Red Letter Day

by Colette Caddle

  'What do you mean?'

  'Eileen came to see me in the shop. She'd followed Kevin to my flat one night and she came to warn me off. That was the conversation Mary Boyle overheard. The woman was distraught, Richard, and for the first time I realised that she really did love Kevin. I promised her that it was over and I'm saying the same to you now.'

  Richard looked down at her in silence.

  'Do you believe me?'

  'Yes.'

  Celine sighed. 'But it doesn't make any difference, does it?'

  'I don't know,' Richard admitted.

  Celine sank back down onto the window ledge. 'I understand.'

  'I have to go.'

  Celine nodded without looking up. 'Sure.'

  He bent and kissed her hair. 'I'll call you.'

  'Right.' Celine closed her eyes as the door shut behind him.

  Chapter 41

  When Celine heard the buzzer later that night, she flew across the room to press the button. He's come back. Everything's going to be okay. 'Yes?' she said, breathless.

  'Celine, it's me, Fergus.'

  'Fergus? Come on up.' Celine opened the door and watched his unsteady progress up the stairs. 'Are you okay?'

  Fergus reached the top and looked at her with bloodshot eyes. 'Not really. Got any beer?'

  'I think you should have some coffee.'

  'Don't want coffee.'

  'It's your funeral,' Celine said, going to the fridge.

  'Ha! My funeral! That's funny.' Laughing, he collapsed on to the sofa.

  Celine came back with two beers. 'What's up?'

  'Oh, Celine, it's all such a bloody mess.'

  'What is?'

  'I have to go. There's no other way. I just have to go.'

  Celine frowned. 'What is it, Fergus, what's wrong?'

  'They don't understand, Celine. They don't realise how dangerous he is. I should never have listened to Richard.' He lit a cigarette with shaking fingers.

  'Jesus, you're scaring me, Fergus. Will you tell me what the hell is going on?'

  Over the next twenty minutes and three cigarettes, Celine managed to get the facts out of Fergus, although not necessarily in the right order. 'So, this guy Mick thinks you're working for him and the police want you to set him up?' Ignoring Fergus's pleas for another beer, Celine had gone the other side of the breakfast bar to make some strong coffee.

  'Yeah.'

  'Well, that's good, isn't it? Once he's in jail you can get on with your life.'

  Fergus shot her a pitying look and lit another cigarette. 'Mick has more contacts in Dublin than I've had hot dinners. It'll take him about thirty seconds to figure out I shopped him and then he'll send his mates after me. And it won't be just me, Celine.'

  'What do you mean?'

  He put his head in his hands. 'Mick was behind the break-in.'

  Celine placed a mug in front of Fergus and sat down on the window ledge. 'Shit.' She stared at him, her eyes large.

  'Exactly. I can handle him coming after me but I can't let him destroy Ma. And the break-in was just a warning. Next time someone could get hurt.' He looked at her. 'You could get hurt. Jesus, it's not enough that I got Dermot killed, now I'm putting you in danger.'

  'It's not your fault—' Celine broke off as Fergus's mobile rang. After looking at the display, he disconnected the call. 'Who was it, Mick?'

  'The law.'

  'Shouldn't you talk to them?'

  He shook his head. 'I'm not going to do it. I can't do it.'

  'But then won't you be in trouble?'

  He gave a short laugh. 'I think I'm in trouble whatever happens.'

  Celine closed her eyes. 'But if you help the police surely they'll take care of you afterwards?'

  'Yeah, right. Trust me, Celine, I know what Mick and his gang are like. They'll find me wherever I go.'

  'So what are you going to do? If you do a runner now won't Mick still come after you? And the police, they'll be after you as well. And if they don't get you they might come after Rose—' She broke off as she saw the look of terror in his eyes. 'I'm going to call Richard.'

  'No!' Fergus shouted, making her jump. 'Sorry, Celine, but he's just going to insist I go along with whatever the police say.'

  She moved over to sit beside him and put an arm around his thin shoulders. 'Maybe he's right, Fergus. If you don't deal with this now you're going to spend your life running away.'

  Fergus sniffed back the tears. 'I know.' 'Let me call Richard. Between the three of us maybe we'll come up with something.'

