‘Clearly not.’ Colin turned his palms to the sky in defeat.
‘The arrests were for the big stuff,’ Mam continued. ‘Where the guards came out in their droves. The Gulf War was one, he got arrested during a sit-in at the government buildings protesting the fact that the Irish were allowing American military planes to land at Shannon Airport. It lasted for four days. I remember he went prepared – he had enough sandwiches and flasks of tea to last him weeks. He had T-shirts printed up. Stickers, banners; he had writing on his face. He’s a professional at this kind of thing. I don’t think the guards knew what they were getting into. He’d provoke them, trying to get them to hit him. I mean, he wanted to be arrested, an arrest always gets the cause more publicity. And he was.’
‘Streaking?’ Colin’s voice was high pitched.
‘He streaked through a Manchester United game once, just wearing a sock.’ She stopped and pursed her lips together, stifling a laugh. ‘Not on his foot. He had something written on his back, I can’t even remember what. Some cause he’d adopted, save the trees, the dolphins, one of those things.’
Something about this seemed really familiar. I whispered quietly to the table, ‘I think I have a memory.’
‘Oh, you would.’ Mam pointed a finger accusingly at me. ‘You were the one who put him onto the trees and deforestation, got him into reading books on the Amazon, the two of you and your love of the outdoors. He’s always listened to you, Freya, you’re such similar people.’ She eyed me strangely, as if she was seeing me for the first time. ‘At least you were. Not so much anymore.’
‘I’m going to ring Dad. Doesn’t he have that friend who’s high up in the guards? Gareth someone? Maybe he can tell us something.’ Colin sounded delighted that he may have come up with a solution.
‘Gordon Ryan, he was just elected Garda commissioner.’ Mam sighed. ‘Your father won’t help your granddad. You know how they feel about each other.’
Colin pushed his chair back from the table and stood up, digging in his pocket for his phone as he left the room. ‘This is different, he has to put all that pettiness aside. He’s still family and Granddad’s in trouble.’
Almost under her breath, Mam whispered, ‘Your father could never put pettiness aside. They don’t see eye to eye on anything. He will not help him.’
It was terrible to admit, but I thought she was right. Dad and Granddad couldn’t stand each other. Any memories I had of family get-togethers invariably ended with those two screaming at each other. There was occasional shoulder pushing and one or other leaving the roast chicken dinner in an almighty huff, upturning a plate of carrots on the way. Granddad smiled for weeks when Mam told him she and Dad were divorcing. But still he was an old man, he was my and Colin’s grandfather – surely Dad could show some compassion?
‘Why did you never tell us about this stuff, Mam?’ I asked.
‘Well, you were kids, you didn’t need to know that kind of thing, we’d just tell you he’d gone on a trip to Spain,’ she said happily.
‘But now we’re adults, we can cope.’
‘Honestly, I thought it was finished, that you wouldn’t need to know. He told me he wasn’t involved in any groups anymore. More fool me for believing him. He can’t stop himself – it’s in his blood.’ She gave an incredulous laugh. ‘I don’t want you or Colin worrying about him. He’ll be grand, he knows what he’s doing.’
Colin returned, shaking his head. He raised his eyebrow at me and looked decidedly unimpressed. The kitchen chair creaked as he sat back down. ‘He’s given me the name of a lawyer to contact. Worth a shot, I suppose. He won’t talk to Gordon Ryan.’
‘What did he say?’ I wondered if I really wanted to hear the answer. ‘He said,’ Colin sighed, ‘“maybe they’ll finally throw away the key this time”.’
Mam shook her head and put on what I knew was her posh voice, in an attempt to make herself sound superior to Dad. ‘He has no decency.’
I hoped she wasn’t right. Mam crossed her arms in resignation. ‘Your granddad wouldn’t take his help anyway. He probably wouldn’t take anyone’s help. He likes the drama that goes with an arrest, or at least he used to. It drove my mother mad.’ She bit her lip, trying to suppress a smile of affection. ‘He’s always loved the attention the arrest gave him, turning him into an outlaw, and there’s a certain amount of respect that you get from other activists and protesters once you’ve been arrested. It shows that you’re serious about the cause. He loves it.’
