DUBLIN AND CAHAROE 2005
There was no right way to go about what Dan Abernethy was planning but he knew he had to give it his best attempt. He had told Alison about Colm Lifford’s relationship with Leda and sworn her to secrecy. He had told Colm that not another soul would hear it, but he counted Alison and himself as one and the same. Alison had offered to come with him to meet Leda but he really didn’t want to expose her to any of the vitriol that he feared she might spout. ‘I’ll do it alone, Ali. It’s better that way and I’ll ring you the minute I get out. It shouldn’t take long and hopefully I will be home before midnight.’
‘OK, but take no crap from her. Treat her like an enemy, because that’s what she is. Don’t be afraid to put her in her place.’
He was about to test Alison’s aggressive strategy by arriving on Leda Clancy’s doorstep unannounced on a rainy Monday night, attempting to cut a deal on his father’s behalf. When Con found out that Dan had Leda’s address he half-heartedly offered to take the issue from there, but Dan knew that his father did not have the stomach for a showdown with anyone, let alone Leda, who had shown her talent for outwitting him. There was not much that Con Abernethy would admit to being unable to handle but this was a mess that he was very glad that Dan had offered to clean up. One hundred thousand euros was the initial payment that Leda had asked for and Dan knew that Con had funds for many multiples of that, but he was hoping that Leda would prove malleable if Dan threatened to reveal her past indiscretions to Bob Cantwell, the new man in her life. One payment and her subsequent silence on the matter was the outcome he hoped to bring about.
Colm had shown him the email from Ciara so he knew that she lived with her fiancé, who most likely knew nothing of her past. Some of it might stain the sheen of his bride-to-be and hopefully Leda would accept a sensible amount in return for Dan’s guarantee of silence. He didn’t want to have to blackmail her as such. He didn’t really have the first clue about how to be menacing, but it was a long time since he had seen Leda Clancy and maybe she would take a phantom threat seriously. It was surely better than sending his father into the fray, who might just collapse under the heat of Leda’s first flirtatious comment.
There were two cars parked in the driveway, a new black Audi and a rather battered-looking gold Punto, so it seemed they were both at home. A stroke of luck, Dan hoped, while his heart pounded in his chest. Leda answered the door on the fourth ring. She broke into a grin almost immediately.
‘Well my oh my, if it isn’t Dan Abernethy? I was expecting to hear from your father or maybe Columbo. Didn’t think he would allow you to become shop-soiled by dealing with the likes of me – or is the tail wagging the dog these days?’
‘We need to talk, Leda, privately if that’s possible.’ Dan nodded beyond the hall door where they were standing as if he understood that someone else was at home.
‘Come on in. My fiancé is away on business. We have the place to ourselves.’ She clocked his disappointment that his unexpected arrival was not more awkward for her and she smiled languorously at him. She closed the hall door as Dan stepped inside, pinning his tall frame against the opposite wall of the narrow hallway. ‘How did you find me? Of course, I don’t need to ask. Columbo knows where the dogs on the street are mating.’
Dan didn’t tell her that his father could not bear to tell Columbo about Leda’s demand for money. It would take too much swallowing of pride for him to admit that Columbo had been right that he should have left his brain to do the thinking for him. Besides, Columbo had moved on to the next candidate as the memory of the Abernethy era faded with every passing day.
She led the way to the back of the house where the deceptively narrow entrance hall opened out to a glass-walled room looking out on to an expensively landscaped back garden. Money had been recently spent here and it was clear that Ciara was right. Leda Clancy had landed dead on her feet. She gestured at the dining table, where magazines and papers were strewn about. Gossip magazines lay open, resting on the telltale colour of the financial papers. Dan sat down, not really knowing how to start. Leda filled the pause in proceedings enthusiastically. She was willing to whittle whatever satisfaction she could out of Dan Abernethy, and it helped that he was even more gorgeous than the last time she had seen him in the pub in Leachlara the night they had buried the witch. Ageing obviously treated the Abernethy men well.
‘I’m sure I can arrange for you to meet Bob another time if you really want to although he is very busy, poor pet. To and fro to London on a weekly basis. In fact I met him in London but he enticed me back here. It wasn’t difficult, I have to say. I’ve always been a bit of a home bird.’
‘I’d say Ted and Aggie haven’t seen you in a while. You outgrew Leachlara fairly rapidly.’ Dan wanted to make it clear to Leda that he didn’t believe a word she said but it was a topic about which her feelings were unable to be hurt.
‘Dan, you can hardly talk. Everyone around Leachlara knows that the night your mother was buried was the last night you spent in that house. People think you took the death of your mother so unbelievably hard that you couldn’t stand to be in the house without her. Of course we both know that’s not what happened really, don’t we? Compromising positions with my big sister while your lovely wee girlfriend had her innocent back turned. Tell me now, while I have you here with me, did you jump on her or did my trollop of a sister make the first move?’
