by Val Collins
‘Let me see.’
‘You’d never know, would you? Everyone has an extension lead under their desk, and who ever looks at them? Of course, Dan and Robert might be careful what they say in the office, so I bought pens, a calculator and air fresheners as well.’
‘How are we going to get them into Dan and Robert’s offices?’
‘That’s our first problem. I think I can get the pen into Robert’s car, but you’ll have to help me exchange the extension leads and Robert’s calculator.’
‘How are we going to do that?’
‘I thought Friday would be a good opportunity. Everybody will be at the Away Day. Dan won’t want to drive to Tipperary on his own, so I’m guessing he’ll get a lift from Robert. I’ll try to get the pen into Robert’s car before then. The pen’s voice-activated too, but the battery runs down after twenty-four hours so we can only use it once. They’ll be in the car for three hours. If Dan’s involved in the stealing, they’re bound to mention it at least once during that time.’
‘How do we get the pen back?’
‘I’m working on that. If I have to, I’ll break the car window.’
‘Are you going to break into the office as well?’
‘I haven’t figured that out yet. I was hoping you’d know where we could get a key.’
‘I guess I could steal Tom’s. He always keeps it in his jacket pocket. I’ll ask him to meet me for a drink on Thursday night. I’ll keep him drinking until he goes to the gents. He’s not likely to take his jacket with him, so I’ll take the key when he’s gone. As long as it’s back in his jacket by Sunday night he won’t miss it.’
‘That’s brilliant, Eilis.’
‘Yeah but how many times can I do that? It should be easy enough to place the bugs, but how are we going to get them back?’
‘We’ll worry about that when the time comes.’
*
At 5 p.m., Robert left the Stephen’s Green office. He always parked as close to the office as possible, and Aoife had already found his car. She stood in a nearby shop doorway until Robert pressed the button on his remote and the central unlocking activated. As he settled into the driver’s seat, Aoife approached the car from the opposite direction and opened the passenger door.
‘Hi, Robert,’ she said, plopping four M & S shopping bags on the passenger seat and bending down to make eye contact. ‘Are you going near Heuston? These bags are killing me. I could do with a lift.’
‘I’m not going that way. Close the door, please.’
‘Sorry to bother you.’ As Aoife picked up the shopping bags, the contents of one spilled all over the car.
‘Sorry.’ Aoife leaned into the car, collecting the spilled fruit which had rolled everywhere. She picked up an apple and two oranges and dropped the apple whilst trying to reach a banana that had rolled under Robert’s feet. Robert’s lips tightened, but he stared resolutely out the window until Aoife refilled her bags and walked away. He didn’t notice the biro she’d slipped under his seat.
*
‘U have key?’ Aoife texted Eilis.
‘Yes. Met Tom. Need to return it before Mon.’
‘I’ll return it. Meeting Tom for lunch Sat.’
‘Great. See u at 10. Remember, don’t mention this to Laura. Said too sick for Away Day.’
*
Aoife and Eilis stood in the doorway of the Stephen’s Green office.
‘You’re sure everybody’s gone to Tipperary?’ Aoife asked.
‘Tom said the bus was leaving Dame Street at nine-thirty. Robert and Dan are driving there.’
‘Figures. Robert would never pass up a chance to drive the BMW on a motorway. How do we know they’ve left already?’
‘The Away Day can’t go ahead without them. They’d have to have left by now.’
‘We’d better hope they don’t drop into the office on their way down.’
‘Come all the way into the city? They’d never do that.’
‘I suppose not. Still, be careful. If they catch us here there’s a very good chance they’ll kill us.’
‘You’ve got to calm down, Aoife. I’ve known Dan and Robert a lot longer than you, and they’re not murderers.’
*
Eilis used Tom’s key to enter the building and turned off the alarm. DCA were the only occupants of the building, as the shop on the first floor had gone into liquidation a few months earlier and the landlord had been unsuccessfully attempting to let the second and third floors for over a year. Eilis locked the door behind her. Aoife turned towards the lift, but Eilis took the stairs. Aoife followed.
