Tied Up with a Bow

by Sheila Connolly

  Mick came out of the back room, which he’d opened up as the crowd had grown. “Do you know where Danny is?” Maura asked when he was close enough to hear.

  “He was in the back until the room started to fill up. Not out here, is he?”

  “Last I saw him he was talking with Old Billy, but he’s not there now. Should I be worried?”

  “If yeh want, take a break. Yeh haven’t been out from behind the bar for a while now. I’m sure he’s around, but yeh can put your mind at ease.”

  “I think I’ll do that.” She wormed her way out from behind the bar, but it was hard to make any progress through the crowded room. Many of the faces she recognized, and she had to stop and exchange a few words with her regulars. A few people were strangers to her, but wasn’t that why she was holding this raffle? To bring in new people and build up her business?

  It took at least ten minutes to reach the corner of the room, where the door to the back room was located. Thank goodness the crowd was less tightly packed there, although there were plenty of people. Rose was behind the bar, and she waved Maura over. “Can yeh take over fer a bit? There’s someone wants to talk to yeh.” She nodded toward the corner of the bar—but beneath it.

  “No problem. How’re our supplies holding up?”

  “I was just going to collect some more crisps and the like.”

  “Take your time.”

  Rose slid out from behind the bar, and Maura replaced her. She surveyed the crowd and checked the level of their drinks, but everyone seemed well equipped, and they all looked happy. It was only then that she looked down.

  Danny was curled up in the darkest corner, and he gestured frantically when she started to greet him. Something was up, but she didn’t know what. Why was he hiding?”

  Maura smiled at the patrons, but nobody approached. When she was sure the coast was clear, she asked in a low voice, “What’s the matter? Why are you hiding?” She didn’t look down.

  “There’s a man out in the front,” Danny said. “I know who he is. I can’t let him see me.”

  “Someone from Dublin?” Maura asked.

  “Yeah. He’s why we left the city. He can’t know that Mam is here.”

  A woman approached the bar and asked for two more pints, which gave Maura a little time to think. She made small talk as the pints settled, then topped them off and handed them to the woman. “Have you entered our raffle yet?” Maura asked.

  “What raffle?” Maura explained about the unfinished sculpture and the entry jar. When she was done, the woman said, “I didn’t even see that, it was so crowded. What’s the prize?”

  “Bragging rights, if you’re local. And the money’s going to a local charity. Oh, and you and your friends would get a round of free drinks. Take a look at the sculpture—it’s right across the street, although it’s pretty dark to see much.”

  “I’ll do that, thanks.”

  As the woman went back to join her friends, Maura tried to interpret what Danny had told her. Someone—a man—had tracked them down from Dublin. That couldn’t be an accident. Apparently he was a threat to Hannah and Danny, or so Danny believed. She herself had sensed something was wrong, but she still didn’t know what, or why the pair would be so afraid. And it was going to be difficult to carry on a conversation in a crowded room while Danny was hiding under the bar. What could she do?

  Wait for Rose to come back, turn the back bar over to her again, and get Danny alone outside and find out what was really going on. Without looking down again, Maura told Danny, “Rose’ll be back in a few minutes. Then we can go outside and you can tell me what’s wrong.”

  “He’ll see us,” Danny said, his voice edged with panic.

  “Not if we’re careful, he won’t. Don’t worry, I won’t let anything happen to you.”

  “What about Mam?”

  Maura hadn’t thought that through. Maybe the man—if he actually existed—had come looking for Hannah and had tried Sullivan’s first. But if he had no luck here, would he cross the road and check out the bar at the inn? Or try the Harbour Bar next? Time to call in the troops, and luckily she had her mobile phone in her pocket. She hit the familiar speed-dial button again. When Sean answered, she said, “Where are you?” She had to step back into a quieter corner to hear Sean’s reply.

  “Making me rounds on the highway. What’s the problem?”

  “Maybe nothing, but maybe something. Not here, and we’re all fine, but I’m worried about Hannah at the inn. Could you just swing by? There’s nothing going on there that I can see, but I think if your car’s out front it might help. I’ll explain when I see you, okay?”

  “I’ll be there in ten.”

  A small voice was heard from below the bar. “Yeh’ve called in the gardaí?”

