Anything could be possible,” Isabel said. “I mean, you never had any inkling that he could have been married to someone else.”

  “Yeah, well Niall was never short of money. He was a very successful businessman and reaped the financial rewards of his hard work. It’s ludicrous to even consider for a moment that he’d have married me just for the insurance money.”

  “I’m sorry, I realise my questions are upsetting, but I have to ask.”

  “Did you ask her?” Hope demanded. “Have you asked her why he married someone else?”

  “I’ve spoken with Mrs. Darcy, yes,” Isabel replied carefully.

  “She’s so smug and self-assured I suppose she thinks everything’s fine and she’s the poor, disgruntled wife.”

  “The situation is far from fine. Whatever about the legal side, you’ve shared an intimate relationship with her husband and you seriously consider yourself to be his wife. None of this is easy for her either.”

  “I couldn’t care less about her and her precious feelings,” Hope snapped. “I know she couldn’t care less about me.”

  “But you both love the same man.”

  “I love someone,” Hope said quietly. The fight had suddenly evaporated from her. “If Niall really is married to her too, then I don’t know him. I never knew him. How can he be the man I love?”

  Chapter 12

  Saoirse glanced at her watch and reluctantly untangled herself from Milo’s strong arms. “I have to go,” she yawned, stretching her long legs out in front of her. “Mom will go mental if I’m home late and I don’t really want to upset her. She’s going through a very hard time at the moment; as if she didn’t have enough on her plate and then that stupid woman shows up claiming to be married to my dad. Someone should ship her off to the loony bin pronto!”

  Milo was still trying to get his head around the fact that Saoirse’s father had another wife. He’d listened in stunned silence as she’d told him the whole sorry story of Hope turning up unannounced at their house, claiming to be married to Mr. Darcy. He’d tried his best to be sympathetic, even though part of him was shocked that the old guy had it in him. A small part of him thought “well done” but even he wondered, at his tender, inexperienced age, how the man could have coped with having two women in his life. Milo was the only boy in a family of four children and he found his sisters and mother to be very irritating most of the time. They were such high maintenance, always complaining and giving out to him about something.

  “I wonder if she’ll show up again?” he asked without thinking.

  “How would I know?” Saoirse’s voice was taut. “I think she’s a total nut case. I’ve never met anyone so melodramatic and attention-seeking in my entire life. She actually hyperventilated in our living room.
I was so embarrassed for her. I think mom actually felt sorry for her! She’s not married to my dad, no matter how much she insists otherwise. I don’t care what she says; Dad wouldn’t do that to us.”

  “It’s crazy, I know,” Milo said, his voice was full of sympathy for her. “If there’s anything I can do to help just let me know.”

  “Thanks. You’re a star.” Saoirse sunk into his arms for a few more minutes. “I don’t think there’s anything anyone can do. I hope and pray Dad shows up soon so he can tell that stupid woman where to go.”

  “Hopefully it will be sooner rather than later,” Milo agreed, stroking her hair gently.

  “Nobody knows where he might be or if he’s dead or alive. Not knowing is the worst part.”

  “He can’t stay missing for years,” Milo said. “You have to get some news of him one way or the other soon.”

  “How do you know?” Saoirse snapped. “We have detectives and experts searching for him and even they said that the search could go on for years. Nobody knows; that’s the problem.” She stormed out of the house and marched down the road.

  He followed her quietly, not daring to say anything. Her back was ramrod straight and anger crackled in the air around her.

  “Saoirse, wait up!” he called, eventually breaking the silence between them.

  She stopped and turned to face him and when he caught up with her he could see that her eyes were bright with unshed tears.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “I was trying to be helpful. I don’t know what to say. I’ve never been good at finding the right words.” He put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close.