  Fergus nodded reluctantly and she grabbed the phone and took it into the bedroom.

  'Richard?'

  'Celine, hi.'

  'Can you come over, Richard? Fergus is here.'

  'What is it, what's wrong?'

  'Nothing, everything, oh, please just come over.'

  'I'll be five minutes,' he promised and she hung up.

  'He's on his way,' she said as she went back into the living room. 'Fergus?' He was no longer on the sofa but, backtracking, she saw that the door to the loo was closed. 'He's on his way,' she called again and then went out to the kitchen to make more coffee.

  True to his word, Richard arrived moments later. 'Where is he?' he asked looking around the room.

  'In the loo. Do you want some coffee?'

  'Yeah, thanks. So what's going on?'

  'He's told me everything.'

  'Oh yeah?'

  Celine handed him a mug. 'Yeah, and I think you should have told me.'

  'It wasn't up to me. Given the history that you and Fergus share I thought you'd be the last person he'd tell.'

  'He's afraid I might be in danger because I live over the shop.'

  'I suppose you could have been, but now that the police are involved everything will be fine.'

  He sat down on the edge of the sofa and Celine sat cross-legged on the floor, her back against the window.

  'Don't you think that's a bit naive?'

  'No.'

  Celine sighed. 'Look, I know you mean well, Richard, and I'd probably have gone to the police too.'

  'Well, thanks for the vote of confidence,' he drawled.

  She ignored his sarcastic tone. 'But like Fergus says, this Mick character is bound to have plenty of friends who'll come after him when they find out what he's done.'

  'But they won't find out.'

  'Why not?'

  'Because when Mick gets arrested, Fergus will be arrested too. He'll get off on a technicality, of course, but no one will suspect that he was in any way involved with Mick going down.'

  'Oh.' Celine absorbed this for a moment.

  'What the hell is he doing in there?' Richard muttered.

  Celine's eyes widened. 'Oh!'

  'What?'

  'Well, I didn't actually see him go in. I went into the bedroom to phone you and when I came out he was gone. The loo door was shut so I just presumed—'

  'Bloody marvellous! Well done, Celine, he's got at least fifteen minutes head start thanks to you.'

  'Well, I didn't think—'

  'No, you didn't, did you?' Richard stood up and started to punch numbers into his mobile. 'Jesus, Celine, how could you be so bloody stupid?'

  Before she could answer, the bathroom door opened and Fergus ambled out. 'Oh, hi, Richard, what's all the noise about?'

  'Richard thought you'd done a runner,' Celine told him.

  'Sure why would I do that?' Fergus muttered as he sat down and lit a cigarette. 'I haven't finished my coffee yet.'

  Richard met Celine's eyes. 'Okay, sorry, I'm sorry.' He sat back down opposite Fergus. 'Celine says you're worried about Mick. There's no need.'

  Fergus's look was scathing. 'Anyone with any sense is scared of Mick. You've no idea what you're dealing with.'

  'But the police do,' Richard replied, his voice calm and quiet. 'You have to trust them.'

  'This is a very small town and Mick has a lot of contacts. If there is even the slightest suggestion that I might have been invo
lved in his arrest I'm a dead man. If I do a runner, he'll come after me ma.'

  'No one will know,' Richard replied.

  Celine said nothing but she was as sceptical as Fergus. Dublin was a very small place and all it would take was a copper with a big mouth to put Fergus in danger.

  'I should tell Ma,' Fergus decided. 'I should tell her everything and we should get the hell out of here for good.'

  'Oh, Fergus, no,' Celine began but Richard cut in.

  'Where would you go?'

  'Dunno. Cork, maybe.'

  'And you think that Mick's contacts are limited to Dublin, do you?'

  'Then we'll go to England, to Spain, anywhere, I don't give a fuck!'

  Celine sat up beside him and put an arm around his shoulders before glaring across his head at Richard.

  'Look, I'm not trying to scare you, Fergus,' Richard said, rubbing his eyes with a weary hand. 'But you have to think this through. You can't rim for ever. You can't spend your life looking over your shoulder. And you can't ask your mother to do it either. She's been through enough.'

  Celine sighed. 'He's right, Fergus. Your only hope is to help the police. Then at least you'll have them on your side.'