  “I have. I’ve told you about Sean—he’s one of the good guys. He’ll see there’s no trouble. And when the coast is clear you can tell me what’s wrong.”

  Maura was distracted by a sudden increase in noise from the front room, and she hurried out to see what was going on. Mick was still behind the bar, and Rose was emerging from the back, her arms filled with snack food. Several of the male patrons were clinging to the arms of a man Maura didn’t recognize, and Seamus was among them.

  “He had his eye on yer jar there,” Seamus told her.

  “You know him?” Maura asked. Seamus and his friends shook their heads. The others in the pub turned away, now that the excitement was over.

  “What do yeh want us to do with him?” Seamus demanded, keeping his grip on the stranger.

  “Did he take anything?” Maura replied, eyeing the man. He didn’t look drunk, but he did look angry.

  “He hadn’t the time before we noticed,” Seamus said.

  “Let him leave, then. The gardaí will be here soon enough,” Maura said.

  The man’s expression changed at the mention of the gardaí. “I’ve done nothin’, taken nothin’. Check me pockets if yeh want.”

  Seamus studied the man’s face. “Ah, get on wit’ yeh. And don’t come back.”

  The man knew he was outnumbered, and turned and stalked out the front door, disappearing quickly into the dark.

  “Thank you, Seamus. What tipped you off? He had his hand in the jar?”

  “Nah, but he was lookin’ at it, and then lookin’ to see who was watchin’ him. Before yeh jump down me throat, I think my mates and I would all agree that if he’d had no nefarious scheme in mind, he would’ve made a joke of it and bought us a round.”

  “And that was enough to set you off?”

  “We don’t know the man. He’s not from here.”

  Maura considered. Seamus had pretty fair instincts, and Danny had already said he knew who the man was and didn’t trust him. “Well done, guys. The next round is on the house. And thanks for keeping watch.”

  Mick cocked an eyebrow at her but didn’t comment. He started filling more pints.

  Five minutes later Sean Murphy came in. “Everythin’ all right?”

  “More or less. No problems at the inn?” When Sean shook his head, Maura turned to Mick. “Can you cover for a bit? And Rose, will you take over the bar in the back room? I need to talk to Sean about . . . something else.”

  Now everyone looked confused, except the patrons, who had turned back to their own conversations and hadn’t been troubled by the arrival of a local garda. Maura did not stop to explain. Instead she grabbed Sean’s elbow and led him into the back room, hoping that Danny hadn’t taken the opportunity to disappear into the night. Or to try to warn his mother about whatever was happening. She heaved a sigh of relief when she found he hadn’t budged from his hiding place.

  “Danny,” she said gently, “I know something bad is going on, but the man is gone now, and Sean’s here. Together we can figure out something, okay? Just come out and we can talk.”

  Reluctantly Danny unfolded himself from his hidey-hole and climbed out, looking both scared and determined. “Can we go someplace where people won’t be
hearin’ us?”

  “Of course we can. There’s a quiet corner on the balcony up there where no one will bother us.” Rose came in to take over, and Maura lead the way up the stairs, followed by Danny and Sean. No one could see or hear them up there, and at least it was warm. When they were settled on some ratty chairs, Maura said, “Okay, Danny—what’s the problem?”

  And finally Danny started talking.

  Chapter Ten

  Sean remained silent and let Danny take the lead.

  “We come from Dublin, right?” Danny began. “We been livin’ there as long as I can remember. Just Mam and me. Me da was gone before I could know him, and Mam wouldn’t talk about him. Mam always worked, and she had a sister Ellen who looked after me. We got by.”

  Danny took a deep breath and scrubbed at his nose. Had he been crying? Then he picked up the thread again. “Ellen was the only family we had, but then she got into trouble. Mam wouldn’t tell me exactly what was wrong, but I think it was drugs. Ellen was selling them or something—Mam didn’t say because she thought I wouldn’t understand, but I hear people talk. Anyways, Ellen kind of disappeared a few weeks back. One day she just didn’t arrive, and Mam had to leave me alone, when I wasn’t in school. I kept going to school because I figgered it was safer there than at home.

