“Well, it’s a problem alright and not one I can see an easy answer to. I never considered you might fall in love with a client, though obviously it can happen. If it’s any consolation you’re the third woman in the last week that has been hit with lousy luck with men.”
“Who’s the second after Alice?”
“Me.I have just finished a relationship I should have got shut of long before now.”
“You! Well, you may think that call girls aren’t supposed to fall in love but surely social workers aren’t supposed to fall for bad guys!” Cassandra was grinning.
“So between the two of us we’ve exploded a few myths over the past few days!” Nicola laughed. “But how do you think I can help with your problem?”
“I don’t know really.I just felt I had to talk to someone.It seems so mad.I have quite a few friends in Galway but no-one knows what I do for a living.It’s quite interesting how you can get by without telling people you know quite well anything about your work.They know I’m some sort of consultant – they just don’t know what kind!”
“Well, you came to the right place.We might be able to help each other.I just dumped Jonathan over the weekend and I haven’t started to miss him yet.I know I’ve done the right thing but I am dreading being on the single scene again.And, while what I’m feeling now is relief, I am sensible enough to know that I’ll begin to miss him if I don’t replace him soon.As you know, it always looks easier to get a new man when you’re involved than it actually is when you’re not.The last time I think I was about eighteen months between boyfriends.Incidentally, have you ever been in love before?”
“Of course I have, but it’s been a while – a long while.This seems so hopeless – ridiculous even.”Cassandra gave Nicola a sheepish look.
“It’s not ridiculous but it does seem hopeless.It can’t survive unless his wife dies.” Nicola shot the other woman a look.
“Oh, don’t say that! I certainly wouldn’t wish her dead.I love him and if I’m honest I think I would like her as well if we met.He talks about her a bit sometimes, not in a maudlin sort of way, but she sounds like a great person, in particular when you consider what she is going through.I feel sort of guilty about her sometimes, though I’ve no need to.As I said, it is quite obvious that he still loves her deeply and his little trysts with me are just something to keep him sane as he goes through this particularly difficult patch.She doesn’t know about me but, if she did, she just might take the view that I am in some way lightening the load for both of them.”
“It’s unlikely but you never can tell.”Nicola was thoughtful.“Look, I’m glad you told me. One good thing that came out of the Alice affair is that we met and cancry on each other’s shoulders from time to time as the need arises.What do you think?”
“Great,” Cassandra agreed.“It looks like we might both need it.”
“I know this sounds mad,” Nicolasaid thoughtfully, “but I’ve booked myself into a spa – Inchydoney – for a few days, so why don’t you come along with me? It would be more fun with a friend.I can barely afford it but I’m sure that I’m going to be significantly more solvent now that I no longer live with that leech.How about it?”
Cassandra laughed.“Why not?It sounds like fun. When did you book it for?I’ll need to check my calendar.”
“The weekend after next.There is a meeting I’m dreading that week and I am hoping to unwind after it.”
“I think I’m free that weekend.”
“Will I book it for you so?”
“No, I’ll book it myself.The prostitute and the social worker wouldn’t look good together in the Hotel Register!” Cassandra said with a grin. “Though, it would make a good title for a book, wouldn’t it?The Prostitute and the Social Worker.”
Both women laughed heartily and were still grinning as they walked home in opposite directions.
Chapter 8
Nicola decided not to watch the blanket coverage of the funeral.She’d had her fill of men and, though she had liked the late Taoiseach at a distance, she had seen and heard so much bad stuff about men in the last few days she felt she couldn’t trust herself to look at the funeral with any great sympathy.She had experienced this sort of feeling towards men before, usually when dealing with a particularly harrowing story, so she knew that the feeling would pass and her equilibrium would be restored.In any case she knew there would be so much coverage that she would catch enough glimpses flicking the channels to get a general idea, and her colleagues at work would fill her in if she felt the need for more detail.
When she went into the office next day she decided to take out Christine O’Neill’s file.It was so long since she had dealt with her that she had forgotten some of the detail and she needed to refresh her memory.
As she read, the story came flooding back. Christine had been brought to her attention by a neighbour who was concerned about her.The neighbour had heard awful screaming in the night and the children crying.She could hear a man shouting, calling Christine a slut and a tramp, but the neighbour had never been aware that a man was living there.Nicola had asked the neighbour to call her again on a morning immediately after such an occurrence and she would visit.
When she made her first visit at nine thirty one morning what she saw had shocked her.Initially when she knocked there was no answer.Nicola persisted and eventually the door opened slowly.Inside a little girl of about six was standing on a chair in order to be able to open the latch.
“Is your mam in?”Nicola asked.
“She is but she’s in bed.She’s sick.”The little girl looked scared.
“Could you ask her to come down?”Nicola said as gently as she could.“I might be able to do some shopping for her or get her medicine or something.”