‘Dan enjoys bullying people,’ Eilis said. ‘The more of a reaction he gets, the better he likes it. I don’t think killing someone would give him any satisfaction at all, and until recently I’d never even heard Robert raise his voice. He doesn’t have it in him to murder anyone.’
‘Who poisoned Karen, then, and who tried to kill me, twice?’
‘How many people get flat tyres? Do you think someone is trying to murder them all?’
‘And do those same people almost get knocked down crossing the road?’
‘That was some joyrider who was drunk or high and thought it would be fun to scare you. And Karen’s poisoning was probably accidental. Weird stuff gets into food all the time. How often have you heard of suppliers recalling stuff?’
‘The police don’t think so.’
‘Once the hospital informed them, they had no choice but to investigate, and of course Delia’s death made the whole thing more suspicious. They’ll soon find there’s no connection. Karen could have eaten something she kept in the freezer. Maybe there was a scare months or even years ago and we’ve all forgotten about it. Maybe her kid sprayed de-icer on her breakfast cereal. There’s probably a simple explanation.’
‘It’s far too many coincidences. Although I can’t figure out how Joe fits into this. Don’t you think it’s weird he knew alcohol was an antidote to antifreeze?’
‘Not really. Why would he poison Karen and then save her life?’
‘He panicked and then regretted it?’
‘Some murderer! Your imagination’s running riot, Aoife.’
‘Yeah. Probably. I can’t really see Joe as a murderer.’ Eilis unlocked the office door, locked it behind her and put the key in her jeans pocket. ‘What worries me,’ she said, ‘is getting caught breaking in here. We could end up in prison or with a conviction on our records, and who would hire us then? Who would listen when we said the real thieves were Dan and Robert?’
*
The office felt different empty. Each footstep caused the floor to creak. In the first five minutes, they jumped every time the windows rattled or the pipes banged, and even when they stood too near the ticking office clock.
‘We’ve got to stop this or we’ll never get anything done,’ Aoife said.
‘Did you hear that?’ Eilis clutched Aoife’s arm.
‘What?’
‘Listen.’
They stood still, and a few seconds later Aoife heard what sounded like light feet running overhead.
‘Whatever it is, it’s in the attic. Mice or rats probably.’ Aoife opened the door to Dan’s office, crawled under the desk, removed the four plugs from the extension lead and replaced it with the recording device. ‘That was easy. You hold that,’ she said, handing the old extension lead to Eilis. ‘I don’t want us mixing them up.’
Aoife placed one of the air fresheners in the meeting room, then crossed the corridor to Robert’s office. She pulled the handle but nothing happened. ‘It’s locked. What do we do now?’
‘Monica keeps a copy for the cleaner. I’ll get it.’ Eilis was back in a few minutes with a key which unlocked Robert’s office. His office was almost twice the size of Dan’s, and an interconnecting door led to a separate meeting room. Aoife exchanged the extension lead under Robert’s desk and placed the air freshener in the meeting room. They were closing Monica’s drawer when they heard a key turn in the outer door.
*
Two sets of footsteps came down the corridor. Aoife ducked under Monica’s desk, pushing Eilis towards the desk opposite. They crouched underneath, facing each other.
‘Who is it?’ Eilis mouthed.
Aoife shook her head.
A moment later they heard a young girl. ‘Why do I have to do this? I don’t feel well, Nan.’
‘There isn’t a thing wrong with you.’ Aoife recognised Josie’s voice. ‘You might as well see what kind of job you’ll get if you keep skiving off school. I’ll do the offices. You empty those bins, then get out the hoover.’
‘Fuck’s sake,’ the girl muttered.
‘What did you say?’
‘Nothing.’
‘Get a move on. I have to be at the school by two to collect your brother.’
There was a bin under the desk. Aoife pushed it into the middle of the floor, motioning for Eilis to do the same. The girl didn’t seem the type to pay any attention to bins, but she could hardly hoover under the desks without discovering them. Would it be better to walk out now as if they had every right to be here? How would they explain the locked front door? Would Josie believe they were scared in the office on their own, so they’d locked themselves in?
