Chapter 45
It was fully dark by the time the sisters left the restaurant to walk back to the inn.
“Wow, the walk here seemed a lot shorter than the walk back,” Therese said as she trekked unsteadily along the side of the road.
“That’s because we didn’t have a full-on champagne buzz on the way there,” Maeve pointed out.
“Whoops! You might have a point there. Maeve, if you don’t marry into that family and make that rich, gorgeous Luke our brother-in-law, you are seriously loco en the cabeza.” She thumped the side of her own head to emphasize her point.
Maeve rolled her eyes but kept walking.
Therese raised her arms up toward the sky. “What a night! Look at all these stars. I never notice the sky like this back home.”
“That’s because…”
Maeve didn’t finish her sentence because suddenly a car was bearing down on them with blindingly bright high beams. It was the first car they’d seen since leaving the restaurant, and now it was swerving across the center line, headed straight at the two of them.
Without warning, Therese, who’d been walking just ahead, turned and shoved Maeve off the shoulder, diving onto the gravel embankment herself as the car sped past, missing them by inches.
The two of them rolled down the embankment.
“Maeve? Are you okay?” Therese crawled over to her sister, who was sprawled facedown in the grass.
“Yeah. I think.” Maeve’s voice was shaky as she slowly rolled over.
“Sit up. Let me see you.” Therese used the flashlight on her phone to examine her.
The sleeve of Maeve’s blouse was torn. Her hands were scraped and bleeding.
“Bend your legs. Now your arms,” Therese ordered, and Maeve complied.
“I’m okay. Nothing’s broken.” She touched Therese’s cheek, which was scraped and bloody. “What about you? Are you okay?”
“Yeah. What the hell was that? I think that car deliberately tried to hit us.”
“If you hadn’t shoved me out of the way he would have,” Maeve said. “Could you see what kind of car it was?”
“No. All I saw was the high beams, coming right at us.”
Therese stood and pulled Maeve back to her feet.
“Oww. I think I broke my butt,” Maeve groaned.
“Can you make it back to the inn?”
“As long as you don’t expect me to run. Hey, do you really think that car deliberately tried to mow us down?” Maeve asked.
“Maybe? I mean, we’re dressed in dark clothes, and it is pitch black out here, but I don’t see how that driver couldn’t have spotted us, especially with his high beams.”
Maeve glanced up and down the road, but there was no other traffic coming. “First the tires on the rental car are slashed, now someone tries to run us down. Am I being paranoid, or could someone be out to get us?”
“Like who? And why? We’re just a couple of American tourists.”
“You don’t think Esme would do something like that, right?” Maeve said. “She’s made it pretty clear how annoyed she is with us.”
“Not annoyed enough to do this kind of stuff. Anyway, I think we’ve actually kind of buried the hatchet now that she’s come clean about her involvement with the IRA raid.”
“Okay. Maybe it’s just a couple of weird coincidences,” Maeve said. “But I’m still gonna call that cop we reported the tire slashing to.”
“Just don’t hold your breath that he’s gonna do much. The guy didn’t seem all that motivated to do anything the first time you called.”
They finally arrived back at the inn half an hour later, their dirty, disheveled appearance drawing unapproving stares from the desk clerk and the dozen or so guests gathered in the lobby sipping drinks.
“You’re more dinged up than me, so you take the first shower,” Therese insisted when they reached their room. “Give me that cop’s card, and I’ll call and let him know what happened to us.”
Maeve was peering into the bathroom mirror, assessing the scrapes on her arms and shoulders, when she heard her sister screech from the other room.
“Aww man. Dammit!”
She poked her head out of the bathroom door. “What’s wrong?”
“This.” Therese pointed to the sleeve of her cashmere sweater, where there was now a blood-streaked jagged rip.
“Sonofabitch,” she muttered as she pulled the sweater over her head. “Can’t have nuthin’ nice.”
Maeve laughed despite herself. “How many times did we hear Mom say that over the years?”
“You say someone deliberately tried to run you down tonight?” Officer Muldoon sounded dubious.
“Yes, sir,” Therese said. “We jumped onto the shoulder of the road and rolled down the embankment, or we’d both be roadkill. As it is, we’re just kind of scraped up.”
“And this was on the Old Wicklow Highway? Approximately what time? What kind of car was this?”
“Just about an hour ago. We couldn’t really see what kind of car it was, because the headlights blinded us. We were coming home from the Stag and the Hare…”
“Ahh. My favorite. Did you try the rainbow trout?”
“What? No. I had lamb and my sister had salmon.”
“The lamb is grand, but next time, get the trout,” Muldoon advised. “But now, there are several pubs and restaurants along that route, and unfortunately, we do get more than our fair share of drunks coming and going, so I wouldn’t jump to unwise conclusions.”
“The driver was using his high beams,” Therese objected. “He had to have seen us.”
“Well, if you want to come down to the station, I can file a report, but I must tell you without any description of the vehicle, or license number, I highly doubt there’s much we can do.”
Therese clenched and unclenched her fist. “Any news about the vandalism to our rental car?”
“Sorry, no. We did question the innkeeper, but nobody reported seeing anything suspicious that night.”
“Should my sister and I be concerned? This is two incidents in twenty-four hours.”
“I wouldn’t worry yourselves,” he said. “Bad luck, is all. We’ve no crime to speak of in the county, with the exception of the occasional drinking and drugging of some unruly types who should know better. But now, if you run into any more trouble, ring me back, will you?”
“Certainly,” Therese said. She disconnected in disgust.
“Was that our friend Officer Muldoon?” Maeve asked, emerging from the bathroom. “What did he say?”
“He’s gonna alert Interpol and put out an all-points bulletin and block all roads leading into and out of Tarrymore,” Therese said.
“Really?”
“Kidding. He was nice but totally dismissive. Said it was probably a drunk leaving one of the nearby bars or restaurants.”
“That’s not very reassuring. I guess all we can do is make sure we look over our shoulders and lock our doors tonight,” Maeve said.
Therese gathered up her toiletries and headed for the bathroom. “I’ve lived in New York City, and I’ve traveled all over the US and dealt with all kinds of freaks and creeps in some pretty sketchy situations, and I’m not usually a scaredy-cat, but Maevey, this has got me a little unnerved.”
Maeve went to the door and fastened the deadbolt and the chain lock. “Me too.”