“I’ll ask her but I don’t think we have any money.” Her lower lip quivered but she didn’t cry.
“Ask yourmam to come down,” Nicola said again.
The little girl went upstairs and Nicola could hear voices.
After a short while the girl came down again and said that her mother was too ill.
“Who are you anyway?”she asked.
“Someone who can help your mam,if she’ll let me.Would you take this up to her?”She scribbled a short note, hoping that the mother could read.She wrote that she was a social worker and would like to talk to her. She knew that that would get a response.Sadly social workers were seen as a threat by some people in need because they had a reputation for taking children away.She held her breath and within minutes the girl came back followed by her mother.
The woman that stood at the bottom of the stairs looked even more scared than the child and Nicola knew that she had done the right thing by insisting on seeing her.The story was somewhat unusual.It emerged that Christine was a lone parent whose ex-partner was employed and would in some ways be regarded as a pillar of society.When he left her for another woman she came back to live in Galway because she thought she would have a better support system but her family were not wealthy and several of them had problems of their own, so she was effectively alone. She was encouraged by the Department of Social Protection to follow her ex for maintenance but every time either they or she made contact with him he just visited her late at night and assaulted her – teaching her a lesson.That way he hoped she would not contact him again.Last night’s attack had been particularly violent.He had been married about a year and had only just discovered that his wife had a fertility problem.Christine’s contact had rubbed salt into the wound.His wife did not know of her existence and certainly didn’t know about the children.Christine had a black eye, a gash on the side of her face which looked as if it needed stitches and a severe bruise on her shin. Nicola didn’t ask if she had other injuries.
Nicola had moved quickly.She arranged for the local authority to transfer Christine to a different house, she contacted the Department of Social Protection and informed them about the situation and insisted that they never ask Christine to seek maintenance again and after that Christine’s l
ife had gone from strength to strength.Nobody was ever sure if her ex visited Galway again but if he did he hadn’t found Christine and she no longer lived in fear.
Nicola was mystified as to why Christine had accused her of breach of confidentiality.Looking at the file confirmed her memory that she didn’t know who Christine’s ex was and had never known him. She had a feeling he was in the army though she didn’t know why she felt that. So clearly she couldn’t have breached confidentiality in this way.She was confident that the meeting would prove this to all concerned and, if it was a case that Christine’s ex had found her, she felt she would have no trouble proving that it was not she who had told him where she was.The meeting was a few days away and Nicola decided, as a precaution, to check with A&E about the time Christine and her children had been admitted on the night of the alleged assault and also to check with the Guards about when the call came into them.She was about to pick up the phone when it rang.
“The apartment is up for sale,” Cassandra’s voice was urgent.“I don’t know if this is significant in the context of Alice’s rights.”
“I don’t know either,” Nicola answered.“I’ll make a few enquiries off the record.Thanks for letting me know.I’ll talk to you later.”
Séamus the senior solicitor in Legal Aid had fancied Nicola since they had met in college.
“Are you still with that arty-farty ne’er do well?”he asked her when she rang him.
“Actually I’m not, but that’s not why I rang.”Nicola couldn’t keep the laughter from her voice.
“Well, there’s hope for me so.But what can I do for you, apart from take you out to dinner?”
“We’ll let the remark about dinner go as this is a professional consultation.Can I rely on your confidentiality?”
“That goes without saying.It’s like the seal of the confessional.They don’t call me ‘The Priest’ for nothing.”
“Good.” Nicola was hesitant now.“Because this story is so far-fetched I can hardly believe it myself.I’m not going to name names because the client doesn’t know I’ve rung but I was hoping you could give me some advice as to how to proceed and if my client has any rights.”
“Fire away, ask the expert.”Séamus was only half joking.
Nicola took a deep breath and began. Séamus listened without interrupting.
“What do you think?”sheasked when she had finished.
“I think this is like the plot of a Jeffrey Archer novel.It seems quite sinister. It is very complicated.Off the top of my head, your client might have squatters’ rightswhich is also called adverse possession if we could prove that she did not have the permission of the owner to remain in the apartment.”
“But she had – the ‘important person’ actually moved her in and stayed with her several times a week.”
“Yes, but if a company actually owned the apartment and you believe it was owned by Tower Properties, she may never have officially got permission from them to reside there.”
“But I suspect that the company is owned by the ‘important person’.” Nicola was doubtful.
“That would be beside the point.A company is a separate legal entity and, if there is no evidence from the company documentation that a decision was made to allow your client to live in the apartment, we may be able to establish rights for her.But, you should get your client in here quickly because if the apartment is up for sale we need to move fast so that we can put a stop to it.Can you bring her in this afternoon? It’s quite urgent because getting documentation together might take a few days – a week even and an apartment in that area could be snapped up by then.It’s much sought after and there are still a lot of people with money in this city – not that they ever have need of our services.We only watch them at a distance.”
