“Who is he?”
“Ronan Bronaugh, the billionaire…or least he was.”
55
Bernadette changed her return home by five days as she had some things that needed to be done. The final interrogation of Cahal revealed he’d been sent to silence the priests in Canada because they knew of Ronan and his fascination with the ancients. They were about to expose him in their book.
The members of the cult were rounded up and put into a home for psychiatric care. All of them had been duped into thinking their DNA was that of kings and ancient queens. They were all lied to.
The Irish Member of Parliament was brought in for questioning, and somehow, he claimed he’d been duped as well. Some people always get a free pass.
Bernadette called Chris and convinced him he needed to join her in Kilmeague. He took the next flight out.
They stood in the graveyard of the church, the rain fell softly, but they didn’t mind. They held each other close and watched the gravedigger work.
“How did you figure out that Cahal wasn’t legit?” Chris asked.
“There was something in Francine Dooley’s eyes when she was trying to convince me of her love affair with my father. I knew she was lying.”
“How did they do the photo of you in Ireland then?”
Bernadette squeezed his hand tight. “That photo of the two-year-old girl in Cahal’s arms was my cousin. The one that died over thirty years ago. We had striking similarities.”
“Why was your dad in the photo? “Chris asked.
Bernadette looked up at Chris. “John Dooley photoshopped my dad into the picture. He thought he might have a get out of jail card if he was caught. It worked.”
Bernadette looked up at Chris. “There were pods I saw in the laboratory. Ronan promised Francine and John Dooley he could recreate Francine’s child in a test tube. But none of them worked.”
“So, you’re not the love child of an Irish Gypsy then?” Chris asked.
“No, but this poor thing was,” Bernadette said looking down at the grave. “Seems Francine got Cahal drunk when he was in Kildare for a weekend off his ship. They had a one-night fling outside the bar, that was the entire affair that resulted in the birth of my cousin.”
“Do you know who named her before she died?”
“It was Aideen. She’d written a letter that was in her things I received from the solicitor. She wanted to use a strong name for Cahal’s child and had asked my father if he didn’t mind using mine because she’d heard I was strong. The letter never got sent. Funny, all these years I thought they’d disavowed my family, and here they were, buried in this cemetery. They even left me over thirty thousand euros in their wills.”
“Would that have changed anything?” Chris asked.
“I’m not sure, but I would have opened their case a long time ago if I’d known the circumstances,” Bernadette said.
“I’m sure you would have,” Chris said.
The priest came towards them wearing his vestments and carrying his bible. “Are we ready to begin?”
“Yes, we are,” Bernadette said.
“Dear lord, we are here today to bury this young child, gone too soon, and we know has long been in your loving arms. Know that people who love you have now laid you to rest in your proper place.”
He made the sign of the cross and sprinkled some water over the grave. “May you rest in everlasting peace—Bernadette Callahan.”
56
Emerald Lake Lodge, May
The sun broke through the clouds making the surrounding snow-covered mountains sparkle. The wedding party gathered by the shore of Emerald Lake that shimmered with deep blues and greens.
Bernadette and Chris walked out of the lodge where they had participated in a Cree smoke ceremony given by Grandmother Moses. They joined the guests at the altar. Grandma Moses presented them with two feathers tied together in such a way that they could never be separated. They gave each other moccasins and hugged Grandma Moses.
They advanced to the canopy where Rabbi Nahman, the newfound second cousin of Chris blessed them and placed a glass under a cloth. Chris broke the glass by stepping on it to the cheers of the crowd.
Father Dominic stepped in to give the blessings of the Catholic Church and read only one passage from the bible and ended his ceremony with prayer to the faithful.
“Do you think we covered all the bases?” Chris asked as they walked hand in hand back to the reception. He was dressed in black suit with a Jewish yamaka on his head.
Bernadette smiled. She’d worn a plain white dress with a necklace of beads. “I think all of our ancestors will be pleased.”
There were forty for dinner. Chris had excelled in providing a choice of lake trout or elk tenderloin and a vegetarian selection that Bernadette only agreed to at the last minute. The wines were from the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia with a selection of cheeses from Ontario matched with fortified wines from the Niagara Peninsula.
Bernadette and Chris stayed late and partied with the guests. Chris’ newfound Jewish relatives provided a hora dance, Bernadette’s grandmother showed everyone how they could do a traditional native dance, and Father Dominic, once plied with enough whiskey, showed everyone an Irish jig.
At midnight they sat on the balcony of the timber cottage and watched the moon move slowly across the mountains. Sprocket was nestled at their feet, snoring.
“That was perfect,” Bernadette said.
Chris smiled. “Yes, I’d say it was that. My mother even got along with everyone, even Rabbi Nahman.”
