The House by the Liffey (28 page)

Izzy had arrived home during the final week of the court case. She was outraged by the accusation made against Harry. She never doubted his innocence for a second and, like the rest of the family, gave him her full and unreserved support. She was indignant that she hadn't been put in the picture before the whole thing broke but understood Harry and her parents not wishing to worry any more of the family than necessary, in the hope that the accusation would be withdrawn rather than risk having it brought to court and shown to be untrue. Even at this late stage Mageen and Tommy hadn't been told for the same reason: why worry them unnecessarily?

Izzy strongly suspected that her parents knew who the anonymous witness was. She and Sarah talked about it and they decided they would try to persuade their parents to tell them. They pressed them for the information and, since it was so far into the trial, they saw no reason not to tell the girls, providing they didn't pass it on to
anyone
else. They readily agreed to this and were as surprised as Noola and Milo had been when they heard who it was. They applauded Harry's desire not to implicate Cathy. However, they hadn't promised anything about not contacting Cathy. They were surprised that she hadn't already heard about it via the grapevine, since the newspapers were having a field day about the whole case, and not least the fact that there was a witness who was to remain anonymous. There was some outrageous speculation as to the identity of this person, especially that, of course, Harry must be protecting the reputation of some married woman. They were both certain that if Cathy had heard she would have come straight back to bear witness to his innocence. But then if nobody knew it was Cathy why would anyone contact her about it, especially if this was difficult?

Sarah knew where Cathy was staying. It was a big, well-known hotel and she had promised to give Cathy a call every so often to let her know how Johnny was getting along. Sarah had found it exceptionally difficult to reach her by phone, but now she and Izzy called and called, persisting doggedly until eventually Izzy managed to catch her, but it was virtually the eleventh hour.

When Cathy heard the whole story she was appalled and especially when she was told that the next day was likely to be the summing up. The plan was she would get her seat on the next possible flight, phone her sister and ask her or her niece to go to the airport to meet her next day and take her directly to the court. She also asked Izzy if she could collect her working clothes from her flat and take them to her sister's house. Izzy was delighted to do anything at all to help.

‘You really are brilliant, Cathy. I can't thank you enough. I hope this won't cause any trouble for you.'

‘No problem, Izzy. I'm just so glad you told me. Poor Harry! I'm so touched that he wanted to protect my reputation. But he needn't worry, I think I'll manage that.'

So Cathy turned up at court just in time and, clever girl, looking almost like something out of a horror film.

* * * * *

Apart from Harry's complete vindication, the outcome of the trial saw Tim Kelly being convicted of perjury and sent to prison, with Breeda being let off rather more lightly because of her youthfulness. There was an enormous celebratory party at Riverside House to which family and friends, who had been supportive throughout, were invited. Jockser, the Flanagans and especially Cathy were the guests of honour. Mickeen took Milo aside and made a suggestion to him.

‘You know Shamus is going off to a job in America next month and we'll need a new assistant estate manager?'

‘Yes, Mickeen.'

‘Well, I wondered what you'd think about giving Jockser a chance; give him a sort of trial period as assistant. He's so reliable and actually nobody's fool and I think he'd do a good job.'

Milo was delighted. He'd had a similar thought but coming from Mickeen, who worked closely with Jockser, this was much the best way of getting to it.

‘It's a great idea, Mickeen. By all means give him a chance, but do let him know it's just a trial period both ways! That's only fair. He might prefer it that way so he won't feel awkward if it's too much for him and he wants to go back to the way things are at the moment.'

‘Right you are, Sir. Will you make the offer to him or will I?'

‘You ask him first and if he accepts I'll confirm the arrangement.'

Aside from being eternally grateful to her, and expressing this in the most heartfelt way, Harry and his parents were really curious as to how Cathy had found out about the trial. All she would say was that someone had phoned her and the story had come out during the conversation. Nothing would persuade her to tell more than that. She had returned to Brazil after the trial to finish her holiday there and they had delayed the party until she had come home. Harry had insisted on reimbursing her for the not inconsiderable expense of the return fare from Brazil and any other expenses incurred by her unexpected trip home. At the first possible opportunity he grabbed his chance to have a private word with her.

‘Can I ever thank you enough for what you did for me?'

She looked at him and with dancing eyes teased him.

‘Probably not!'

He was so taken aback at the unexpected response, then looking at her impish smile he burst out laughing.

‘Cathy O'Donovan, you're incorrigible! Seriously though, I really do owe you. I wish there was something I could do to express my huge appreciation.'

‘No need, Harry. There's no way I'd see anyone falsely accused and condemned if I had the means of proving his innocence. Neither would you, would you?'

‘You know the answer to that.'

‘Johnny's looking well. He does love Sarah.'

Harry took the hint and veered away from the subject.

‘Yes, he's in great form. How was Brazil? I'm sure you found it a fascinating experience.'

‘Yes, I even managed to have a look at the rainforest area, which is amazing. And Rio is incredible.'

‘Sam all right?'

‘Yes, fine.'

‘Is the engagement official yet?'

‘Er… well no, not yet.'

‘Everything on course?'

‘There are slight complications which we need to sort out. Sam's contract finishes quite soon and he'll be coming home. That'll make it easier. But thanks for asking.'

Again he took the hint and changed the subject even though he was dying to know more. What exactly was wrong? Was it his job, the money, the relationship or what? Well, he'd just have to wait. It was bound to come out in time.

‘Another glass of champagne?'

‘That would be lovely.'

Talking to his parents when the guests had gone, Harry told them that, from his conversation with Cathy, he thought that she and Sam might have financial worries about getting married.

‘Is there some way we could help? For instance could we offer them an interest-free loan for a down payment on a home? The offer couldn't come from me for obvious reasons, but, Mum, how would you feel about mentioning it to her? She might feel more comfortable if it came from you.'

