CHAPTER 59
“It’s your fault that she has parasites! ” Afric was standing in the middle of the foyer, holding a wriggling Diva in her arms, and shouting at Emily as Jess headed back to her office.
Jess stopped for a moment and took a deep breath.
Christ, she had to be talking about her dog.
She searched her memory. Diva and Snuggles had been together at least once.
And even if they’d only been playing chasing at the stables the day she and Adam had found them, who knew how often they’d managed to get together before that?
No, that didn’t make any sense. As far as she knew, Snuggles didn’t have parasites. Unless Diva had managed to pick something up from the horses. No, how likely was that?
“Afric, I swear, I didn’t let Diva out of my sight,” Emily was saying. “Like, except at night. There was a bed for her in the basement but I know she wasn’t –”
“I’m not listening.” Afric looked like she was about to cry. “Do you know how delicate she is? I’ve never seen her so upset, the poor baby! The vet tested her poo and told me it was an equine parasite!”
Oh God, very likely, apparently, Jess thought weakly.
“A what parasite?” Emily asked, looking confused.
“A horse parasite!” Afric glared at her.
Jess took a deep breath. “Afric? Let’s take a moment and see if we can figure this out quietly. We, um, don’t want to upset Diva.”
Afric turned and glared at Jess. “You were supposed to be our go-to person here – you let this happen too.”
“How do you know either of us is to blame for this?” Emily said. “I only took her after Lisa left.”
“Emily, why don’t you see if you can order us all some coffee?” Jess said.
Emily ignored her. “Not that that even matters. I took my dog-minding duties seriously.”
“Well, somebody took their eye off the ball and I intend to find out who!” Afric turned to include Jess in her glare.
“I wouldn’t bother looking too far,” Emily blurted.
Afric’s gaze narrowed.
“Emily, don’t you have that thing to do?” Jess said quickly. “You know, that important thing?”
“What exactly do you mean, Emily?” Afric demanded.
“She means we’ll find out.” Jess could feel the situation slipping out of her control.
“I mean that you’re the one who took your eye off the ball, pissing off like that!
” Emily pulled herself up straighter. “And Jess put herself through hell getting you back in! Do you know that she’s claustrophobic?
A bat got trapped in the tunnel and Jess got knocked out.
She was unconscious and on her own and anything could have happened. ”
Jess turned to her. “How did you –?”
“Adam told me. I also found out that he punched Robert. Did you know that?”
“Yeah, it was just a misunderstanding at your party.” Jess was relieved to hear Afric snort with laughter. At least she hadn’t lost her sense of humour.
Emily looked puzzled. “At my party? Er, I didn’t hear about that, this happened a few days ago, before Adam left.”
It must have been some time after they’d got Afric back inside the castle, Jess thought, feeling a sudden buzzing in her head. Had he guessed that it was Robert who’d messed with the lock to the tunnel?
Emily put her hands on her hips as she turned back to Afric. “You can report me if you want, but you owe Jess a major apology.”
There was a long silence. This was it, Jess thought. She’d have to plead Emily’s case with Anthony. Maybe she could get her off on a warning.
Afric stroked Diva’s head. “I’d no idea that happened to you in the tunnel, Jess. You must have been freaking out.”
“A bit,” Jess admitted.
“Sorry.” Afric sighed. “That was a bitch.”
“Don’t worry about it.” Jess was feeling magnanimous now.
She flicked Emily a glance and, to her relief, Emily took the hint this time and left.
“Actually, if you want to make it up to me, just don’t report Emily. Please?”
Afric looked a bit hurt. “Of course I won’t report her! Emily’s cool. And I really am grateful for everything you did, Jess.” She sighed again and buried her face in Diva’s curly hair. “Come on, girl, let’s get you something to eat.”
As she left work, Jess wondered how easy it would be to completely avoid Robert until the end of the week.
She’d had a quiet word with Anthony about her suspicions but added that she couldn’t prove anything.
“We can see if he went into Afric’s suite at any stage. We have security cameras in all the corridors, Jess. They’re just disguised to look like part of the ceilings.”
“It still won’t prove that he actually did anything.”
“It’ll prove that he went into a guest’s room without permission,” Anthony had pointed out. “Which would be enough for us not to employ him again.”
Now, as she slipped out the front gate past a small handful of press, she realised there was no food in the house, and she didn’t want to risk running into Robert at The Tin Whistle.
She stopped at Ted’s store and, picking up a shopping basket, moved quickly through the aisles, throwing in a pre-prepared salad and a fish pie from the fridge, a bottle of wine and a large bar of chocolate.
As she headed up to pay, she braced herself for Ted’s comments but it was Sinéad behind the counter.
“How’s Jess?” she said.
“Fine, thanks, Sinéad.” Jess had felt a lot warmer towards Ted’s wife since she’d shown up at Emily’s housewarming and thrown herself into some impromptu hosting. “How are you?”
