The House by the Liffey (11 page)

Before he returned to his squadron Tommy did visit his Featherstone grandparents and they were highly delighted to see him. Son of their adored daughter Angela, they were so proud of him. He did his best to give support to Bob's wife and family too but the feeling of release amongst the whole family, grandparents included, was evident.

The day before Tommy went, Jack and Bertie, much to the regret of Jack in particular, also had to return to base and left with everyone's huge appreciation for what they had done, not least Sean's. He was also thrilled to bits at being given some of the gizmos that he had so envied.

‘You're a grand pair of lads. I'm just sorry I can never openly acknowledge what you've done for us. I'd be more than happy to have you on my team, any time!'

‘You're not so bad yourself, Sean. You never know, we might meet again some day and then you can teach us to play hurling.'

Three weeks later the exams had finished and everyone at Riverside had relaxed, although Milo and Sean insisted that all the security arrangements remained in place. Eddie was still in intensive care but recovering. Curious medical staff wondered why each time he recovered consciousness he asked, “Is the little girl all right?” He said nothing else. “Wanted” notices had been posted in all police stations with pictures of Shamus attached, but so far no luck.

In anticipation that there would be good cause, it had been decided to celebrate following the publication of the exam results and preparations were being made for a very special party. Mageen had been dropping broad hints about a possible engagement, so there would be several things to celebrate.

Two days before the date set for this, the old tramp arrived at the kitchen entrance, closely shadowed by two of Sean's men. There was consternation. Mickeen called to the men to grab hold of him and ran to find Noola.

‘That auld fella has turned up, looking for a bit more work. You know the one I mean – the…'

‘I know exactly who you mean, Mickeen. Where is he?'

‘A couple of the guards are holding onto him and he seems to be frightened out of his wits.'

‘I'll phone Sean and see what he says. I imagine he'll want to come out and question him, personally. You don't think he's our informer after all?'

‘No. He seems to be terrified and I'm sure it's not put on. And he's definitely not wearing a disguise.'

‘All right. Ask the men to stay with him. Take them into the kitchen and ask Kitty to give the three of them a cup of tea. If he really is a poor old tramp we don't want to make his life any more miserable than necessary.'

Sean came out post-haste and gave the man a gentle if thorough grilling with Noola present. With his stammer, obviously aggravated by fright, the story come out agonizingly slowly. It turned out that he was homeless; wandering the roads all over the country; getting the odd bit of casual work; sleeping in barns in the winter or under hedges in the summer. Sometimes the Garda in the country areas were kind and gave him a few pennies to do a bit of sweeping up for them and then let him sleep in a station cell, but he wasn't supposed to tell that and didn't want to get anyone into trouble. He was shaking all over and trying hard to hide the tears which threatened to overflow and drift down his weathered cheeks. Sean didn't doubt his story but just to be certain he and Noola went upstairs to call one of the Garda stations mentioned. It was all absolutely true.

‘Yes, indeed. Shure we know old Jockser well. It's a sad story. He's only eleven pence halfpenny in the shilling. Seems to have no family. Honest as the day. Never takes anything that isn't given to him. I wish there was somewhere we could find for him to live but he seems happy enough wandering around.'

Sean relayed the story to Noola who got really upset.

‘I feel so awful. Let's go down and talk to him. While you reassure him I'll talk to Mickeen about giving him a bit of regular work. He may be one of those who can't sleep in a house for any length, so I'll tell him myself that anytime he wants to sleep in the stables he's very welcome. I'll get Mickeen to put some sort of a cot in there for him and he can come and go as he likes. I'll ask Kitty to give him a decent hot meal too.'

‘So much for our detective work, Noola. I feel a bit uncomfortable myself, but it was the only lead we had. And now the mystery of the informant grows.'

As it turned out Jockser had a magical relationship with animals and eventually became a permanent member of the Riverside community. He helped to look after the horses and dogs and didn't mind how dirty or menial a job was; he did it cheerfully and well. Life changed dramatically for him and from then on he was devoted to Noola.

* * * * *

On the day of the party Mageen was so excited she hardly knew what to do with herself. She was certain Freddie was going to propose. Champagne was already cooling in the fridge so there would be multiple causes to crack it open, for in spite of everything, miraculously, they had passed their exams with reasonable grades. The two of them were in the conservatory again.

