“€200,000 is our final offer,” the other man said.
“We’ll take our chances,” Gerard Murphy said and he snapped his briefcase shut and turned towards the door.
Alice’s heart sank. She would have accepted the €200,000. It wasn’t the value of the apartment but she would have managed. She wished Gerard had asked her what she would have settled for before they came into the room but it was too late now.
The women were standing up when Jack Madden spoke.
“I haven’t time for this aggravation. The case could go on for days and I have affairs of state to think of,” he said. “I will arrange for her to get title to the apartment and will spend the rest of my life regretting a very expensive mistake.”
“That’s more like it!” Gerard Murphy said. “You can send me the relevant documentation within the next fortnight and if I don’t receive it by the 28th of this month I will seek another court date as a matter of urgency. But for today I will tell the Court Clerk that the matter is settled.”
He stood back and let the three women leave the room ahead of him.
Tom McEvoy was sitting on a seat in the waiting area when they came out. He stood up and offered Cassandra his arm wordlessly and they walked towards the stairs.
Gerard Murphy had a big smile on his face as he walked up the stairs into the main foyer of the courthouse. The journalists were still hanging around, looking as if they were not quite sure why they were there.
“We’ll have to wait until the 28th before we can set the wheels in motion to transfer title of the property to you,” he said to Alice with a smile.
“What if he changes his mind?” she asked uncertainly.
“I don’t think he will. If this case had gone into court today the press would have had a field day, no matter what the outcome. It would have been the end of him. He won’t take that risk.”
“That’s a relief,” Alice said as she and Nicola gingerly helped Cassandra into the car.
“You got a bit of a surprise, I’d say, when he called me a whore,” Cassandra said to Alice when they were in the car.
“Yes, but who am I to judge?”
“Well, it’s not every day you discover your next-door neighbour is a prostitute.”
“Maybe, but that was what I was in a way except that I didn’t know it.Jack had no real affection for me and the girls, otherwise he wouldn’t have dumped us so easily.Effectively he was keeping me in the apartment and supporting me and the girls for sex.He was paying me for sex.”
Nicola was astonished that Alice could say that without a quiver in her voice.This was a totally different woman to the one who had rung her less than six months earlier. She had come a long way.
When they got to The Coven Hugo had taken out several of Alice’s legendary lamb casseroles and was defrosting them.He had picked up the girls from school.They rushed at Alice and hugged her.
“Where were you?” Grace demanded.“And why are you dressed up?”
“I was just looking after some business and I needed to look extra smart,” Alice grinned.
“And is the business looked after?” Grace asked, clearly not sure of the meaning of the phrase.
“Yes,” Alice smiled.“There’s a bit more to do but it went very well.”
“We love you, Mum,” Grace said and Alice burst into tears.
“Now, now,” Eliza said, “there’ll be no tears on this great day.Hugo, crack open the champagne!”
Hugo obliged, while Nicola organised sparkling non-alcoholic wine for the girls and Tom McEvoy who had to deliver his sister’s car back to her intact.The meal was jovial and the girls enjoyed it thoroughly and raised their glasses when Eliza proposed a toast to Alice even though they certainly weren’t clear on why she was being toasted.
“Chief Superintendent, you have been very kind,” Hugo said when he got him in a quiet corner later.“Are you usually this attentive to people who have been suspected of scurrilous crimes?”He was referring to the confiscation of his computer.
“When Jack Madden himself phoned me to tell me to confiscateyour computer, I smelled a rat. As you know, I never quite trusted the man.”
“Well, I think I was lucky that you were on the case.”
“Yes.I arranged for it to be fast-tracked under the supervision of a friend for exactly that reason.I’m not a person to be slagging off my colleagues but like in every profession there are a few bad apples.”
“I must thank you most sincerely for that,” Hugo said.
“Not at all!Justice was done and that’s my job.”
Tom McEvoy left soon after that and he was sorry to go. He was dreading going home to his wife.They had done nothing but argue and fight recently. This situation was a welcome distraction and going home meant he had to face up to his problems again.
“What’s next?” Alice asked Nicola after the Chief Superintendent was gone.
“We all relax for a few days and then we take the next step.”
“What’s that?”Alice asked.
“Well, I think the most immediate step is for the girls to go up and do their homework and then we should all relax for the evening.”