‘I didn’t come here to talk about Ciara or Alison so kindly leave them out of the conversation. You have caused enough trouble so let’s see if we can sort something out so that my family never have to see or hear from you again.’
‘Oh, it suits me not to talk about either of them. I stay well clear of my darling sister because she never tires of lecturing me, as if her life can be held up as some sort of exemplary model of behaviour that I should try to emulate. As for your dowdy little Alison, that pot plant over there has more personality so no quarrel there either. I have to say though that you are looking incredibly well after years with that vapid little dishcloth. Either you thrive on the boring or else she is a little belter behind that curtain of blandness. Though I doubt it somehow.’
Rage was simmering inside Dan’s head but he knew that a furious argument with Leda would solve nothing at all. Tell her what he knew, cut a deal with her and get home.
‘Let’s cut to the chase, Leda. How much do you want to give me back every piece of paperwork belonging to my father that you stole and get out of our lives for good?’
‘I’m not greedy, honestly, I just feel that I’m entitled to a little something for all the times I made your father a happy man. At his age it nearly qualifies as home help, doesn’t it?’ She laughed gleefully, enjoying her own little joke even if Dan obviously did not.
‘How much, Leda?’
‘I told your father. A hundred grand, and I have debts I need clearing that he didn’t give me a chance to mention. He really was quite rude on the phone and I hardly deserve that after all these years. It’s credit cards mostly. Amazing how many of those you can actually get your hands on and you never have to stop until you hit the limit and then, bang, there’s another one all fresh and green in your wallet panting for a bit of action.’
‘How much does it all come to?’ Dan had taken a pen from his inside pocket and he was tapping it relentlessly against the folder he had carried in under his arm.
‘My head started to pain me a bit when I got as far as adding up to thirty thousand so I stopped, but I’d say forty should cover it. Tell you what, one hundred and fifty grand and I start with a clean slate and a nice little stash. Every girl needs a running-away fund, don’t you think?’
Dan opened the folder and produced three bank drafts payable to Leda, each to the value of fifty thousand euros. He had brought a fourth but it remained folded in his inside pocket. The prospect of ready cash was enough to persuade Leda not to push her luck further. One hundred and fifty thousand would do very nicely indeed.
‘No paper trail, Dan, I like your style. I’d say Con came up with that little manoeuvre.’ She rose from her chair and took a battered pink girly school folder from the top drawer of the chest of drawers. When she extended it open above the table stacks of photocopied credit-card statements tumbled in front of where Dan was sitting.
‘It’s all there. I’m too honest for my own good.’ Leda sat down with a thump and pulled the bank drafts to herself. Across the table Dan gathered the photocopies into a neat pile. How many credit card accounts could his father possibly have? His mind boggled at the extent of what he didn’t know about the man. He rose from the table. He would look at it all later. First he needed to dispatch Leda for good.
‘I wouldn’t come knocking for another instalment, Leda, unless you want your new fiancé to know that you have a son that you left the week you gave birth to him. He might look at you a little differently if he knew that. Might be a bit of a deal-breaker if he knew what you were really capable of, don’t you think?’
Dan was quite proud of how coolly he delivered the statement and satisfied that Leda was visibly shocked that he knew about Colm and Tom. Her neck reddened and the blush moved vigorously up her face. She seemed embarrassed and unnerved, thrown off balance for the first time in their conversation.
‘You have done your homework, I’ll give you that,’ was the weak retort she managed as she tried to think what this might mean for herself. She didn’t think of Tom or Colm as a rule. That chapter was well and truly closed.
‘I just don’t ever want to have to clap eyes on you again, so bear in mind I know things that can damage your perfect little set-up.’ He gestured around the room. She believed him when he said he would tell Bob. There was of course one way she could avoid that. Left stranded with a single ace in her hand she only had one option – to play it.
‘I told you I wasn’t greedy, Dan. Anyway, you know what they say: you should always leave something in the pot for the next man. It wouldn’t be right to clear him out. What if his son should fall on hard times and need a bit of a dig-out?’
‘Don’t worry, I don’t intend going bankrupt. My father’s money won’t be plundered by me.’ Even now her cheek appalled him. Why could she not have the decency to take the cash and shut her mouth?
‘I wasn’t talking about you. You’ll never take any risks. You showed that when you plumped for Alison, who came free with a GP practice stuck to her arse. I was talking about Tom Lifford – or should I say more correctly Tom Abernethy. It’s the least I can do to make sure Con is not cleared out in case his youngest boy should ever come knocking on Daddy’s door.’
‘You are pure poison, Leda. Is there no depth you won’t stoop to? Involving an innocent little boy – your son, I might remind you – and his father in your little scam. Colm Lifford is a lovely man and—’
Leda cut in. ‘Yeah, lovely and downright gullible. He had a big gaping hole in his life and I offered him a baby-shaped Band-Aid to plug the gap. He fell for it hook, line and sinker. Think about it. I slept with your father for years and I slept with Colm a handful of times. Which of them is more likely to be the father? I had an abortion the year your mother died, forgot to take the pill and got caught. I didn’t bother Con with the details, I just charged the flights and the clinic fee to one of my credit cards that he settled every month. Since that abortion my periods have been all over the place so when I got pregnant on Tom I didn’t even realize until it was too late to take care of it.’
