Chapter 10
It was the evening of Elizabeth’s wake. It was almost midnight by the time they saw off the last of the mourners.
A large crowd had turned out to pay their respects.
Some of the older villagers in Inishbeg Cove had arrived laden with sandwiches and homemade cakes.
They had commandeered the kitchen, making teas and coffees and serving the food they had brought.
They had even cleaned up afterwards. It was the way things were done around here: people in Inishbeg Cove helped one another in times of need.
It confirmed to the sisters exactly why the village was such a special place.
They had thanked so many people for coming and recited so many decades of the rosary that they were all hoarse. They had shaken so many hands and repeated the same pleasantries and exchanges throughout the evening, until they were exhausted.
Madeleine had tried her best to focus on the wake and make sure her daughters were okay, but she couldn’t help wondering whether Anna had managed to get her hands on the books yet.
She spoke to her again that morning to see if she’d had any success.
Frustratingly, the customs officials were still insisting that they wouldn’t release the books without the correct paperwork, but nobody seemed capable of explaining what was actually wrong.
Madeleine had made several attempts to check her phone during the wake but either Lucy or Faith would catch her and shoot a disapproving look in her direction.
Madeleine closed the door behind the elderly gentleman who was the last to leave, then she took out her phone and held it up towards the window in a bid to get a signal.
Finally, her emails began to download. She scrolled through them and her heart sank as she read one from Anna telling her that she had had no luck in getting the books released, and in fact the situation had worsened as the port authorities were threatening to return the shipment to the UK.
Anna claimed to have tried everything and was wondering what she should do now.
‘God damn it!’ Madeleine cried out.
Faith came up alongside her. ‘What’s wrong?’
‘Those blasted books are still held up in customs and the launch is tomorrow! They’re threatening to return them to the UK because some of the paperwork is missing but nobody seems to know what!’ Madeleine held her head in her hands. ‘This is a disaster.’
‘Mum,’ Lucy scolded. ‘Can’t you forget about work? We’ve just had Nanna’s wake!’
Chastened, Madeleine followed her daughters into the kitchen and plonked herself down at the table.
It was too late to cancel or postpone the event.
The invitations had been sent and all of Ireland’s ‘who’s who’ as well as the media were going to be there.
She felt powerless and out of control knowing there was nothing she could do to fix this.
Usually whenever she had a problem, she knew someone or had a contact somewhere that she could call on, but this time the crushing reality was smacking into her that there was no favour she could pull or sweetener she could offer.
Howard O’Brien was going to have a book launch with no books – unless she made the decision to pull the plug on it.
Her reputation would be ruined. Jerry would execute her.
Never in her almost-thirty-year career had a catastrophe like this happened to her.
What the hell was she supposed to do now?
She had to do something. Come on, Madeleine, she told herself.
Think. Her only hope was that Anna could go to the port in person and try to plead their case.
She knew from her many years’ experience in the corporate world that sometimes when you went face to face with people, solutions to even the trickiest of problems could be found.
It was their last shot – and it was worth a try.
She typed out an email asking Anna to go to the port first thing in the morning.
I don’t care what you do or how you do it – beg them, bribe them, sign whatever they want you to sign – just do whatever you have to.
Take the company credit card – Linda will show you where it is – and pay whatever duties or penalties they want.
It doesn’t matter what it costs, we need to get our hands on those books, Madeleine typed.
Do whatever you have to do. Just get those books released.