Nicola didn’t want to discuss her next move in front of the girls, given that they had no clue that their father had denied in Ennis Courthouse that they were his and that he had made them homeless.The girls were not aware that they had a father and this was not the right time in their lives to tell them.
“Right, girls!” said Alice. “You heard what Nicola said.Homework for you!”
“And to think we thought that Nicola was our friend!” Orla said with mock disdainbut she bounded up the stairs to the apartment as if she hadn’t a care in the world.
It was agreed thatCassandra and maybe Nicola would remain in the vacant apartment in The Coven, at least until Cassandra had recovered from her injuries.
“I don’t think we are in any further danger from Madden,” Nicola said, “but, just in case, it is probably best.”
“I’m certain of it,” Hugo said, “and Tom has said he will leave lightweight security on the place for a further week or two.”
Alice’s jaw dropped.This was the first she knew about the security.
“The more I hear about this the more it shocks me,” she said.
“You don’t know the half of it,” said Nicola. “But I think the fact that we got what we wanted is great and I wouldn’t be surprised if the presence of the media in the courthouse didn’t strengthen our hand a bit. I wonder why they were there? There didn’t seem to be anything exciting going on, if you discount our case. They must have got wind of it somehow, but I can’t imagine how. They must have been disappointed when nothing happened.” She wondered if Jack Madden had managed to get out of the courthouse without attracting their attention.
Alice sighed as if she couldn’t figure out how she landed in this situation but she had such support from the people in the room that she was fairly confident she could do what was required to get her life back on track.
Cassandra said she was going to bed and refused offers of help.She was glad to have a place to stay where she felt safe.She hadn’t said to anyone that she might not go back to Lady Gregory Court but that’s what she was thinking. She didn’t know what she was going to do but the assault had shaken her to the core and she was considering not returning to her old way of life.
Nicola was glad that Séamus had arranged a night out for them and she was looking forward to it. She would come back to The Coven that night and stay there for a few days at any rate.
Hugo and Eliza were just delighted that they had been able to help Alice and the girls and as far as they were concerned they could remain on in The Coven for as long as they needed.They had become quite attached to them.
Chapter 33
Nicola stayed in The Coven for a week and then went back to her apartment. She told the others that she felt quite safe there and in any case Séamus had offered to stay over, so what with her Knight in Shining
Armour she couldn’t be safer.
Cassandra was not so lucky.Her face turned a bilious shade of yellow.She was still in pain and her doctor advised her to take it easy for at least three weeks.The hearing had taken more out of her than the others, partly because she was in such bad shape and in a lot of pain, but also because she knew in her heart that the man who had arranged the assault on her was Jack Madden and he was likely to get away with it.She got the shivers every time she thought about her assailant.Only for Luke she would have been murdered.
She hadn’t heard from Luke since as her work phone was still at the apartment and he didn’t know where she was.She hoped that he hadn’t much of a problem explaining to his wife the significant bruising to his knuckles and also a small gash on his left cheek.She realised during the week that followed that she had hardly thought about the dreadful situation she had put him in. She dearly hoped that the event had not caused him too much aggravation.She loved him and would die rather than cause a problem between him and his wife – particularly given that her feelings didn’t appear to be reciprocated.
Eliza was attending the University Hospital for radiotherapy five days per week.She found it tiring but manageable and Hugo was a tower of strength.Alice took Eliza when Hugo wasn’t free. In general it was going well but they all knew that it would take some months for Eliza to recover fully.In the meantime Alice continued to do all the cooking for The Coven, including for Cassandra who freely admitted she couldn’t boil an egg.Alice also found time to continue to do the desserts for the hotel and was considering taking on the starters after Easter if all continued to go well.
Exactly fourteen days after the court hearing Alice got a call from her barrister.
“He has sent me the documentation.” he said. “The apartment will be legally yours very soon.”
“That’s wonderful! What do we do now?”
“Come into my office and we can discuss your next step.”
“Can Nicola come with me? I think she has a plan.”
“Of course.See you tomorrow at eleven.”
Alice flipped her phone closed and told Hugo, Eliza and Cassandra the news.They were delighted.By this time Cassandra was beginning to look more like her old self and the pain had abated.
Alice dialled Nicola’s number and told her the news.
“Can you come with me to the barrister’s office?”Alice asked anxiously.