  “Then one day this man come to the door—I seen him through the glass, but he didn’t see me. Mam told me never to open the door to strangers, so I didn’t. I went and hid, as quiet as I could. Then the man broke down the door and started smashing things. He musta known Mam would be at work, but I guess he wanted her to know he’d been there. Or he was looking fer something—I didn’t know what. I was scairt to move, and I hoped he thought I was still at school or out with Mam or something.”

  “So you didn’t see the man?” Sean asked carefully.

  “Only through the glass of the door when he first came, and I didn’t like the look of him. So I hid in the space under the stairs—it had a door, like, but it was hard to see it if yeh didn’t know it was there. He never looked in there. I guess he got tired of looking, but I don’t think he found what he wanted, so he finally left. I didn’t want to come out, so I waited until Mam came back.”

  “What did she do then?” Maura prompted.

  “She was as scairt as me. She said we had to leave, but she wasn’t sure where we could go. Like I said, we had no family near, and then she remembered a cousin Anne in some town I’d never heard mention of, out in the country. That would be here. We didn’t have much, and that man had broke a lot of it, so Mam took what money she had hidden in the house and we left, right then, that night. Took us a couple of days to get here, and Missus Sheahan weren’t exactly happy to see us. Sounds like there was some fight in the family years back. But Mam was family, so she took us in, gave Mam a job so we could eat. That was two, three weeks ago. And you know the rest.”

  “So your mam never saw the guy?” Sean asked. Danny shook his head. “And she never said his name?”

  “Not to me, but she seemed to know who he was, and that he was trouble. We went to the train station and found a train to Cork city, and that took most of our money. Mebbe he followed us, and now he’s here.” Danny’s eyes filled with tears, and he turned away so Sean and Maura couldn’t see. Finally he said, “He’s a bad man.”

  “I’m sure you’re right,” Maura said firmly. “So you saw him here in the pub, and you hid as fast as you could? And he didn’t see you?”

  “I kept down low. He wasn’t looking down, so I sneaked back behind the bar. Nobody noticed me.”

  “Do yeh know yer mother’s sister’s full name?” Sean asked.

  “She’d be Ellen Barry.”

  “And she’s gone missing?”

  Danny nodded. “Mam tried to reach her on her mobile, and she went to her house. She wasn’t anywhere. And then we left real quick.”

  “What was yer mam’s work, in Dublin?” Sean asked.

  “Like Maura’s, here. Behind the bar. Which is why Missus Sheahan gave her a place at the inn.”

  “And where’ve the two of yeh been stayin’? Not at the inn?”

  Danny shook his head again. “Missus Sheahan found us a room in a house on the edge of town, but we won’t be able to use it much longer. And we can’t pay much.” He hesitated for a moment. “Is me mam all right?”

  “I’m pretty sure she is, Danny,” Sean told him. “There’s been no trouble over there tonight. Let’s hope the man yeh saw has decided to lay low for now, after the fuss here. Can yeh give me a minute to talk to Maura here? And then I’ll take yeh to yer mam.”

  Danny nodded, then shrank back into the dark corner. Sean took Maura’s arm and guided her to another corner. “You have any idea what’s going on?” Maura asked him.

  “Only a sketch,” he admitted. “From what Danny’s told us, seems like this sister in Dublin got into some kind of trouble. Maybe she took something important, or maybe she knows something she shouldn’t. Either way, she disappeared, and I don’t want to guess what might have happened to her. Then this man comes to Hannah’s house looking for somethin’ or someone and trashes it. Hannah gets spooked, grabs up Danny, and they leave town and end up in Leap, where she may think she’s safe. Which seems not to be true, since this same man showed up here tonight, ready to make trouble, if Danny’s recognized him.”

  “Could be this man knows other members of the family,” Maura said. “Like Anne. Or the missing sister told him.”

  “Might be so. Maura, I need to know more before I can do anything. So far this man has done no more than look at the raffle jar and scare Danny. The fact that he’s here isn’t good and he’ll probably keep looking for Hannah, who won’t be hard to find in this small place. What I need to do is see if there’s any trouble in Dublin with this Ellen Barry. There may be no record of her, or of any attack by a man whose name we don’t even know. I can’t promise yeh much, but I need to check, though it’s kind of late to be askin’ anyone in the city. And we need to figger out a way to keep Hannah and Danny safe until we know more. I’m guessin’ that Anne Sheahan won’t want to help.”

