The House by the Liffey (10 page)

She actually danced along much of the drive. She felt elated. Life was so good again after their nightmare. Izzy was safely home. Freddie was going to propose to her, and it was such bliss to be able to move around freely and without fear again. When she got back to the house Jack and Bertie were having a nightcap with Tommy, Bill and Harry in the sitting room. The twins were bursting with questions, but, bearing Sean's request in mind, managed to contain their curiosity. Mageen put her head round the door to say goodnight.

‘Won't you come and join us, Mageen?'

In truth she felt too excited to go to bed just yet. Freddie's declaration had swept away her tiredness.

‘Yes, actually I'd love to, Tommy.'

Jack was delighted. He didn't have enough time to attract her away from Freddie, but he was going to make the very most of the time he had. Realistically he knew that it could never go anywhere anyhow, given the job he did and their worlds being so far apart. However, he would so enjoy flirting with her.

As a special favour, Milo asked Mageen, Bill and Harry if they would go into the office on Wednesday morning and represent the family again, maintaining as best they could a semblance of normality and the fiction that he still had a very upset stomach. Milo didn't need to worry about the business running smoothly without him for a few days. His cousin, Martin, some years his senior, was quite capable of holding the fort in their stockbroking business for a prolonged period. Milo would eventually tell him the story, even if only a sanitized version of it. In the meantime, Milo called him to explain that he would not be back for a day or two and this was accepted with some expressions of concern for his health. It was completely out-of-character for Milo to be even mildly ill.

‘I've had a nasty few days. I won't go into the details just now. I hope I'll be back before the end of the week.' And this was no lie.

‘Take your time, Milo, all is well here. We've had a few good deals go through. Tell you all when you get back.'

‘Thanks, Martin.'

Much later that morning the members of the inner circle gathered around in the library and Izzy, sitting on her father's knee, held firmly in his arms and feeling so safe, agreed to tell about some of her experiences as a prisoner. She was introduced to Jack and Bertie and was told of their part in her rescue, as members of Sean's special team. Everyone was relieved that she looked so much better after a good night's sleep, although her face was still badly bruised, her split lip swollen and her dermatitis angry looking.

Paddy, now accepted as a part of the inner circle, didn't object to his patient being encouraged to talk about it, since he thought talking it out of her system could be a good part of the healing process. But he was adamant that if she started to show signs of distress, they must stop. He knew she should really be in hospital, but he also knew that to take her away from home again would be much too traumatic for her and, anyhow, as an additional and agreed member of the inner circle, he was there watching over her.

So Izzy started to tell her story. She described the horrors of the cellar, her unremitting fear, listening at the top of the ladder and so finding out something of what they were planning. How Bob had raved on about “Tom Butler” and wanted to harm her, because she was a Butler. She'd assumed that must be her Grandpa Tom and so she'd decided to pretend that he was there in the cellar with her, because she thought that might worry them and make them more careful how they treated her.

‘What on earth gave you such a clever idea?'

‘Granny FitzPatrick! For a while before she died she often talked to someone who wasn't there. I remembered that you said it was spooky, Daddy, and made you feel uncomfortable. I thought if it made you feel like that and you're big and tough, then it might make them feel creepy. I think it really did work, because that nasty Bob went a funny colour when I told him Grandpa had said if he touched me he would die. And the one they called Shamus moved as far away from me as he could. Even Eddie seemed to be nervous when I pretended to talk to Grandpa. He asked me what Grandpa was saying.'

By now they were all laughing which really encouraged her.

‘To tell you the truth, Izzy, it would probably make most of us feel uneasy.'

‘Even you Uncle Sean?'

‘Well, few of us would completely dismiss the idea. You just never know! Strange things have happened.'

‘A funny thing did happen. In the end I began to feel that there
was
somebody there with me, trying to protect me. I actually began to talk to him when I was alone. And you know, it really helped me.'

There was a brief silence while they all interpreted this according to their beliefs.

‘How fascinating. Maybe Grandpa
was
watching over you, or the Good Lord himself. Whichever, it's an astonishing story.'

‘I wish I'd known him, Daddy.'

‘So do I. And he would have loved you such a lot.'

‘Why did Bob hate him so much?'