Dan was ashen-faced and Leda couldn’t resist another dig now that she had the advantage again. Dan could find no words to respond to anything she was saying.
‘Do you not like me talking about my periods, Dan? I thought you being a family GP you would be listening to stories like mine all day. Anyway, there was no point in upsetting the little arrangement that I had with Con for the sake of a baby that I didn’t want or that he sure as hell wouldn’t want. Enter Colm looking for a life and I gratefully hand him the child. He is a brilliant father, luckily enough, although that’s according to my sister dearest and we both know she is prone to strange fits of lack of judgement, don’t we? But I am willing to believe that in this instance she is telling the truth. It helps my conscience if it ever troubles me – although thankfully that’s rarely.’
‘How do I know you are telling the truth?’ Dan asked weakly. In his heart he knew this could well be true and he felt his legs had been cut from under him.
‘Why would I lie, Dan? I have my money,’ Leda said, raising her bank drafts like prized trophies in his face. ‘But I will not have you threaten what I have with Bob because I will sink your cosy little world without trace if you push me. I’m not sure how Con Abernethy would feel if he knew his son was growing up in Caharoe but I look forward to finding out if you so much as lay a fingerprint on my life.’
‘Don’t you think Colm should know that he is raising a child that isn’t his own?’
‘Fuck no. Spare me the Mother Teresa bit. The arrangement suits everyone. Tom would be richer if he was an Abernethy but he will probably be less fucked up as a Lifford. Con doesn’t want a child. Colm was gagging for one. You don’t want a little brother and what would your squeaky clean Alison make of everything? I know when to leave well enough alone. I sincerely hope you do too.’
Dan didn’t remember much about leaving Leda’s house except how cheerfully she bade him farewell, as if she had already forgotten the gravity of what they had spoken about. He went in a daze to the car that he had parked a street away. Instead of clearing his head the walk made him even more confused. When he reached the car he found his mobile phone, which he had left there, showed two missed calls, one from Leachlara and one from Michaelmas. He rang his father first because whatever energy he possessed he wanted to save to talk to Alison. He could fake it with his father. It seemed much of what he knew about Con was no more than half the truth anyway. Con answered the phone immediately, as if he had been sitting on it waiting for a call. He listened to the bare bones as Dan laid them out. She had taken the money and probably wouldn’t trouble them again. Dan had received a bundle of paperwork in return that he would pass on to the Lalors to see if some kind of settlement with the Revenue could be stealthily agreed. Dan listened as his father congratulated him on a job well done. ‘I’m grateful to you for looking after this mess for me. I should never have got involved with her. Nothing good came out of it. I promise you, son, it’s a clean slate from here and now.’
‘OK. Look, Dad, it’s a long way back to Caharoe. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.’
‘You could break the trip by spending the night here,’ Con ventured gently.
‘No I couldn’t. I want to go home.’ His son’s reply was definite.
‘Well, goodnight and thanks.’
Alison sent questions down the phone like wildfire. Yes he had put Leda in her place. She had settled quickly enough and there were other bits of news. He would tell her when he got home. He asked her to wait up. He would get there as soon as he could.
The traffic was mercifully light and Dan made good time out of Dublin, coming through Abbeyleix a full forty minutes earlier than he expected. He listened to the radio to drown out his thoughts but Leda’s face and all she had told him crowded his mind, giving him no respite. He imagined what Tom Lifford might look like. If he saw him would he know if Leda were telling the truth? He thought of Lucy maybe having an uncle younger than her (was that what Tom was?) and of himself having a brother of sorts. Tom must be in the same school as Lucy. Maybe Dan had seen him. Scalding tears trickled down his face while he tried to concentrate on the road in front of him, at once familiar but now rather alien – like everything else. He tried to think of home and his family there, a foil to everything that had happened since he left Caharoe that afternoon. Alison would know what to do. If he could just get home he would tell her everything. Images of her and Lucy swam in and out of focus. Only when his eyes closed did peace wash over him.
Garda records would show that no other vehicle was involved. Daniel William Abernethy GP, aged 38, of Michaelmas House, Caharoe, Co. Cork, had momentarily lost concentration and control of his car as he travelled the dead-straight, tree-lined road that would lead him from the edges of his native Tipperary into Cork. He had made an eight-hour round trip to Dublin and exhaustion was cited as the most likely cause of the accident. He was within twenty miles of home when his car careered off the road at around 11.30 p.m., upturning into the low-lying land below the road and causing him fatal injuries. A passing motorist alerted the emergency services but Dan was already dead when their help arrived. Alison was nudging life into the open fire when the doorbell of Michaelmas House rang at two minutes past midnight.