  Fergus nodded. 'I suppose.'

  'When is it all going to happen?' Celine asked.

  'Don't answer that,' Richard instructed him. 'The less any of us know about it the better.'

  Fergus patted her hand. 'He's right.'

  'So aren't we going to tell Rose?' she asked.

  'God, no, she'd be just worried sick.'

  'It's for the best,' Richard assured her. 'Fergus doesn't need any distractions right now.'

  Fergus gave a mirthless chuckle. 'No, I need my wits about me, don't I?' He stood up. 'Sorry for laying all this on you, Celine.'

  'That's okay.' She stood up too and hugged him.

  Til give you a lift,' Richard said.

  'No, I could do with the walk.'

  'Keep in touch,' Celine begged.

  'I don't think I will,' he told her with a sad smile.

  'But how will I know that you're all right?' She looked at him in dismay.

  'Trust me, if anything happens it will be on the news and all over the newspapers. Would you do something for me, Celine?'

  'Of course.'

  'If anything happens, if I don't come out of this, look after Ma for me.'

  Celine swallowed hard and nodded. 'Of course I will but I'm sure you'll be fine, Fergus.'

  'Yeah, sure I will.'

  Celine and Richard stood in silence as he ran down the stairs and let himself out on to the street. 'Do you think he'll be okay?' she asked, wiping her eyes.

  He slipped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her to him. 'He'll be fine.'

  Celine pulled away from him and walked into the kitchen. 'You don't know that,' she snapped.

  He followed her. 'Why are you taking this out on me?'

  'You were the one who got him into this mess. You called the police.'

  'Only because Fergus came to me terrified. He couldn't have handled this on his own. Mick wanted him to deal and it would only have been a matter of time before Fergus got hooked again.'

  Celine closed her eyes and slumped against the counter. 'You're right. I'm sorry. It's just that I hate feeling so helpless.'

  'I know.'

  'Do you want a drink?'

  'Yeah.'

  She fetched two more beers and went back to sit on the window ledge.

  Richard laughed. 'I don't know why I bothered buying you chairs.'

  She smiled. 'They come in handy for visitors.' They drank in silence for a moment. 'Will your inspector friend tell you what's going on?' she asked after a while.

  'Not the details.'

  'They will look out for Fergus, won't they? I mean they won't put him in danger.'

  'I don't believe so. They've checked him out and they know he hasn't been in any trouble since he kicked the habit.'

  Celine's eyes were solemn as she looked at him over the rim of her glass. 'If anything happens to him Rose will kill us.'

  'Nothing is going to happen to him, Celine. He's doing the right thing.'

  Chapter 42

  Celine was finding it hard to keep her mind on her work the next morning. Her thoughts kept turning to Fergus and her stomach was in a knot wondering if today was going to be the day. It didn't help when Rose phoned for a chat. Celine was consumed with guilt and as a result chattered away nineteen-to-the-dozen. Rose was immediately suspicious.

  'Is everything okay, Celine?'

  'Yes, sure, of course, why?'

  'You just sound a bit . . . hyper.'

  Celine closed her eyes and took a deep breath. 'Sorry.'

  'Is it Richard?' Rose's voice was quiet and concerned.

  Celine's eyes flew open and she smiled. 'Yes, yes, it's Richard. We had words last night. When the phone rang, well, I thought it was him.'

  'Oh, well, I'd better go and leave the line free so he can ring and grovel!'

  Celine's laugh was nervous and shrill — God, she was a lousy actress. 'Yeah, right, thanks, Rose.'

  'Bye, love, good luck. And if you see that son of mine tell him to phone his mother.'

  Celine gulped. 'Yeah, I will. Bye.' She put down the phone and nipped into the back between customers to make a restorative cup of coffee. She had only taken one sip when the bell went again heralding another customer. She hurried back into the shop and smiled when she saw Marina rifling through the rail by the desk. 'Hello there!'

  Marina turned and smiled. 'Hi, how are you?'

  'Fine. I just made a coffee — would you like one?'

  'Love one, thanks.' Marina followed her outside and sat down at the small table. 'You don't look fine. Is it Richard?'