  “Well, they could stay at my place out in Knockskagh, but that’s pretty isolated, and this guy might follow us. Or there are the rooms upstairs here—we’ve used them before. And Mick or me, or Mick and me, can stay here in case the guy comes looking. You’ll have to deal with the inn.” She didn’t like either idea much, but she’d feel awful if anything happened to Hannah or Danny. “What if you don’t find any information? You can’t exactly arrest the guy, can you?”

  “No. And I can’t ask yeh to stand watch over those two for long. Give me a day and I’ll see what I can learn.”

  “How do we get Hannah over here?”

  “I can go over now and see if our man is hangin’ around, then bring her here.”

  “Her shift won’t be over yet, and if you talk with Anne she’ll probably wash her hands of both of them, which won’t help.”

  Sean looked exasperated. “Maura, I’m doing me best. The gardaí can’t post guards around the clock, in case something might happen—not with the few facts we have. At best we can hope that seein’ my car sent him back to wherever he’s stayin’, at least fer now.”

  “How about this, then. I’ll figure out where to put her and Danny tonight. I don’t know what hours she’s been working at the inn, but I could ask Seamus and his gang to spread out and keep at eye out for the man—they’ve all seen him up close so they’d know him. They can cover the Harbor Bar and the inn, and we’ve got Sullivan’s taken care of. If their wives pitch a fit, they can trade off shifts, and we’ll hope it won’t be for long. That’ll give you a chance to do some digging and see if anyone in Dublin knows anything.” Before Sean could speak, Maura held up a hand. “Yeah, I know tomorrow is Sunday, but do what you can. Then we can get together toward the end of the day and see what we know.”

  “It’s a plan,” Sean said, sounding dubious. “I’ll put Sergeant Ryan on it—he probab
ly has more city contacts than the rest of us put together. Let’s hope we find something we can use.”

  “So go get started, Sean. Talk with Hannah and with Anne if you think you need to, and I’ll talk with Mick and Seamus and his buddies, and we’ll get this sorted out. What with the drawing for the raffle, there should be plenty of people around.” Maura waved Danny over from his corner. Poor kid, he really looked scared, and Maura couldn’t blame him.

  “What’s goin’ on?” he said when he got closer.

  “We’ve got a plan, Danny.” Maura knelt down in front of him and told him quickly. “Sean’s going to see if he can find out what happened to your Aunt Ellen and make sure your mam’s safe. Then I think the best thing is for both of you to stay here tonight, and Mick and I will stay too. Tomorrow we’ll ask our friends to keep an eye on all the pubs in the village, to see if this man shows up again, and maybe Sean will have more information for us. Is that okay with you?”

  “When’s Mam going to be here?”

  “Sean will go over and bring her back here. We don’t want her to lose her job, now, do we?”

  “I guess not. Can I help with anything?”

  “Don’t try to go anywhere, like to warn your mother—please! Sean will take care of that, and you’ll see her soon enough. Maybe you can help me sort out the bedrooms at the other end of the building, so you two will have a place to sleep. I need to go back to the main room and tell Mick and Seamus and his friends what our plan is. Do you want to stay up here, or out front?”

  Danny’s eyes darted around the balcony, which had more than one door to the outside. “Out front, please. I’ll stay our of yer way, I promise.”

  “That’s fine. Let’s see Sean out, and then we’ll talk to the others.”

  When Maura, Sean and Danny walked into the front room, only a few heads turned, and the din had grown in volume. Ordinarily Maura would be happy, but right now she wasn’t sure whether there was a lurking threat somewhere nearby. How had this man from Dublin figured out where Hannah might go? Leap wasn’t exactly a major tourist destination, and few people would come looking for a Dublin woman here. The logical conclusion was that, as she had said, Ellen had told him, willingly or unwillingly, or he knew enough about Hannah to make an obvious guess that she’d head for her only known relative. But why was Hannah so afraid of him? Maura hoped that Sean could convince her to talk, although she could see why Hannah might not be convinced that a small station of gardaí and a few guys from the pub here could protect her, or not for long. If she kept running, where could she go?