by Ali McNamara
‘Well, I can’t go back now,’ Kiki says, taking another bite. ‘The doughnut’s destiny is my tummy! Ooh, that rhymes,’ she sings happily, ‘Yummy and tummy! I’m a poet and I don’t know it!’
I shake my head and concentrate on the road.
‘That guy Dermot seemed nice,’ Kiki ponders while she finishes her sugar fix.
‘Yeah, I thought he’d be Irish though, not English. His name sounds Irish enough.’
‘It’s quite a romantic story. Eddie told me about it.’
‘Do you and Eddie do anything but gossip?’ I ask, smiling at her.
‘Oh we do! You want me to tell you about that instead?’ Kiki asks, knowing exactly what I’ll say.
‘No. I do not, thank you. The Dermot story will be fine until we reach The Welcome House.’
‘OK then. Well, apparently this Darcy, Dermot’s wife, inherited the island from a rich aunt, but it said in the terms of the will that she had to set up a little town or something on the island before she could get her hands on the rest of the aunt’s money. That’s when Dermot came in; he was one of the builders who was helping her renovate the place, and they fell in love . . . ’
‘Nice,’ I say without feeling.
‘Oh it is!’ Kiki enthuses. ‘It’s a real love story. Dermot gave up everything to come and live with Darcy on the island, and they’ve been there ever since. Come on, Ren, even you must be able to see the romance in that?’
‘What do you mean, even me?’
‘Well,’ Kiki winds down the window and brushes the sugar from her hands. ‘In matters of the heart, you’re quite . . . practical.’
‘Practical?’ I repeat. ‘How does that work?’
‘You should let your heart rule your head sometimes, instead of the other way around. Stop worrying about the consequences all the time and live in the moment.’
‘I do . . . occasionally.’
‘How often is occasionally? Name one time you’ve let your gorgeous red hair down and gone for it?’
‘I have done in the past, I’m a bit more cautious these days, that’s all.’
‘So what changed?’ Kiki asks. ‘I’ve asked you this before, Ren, but what changed to make you like this?’
‘I think if we pull down this little road . . . ’ I say, indicating and turning down a narrow dirt track, ‘we should be able to see the house quite clearly once I turn around and head back up to the top again. That tree should partly camouflage us, and stop anyone from seeing us watching.’
Out of the corner of my eye I see Kiki shake her head. But she’s used to getting nothing back from me when she asks about my past.
I’d decided long ago to keep that part of my life buried. Burying it where it was inaccessible, even to me most of the time, meant I didn’t have to deal with the feelings that thinking about it evoked. And as far as I was concerned, no one was ever going to make me dig it up again.
‘Right, this will do us,’ I say as I pull up again at the top of the dirt track, just far enough down so the car is partly hidden by a large tree. ‘I have a good feeling about this, Kiki. Tonight might be the night we discover who it is that looks after this house – and if we’re lucky, we might even find out who the mysterious owner is too.’
Twenty
‘But I need to go, Ren!’ Kiki insists, wriggling about in her seat.
‘Didn’t you go before we left?’ I ask, sounding like a mother scolding a small child.
‘Yes, but it’s the pressure of not being able to go that’s making me need to all the more!’
I sigh, ‘Why don’t you walk down the path behind the car and squat down there? I’m sure no one will see you. We’ve been here over an hour and we haven’t seen another soul other than the traffic on the road in front of us.’
Kiki looks horrified. ‘I can’t go outside,’ she whispers.
‘But if you’re desperate?’
‘I’ve never been able to do that. It just won’t come. Plus I’m wearing a onesie! That’s a lot of undressing . . . ’
I sigh again. ‘OK, fine, you’ll have to walk back to the hotel and go there, won’t you?’
‘But it will take me ages to get back there on foot. Can’t I pop over to the house and go? We know it’s open.’
‘No, what if the caretaker comes?’
‘What if they don’t?’
‘Sorry, Kiki, it’s behind the car or the hotel. You choose.’