‘Maybe that’s why he did whatever he did, for the attention?’ Colin said.
‘What did he do, though? I mean streaking and protesting at least you could see that, you knew what it was. What has he done now?’ I asked.
Mam raised her hands to the ceiling, and we listened to a neighbour’s dog barking far away.
‘Well, look, let’s start with the lawyer. I’m sure it’ll be someone good. Dad only knows good, right?’ Colin piped up.
We nodded, and Colin slipped out of the room to make another call, this time to the firm of Beachum and Foyles.
‘Could he have been doing something illegal in the bookstore, something that maybe he didn’t even know was illegal?’ I wondered, grasping at straws.
‘Yes, of course, or he could have known about something. That’s what I’m saying to you. Your grandfather, he can skirt around the grey areas of life.’
‘I know, but he’d never do anything serious, would he?’
Mam scratched her head. ‘No, he’s not criminal, it’s always activism, protests, ban the bomb types of thing.’ Her eyes welled up with tears and her nose started to run, and she quickly sniffed and attempted to straighten up. ‘I hope he has cigarettes. I’ll kill him when he gets out, I really will.’
‘Not if I get there first.’ I stretched across the table and gave her a hug. I just couldn’t believe Granddad would do anything serious. I was sure this was just a misunderstanding. ‘Did he pay his taxes, Mam? Can you be arrested for not paying taxes? Maybe if it went back years and years. I bet it’s something like that.’ I crossed my arms decisively. That’s it, I thought, Granddad is a tax evader.
Mam tapped her fingers on the table. ‘I don’t know.’
‘Will he be okay?’ I asked, suddenly worried about him sitting in one of those cells I’d seen on TV.
‘He will be just fine, your granddad knows his way around a prison. He’ll probably even have friends in there.’
I wondered if one of those odd customers in the store was involved in something and somehow, unbeknown to him, Granddad had been caught up in it. I wondered if they had been using the bookstore to hide stolen goods or something. Poor Granddad, those people he thought were friends had been taking him for a ride.
Colin came back in scratching his head.
‘So the good news is Dad’s name opens a lot of doors fast. They really jumped to it, they were making phone calls while I was onto them, and it seems that–’ He paused and looked deflated. ‘Well, this is the bad news . . .’
I gulped air nervously.
‘They can hold him for up to two weeks without a charge.’
‘Really?’
Colin wrung his hands together. ‘It was that terrorism bill we all supported last year.’
‘Yeah, but that was for terrorists, not for granddads,’ I shouted at no one in particular.
‘We can visit him, though.’ Colin sounded almost apologetic. ‘The lawyer is going to dig around. He thinks there’s a chance he might be able to get us some information in a couple of days. He did say that Granddad will be treated well because of his age, and we should try not to worry too much. They’ll do their best to get to the bottom of this.’ He twisted his head from side to side, then stared at the ground, defeated.
‘Okay.’
‘Okay.’
‘There’s nothing else we can do right now.’
I nodded and pretended to agree but I didn’t. There had to be more we could do. There had to be some way to find out what
was really going on. There was no way I was going to sit back for the next two weeks and let somebody who didn’t even know Granddad, who would never work hard enough to free him, ‘dig around’. No, he was my responsibility, he was my granddad.
I reached for the brandy and poured three large glasses. I would do the very best I could by him.
19
I had prepared a speech. It played on a permanent loop when I closed my eyes. I stayed up late running through every possible scenario and acting out different characters like I was in a movie of my own life. Just for the record, if my life was a movie I’d have the Hemsworth brothers playing every other character.