‘I'd certainly be willing to help, but I think we shouldn't rush into this. I'd hate to offend her by having her think we're trying to repay her in some way.'

‘Yes. I suppose you're right.'

His parents were thoughtful for a few minutes for his attitude to Cathy puzzled them. They knew he loved her, genuinely and sincerely, but here he was trying to help to promote her marriage with Sam.

‘Harry, there's something we don't understand here and would love you to explain it to us.'

‘I'll try.'

‘Well, as we've told you before, over the past years we've been rather shaken at your attitude to women and your treatment of those you've dated, not least Marie, Johnny's mother. It seems so out of character. Did something happen to make you behave towards them in this way?'

He was silent for so long they prompted him.

‘Harry?'

‘Sorry! Yes, Mum, something did happen years ago, something I find painful and embarrassing to talk about.'

‘Oh! Well, we can leave it for now.'

‘No. I think the time has come to tell the two of you and get it off my chest. It'll probably go some way to explaining my sometimes appalling behaviour, a lot of which I now feel ashamed about. But it's late! Are you sure you don't want to go to bed? You must be tired.'

Milo raised his eyebrows at Noola who shook her head.

‘No, we're fine, quite comfortable here in the den, so let's finish off this champagne. It'll probably help you to tell us about it.'

‘Thanks, Dad. It will!'

There was another long silence and this time his parents didn't try to rush him. Then he took a deep breath and started.

‘It all happened shortly after I started my degree course at Trinity. One of the other junior freshmen students brought along his sister, Emily, to a party and even though she was three years ahead of me – just into her final year – I fell for her hook, line and sinker.'

‘Ah! We Butlers tend to make a habit of that!'

Harry smiled briefly.

‘I know, Dad. I've noticed! Well she was extremely attractive and others were vying for her attention but I was really pushy and asked her to have dinner with me. She laughed and said she'd think about it. In the meantime, as I found out later, she got all the information she could about me and, indeed, the family background, from various friends of mine, especially Chris, an ex-school friend. One thing she definitely discovered was that we were wealthy. I hadn't been able to take my eyes off her the whole evening and Chris teased me about it unmercifully. At the end I went over to her and repeated the invitation and she accepted.

‘
You
made no enquiries about
her
?'

‘No, Mum. I didn't care who or what she was. I was totally bewitched. From then on I made a complete fool of myself. I didn't quite “stalk” her but very nearly. I used to hang around where I thought she might be. I couldn't think of anything or anyone else. It was pathetic. Looking back now I can't
believe
I behaved so stupidly.'

‘Give yourself a chance, Harry. You were only just eighteen. You'd been to an all boys' school and, aside from the girls in the family, you hadn't had that much close contact with the opposite sex. You were, in a sense, ripe for the plucking!'

‘You're so right, Dad, and oh boy, did she ever take me for a complete sucker! She had a very close friend and the two of them connived over the whole pathetic business. Whenever I took her out to dinner, and it was regularly, she insisted on the most expensive restaurants. Then her friend would turn up, by the way unexpectedly, and Emily would insist that she joined us. Then the two of them would order all the most pricey items on the menu, including top quality wines and, of course, I paid.'

‘How often did this happen?'

‘Just about every time we went out, Mum. I realised that she had no interest whatsoever in me personally. Any time it was supposed to be just the two of us, her eyes would be searching around the room looking for friends or acquaintances who could join us. Looking back on it now, I obviously bored her stiff.'

‘And there was no romance?'

‘Not a chance. The most I ever had from her was a chaste kiss.'

‘And you didn't get fed up with this treatment?'

‘No, Dad. As I said I was totally besotted. I just wanted to be with her, regardless of the fact that there was obviously no return of feelings. Pathetic, isn't it?'

‘No, Harry. It's happened to other people before now. But where did it go from there?'

‘She started asking me to buy jewellery for her. Not quite as obviously as that, but she would stop at jewellers' windows after our meals and say how much she would love certain items. Needless to say I fell over myself to buy what she wanted. I suddenly realised she was getting me to buy things her friend wanted too, but even though I knew that, and knew they were laughing at me behind my back, I somehow just couldn't refuse her. Thinking about it afterwards I realised what I was trying to do was to buy her affection and we all know that doesn't work!'

‘What a pair of absolute bitches!'

‘I can think of worse things to call them now, Dad. The dreadful thing was that I couldn't cure myself of my feelings for her. It was as if I was addicted, like someone hooked on a drug. I ran through money like water. I spent all of my allowance from you, which was always generous, and even used as much as I could lay my hands on from Grandpa's trust. It's a good thing the capital was tied up until I was twenty-one or a lot of that would have disappeared too. There were a couple of occasions when I actually ran out and couldn't even buy my lunches.'

‘What happened about your work or your training? I don't remember you neglecting your rowing.'

‘No, I didn't, Dad. The times when I could see her were limited. She made sure of that! At least that meant I could get on with my boat club activities, although I did find concentrating on work difficult.'

‘And you told nobody?'

‘No, but you'll not be surprised to hear that Bill knew by instinct that there was something wrong. Every time we met he asked me several times if I was all right, but I didn't tell him until it had been going on for nearly six months.'

‘What was his reaction?'

Looking at his father's angry and outraged expression, Harry had to smile.

‘He looked exactly like you do now, Dad. He was furious. He insisted that I cut loose from her, but I was almost afraid of her by that stage. I didn't know how to do it, for I knew enough about her to realise she would be livid at losing her tame meal ticket. I'm not sure what I thought she would do, but I was so scared of being made to look a complete laughing stock if she spread the story of what a fool I'd been.'