‘Bob was a very sick man, Izzy. It's a long story for another time. But now we want to hear the rest of
your
story. How about your idea to mention the psalm? It was really clever too and did give us a clue as to where you were.'

‘Eddie gave me some old papers, like he promised. They were copies of the paper Granny likes,
Ireland's Own
. There are stories and puzzles in it and you're told to look for clues. So I thought maybe I could give you a clue if I got a chance. Something Eddie said made me realize we must be in the mountains. I didn't know until then. I had nothing else to do and plenty of time to think up ways of helping you to rescue me or even escaping.'

‘But I'm surprised they didn't realize you were up to something. Didn't anyone say anything?' Noola was amazed.

‘No. You see Eddie and the big fat man called Willie kept fighting. They were so cross with each other I don't think they thought about what I'd said.'

‘It wouldn't have occurred to them that you might do anything so clever. You've impressive powers of recall, although I suppose it's not surprising you'd remember such horror in detail. After all, some of it only happened yesterday. But what did they fight about?' Sean was intrigued: villains falling out.

‘Each time it was when Eddie was trying to protect me.'

‘Against what?'

‘Willie hit me when I screamed for help. Eddie put his arms around me and wouldn't let anyone touch me again. When Willie told him he was soft he said he couldn't be or he wouldn't have got mixed up in “this dirty business”. Then Eddie . . . well he really told him he was a coward and didn't have as much courage as I had. Later, when Willie wanted to tie me up to go in the van, Eddie asked him if he was afraid of me or Grandpa's ghost. Willie was raging and told Eddie he was to “funk off” and that he was a “bustard”. He was going to punch Eddie but the other man stopped him. What did he mean, Daddy?'

Everyone in the room had the hardest time not bursting out laughing again. Trying to keep a straight face Milo did his best to answer.

‘Well, a bustard is a very big bird. You don't find them here in Ireland.' Then he started to struggle but Bertie came to the rescue.

‘People who are scared stiff are sometimes described as being in a blue funk, Izzy.'

‘Oh. So Willie was telling Eddie that he was to go away and be scared stiff and that he was a big bird. It doesn't make much sense to me.' The logical brain was working overtime.

‘No, well a lot of things about these people don't make much sense. How they knew all they did is something of a mystery to me.'

‘We could find out yet, Sean. Eddie could tell us a lot. How is he by the way?'

‘Still hanging in there, Tommy.'

‘I hope he doesn't die, Uncle Sean. He did try to protect me and he saved my life.'

‘We know Izzy. We know. We're doing our best to keep him alive.'

What Sean didn't say was that he desperately wanted the man to live because of the information he could give about the organisation. As for protecting and saving Izzy – he was one of the abductors for God's sake. But he had heard that sometimes hostages developed quite a close relationship with their abductors. In her perilous situation it was understandable that the child would feel grateful to anyone who had been kind to her.

‘You said there were five of them altogether, Izzy. But when we saw you all at the waterfall there were only four men around you.'

‘Yes, there were five at the house, but Shamus, the driver, ran away. I think he was frightened about Grandpa's ghost. When we were in the van, before they set the house on fire, I was scared of Bob, so I pretended to talk to Grandpa again. That's when Shamus ran away.'

‘We need to find him too. Izzy, it's fine to talk about this within the family but we're not going to spread the story outside just yet. For the moment could I ask you not to talk about Shamus or say that Eddie's still alive?'

‘Yes, Uncle Sean, but why?' Sean didn't want to worry her unnecessarily but he felt she could cope with his reasons. Poor little Izzy was having to grow up unduly quickly.

‘The people who organized this are evil and they might want to attack Shamus and Eddie so that they can't tell anything about the whole nasty plot. We need to protect them and get as much information as possible from them so as to find those behind the whole thing.'

‘You mean they'd want to kill them?'

‘Yes!'

‘Okay. I won't say anything about them.'

‘Good girl.'

After this session Izzy had her parents to herself for a while. She seemed worried about something that she obviously hadn't so far shared with them.

‘Mum, Daddy, if I tell you something will you promise, please
really promise
that you won't tell anybody?'

Noola's heart stood still. What had happened that she hadn't been able to talk about in front of the others?