Kiki thinks about this. ‘How about I see if Eddie can come and pick me up?’ she suggests, lifting her phone. ‘He’s got a motorbike.’
‘Yes, you’ve told me. But you can’t tell him where you are or you’ll give the game away. Start walking and then ring him. Say you got lost or something. He’ll easily believe that now he knows you.’
Kiki gives me a withering look. ‘Fine, I’ll go then . . . You’re sure you won’t change your mind and give me a lift back?’ She looks pleadingly at me.
‘No, we have to stake this place out. The fresh food in the kitchen must be replaced every couple of days, otherwise things like the bread would go stale. So even if I see nothing tonight, I’m going to be here every night until I do.’
‘Oh goody,’ Kiki says sourly, opening her door and climbing out. ‘I’ll make sure I buy some Pampers then.’
‘That’s not a bad idea!’ I call as she closes the door.
Kiki waves dismissively as she walks away up the path and back on to the main pavement, then all too quickly she disappears from my sight.
It feels a bit eerie sitting here on my own in the car, and for a moment I begin to regret letting Kiki leave. But what was I supposed to do, she needed the loo and I needed to stay here on house watch. I don’t know why, but I have a feeling tonight we’re going to make real progress with this mystery.
I look up at the house. It stands high on a rocky outcrop, one side gazing out over the vast picturesque lakes of Ballykiltara, and the other looking majestically down at the constant stream of passing cars on the road below, which now it was getting later in the evening were beginning to thin somewhat.
‘I bet you’ve seen some changes over the years,’ I tell it. ‘You probably remember horses and carts trundling along here at a much steadier pace than all this noisy traffic.’
The house as always is stoic in its silence.
‘What is this hold you have over me?’ I ask as I look up at its white exterior. ‘You seem to have a hold over so many people in this town. What is your secret, my mysterious Welcome House, and when are you going to reveal it to me?’
I reach for one of Kiki’s remaining doughnuts, and slowly devour it while I keep up my surveillance of the house.
But nothing happens. All that changes as the skies darken above me and the moon comes out from behind a cloud, is the traffic, which with each minute that passes seems to lessen more and more. I glance at my phone, but there’s nothing new on the screen. I was hoping Kiki might have texted me to let me know she got back to the hotel all right. I didn’t feel good about making her walk, but what else could I do? Hopefully her knight in shining armour, Sir Eddie, was able to pick her up and transport her to the nearest ladies.
I’m beginning to wish that I’d brought something highly caffeinated with me, to prevent my eyelids from doing what they wanted to do – which right now was shut tightly to allow my body and brain to drift off into a deep restful sleep – when I spot something over on the pavement next to the house.
I sit bolt upright and lift the pair of binoculars that I’d sent Kiki out to buy from one of the many shops on Ballykiltara high street. Kiki had returned with a pair that were Spider-Man inspired – bright red and blue, with a spiderweb design emblazoned across them – which I’d scornfully told her to take straight back to the shop, until Kiki had persuaded me to try them out of the hotel window. To my surprise, I’d not only been able to pick out the horses at the riding stable across the hotel gardens, but also their stable nameplates too.
So, my spidey senses tingling, I lift the binocula
rs to my eyes and focus them on the person who is walking towards the house. I almost drop them again when I see who it is, and that the person is waving at me.
Finn and Fergus cross the busy road and head towards the car. Automatically I find myself dropping down in the front seat so Finn doesn’t see me, but stupidly I realise he already has, so I sit back up again, trying to check my face in the dimmed rear-view mirror as I arrange myself in my seat.
Casually I wind my window down as Finn approaches the car. Even though he’s not lit by street lights now, he is still easily visible under a bright, almost full moon that glows in the night sky above us.
‘What ya doing?’ he asks, leaning down so he can see me properly through the open window.
‘What do you think I’m doing, parked out here at this time of night – learning how to Riverdance?’
I feel pleased with my witty retort, but Finn doesn’t even flinch. ‘So you’re not gazing at the stars then? Somehow I didn’t think you would be.’
