Chapter Twenty-Three

Once they’d established that the details of the story would keep until later in the day, the breakfast at Bridget’s wrapped up fairly quickly.

Maura was quick to tell Bridget, “Mick can bring you to the pub later—unless, of course, you change your mind. I won’t mind if you do, because we can talk about it all some other time.”

“Ah, Maura, yer too kind. I’ve waiting a long time to see the end of this story, and I don’t want to put it off any longer. If anythin’ goes wrong, I’ll call. But I’m lookin’ forward to seein’ Billy again—it’s been too long, and he has his own pieces of this puzzle to share.”

“Thank you, Bridget,” Maura said. “I’ll be seeing you later.”

Maura opened the front door and waited for Darragh to follow her. Outside she said, “Where do you want to go? You can come sit in the pub if you want, or hang out around here. Or you can skip this meeting or party or whatever it is and write us a note. Are you going to invite Ciara?”

“Why would I do that?”

“Because I think she cares for you. If you’re going to disappear from her life, it would be polite to let her know. And I’m not volunteering to be the one to tell her, because I don’t know either of you well. If whatever it is is over, you tell her. Mick and I have got to get to the pub, so make up your mind where you’re going to be today. And if you want to take a shower and change clothes, you’re welcome to use the cottage.”

“What?” Darragh looked confused. “Oh, right—I’m not in any shape for a party, am I? And maybe I could use a nap.”

“You still have your car?” Maura asked.

“Yes, but it’s out of sight.”

“You can drive it to Leap. Like I said, Mick will take care of his grandmother. And if you make her unhappy, I may have to bury you somewhere myself. Which reminds me: assuming the gardaí don’t find a reason to charge anybody, what do you want to do with your grandfather, if they’ll release the remains?”

“I’ll have to give that some thought. My family won’t care, but I do. Look, Maura …” Darragh fumbled for words. “I’m sorry if I’ve messed things up. I really thought it would be simple: find the fairy fort, find the body, if it was there, and be done with it. I never expected to involve so many people. Nor did I think you’d all be connected somehow.”

“Hey, that’s how it seems to be around here,” Maura said, managing a smile. “Look, Mick and I will be leaving. You can hang out here as long as you like. I can tell you there’s no money hidden and nothing of any value, and Old Mick didn’t leave a journal with all the details of what happened with your grandfather. You’re going to have to come and listen to everyone else if you want to know.”

“Thanks, Maura. You’ve been kinder than I had any right to expect.”

Maura gave him a curt nod, since she had no idea what to say, then turned and went down the hill to where Mick was waiting next to his car. “Have I screwed this up?”

“Why would yeh say that?”

“I could have kept my mouth shut about all of it. God knows what Sean is going to think, if he hears the whole story. Or I could have told Darragh to go on his way and get out of our lives, and we might never have known. Is Bridget going to be all right about this? I didn’t think she’d know about the whole mess from the past. I don’t want to make her unhappy.”

“I think she’s stronger than you give her credit for, Maura. And it’s partly her story too. So much of history around here was never written down, and it’s the people who were in the thick of it that hold on to the memories.”

“I still feel like a fool, now that I’ve gotten everybody else into this mess. It wasn’t my problem to share.”

“Yeh might be surprised, Maura.”

“Do you know more than I do, Mick?” she asked.

“I’m not sure. Let’s give it a rest until later. We’ll go to the pub, and you can talk with Billy. I’ll pick up Bridget in the afternoon.”

“What do I tell Rose? Or Susan and Helen? ‘Sorry, but we’re settling a family crisis that’s more than half a century old and you’re not invited’?”

“Yeh might argue that Helen has a connection. It may be what brought her husband—yer father—to the States.”

“I don’t know her well enough to ask. Heck, if I couldn’t ask Gran, how can I ask Helen what she knows or wants to know?”

“Your choice, Maura. Mebbe she won’t come by at all.”

“And what about Susan?”

“Maura, I don’t know. Yeh might have noticed I’m not good at talking about things that are personal, even if they’re long past. I can’t be tellin’ yeh how to deal with yer relatives.”

“We are a mess, aren’t we? I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.”

“Then let’s go see how yer kitchen’s comin’ along, and then you can talk to Billy.”

“I guess that will have to do. One last thing: does this have anything to do with us? You and me, I mean?”

“It might do. Don’t borrow trouble, Maura. We’ll be sorting it out later.”

Maura surprised herself by getting into Mick’s car. Sure, her own was sitting right up the hill, and she might even need it later in the day, but right now she wanted Mick’s company. And she was pretty sure she’d want it later.

As a couple they were in fact a mess. She’d known him for well over a year now, and for much of that time she’d been unsure of what her plans were going forward, and reluctant to get involved with anyone. She got the same feeling from Mick. After all, he was intelligent and educated—and single. What the heck was he doing in a small shabby pub in a village in West Cork? But as far as she knew, he hadn’t been looking for anything more. Still, after some time Bridget had pushed him into confessing why he’d lost all ambition and was content just to drift through his life. It had been a shock to her to find out what he’d been hiding, but it had explained a lot.

