CHAPTER 57
A Daily Journal photographer was attacked by Spencer Torres’ German Shepherd dog during an emergency evacuation of Linford Castle in County Mayo yesterday.
The incident took place when the fire alarm was triggered – which automatically opened both sets of electric gates to the five-star hotel, where Hollywood stars Spencer Torres and Afric Brooks are in their final week of shooting their new movie.
The photographer, Fergus Twomey, who’s been covering events at Linford Castle since filming began, was outside the hotel’s rear gate when the dog ran straight towards him.
“It wasn’t muzzled. It managed to knock me to the ground and I honestly thought I was going to be torn to pieces,” Mr Twomey said. “I have two big Labradors at home so all I can think was that the German Shepherd was able to pick up their scent.”
After the fire alarm was raised, the cast and crew of An Irish Inheritance, and the hotel staff, were outside for approximately five minutes – until it was confirmed that it was a false alarm.
The incident comes on the heels of rumours that Afric Brooks didn’t return to the castle with the rest of the cast, after two days’ shooting on Achill Island.
A statement claiming that she’d simply taken an extra half-day off was followed by another leak that she wasn’t on set.
This was followed by another statement that she was in bed with a stomach flu.
Both she and Spencer Torres remain tight-lipped about the leaking of a private conversation concerning Afric’s pregnancy to the American gossip site, TMZ.
Filming of An Irish Inheritance is due to finish in a week.
Anthony Neary knocked on Jess’s office door the following day. “Do you have a moment, Jess?”
“Of course.” She waved him into the other chair. “All well with the film people?”
“Yes, thanks to Afric’s recovery. Adam Rourke says we have you to thank for your quick thinking.
The producers are staying until the end of the week to see the movie wrapped up.
And for some reason, Afric insisted that Diva be taken to the vet’s in Kilshanley.
” He shook his head. “God knows why she decided to go off to London like that. It’s a bloody miracle there wasn’t a single photo of her anywhere! ”
“I was thinking the same,” Jess said.
“Anyway.” He rubbed his hands together. “It’ll be good to get the place back to normal. And to be able to lock those tunnels again. Do you know they never used them in the end? I can’t for the life of me understand why Doug Strathan insisted on unlocking them.”
Dermot had said something similar that night in the pub, Jess remembered. “And we only unlocked the main two, Anthony?”
“Well, yes.” He nodded. “The one on the Whispering Gallery was declared unsafe during the upgrade. That one runs to the back of the castle, inside the grounds.”
“Right.” Jess tried to think. “Was that during the hotel’s original upgrade?”
He frowned. “No, more recently when we upgraded the floor of the Whispering Gallery. The structural engineer did a full report.”
“The structural engineer? Do you mean –”
“Robert Collins, yes.” Anthony nodded. “Good man to know.”
Jess nodded absently. Had Robert ever mentioned that? That would be a no. And what if … what if the tunnel wasn’t dangerous? What if it was just as safe as the other two tunnels?
Because if that was the case, someone could have used it to access the castle. No, even if it was safe, it couldn’t be accessed from outside the castle. The only tunnel that ran all the way outside the grounds was the Lady Linford.
Unless they’d used it for some other reason. Like secretly recording a private conversation on the Whispering Gallery. She realised Anthony was still talking.
“Sorry, I didn’t catch that last bit?”
He smiled. “I was just saying that Ian was in touch. He’ll be back the week after next.”
“Oh, right.” She pulled herself back to the moment. “What’s the news about his brother?”
Anthony shook his head. “He was there for him, got to say his goodbyes.”
At least he got to say goodbye, Jess thought with a stab of sadness. Her mind flew back to the tunnel issue.
“Did you ever find out who might have owned that lens cover I found in the tunnel?”
“Oh, God, no,” Anthony shook his head. “I completely forgot about that.” He opened a drawer in his desk and took it out.
“Do you mind if I take it? I’ll see if I can reunite it with its owner.”
“Be my guest.” He got to his feet. “I’ll leave you to get on with your work.”
