“It is a German Weissbier.”
“Good stuff. Actually, you know what? I’ll try one of them, Fiona.”
“Coming right up,” she said, turning to get it from the fridge. “Do you want the same again, darling?”
“Yes please, Sugar dumpling.”
“Sugar dumpling,” Gerry repeated. He sighed. “Here, hold that beer. I just remembered some work I was supposed to do.”
“Ah, right so. No problem, Gerry.”
Fiona didn’t trust herself to turn around until he was gone. She turned and her eyes met Angus’s. They both burst into laughter. Luckily, the bar was empty apart from them.
“Thanks so much for that,” Fiona said when she had gotten her breath back.
“No worries at all,” Angus said, swiping his hand through the air. “Anything for Colm. Plus it finally got him to agree to take me out fishing.”
“You’ve never been?”
He shook his head. “Never. There wasn’t much opportunity in the middle of the city and I’d no interest in catching a shopping trolley or someone’s old boot.”
Fiona laughed. “I suppose not.”
“Will you join us?”
Fiona grimaced. “I prefer to think of fish coming from a fish tree rather than being caught with… you know…” She’d been fishing a grand total of twice as a child, and the experience had turned her off fish for years.
“Fair enough,” he laughed. “I’ve never done it, but I suppose catching worms isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. I’ll bait your line for you, how’s about that?”
She smiled. Oddly enough, it didn’t seem like such an off-putting prospect after all. “We’ll see,” she said. “Will you gut whatever I catch as well?”
He pretended to think about it. She waited, watching him closely until he finally nodded. “I suppose. Sure what’s the harm?”
The bell over the door rang and Fiona turned dreamily to see who it was. The sight of her brother Colm gave her a jolt of unease: he never missed an opportunity to tease her. Sure enough, his face broke into a wide smile when he saw it was just the two of them.
“Aha, what do we have here?” he said, easing himself onto a bar stool and looking puzzled. “Is Gerry hiding out the back?”
Fiona shook her head, knowing where he was going and struggling to stop herself laughing out of sheer mortification. “Nope.”
“But ye two are looking very cosy altogether. What’s that about?”
Fiona turned to wipe down the fridges before they could see her flush. “We’re just getting into character.”
“That’s it,” Angus said enthusiastically. “Method actors.”
“Method my foot,” Colm said, roaring with laughter. “The moony eyes on the pair of you.”
Fiona spun around. “I see Lourdes hasn’t improved you anyway.”
Colm rolled his eyes. “I’m only having the craic with you. Anyway, how on earth did you think Lourdes would improve me?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s a religious place, isn’t it? Didn’t you go there on a pilgrimage?”
She was surprised when he laughed even harder than before.
“What’s so funny?”
He shook his head in seeming disbelief. “A pilgrimage? You think that’s why Granny goes there every year?”
“Yeah,” she said frowning. “You know that. She’s been going every year since we were kids.”
“She has,” he said, standing again and coming around the side of the bar to help himself to a cider. “Well, it’s not praying she’s doing over there, that’s for sure.”
“What then? Here, you can pay me for that—just for being such a funny man when you came in.”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a fiver. “We were amazed too, to be honest. It turns out it’s all just a big jolly for them. They spent more time playing cards and betting than they did in the churches. I’m telling you…”
Fiona sighed. It might have been hard to believe of anyone else, but anything was possible with her family.
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Full Irish Murder
Fiona McCabe had just taken her finger off the buzzer that connected to her brother’s shop when the phone rang.
“McCabe’s,” she said, almost certain it was Marty calling to tell her to stop distracting him.
“Fi, it’s Ben.”
She frowned. “What’s up? Are you ringing about the buzzer? It’s grand. I thought Marty was working there—I was only buzzing him to come over for a cuppa.”
Ben had recently—and reluctantly—started working at Marty’s hardware shop next door. Fiona wished she hadn’t mentioned tea: Ben would close up the shop and sit in the pub for the whole afternoon if she gave him the chance.
She was about to hang up when he muttered her name again.
“It’s okay, Ben. There’s no emergency. To be honest, I only use it to invite Marty over for tea. Thanks for checking. How’s everything going in the shop?”
“How should I know?”
She sighed. Ben hadn’t inherited the same work ethic as the rest of them and sometimes it grated on her. “There’s no need to sound so enthusiastic. You should be grateful to have the job.”
“I am,” he snapped. “Of course I am. But I have no idea how the shop is. I’m not rostered to work again until Thursday. Anyway, Fi—”
She shook her head, amused by the timing. “That’s funny, Ben. I just buzzed Marty for tea and you rang a second later. I honestly thought—”
“Fi!”
She finally noticed the panic in his voice. Fiona’s jaw clenched. She’d never heard Ben sound so stressed before. “What is it, Ben? What’s happened?”
“It’s Mam,” he hissed. “She’s been arrested. You’ve got to come over. I don’t know what to do.”
“What?” The idea of her mother being arrested was ridiculous. “You seriously think you can fool me that easily?”
“Ben?” she added when he didn’t respond.
“Fiona, come home. They’re just after taking her.”
“Who’s after taking her?”
Ben sniffed. “All of them. Fitzpatrick, Conway and Sergeant Brennan.”
“But why?” Fiona asked. “The woman obeys laws that don’t even exist in Ireland. What could she possibly have done?”
Then she heard the dial tone. He’d hung up. She realised with a sinking feeling that this was no joke.
“Oh good God,” she cried, reaching for her keys and phone. “What’s after happening now?”
The door opened just as she was running out from behind the bar.
“Where are you off to?” Marty asked as he sauntered into the pub. “I thought you buzzed me for a cuppa. It’s awful quiet in the shop—I wish they’d put on a new DIY show on the telly. That always gets the crowds in—”
“Come on,” Fiona interrupted, grabbing his arm and hurrying towards the door. “We’ve got to go!”
Table of Contents
Copyright
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 28
Apple Seeds and Murderous Deeds Page 15