That train of thought led her to recognize that Bridget was a wise woman. She knew her grandson, and she wasn’t lecturing him about getting on with his life. She’d also known Maura’s grandmother for years, but she hadn’t told Maura what to do next when she arrived. Which led Maura to think that if Bridget believed they needed to get this whole messy business of the body in the rath sorted out, then maybe she was right. And when Bridget and Billy were gone, much of that history would be lost, the story left unfinished. So why was she so upset about it?

Maybe it was the fairies talking to her again. Not that she believed in fairies, but there were an awful lot of unusual things happening in Leap and beyond that she couldn’t begin to explain. She was trying to keep an open mind, but when a stranger showed up and started poking around a prehistoric monument in her back yard, or found himself a body that he claimed was his grandfather, she had to figure there was some sort of explanation. She was torn between reluctance and curiosity about hearing what Billy and Bridget had to say, and where Darragh fit.

“Are yeh sleepin’?” Mick’s question interrupted her scattered thoughts.

“What? On, no, just thinking. Or trying to. Everything has happened so quickly that I can’t make sense of it. Was I being an ostrich, keeping my head in the sand? Or bog, in this case?”

“I’d say there were things you didn’t need to know, so you ignored them. Like the boundaries of Old Mick’s land. You weren’t plannin’ to farm, so it didn’t matter. Yeh got the forms filled out fer runnin’ the pub, and that’s kept yeh busy. Most normal people don’t go lookin’ fer bodies.”

“You’ve got that right. Actually there were plenty of killings in Boston, but none of them had anything to do with me, as far as I know. Can we talk about something else, before I have to explain everything to whoever walks in?”

“Such as?”

“Mostly this kitchen project. This is me, and I don’t cook. Rose is a great cook. But does she want to keep working on the business side of things? Should she be looking for a bigger, better job, whether or not it’s in a kitchen?”

“Have yeh asked her?”

“No. I wanted to see what she could do, now that her father Jimmy is out of our hair and busy with his new wife’s farm. Rose is smart, and she’s a good planner. But we haven’t tried serving food to more than a couple people at a time. What if we actually get busy?”

“Maura, when we left the place yesterday, yeh didn’t even have a working kitchen. Yeh’re getting’ ahead of yerself.”

“When will I have a kitchen?”

“Yeh want a date? If everythin’ works out, I’d say in two weeks. Ask Helen if she’s found what yeh need, and when we can get hold of it. And we’ll find a plumber and an electrician to see that it all works. Are yeh havin’ second thoughts?”

“I don’t think so. Maybe I’m just feeling overwhelmed, and that was before the body turned up. And that’s another question: when do I tell Sean what we seem to know now, or do I say nothing?”

“Wait until we’ve all met tonight. Yeh’ll know more then.”

“I guess.” Maura lapsed into silence until they arrived at Sullivan’s. Which looked far busier than it had the night before when she had left, and it wasn’t even opening time yet. The battered truck parked in front was a giveaway, with Helen standing on the sidewalk beside it issuing orders. Maura concluded that the appliances had arrived.

When Mick had parked his car, Maura clambered out and hurried toward the front of the pub. Helen welcomed her warmly. “I think I’ve cleared out the entire basement of the hotel, but now you have your choice of appliances. Kevin, my go-to guy from the hotel, is here and he’s checking out the plumbing and wiring, and he’s got some pals who’d be happy to help install things. I hope you don’t mind, but they weren’t busy this morning, and I thought you’d like to see how things fit sooner rather than later.”

“Uh, yeah, sure, that’s great. I was just surprised that it happened so quickly. Is Rose here?”

“Yes, Rose and Susan both. They’re in the kitchen.”

“So once the plumbing and wiring are set, maybe we can paint. And find some cabinets for storage. I don’t know where to look, but Rose can ask some of the people at the cookery school—they’re sure to know. Or we can ask some of my secondhand-furniture pals. You really are quite an organizer, Helen. Will you be staying around today, or do you have to get back to the hotel?”

“They’ll need me there before noon. I do wish the owners would decide what they want they want to do. If they decide to sell again, I won’t be hurt, but I’d like a decision. If they want to make a go of it, there’s a lot that can and should be done.”

“Which way do you want to go?”

“I could go either way—I just want an answer. Although I have to say, I kind of like having a good excuse to spend time with you. As long as I’m not in your way.”

“No, we’re good so far. What about Susan? Or your son?”

“Susan’s having a grand time, or so she says. Of course, she doesn’t have to spend the time with me, which in her eyes is probably a plus. Tommy? I’m not so sure what he’d think. Are there any sports teams or clubs around here that he could join?”

“I am so the wrong person to ask that, but you could ask Rose,” Maura said, smiling. “How does he feel about horses? Because I know in summer there are various kinds of racing going on.”

“I’ll have to ask him. So, want to see the kitchen? Kevin is happy to move things around, so most of them are still clogging up your hallway. Feel free to ask him to rearrange them.”

“I will,” Maura said politely, although she wondered if she could make a coherent decision about anything. At least appliances were real, solid objects, which had to be better than dead bodies from the past. She’d feel lucky if tonight’s group shared what information they had and they could put the whole story to bed and get back to normal life. Whatever that was.