“Er, one more thing, Anthony, is Adam still around?”
“No, I believe he was going back up to Dublin.”
So he’d left the way he’d arrived, without a word of warning. But there was no reason for him to be here now that the crisis had been averted and filming was coming to an end. And he was probably missing his girlfriend.
After Anthony left, Jess stood and stretched, feeling utterly exhausted.
She’d made an excuse not to meet Robert last night and he’d made no effort to get in touch today.
She was still too confused about what had happened, or what she thought might have happened.
It felt wrong to believe the worst of him, not without proof that he’d done anything.
She headed out of the hotel, shielding her eyes with her two hands as she looked around. From here, she could just make out the cast and crew on the set of the far west field.
“Jess, isn’t it?”
She turned, smiling as she recognised Deb Considine. The writer waggled a security pass – strung on a ribbon around her neck.
“I was invited to say hi to the producers. I hear they’re staying on until the end of the week?”
“Yeah, I’ve just heard that too. How’s the writing going?”
Deb grimaced. “I’m just flinging down the words at the moment. But it’s a privilege to get an invitation to see this. They’re shooting the summer scene that comes right at the end of the story. I can’t wait to see what they do with it.”
As they got closer to the set Jess noticed a couple of well-dressed men she guessed were the producers. Judging by their expressions, they were happy. And thanks to her, Emily and Adam, they had no idea that Afric had almost screwed up the final week of filming.
Even better, the media had failed to revive the Linford Curse. Despite having had access to every tiny thing that had happened on set – every row between the actors, every blow-up from Doug, not to mention what should have been private exchanges.
“I see the press have been invited in today too.” Deb gestured to someone standing on the other side of the set.
“Really?” Wishing she’d put on her sunglasses, Jess squinted over to see who she meant.
“The young woman with the black baseball hat and sunglasses,” Deb prompted.
She looked vaguely like the reporter from the summer solstice party, Jess thought. The same one who’d been quizzing Robert that day outside Ted’s Store. But she couldn’t be sure.
“Do you recognise anyone else from the press?” she asked.
“I don’t think so,” Deb said. “I just know her because she’s been hounding me since I got down here.”
“Excuse me, Deb – I want to see if I can get a better look at her. I don’t think the press are supposed to be in here.”
She made her way over to Mel and stood behind her while the cameras were rolling.
“Cut!” Doug stepped away from the camera. “That was great, guys, thank you! Afric, I just want to go from the last bit where you see Spencer coming up the street.”
“Mel?” Jess reached out and touched her arm. She turned, frowning.
“Jess, how can I help?”
“I just have a quick question. Are there members of the press here today?”
“Absolutely not.” Mel pursed her lips. “We’ve only a few days left – no press allowed until we’re done.”
“Right, thanks.”
Jess took out her phone and took a few photos of the set before discreetly zooming in on the woman.
She waited a moment, silently willing her to take off her hat.
Maybe she should go over there and talk to her – at least she’d know for sure.
Just as she went to move, the woman slid her sunglasses up onto the peak of her cap, and Jess snapped a couple of photos.
Before she could take any more, the woman looked straight over at her, before turning quickly away and walking towards the rear of the castle.
Jess hurried back to her office and opened the file on her laptop containing the original, uncut footage that Shauna had given her for the promotional video.
Scrolling through, she found the picture of the full movie crew and scanned it carefully, moving the mouse to zoom in on the five ADs.
Taking out her phone, she compared the images with the photos she’d just taken of the woman in the baseball hat. She wasn’t one of the ADs.
She studied the photo on her phone, certain now that she was a reporter. And she’d been getting past security. They didn’t have a leak – they had a spy.
But even if a young female reporter – dressed like one of the ADs – could escape notice on the far side of a busy outdoor set, it would be a lot more difficult to blend in inside the castle. Which meant she had to know Linford well.
A chill ran through her. She’d been using one particular tunnel – it was the only thing that made sense. And if that were the case, someone had shown her how.
Jess stood. Time to take one last walk around the Whispering Gallery.