“Okay – are you there all day?I might try and get her now if you’re free.She may not be that free after lunch because her children have to be picked up from school.”
“Yes, as it happens.I could see you any time.Get back to me with a time as soon as you contact your client.In the meantime I’ll make some preliminary enquiries.”
“Thanks, Séamus. I owe you one.”
“No, you don’t.This is my job.But if you’d come out to dinner with me I’d be delighted.”
“You don’t give up, do you?”Nicola laughed.Having someone actually interested in her was a change.“I’ll consider it when all this is over, but don’t hold your breath.”
“No, but I will remain optimistic.”
When Séamus hung up Nicola rang Alice immediately.
“I didn’t expect to hear from you for a while,” Alice said. “I thought you’d be concentrating on other clients.”Her tone indicated that she knew all was not well.
“So did I.But I need to talk to you.Can I come out?”
“Well, I was going out with Eliza and Hugo.The pony, remember?What’s so urgent?”
“I’ll explain when I see you.I may need you to come back into town with me.I have set up a meeting for you but I need to explain the reasons first.”
“Oh, God!” was all Alice said.
Alice was in tears when Nicola had finished explaining that the apartment was up for sale and that they might have to move fast in order to prevent it.Eliza tried to comfort her but she too was clearly worried.
“I need you to come into town with me and we can go to Legal Aid together and after this first visit they will deal with you directly,” Nicola told her. “I just thought I would go as moral support in the first instance.I might be able to help you with documentation and stuff.”
“What is Legal Aid?”
“It’s an organisation that helps people who have low or no income to deal with legal issues that affect them. It sometimes helps people who are homeless or in danger of becoming homeless achieve their rights with regard to their housing.”
“But I’m not . . .” Alice’s voice broke into a sob as she realised that she was indeed homeless or would have been had it not been for Eliza.
Séamus had already done some homework when the two women arrived into his office.
Alice considered his unruly red hair, John Lennon glasses and very casual attire made him a pretty untypical solicitor but he was friendly and confident and she felt comfortable with him.
“I’ve got advice on the situation,” he said.“Obviously I didn’t name names because I didn’t have them but it seems that we could seek an interim injunction preventing the sale of the apartment on the grounds that it has been your home for the past twelve years.Is it a full twelve years by the way?”
“Yes,” Alice replied.It must have been the third time she had answered that question since the eviction.
“Good, because if we succeed in getting the injunction, we would then have to go about seeking adverse possession for you.If we succeed in that, and it’s a big if, you would own the property.”
“I had hoped that we could leave it a month or two, until the political situation calms down,” said Nicola. “You see, Alice’s ex is Jack Madden.”
She noticed the fleeting look of surprise on Séamus’s face.
“I didn’t want him to know just yetthat we would be following him for anything,” she went on, “but I suppose that’s out of the question now.”
“I’m afraid it is.With an injunction, time is of the essence. I will have to work on this straight away.” Séamus looked at Alice. “If it turns out to be Tower Properties, as you think, I will then have to go to the company’s office to see who the directors of it are and try and get discovery of all company documentation.Do I have your permission to engage a barrister and establish ownership of the apartment?”
Alice had started to cry again.“But I have no money to pay a barrister!” she wailed.
“Don’t worry about that.I know a number of sympathetic barristers.To work on a case such as this would be reward enough for them and, who knows, if we are successful we might even get costs.”
“Is there anything I can do?” Nicola asked.
“Most of that was still in the apartment when we were locked out!” Alice wailed.
“But we got some of it back and I’m sure we could get some duplicates from the hospital and doctors you attended if needs be.” Nicolawas trying to reassure Alice though in her heart she knew how difficult it could be to get doctors to provide that sort of information several years on.
“One good thing about this is that you missed the coverage of the funeral,” Nicola said to Alice as they left the office.She was trying to lighten the situation.
“I would have missed it anyway.Eliza and Hugo were going to take me to pick up the pony.”
“Oh, yes.I forgot.Okay – I think the first thing you should do is go through all of the documentation Cassandra took from the apartment and see what you have.When you’ve done that, phone me.”Nicola was already working out in her head how they would go about getting as much official documentation as they could.Until Alice did her bit Nicola could do no more.
They drove back to The Coven in silence and when Nicola dropped Alice off she walked towards the house with her shoulders hunched and Nicola suspected that she had started to cry again.
Nicola stopped at a garage for a sandwich on the way back to her officeand ate it in the car, feeling very depressed.
She decided to work on the Christine O’Neill case and try and prepare for the interview the following week.She phoned A&E at the hospital.She was well known there because she was often called upon in cases of domestic violence if there was a child-care issue or if a client of hers had been injured.Without telling the staff nurse why she wanted to know, she asked at what time Christine O’Neill and her children had been admitted on the 25thof October and what, if any, were their injuries.She could hear the nurse tapping into the computer.
Who is Alice? Page 8