Anyway, I felt like this was my only option to help Granddad, regardless of whether or not he wanted our help, and even though Mam really seemed to think he didn’t, I wanted to do something. I explored any resources I could think of, every friend who had any kind of a legal connection, or anyone who might be tied in some way to the guards – watching re-runs of CSI did not count – and I was confident that my best possible option was to ask BBest for help. Anna seemed to like me a lot. It was worth a shot. I would tell her that I understood that I was only new to the company and that I didn’t expect any special favours but if they could bend the rules a little bit just this once I would love to speak to someone in their legal department. I knew they only hired the best. I knew any lawyers in there would be sharp and intelligent. They would know loopholes, and they might have some useful information.
I was so nervous. For some reason my hands were freezing and trembling slightly. I had a small delivery to make, a bouquet for a BBester who’d got engaged. It was a collection of yellow roses that exploded with smiles and sunshine. I was to leave them at reception with Lauren, which I did, and then I told her that I was going to pop in to see Anna. She waved me through, accustomed now to my comings and goings.
With every step down the corridor towards Anna’s office I felt more and more unsure. I didn’t want to come across like I was taking advantage of my situation to gain access to their brilliant counsel. I had to explain that this was something I wouldn’t ask for if it wasn’t a dire need. I swallowed, unsteady on my feet, and tapped gently on Anna’s door, which was halfway open. She made a noise, which signalled to enter. I popped my head around and smiled.
She jumped up, smoothing down the front of her black dress, and rushed towards me. She gently ushered me into the room and shut the door. Her normally smooth face was creased with concern. She moved towards a seat and sat me down.
‘Freya, I heard about your grandfather. I am so sorry.’
‘How do you know? It just happened,’ I blurted without thinking. In all the imaginary scenarios that I’d run through, Anna knowing my predicament was not one of them.
She sat opposite me and reached across to take my hand in hers, which honestly felt weird and not as comforting as it was obviously supposed to.
‘Because you are a BBest supplier and ultimately my employee, we are immediately notified of any major family changes, and an arrest, well . . .’ She threw her hands up to signify the enormity of the situation. ‘That’s a large family change, wouldn’t you say?’
‘Yes.’ I felt my chin wobble. I really didn’t want to cry. I reminded myself why I was here and how this woman was my boss and not my friend. I took a deep breath and pushed my shoulders down, getting ready to launch into my speech, but I didn’t get a chance before I was interrupted.
‘It’s obviously a mistake, there’s some gross misunderstanding. I know your grandfather’s bookshop, I’ve never been there but I’ve a friend who is a lover of Jane Austen and says that his is the only bookstore in the city that still stocks all her books. No man who loves Jane Austen could be guilty of anything.’ She pointed a bright red fingernail at me. ‘You need to talk to our legal department, we have some of the finest legal minds in the world here.’
‘Well, I did wonder if I . . .?’ I stuttered and stammered my way through a half question.
‘Absolutely.’ She picked up her phone, smiled at me and placed it to her ear. ‘Fidelma, can you spare ten minutes? Hmm . . . Freya Flannigan is here, yes, her grandfather. Hmm . . . okay, absolutely. Yes.’ She hung up. ‘She’s on her way. The good news is she knows of the arrest too, so hopefully she’s already been running through a few options.’ She grabbed my hand again. ‘You’re in safe hands here, Freya, we’ll do everything we can to help.’
‘Thank you.’ It was hard to even breathe the words out.
‘Let me get you a drink.’ Anna stood up and walked towards a water cooler in the corner of her office. I pulled my apron down over my knees and pushed the palm of my hand onto my fringe to smooth it down. I was trying to gather myself, to be prepared for any questions, to speak nothing but the truth and to try to get to the bottom of this. I had never spoken to a lawyer before. I suspected they were very smart people.
Fidelma came in, a woman in her fifties in a well-tailored pinstriped suit that showcased her athletic build. She had short, wiry hair and a bright pink lipsticked smile. She held her hand out to me for a firm handshake.
‘A pleasure, Freya, a pleasure,’ she gushed, and I immediately felt comfortable with her.