A pair of skinny jeans appeared between the desks. Long black fingernails emptied the bins into a refuse sack and the girl moved on, leaving the bins in the middle of the floor. A few minutes later the same legs appeared, dragging a hoover.
They were trapped.
Aoife moved as far under the desk as possible and Eilis copied her. If the girl didn’t look under the desks, would they be able to avoid the hoover?
The hoover was a few feet from their hiding place. Aoife squeezed herself into as small a space as possible. The girl bashed the hoover off the bins but didn’t bother to hoover around them. She didn’t even attempt hoovering under the desks. They were going to be okay. The girl’s feet had turned around and she was moving away. Aoife smiled at Eilis. Eilis grinned. Aoife saw something small scuttle between Eilis’ legs and two seconds later, Eilis gave an ear-splitting scream.
*
The mouse flew in Aoife’s direction but she forced herself not to move. She kept her eyes glued on the girl’s legs. She was standing still in the middle of the office. Aoife held her breath. A loud roar caused her to jump, banging her head off the top of the desk.
‘Take those headphones off,’ Josie screamed.
‘I wasn’t doing anything.’
‘You don’t say? Give me those. I’ll finish here. Get into those bathrooms and make sure every inch of them sparkles.’
‘That’s disgusting. I’m not cleaning scummy bathrooms.’
‘You’ll do as you’re told, my girl, if you ever want to see this phone again.’
‘Bitch,’ the girl muttered under her breath.
The hoovering continued but on the opposite side of the room. Aoife could see Josie’s legs as she moved bins and hoovered under every desk. Aoife’s legs were cramping and every muscle ached by the time the girl returned to give the desks a very brief polish.
‘Hurry up, we have to leave in five minutes.’
‘Finished. Can I have my phone back now?’
‘You’ll get it back when we’ve finished Dame Street. We’ve another two hours’ work yet.’
‘That’s not fair. I’ve been cleaning for a whole hour already.’
‘You’ll be cleaning for the rest of your life if you don’t start taking school seriously. And you won’t be strolling in at ten, either. Six a.m. every day. Is that what you want?’
They could hear the girl muttering as she followed her grandmother from the room. The key turned in the outer lock and Aoife and Eilis crawled out from under the desks.
‘I thought we were finished when you screamed,’ Aoife said, stretching her muscles.
Eilis shivered. ‘That thing touched me. What if it had bitten me? God knows what kind of diseases it carries. Just so you know, I’m not planting any more of these.’
*
‘What’s the point in planting a bug on Annette?’ Maura asked. ‘Robert’s not going to tell his mother he’s a thief.’
‘Annette has lunch with Dan most days. He might say something incriminating. Dan doesn’t take his car to work, and I can’t get close enough to plant a bug on him. Annette’s my only hope of taping him outside the office.’
‘Why do I have to do it?’
‘She knows Eilis and she’s seen me in the distance. She might recognise me. I’ll be there the whole time. If anything goes wrong, I’ll cause a diversion so you can get away.’
‘I’m not sure I want to do this.’
‘It’s important, Maura. It may be the only way to save my life.’
*
‘I’ll sit at the back so Amy can’t see me. Put your hand in the sling.’
‘What if Amy doesn’t cry?
‘She always cries if she’s left in the buggy.’
It was Monday morning, and Maura and Aoife were standing at the DART station in Blackrock. Aoife had followed Annette for two days. Each day Annette took the same DART from Dalkey to Pearse Street. She always sat at a window seat in the top carriage, looking out at the sea, both hands gripping the handbag on her lap. Aoife decided they would board at Blackrock. It seemed less suspicious than boarding in Dalkey, yet far enough from town that the seat beside Annette should be empty.
Maura had swapped her designer jeans for oversized jogging pants and a shapeless sweatshirt because she thought it made her look older. Aoife waved goodbye to Amy as the DART pulled into the station. When Maura and Amy boarded, Aoife entered by a different door and sat at the back of the carriage.