I’m not sure how to take that comment, so I choose to ignore it.
‘I’m on surveillance.’
‘So I see . . . ’ Finn looks down at my hand, still clutching the Spider-Man binoculars. ‘Very professional.’
Hurriedly I put the binoculars down on the seat next to me, but they hit the bag of doughnuts, which I have to grab so they don’t spill even more sugar on to the floor.
‘Doughnuts too? Watch a lot of American cop shows, do you?’
‘What do you want, Finn?’ I sigh, reaching behind me to put both the binoculars and the doughnuts down on the back seat.
‘I thought you might like some company?’ Finn says, ruffling the top of Fergus’s head. ‘Fergus and I were out on our evening walk when we saw Kiki. She was sure in a hurry; she wouldn’t even stop to talk to us, just called out something about you being alone up here. So I thought I’d better wander along and see what you were up to.’ He looks back at the house. ‘Have you seen anything yet?’
I shake my head. ‘Nope, not a thing.’
‘You’re not the first to try this, you know – staking out the house. But no one has ever seen anything. It’s like magic, how everything goes on up there.’
‘No such thing,’ I tell him.
‘Not a believer eh?’ Finn asks.
‘In magic – no.’
‘Makes sense.’
‘I wish everyone would stop judging me!’ I snap, suddenly feeling irritated. ‘First it’s Kiki, now you.’
‘Sor-ry!’ Finn says, backing away from the car. ‘Come on, Fergus, we’re obviously not welcome here.’
‘No . . . no you are,’ I insist, not wanting to be on my own out here any longer. ‘Why don’t you come and sit in the car until Kiki gets back?’
‘Sure,’ Finn shrugs and he and Fergus walk around to the passenger side. ‘OK if he sits in the back?’ Finn asks opening the door.
‘Yes, it’s not like he hasn’t been in there before is it?’
Finn tilts the seat forward and Fergus jumps up on to the back seat, then Finn puts the seat forward again and sits down next to me.
‘Your doughnuts!’ he says, leaning over towards the back seat. But Fergus has already found them and is snuffling in the top of the bag.
‘Oh let him have them,’ I say shaking my head dismissively, ‘There was only one left. But I will have the binoculars, if you can reach them.’
Finn retrieves the binoculars and we continue my vigil.
‘Have you thought what you might do if you actually see someone going in there?’ Finn asks, looking straight in front of him through the windscreen like I am.
‘Confront them, obviously.’
‘Really? Would that be the best thing to do?’
‘Why wouldn’t it? The quicker I find out who owns this place, the quicker I can try to arrange a sale for my client.’
‘Yes, I know that. I’m sure you can’t wait to get away from us all and return home to London.’
‘No, I didn’t mean—’ I protest, but Finn continues.
‘It’s clear the person doesn’t want to be discovered. They could be angry, even aggressive if you just bowl up and confront them. Perhaps it’s a good thing I’m here.’
I take my eyes off the house for a moment so I can stare at Finn speechlessly.
‘What?’ he asks, turning to look at me.
‘I do not need protecting by a man!’ I tell him, my voice recovering from its shock. ‘I can take care of myself thank you very much.’
Finn grins.
‘I can! I’ve been doing it long enough . . . ’ my voice trails off. Damn, what was it about being here in Ballykiltara? I was allowing my guard to drop far too often.
‘Oh really?’ Finn asks, his dark eyebrows rising high in his forehead.
‘Yes, really,’ I reply in a calmer tone, turning back to the windscreen.
There’s silence in the car for a few moments, broken only by the gentle snores of Fergus, who inexplicably has managed to curl up and fall asleep on the tiny back seat of the car.
‘So why has it been so long since you had a man in your life?’ Finn asks eventually, breaking the silence. ‘You might as well tell me. We could be here a long time, looking at nothing.’
‘Is that any of your business?’ I ask, still staring straight ahead.
‘No, probably not; but I sort of thought we were becoming friends, that’s all.’
Surprised, I turn to look at him. ‘We are,’ I reply carefully, as a lovely warm feeling spreads up from my tummy to my chest. ‘I’d like to be your friend.’