‘I want to ask you that question, Mageen, but I should speak to your father first.'

‘No, Freddie. Please ask me the question. After all you don't know what my answer will be!'

He and she knew perfectly well but he played along.

‘My very beautiful Mageen! I love everything about you deeply and sincerely. I would like to ask for your hand in marriage. Would you be willing to accept my proposal?'

The delightful, old-fashioned approach really appealed to her and her heart seemed to fly off into the stratosphere.

‘Oh, Freddie, nothing would give me more pleasure. And, Freddie, I love everything about you too, but perhaps, most of all, your kindness and gentleness.'

A long embrace ensued, then Freddie insisted.

‘Now I must speak to your father before this can be made official.'

‘Wonderful. I'll wait here for you.'

Off he went to speak to Milo. As he asked his permission to marry Mageen his slight nervousness was evident, for he fidgeted and was, uncharacteristically, slightly hesitant in his speech. They chatted for a while as Milo tried to help him to relax and then he finished:

‘I want to reassure you that I'm not a fortune hunter. I really love Mageen. I've got nothing to offer her at the moment. I'll finish my degree next year and my prospects are good. I'm confident that I'll be able to support a wife and family in considerable comfort.'

‘I'm sure you will, Freddie. Reluctant as we are to part with any of our daughters, Noola and I would be delighted to have you as a son-in-law: to welcome you into the family. We enjoyed meeting your sister Katie – liked her a lot and we look forward to meeting your grandparents too.'

‘And they'd love to meet you.'

‘Well we must get it all set up soon. We'd be happy to have them to stay here.'

The party had got off to a good start before Milo made the announcement. There were whistles and hoots of delight and congratulations and everyone was in the best of spirits. They all wanted to hug and kiss Mageen and shake Freddie's hand or slap him on the back or even give him a hug and a kiss too, not least Izzy, who liked Freddie enormously and was delighted at the way things were turning out. Meantime Mickeen and some of his men, discreetly armed, patrolled the grounds with the dogs.

The evening wore on, the champagne flowed and some of those present became very happy indeed. Izzy was thrilled at being allowed to stay up really late. She and Sarah eventually fell asleep curled up together on the big, comfortable sofa in front of the fire. Behind them the others partied on. Noola stayed close to the sofa and was sitting perched on an arm when Freddie strolled over to join her, glass in hand. He was
very
relaxed and even tripped over the odd word.

‘Izzy's looking so much better. The dermatitis seems to have cleared up and the split lip has healed.'

‘Yes, young children recover from things remarkably quickly. It's a pity she picks up infections so easily but we're hoping she'll grow out of all these minor ailments in time.'

‘That's a relief. Do you think she'll grow out of the fits too?'

Noola, an exceptionally astute person, didn't miss a beat.

‘Oh, I expect she will.' She was finding it extremely difficult not to betray her shock and agitation.

‘She looks so relaxed, Mrs Butler. You'd never think she'd been through such a dreadful experience.'

‘She's a very brave little girl, Freddie. Where's Mageen?'

‘Over there with her granny. Do you mind if I go and join them? I mustn't be too late back so I don't want to be away from her any more than I have to, especially this evening. I'm so delighted that she's said “yes” and that you and Mr Butler are happy about it.'

‘Of course we are, Freddie. You won't stay the night?'

‘No, thank you. I must get back.'

‘Off you go then. I'm not so decrepit that I can't remember the excitement of just becoming engaged!'

She called Harry over and asked him to take her place watching over the girls, then strolled over to where Milo was talking to Paddy and his wife, Aoife. She slipped her arm around his waist and he pulled her close.

‘You two are still a pair of real old love birds!'

‘So we are too, Paddy. Would you excuse us for a few minutes. I need to talk to Milo about something.'

‘Of course. We'll go and join your aunt, Milo.' They moved away.

‘Milo, I want you to stroll very casually into the library with me, laughing and chatting.'

‘What…?'

‘Just do as I ask, it's vitally important, maybe a matter of life or death.' Although overcome with horror, she had exercised supreme self-control, so far managing to keep her cool.

She shut the door firmly and told him what Freddie had said.