Maura sat opposite Annette and apologised for taking up so much room. ‘I have to leave her in the buggy. I can’t lift her with this thing,’ she said, pointing at her sling.
Annette smiled. ‘Your daughter?’
‘Granddaughter. Do you have grandchildren?’
‘Not yet, but my eldest is getting married next year, so hopefully we can expect grandchildren soon.’
‘A wedding. That’s so exciting. Will it be in Ireland?’
‘No, they want to get married in Italy. We have a house there, so it’s like a second home to Cassie.’
‘Cassie? That’s an unusual name.’
‘Cassandra. Her father calls her Sandy but I prefer Cassie.’
‘It’s a lovely name.’ Maura patted Amy’s head. ‘We’ll be getting out soon, child. Stop fussing. How many children do you have?’
‘Three, two boys and a girl. How many do you have?’
‘Five. All boys.’
‘You must have had a very rowdy house.’
Amy started crying. Maura made a big show of checking the buggy. ‘The blanket is wound all around her. Would you mind lifting her out and holding her for a minute while I sort it out?’
‘Of course not.’ Annette put her handbag on the seat beside her and lifted Amy onto her lap. Amy screeched.
‘Hold your horses, child. I’ll be with you in a second.’
Annette jiggled her up and down on her lap and Amy smiled.
‘She doesn’t usually take to strangers. You have a way with kids.’ Maura crouched down in the narrow space between the two seats. She reached into the buggy and flung blankets and stuffed animals on every seat. Aoife had decided eight stuffed animals should cause enough of a distraction.
‘She has a lot of toys, hasn’t she?’
‘She won’t be parted from any of them.’ Maura flung a blanket over Annette’s handbag. ‘There, that’s sorted. Would you mind putting her in the buggy?’
While Annette bent down to put Amy in the buggy, Maura slipped her hand out of the sling. She reached under the blanket. Annette’s bag had a large flap with a magnetic fastener so it was easily opened. Maura dropped in the pen and lowered the flap.
‘Thank you so much,’ she said to Annette. She removed the blanket covering Annette’s bag and placed it
over Amy. ‘This is our stop. I hope you enjoy the wedding.’
*
‘She’s a nice woman, Aoife,’ Maura said when they met outside Lansdowne Road station. ‘I don’t like being part of setting her up.’
‘Would you rather her husband or son murdered me?’
‘Of course not.’
‘Well, that’s what’s going to happen if I don’t get enough evidence to have them arrested.’
‘Jason needs to know about this, Aoife.’
‘Jason has made it very clear he has no interest in my safety.’
‘You don’t really believe that.’
‘I don’t know what to believe. He walks away if I try to talk to him. He fell out with you when you tried to intervene. Maura, I’m not sure how much longer I can take this.’
‘Don’t you trust me, Aoife? I told you, Jason will come around in his own time. I think he’s so scared of losing you, nothing that’s happened to you has really registered with him. Give him time to work out his fears and he’ll come back to you.’
‘I hope you’re right, because if I lose him, I don’t know how I’m going to cope. He and Amy are my whole life. I don’t have anyone or anything else.’
‘You have me. You’re my child as much as Jason is, and you’re not going to lose either of us. You and Jason had one silly fight, that’s all. Who throws away a marriage because of one ridiculous fight?’
*
Aoife had now planted all her recording devices, but how would she retrieve them? Her phone buzzed. The text from Eilis read, ‘Tom suffering from stress. Out 4 weeks min.’ Perfect. How was she going to get back into Stephen’s Green? Even if she visited Tom at home, he wouldn’t have the key on him and she couldn’t search his house.
That was a problem for another day. First she had to recover the bug she’d placed in Robert’s car. The battery would be dead now, and every day it lay useless in the car was another day it could be discovered. It was unlikely Robert would recognise the pen as a recording device, but if he found it, he might put it in his pocket and leave it lying somewhere, or he might get the car valeted, and who knew where the biro might end up?