‘Of course we'll promise. Just like you promised not to talk about certain things. You would keep your promise, wouldn't you?'

‘Yes. Of course.'

‘Then trust us to keep ours, my darling.' Milo was just as apprehensive.

‘I told Eddie a very big lie and I'm afraid God will punish me.'

‘What lie?'

‘I lied about my health and you told us we must never do that, Mum, or otherwise God might send us the illness as a punishment for the lie.'

‘Whatever did you say?'

‘I wanted Eddie to help me as much as possible so I told him I sometimes had fits. He seemed quite upset and said nobody had told him about that or my dermatitis. But it did make him kinder. Will God punish me and make me have real fits?'

‘Certainly not, my darling child. God would be the first to forgive you considering the circumstances. That was another very clever thing to do, but that was a strange comment from Eddie.'

‘Yes, I thought so too. But you did
promise
you wouldn't tell!'

‘No, Izzy, we won't tell.'

* * * * *

Sean prepared a statement for the press. The news of the crashed helicopter couldn't be hidden, so some sort of explanation had to be released. The completely accurate information was given that an unidentified helicopter had exploded on take off and that all on board had been killed. Sean hoped this would give protection to Eddie and to Shamus, whom they still hadn't found, but thanks to Bertie's photos they had pictures of him which would make the task relatively easy.

For the family at Riverside publicity was the last thing they wanted. They would much prefer the story was never told and they knew they could trust their staff not to chatter about it. Their big worry was that, since those at the head of the organization hadn't got their money, the younger family members were still vulnerable and especially Izzy. As Sean brought him up to date, Milo voiced his concern about this.

‘What can we do to improve our security?'

‘They'll know you'll be very much on your guard, so I don't think they'll try anything on any time soon. But you never know. You will, in any case, continue to keep a close watch on Izzy but now watch Sarah too. I'll leave some of my men on duty around the estate for the moment and I suggest you keep your firearms at the ready and easily accessible. It's an appalling thing to have to say to you but necessary for the moment. One of the things I'd dearly like to find is that informant.'

‘How that would-be tramp found out so much in the time beggars belief. There has to be some other source.'

‘Not necessarily, Milo. These people are professionals, well trained and experienced in this kind of thing.'

‘So he was probably another member of the organization. Not just someone bribed on some pretext. Interesting! Tell you what I can do, though. Better than guns from the girls' point of view. I'll make sure all the dogs, including Mickeen's two wolfhounds, stay indoors as much as possible. I know he'll be happy to oblige. The informant knew at that time of the day Mickeen would have them all out exercising well away from the house. “Curiouser and curiouser”!'

‘Okay, now sleeping arrangements?'

‘Izzy will sleep between us until she feels able to go back to her own bed. For the moment the other four can all sleep in the one room. Not ideal but they won't mind. Won't be the first time. I'll suggest that Maggie, Aunt May and Tommy move in together too. That'll be fun! I can just imagine how all three would have great pleasure in taking a potshot at an intruder.'

‘Great!' Sean smiled. ‘If only we could find out who's behind this and who their top man is, we could do so much more – maybe wipe out the organization altogether, unless it's… Well, don't let's go there yet. I'm pinning my hopes on Eddie and Shamus.'

‘How are you going to handle the information about Bob?'

‘We've got that covered too. The asylum and family, including Tommy, will be more than willing to have the minimum of publicity. I feel so sorry for him and for the Featherstones too. I'm hoping they'll accept that Bob was killed in that helicopter trying to get out of the country. We don't know who helped him – true! Or why – not true! As for a body! Well, we can put him in a coffin and seal it up and give some story about the danger of infection from badly burnt bodies so we can't let anyone see the remains. I can't honestly see them wanting to argue. I bet they'll be relieved to accept our explanation, poor people. The asylum won't dispute it either, given that they let him escape. They'll take our word that it's him.'

‘It's such a sad end to a sad life, Sean. I'm concerned about Tommy. He's taking Bob's involvement badly. Says he must go and see his Featherstone relations before he leaves. I don't envy him that task, but I think it'll help them. They're all very fond of him. Anyhow, he'll willingly go along with whatever cover-up story you decide to tell.'