‘Oh come on, Noola. Let's not be ridiculous!
Freddie
implicated in this whole nightmare. No, it's just not . . . Oh, dear God, it could explain so much. But we mustn't jump to conclusions. It's a dreadful thing to think of anybody.'

‘But he spoke of
fits
as one of Izzy's on-going health problems. He could only have been told she had fits by the men who abducted her.
They
didn't know she was making it up and nobody else here knows anything about the story. We must do something. And poor Mageen! If he
is
implicated, however marginally, she'll be completely devastated. It'll break her heart.'

‘I think Sean's still here. I'll bring him in casually on some pretext. We'll be breaking our promise to Izzy though.'

‘Strictly speaking Freddie's spoken about it first, so it's already been told. But anyhow, in the circumstances, I know she'd give us the go ahead. I'm going back now to sit beside her and Sarah.'

Milo returned very quickly with Sean in tow. They were laughing and talking until Milo closed the door and told him the story. He looked completely shaken and for a few seconds didn't reply.

‘So maybe we've found our informant at last. Oh, Milo! In my job you get the nastiest surprises. I should be immune to it by now but this beats a lot of things I've come across yet. It sounds so preposterous but we can't dismiss it, however unlikely. It's not that late and he probably won't be leaving for a while yet. You know which is his room in Trinity?'

‘Yes. It's on the top floor of one of the blocks overlooking Front Square.' Milo gave him the full address.

‘I'll get a couple of detectives over there now to search the room. I don't like it but we daren't let it go. Even if they find nothing, the evidence is flimsy but sufficient to take him in for questioning.'

‘To tell you the truth, Sean, if you didn't, I'd have a go at him myself and I wouldn't guarantee not to beat him senseless if there was the slightest doubt as to his innocence. I can think of a few others who'd willingly help me too. There have been times in my life when I've been angry almost beyond control, but I feel totally outraged at the idea that Freddie, who was welcomed into this family; who wants to marry my much beloved eldest child, who is deeply in love with him; who has wormed his way into all our affections, could somehow be instrumental in this unbelievably evil crime. A crime against a frail, gentle child, who never hurt anyone or anything in her short life. It was a miracle she wasn't killed – thanks, ironically, to one of the villains. Even worse, Izzy herself likes him. He knows that and could do such a thing to her. Talk about the ultimate betrayal.'

‘I can fully understand how you feel, Milo.'

‘Can you? Can you
really
? Can you honestly imagine how you'd feel if it was one of your children? I mean it, Sean. I'm ready to kill him if I find there's the slightest shred of truth in this. I tell you something else. I can guarantee that Noola feels just the same way and would help me. Sorry to rant on at you, Sean, you who, more that anyone else, has done so much to help us. It's unfair but I'm beyond being rational. If it turns out to be a false alarm then I'll owe the man a huge mental apology and bitterly regret my lack of belief in him as a decent human being.'

‘Leave it to me, Milo. If there's anything at all in it, I'll get it out of him I promise you. In the meantime, use whatever means you can to keep him here for a while. Give my men a chance to sweep his room. He may have been so sure of himself that he hasn't been too careful. Go back to the party and make a supreme effort to be your usual convivial self, entertaining friends and family.'

While Sean got things moving with unbelievable speed, Milo followed his advice and made his way to join Noola beside the sofa. He put his arm around her and drew her a little aside and whispered.

‘Sean's getting things going straight away. He wants us to carry on as if there's nothing untoward and keep Freddie here as long as possible while he searches his room. Interesting, isn't it? Now we know why evening after evening recently he's refused to stay overnight, something he's been only too happy to do until now.'

‘I'm just as upset as you are, Milo, but let's wait until we've some definite evidence. If it's true then he's taken the whole lot of us for the biggest bunch of gullible eejits ever. Now let's try to carry on as though nothing has happened.'

‘You're an amazing woman, Noola,'

‘You're still my gorgeous big eejit!'

He managed a weak, reminiscent smile.

‘Okay. Here we go!'

Noola managed to be the perfect hostess, without ever moving any distance from Izzy, while Milo circulated, never letting Freddie out of his line of vision and when at last it looked as if Freddie was getting restless and wanting to leave, he took action.