  Celine debated telling Marina about Fergus and decided against it. It was too risky. 'We talked but it didn't do much good.'

  'Oh, Celine, I'm sorry.'

  Celine placed a mug of coffee in front of her friend and sat down. 'That's life.'

  'He may still come round.'

  'I doubt it. The sooner Rose gets back the better.'

  'You're definitely leaving then?'

  'Definitely.'

  'Are you going to go back to Killmont?'

  Celine laughed. 'I don't think so. No, I'll probably sell the house.'

  'But where will you go?'

  Celine shrugged — she hadn't actually given it any thought. 'Maybe London, who knows?'

  'Have you told your dad?'

  'No point until I have a plan.'

  'I wish you'd reconsider. You could buy a house here in Hopefield, we could be neighbours!'

  Celine tapped a fingernail against her mug. 'Very cosy. No, I think it would be better if I made a clean break.'

  'Another one,' Marina muttered.

  Celine laughed. 'Well, at least this time nobody's sending me hate mail.'

  'You know, I was thinking about those red envelopes. I bet it was Eileen who sent them after all.'

  'It could have been,' Celine agreed. 'She was a lot more upset than I realised. I made her life a misery.'

  Marina drained her cup and stood up. 'Stop beating yourself up, Celine. You've done all you can to put things right. Now, relax and finish your coffee. I'll see myself out.'

  'Bye, Marina,' Celine called after her friend. Standing up, she rinsed the two mugs and left them on the draining board. The day seemed to be dragging but at least, she thought as she went back into the shop, she had one thing to look forward to. Tonight she was going to Brenda and Alan's for dinner.

  'Nothing fancy,' Brenda had warned her, 'just roast chicken, but it's probably better than the rubbish you're surviving on.'

  Celine had laughed. 'Sounds great.' It was wonderful to hear Brenda sounding like her old self again. Although she wasn't the same. She was softer and more confident, an excellent advertisement for counselling. The arrival of a mother and her two daughters looking for wedding outfits kept Celine occupied until lunchtime. As
she nibbled on some crackers and cheese, she pondered calling or texting Fergus. Probably not a good idea, of course, because he could be with anyone, maybe even Mick. She shuddered at the thought. The doorbell jangled again and she dabbed her mouth with a piece of kitchen towel before going into the shop.

  Richard turned to smile at her. 'How are you?'

  She smiled back. 'Fine, well, distracted.'

  'Yeah, I know what you mean.'

  'Did you hear from Fergus?'

  Richard shook his head. 'But I called Declan Murphy.'

  'So what did he say?'

  'Not a lot. So I just told him to look after Fergus or Mick Garvey would be the least of his worries!'

  'Rose phoned,' Celine told him. 'I felt awful not telling her.'

  'What would be the point?'

  'He's her son, Richard, she'd want to know.'

  'Well, he doesn't want her to and it's his decision,' Richard warned her.

  'I never said a word,' she snapped.

  'Yeah, right, sorry. Look, why don't we go out for a drink tonight or you could come over to my place and we could order some pizza, watch a movie, it would take our minds off things.'

  'I can't, sorry, I'm going over to see Brenda and Alan tonight.'

  'Oh, right. Pizza for one then.'

  'I'm sorry—'

  'Not a problem!' Richard was already halfway out the door, a polite smile on his face. 'I'll let you know if there's any news. Bye.'

  'Bye,' Celine replied but she was already alone. Damn and blast. Richard seemed to have thawed, tonight they might even have sorted everything out. She was sure he thought that she'd lied about going to Brenda's tonight and probably wouldn't ask again. Still, she told herself, this was the twenty-first century, there was nothing stopping her inviting him over. If nothing else it would give him the chance to turn her down. Lord, they were behaving like a couple of teenagers. Still, at least they were talking, even if it was only about Fergus. Fergus. She sobered as she wondered where he was, what he was doing, who he was with. His problems made hers look pathetic. She went into the back room, dumped the remainder of her lunch in the bin and made another coffee. On days like today she wished she smoked.

  Later that evening she stood on Brenda's doorstep clutching a bottle of chilled champagne and a bunch of flowers. Alan threw open the door and wrapped her in a warm hug. 'Celine, it's been ages, how are you?'