“Ah, no use complaining, sure who’d listen?” She scanned through the items and packed them into the string bag that Jess hastily pulled out of her handbag. “That everything?”
Jess nodded and took out her debit card to scan it.
“I heard you’ll be heading back up to Dublin at the end of the week,” Sinéad said.
Nothing got past this woman. Jess smiled brightly. “I just came down to help out while Linford’s event manager was away.”
Sinéad gave her a shrewd look. “Well, I’d say they appreciated you. I was glad to hear that fire alarm wasn’t the real thing.”
Jess wondered how much she knew. But she was probably just making conversation. She picked up her shopping bag. “Thanks, Sinéad.”
“You won’t be keeping in touch with Robert, will you?”
“It wouldn’t really suit either of us, no,” Jess said politely.
Sinéad nodded. “I feel a bit sorry for him, to be honest. It would have been fierce awkward for him working on that movie.”
Jess frowned. “Why?”
“Oh, no reason.” Sinéad looked flustered now. “I’m sure it was all grand.”
She shouldn’t push it – she was leaving. None of it mattered. But after everything that had happened, a small part of her felt she deserved to know.
“Explain it to me, Sinéad?” Jess met her eyes. “Please?”
“Ah, lookit, I shouldn’t have said anything.”
Jess waited.
“Well, I’m sure it’s nothing, really.” Sinéad swept some imaginary crumbs off the countertop with the side of her hand. “He and Afric knew each other when they were in college – they hung around with the same crowd for a while.”
Jess gave a nervous laugh. “Robert and Afric? But he never said anything to me. Hang on, Robert drove Afric to the hospital the day she burned her hand, and she definitely didn’t know him, Sinéad. He didn’t say anything to her either. Are you sure they know each other?”
“They do, yeah. Or they did, anyway.” She sighed and took the photo of the two women with the teenage boy off the wall behind her and handed it to Jess. “That’s Robert there with me and my sister, the day he got his Leaving Cert results.”
“I assumed it was your son,” Jess said, looking closely. “It doesn’t really look like him.”
“No, I suppose it doesn’t.” She shrugged. “He changed a lot after college. He got laser surgery for his eyes, and he joined a gym. I think it gave him more confidence too.”
“What about his hair?” Jess asked. “It’s quite dark in this photo.”
Sinéad rolled her eyes. “He gets his highlights done in Kilshanley, I think. Still, no harm in a man looking after his appearance.”
“Is he in a theatre group there too?”
“In Kilshanley?” She nodded. “He used to be anyway. Ah, he was always interested in the acting. I’d say if his dad hadn’t been so dead set on him doing engineering … well, sure, maybe he was right. I mean, how many people make it as actors?”
Jess tried to absorb this. “Who else knows that he was friends with Afric?”
“I’ve no idea, but he plays his cards fierce close to his chest, and I’m sure they were only friends. My sister would have known if there was anything more.” Sinéad’s expression softened. “He was a very intense young fellah back in the day, though.”
Jess nodded vaguely. It still made no sense that he hadn’t told her.
“It all worked out well for him in the end,” Sinéad was saying, “moving back here. He’s very involved in village life, does a lot of work for the residents’ association.”
“Really?” Jess frowned. How had she missed that? “Like what?”
Sinéad looked surprised. “What on earth did the pair of ye talk about at all? Who do you think organises any of those events in The Tin Whistle? That Valentine’s Day one was some craic, I heard.
Páidí should be cutting him in for a share of the profits.
” She gave Jess an appraising look. “’Tis a pity the two of you didn’t work out – you’d have been good for him, I think. ”
Jess wasn’t sure how to respond, so she thanked Sinéad and left the shop, crashing straight into Adam’s girlfriend on the path outside. Today was getting better and better! Why was she even here when Adam had gone back to Dublin?
“Sorry!” Jess put her head down and started to leave, but the other woman stopped her.
“I was hoping to run into you.” She smiled warmly. “You’re Jess, aren’t you?”
She hesitated. “Yes.” Great, she was nice – she couldn’t even dislike her.
“I’m Ciara.” She stuck out her hand. “I’m so pleased to finally meet you. Adam talks a lot about you.”
“Why?” God, why had she asked that? He probably spent his whole time telling Ciara what a bitch she’d been. She just wanted to get back to the cottage. Screw the fish pie and salad – she’d go straight to the wine and chocolate.
“Actually, forget I asked.” She gave an awkward laugh. She spun away and barrelled into a very muscled arm. As she glanced up, she thought for a moment it was Adam.
“Hey, sorry about that.” A deep voice. “Definitely my fault – are you okay?”
He even sounded like Adam, Jess thought, feeling a bit faint.
“Uh, you’ve gone very pale. Are you sure you’re okay, Jess?” Ciara asked now.
The other man’s eyes widened. “Are you Jess Bradley? Adam mentioned you were staying down here for a while. I’m Neil Rourke, Adam’s brother.”
Jess blinked and looked back at Ciara. “So you’re –”
Ciara nodded. “I’m Neil’s partner.”