“I couldn’t ask for anything more,” Bernadette said, pulling Chris’ arm around her.
“I have two things, and I hope they are not overwhelming,” Chris said.
Bernadette sat up and looked at Chris. “What is it?”
Chris pulled a small envelope. “You remember you filled out your DNA some months ago?”
“Yeah, I wondered what happened to the results.”
“They came in a week ago. You were busy, so I thought I’d give it you now,” Chris said as he handed her the envelope.
Bernadette looked at the envelope. She bit her lip. “What if I’m really not half Cree and full Irish?”
“You’ll only know if you open it,” Chris said.
“What if I don’t? What if I just go by what I’ve experienced and feel?”
“You could try that. But this is you we’re talking about. Having the envelope closed will make you doubt forever. Like not looking at cards dealt on a table.”
“Oh my God, you know me too well,” she said, tearing open the envelope.
“Well, does it say?”
Bernadette laughed. “Yes, I’m full Cree on my mother’s side, but on my father’s side I got Irish, Welsh, Danish, and some Norwegian.”
“Looks like that guy Ronan was on to something,” Chris said.
Bernadette put up her hand. “Please don’t get me started on that lunatic.
“I’ve one more thing to show you,” Chris said.
“What is it?”
Chris took out a large envelope from under the chair. “This came by courier this morning to the lodge. I opened it to see if it was anything official, and I discovered it’s a wedding present.”
“Who is it from?”
“No idea. Just says to enjoy,” Chris said as he handed the envelope to Bernadette.
She opened the envelope. Two airline tickets fell out. She emptied out the package. A brochure and two cruise tickets dropped into her lap.
Bernadette put her hand to her forehead. “These airline tickets are first class. And the cruise ship cabin is a penthouse suite.”
Chris opened the brochure. “This ship has only two hundred passengers. Every cabin has a butler and a valet. How can we accept this?”
Bernadette smiled and picked up her glass of champagne. “How can we not accept it? Look, if this gift came from someone involved in a case I’m investigating, I couldn’t accept this. But this simply
says to enjoy. That works for me.”
“But it’s in three weeks from now. The itinerary says it’s from Singapore to Dubai for two weeks. Can you swing the time off?”
“I’m owed a vacation. I’ve tons of overtime they want me to take in lieu of pay. We could definitely use this.”
“But this is a cruise for multimillionaires. We wouldn’t fit in,” Chris said.
“Who cares? I buy a couple of black dresses, you rent a tux. After all, what can happen on a cruise ship with a bunch of rich people?”
Acknowledgments
I am an extremely lucky writer to have attained the help of some wonderful beta readers; Stan Shaw, John Appleton, Glynis Hutnik, Patrick Bishop and Dennis Shepp.
The additional guidance I received in medical advice was from my good friend, Dr. Murray Allen. The advice on the Canadian legal system came from Brad Chapman and Joe Nahman. And of course, how could I write a fight scene without Rhonda Alderson who attained her second degree black black in Goju Ryu, the “hard soft style.” I thank her immensely for showing me some of the moves in the Karate studio with out maiming me for life. Big thanks for that, Rhonda.
My special thanks is to my wife Tessa, who has read every word I’ve ever written. If you wonder why I haven’t written more, you can thank my lovely wife. Sometimes she just says, “honey, your way off track.” And, with that, I get back to writing my books and enjoying life.
About the Author
Lyle Nicholson is the author of seven novels, two novellas and a short story, as well a contributor of freelance articles to several newspapers and magazines in Canada.
In his former life, he was a bad actor in a Johnny Cash movie, Gospel Road, a disobedient monk in a monastery and a failure in working for others.
He would start his own successful sales agency and retire to write full time in 2011. The many characters and stories that have resided inside his head for years are glad he did.
He lives in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada with his lovely wife of many years where he indulges in his passion for writing, cooking and fine wines.
Lyle Nicholson
Dear Reader, I hope you enjoyed my last work. As you may know, reviews are like gold to authors, if you’d consider leaving a line or two, or even just a rating on Amazon this would be much appreciated.
Also by Lyle Nicholson
The Bernadette Callahan Series
Book 1 Polar Bear Dawn
Book 2 Pipeline Killers
Book 3 Climate Killers
Book 4 Caught in the Crossfire
Prequel, Black Wolf Rising
Short Story, Treading Darkness
Other Books of fiction
Dolphin Dreams
Misdiagnosis Murder
Non fiction books
Half Brother Blues
To read the first three chapters of these books, please visit my author page on Amazon;
amazon.com/author/lylenicholson
Deadly Ancestors: A Bernadette Callahan Mystery (Bernadette Callahan Detective Series Book 5) Page 28