Finn turns to look at me, his eyes scan my face as if he’s searching for an answer to an invisible question.
‘Are you allowed to befriend your guests though?’ I ask, slightly unnerved by the intensity of his gaze. ‘I thought that sort of thing would be frowned upon.’
‘Befriending them is not a problem,’ he says softly, his face moving closer to mine. ‘However, doing anything more than that might be.’
‘More?’ I ask, knowing exactly what he means.
‘Yes, more.’ He leans in even closer to me, and I don’t pull away. ‘Something like kissing a guest would be frowned upon, for instance.’
‘Would it?’ I ask, my voice trembling.
‘It would indeed,’ he says, his face so close to mine that I can feel his warm breath tickling my lips. ‘But then I’ve never been one to obey the rules, now have I?’
I smile and wait for Finn’s lips to reach mine, the butterflies in my tummy eagerly anticipating how that would feel, as I allow my eyes to close.
But instead of Finn’s lips gently resting themselves upon my own, they speak, jolting me from my dreamlike trance.
‘Look!’ he whispers, pointing through the windscreen towards the house. ‘A torch.’
I turn to see what he’s pointing to – a soft beam of light making its way up the windy path towards the front door.
‘Can you see who’s holding the torch?’ I ask, immediately forgetting all about what’s just happened inside the car, in favour of what’s happening outside. I hoist my binoculars to my eyes, but it’s too dark over by the house to see anything.
‘No, the beam caught my eye as they turned into the gate.’
‘What should we do?’ I ask, suddenly scared of who the torchbearer might be.
‘Do you want to go and see who it is?’ Finn asks. ‘I know you don’t need protecting and all that. But I’ll come with you for backup.’
‘Yes, please,’ I say, grateful now that he’s here. Kiki would have been great, but Finn is tall and fit looking. He could be a huge asset if, like he’d suggested, the person in the house wasn’t too happy at being discovered.
Leaving Fergus locked safely in the car, we make our way up to the top of the path and then we cross the road, now so much quieter than it had been earlier in the evening.
‘It might be someone staying overnight in the house,’ Finn whispers as we make our way slowly towards the fron
t door. ‘The person inside might be one of the house’s temporary lodgers.’
‘Perhaps,’ I reply, in an equally hushed tone. ‘But I noticed earlier that some of the food was going off in the kitchen. I knew someone would have to visit and replace it soon. That’s why I was so keen to keep watch tonight.’
‘Ah, I thought you were taking a bit of a chance that someone might show.’
I turn to Finn and put my fingers to my lips. He nods, and we both approach the front door as quietly as we can.
Like the previous times I’ve been here, I push the door gently, and as always the door willingly swings open inviting us to enter.
I back turn to Finn, he gives me a quick smile of encouragement, so I take a step into the darkened hallway.
Whoever is in the house has cleverly not put on any lights that would show from the road, but has, as I now recognise, put on a light in the kitchen.
I point to the light, and we begin to creep slowly down the hallway, desperately hoping that none of the old floorboards that we step on are going to creak and give us away.
Just before the kitchen doorway, I pause and look back at Finn.
‘Shall I go first?’ he mouths silently.
I shake my head. Finding out who was in charge of this house, possibly even who owned it, is my problem, my need. I want to be the one to expose them.
I take a deep breath and step into the light.
‘You?’ I gasp as I see the owner of the torch standing in front of the fridge, arranging some slabs of butter.
The person spins around, still holding one of the packets, a startled expression on their face.
Finn joins me in the kitchen doorway.
‘You?’ he asks, looking just as stunned. ‘I never expected to see you in here tonight!’
Twenty-One
‘Finn,’ the owner of the torch says. ‘What are you doing here?’
‘I should be the one asking you that,’ Finn says, stepping into the room. He walks over to the fridge and looks inside. ‘Isn’t this the butter we use in the hotel kitchen?’ He pulls out a slab.
Sarah looks immediately shamefaced.