Anna grabbed her tablet and backed out of the room saying she had a meeting, which I suspected was a lie.
I took a sip of water, waiting while Fidelma sat in Anna’s seat.
‘So, your grandfather?’
‘He was arrested the day before yesterday, and we have no idea what he is being accused of. I think maybe he might be guilty by association, that someone who uses his bookstore may have used it for something else, like money laundering perhaps? My family and I, we really have no idea what’s going on here.’ I felt like a train running off the tracks, the words cascading out of my mouth, one after the other on top of each other. I decided not to mention the streaking, or the protesting or the fact that he was a career activist, just in case Fidelma was the judgy type.
She nodded and her face looked serious. ‘The terrorism bill was brought in to protect citizens. It is used by the government to monitor activity that they deem to be anti-society. The issue that you now have with your grandfather is that they can hold him for questioning for up to two weeks. They may never bring a charge and he could be released in two weeks’ time and we may never know exactly what they were looking for. In order to make the arrest, the guards have to have had some information on him. They will have some concrete evidence that falls under this terrorism bill, otherwise they couldn’t hold him. The question, Freya, is what do they have on him?’
I exhaled heavily. ‘I’m at a loss. I have no idea.’
She nodded and gave a sympathetic sigh. ‘Family members are often the last to know.’
‘You’re saying it has to be something that’s anti-society?’
‘More than likely, yes.’
‘He’s a grump, he hates practically everything except books.’
She smiled gently. ‘No, it’s nothing like that, you can’t be arrested for a throwaway comment. It would be an email that might incite a riot, inappropriate social media postings, attendance at a violent rally, any kind of innate violence against the state.’
I shook my head again. ‘He hardly even uses a computer. There are always funny people hanging out at the bookstore – couldn’t they be involved in something and maybe Granddad is guilty by association?’
‘It’s possible, and look, Freya, it’s a good starting point.’ She furrowed her brow and stared hard at me. ‘Do you know these people, is there any way to find out who they are?’
I was thinking so hard I could literally feel the blood pumping to my brain. ‘Maybe. He keeps a ledger of all his customers, it’s a full list of who’s who. He was particularly attentive to keeping it.’ Except for that lady I saw there last week, I thought. I decided she was not worth mentioning.
Fidelma’s eyes sparked up. ‘We can cross reference and see if any of them are on a terrorist list or have a criminal re
cord. It’s all public record now. Do you think you could get the ledger?’
‘I’m sure the guards have been through the place, but it might still be there. I can take a look.’
‘Then you can bring it to me,’ she said, and I noticed a little bead of sweat across her top lip, and realised that I must be crashing in on her already very busy schedule. ‘Bring it straight to me as soon as you get it, we’ll move fast.’
‘Of course I will, and I am so sorry for taking up your time. Thank you so much for your advice.’
She started to rise from the chair. This meeting was over. ‘You have hired counsel? Your family?’
‘Yes, Beachum and Foyles.’
Her eyes widened. ‘An excellent choice.’
‘My dad recommended them. I wouldn’t know where to start.’
She smiled knowingly, and leaned in to me almost conspiratorially. ‘Of course. I’m a huge fan of your father’s work. The man is a genius. His understanding of human behaviour and basic human needs is incredible.’
‘Thank you. I’ll pass on your regards,’ I said, feeling uncomfortable. It had been a while since I had been singled out for being Michael Flannigan’s daughter, but obviously my family tree was common knowledge here.
As she left the room I felt energised. At least now I had a plan, I had something constructive I could do to help Granddad. I left the BBest offices and drove straight to the bookstore.
There was yellow tape across the door. It wasn’t much of a barrier for some master terrorist organisation. My key still turned easily in the lock, and I ducked my head under the tape to enter.
The smell, the stale cigarettes and musty books, enveloped me the second the door swung open and my heart immediately felt heavy. He should have been here. He should have been sitting at his fire, glasses slipping off his nose, smoking, reading a book. I took a deep breath and tried very hard to not think about where he actually was.
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