“Of course,” Nicola said.“It’s part of my job.See you tomorrow.”
Gerard Murphy was positively gleeful when he greeted them.
“I love winning,” he grinned.
“So do I,” said Alice.“Especially since it is so important to me.”
“I was wondering if the presence of the media in the courthouse was a factor,” Nicola remarked. “He gave in quite easily in the end.”
“It could have been,” Gerard said. “Because, truthfully, when I researched the case thoroughly I found that it could have gone against us on several counts.”
“Wow! You never told us,” Alice said.
“Well, these things are never black and white and I didn’t want to worry you, but I wasn’t as confident as I pretended.”
“I’m still wondering why the media were there,” Nicola mused. “Obviously they didn’t spot Jack Madden as there was nothing of note in the papers the following day.”
“Maybe somebody tipped them off that something could be about to happen,” Gerard said with a strange smile.
The two women stared at him but neither of them dared to ask him what exactly he meant by that.
“What do you want to do next?” Gerard asked Alice.
Alice looked from one to the other of them.“I don’t know.”
“I’ve had a plan for some time,” said Nicola, “and you can tell me if it is daft or not.”
“Go ahead.”
“We are now in possession of information which is potentially explosive.We can’t prove any of it yet and there is probably no point in going down that route at this point in time.”
“Go on,” Gerard said.
“I propose to ring up Jack Madden and ask him for maintenance for Alice and the girls.He won’t like it but I suspect that since we have got this far without him getting any adverse publicity he will want to keep it that way.That gives us a very strong hand.”
“What do you mean?” Alice sounded anxious.
“I mean I may only have to ask him for it and threaten to expose him and I suspect he will agree unless we make absolutely horrendous demands.”
“I think it may work,” the barrister said.
“I was thinking that once I get him to come to a meeting we can have Alice and you there so that the thing is all legal.He can bring a legal team if he likes but again I suspect he may not.”
“Oh God,” Alice sighed.“I was hoping never to have to be in the same room as him again!”
“I think it is necessary this last time,” Gerard said.
“I’ll try and get hold of him in the next few days,” Nicola said.“I can keep an eye on the TV to find out his whereabouts.However, I imagine if I leave enough messages he won’t leave them unanswered.He is in a vulnerable position and he’d be very stupid if he didn’t realise it.”
“Great,” Gerardsaid. “In the meantime I will ask Séamus to get on with the work of transferring title of the apartment to Alice.”
“I’d say you have no chance of becoming Attorney General under this regime,” Nicola grinned at him.
“Never mind that,” he grinned.“I have my eye on the European Court of Human Rights!”
Jack Madden was available the third time Nicola called him.
“Good afternoon, Ms McCarthy.What can I do for you?”His tone was polite, formal and cold.
“Good afternoon, Taoiseach.” Nicola was equally formal. “I wish to speak to you about the issue of maintenance for Alice O’Brien’s children.”
“There is no issue, if you’ll pardon the pun,” the Taoiseach answered.“I rather stupidly allowed a young pregnant girl stay in one of my apartments and I have paid dearly for that mistake. She has done very well indeed out of it.There is nothing further to discuss.”
“But, Taoiseach, I believe there is.I don’t believe anyone will believe that you ensconced your au pair in a luxury apartment entirely out of the goodness of your heart.”
“Don’t you be smart with me!”
Shades of the aggressive man to whom she had spoken previously were emerging.
“I am not being smart, Taoiseach.I believe that Alice O’Brien’s children are also yours.If this is the case she is entitled to maintenance for them, thereby saving the taxpayer a One Parent Family Payment and getting justice for the children.”She threw in the reference to the taxpayer for a giggle – his speeches were littered with references to “saving the taxpayer” and “good value for the taxpayer”.
“I have told you before that those children are not mine.”
“Taoiseach, I have told you before that I don’t believe you and if we were to follow you through the courts there would be at least a case to answer.If you do not wish to go the court route, involving DNA tests and the like, I am asking you to meet with me, Alice and her legal advisor and we can come to an arrangement.”
“Are you trying to blackmail me?” The Taoiseach’s voice had become low and menacing.
“Absolutely not, Taoiseach! I am telling you what I intend to do if you are not willing to come to an agreed settlement on this matter. And before you answer, don’t dream of threatening my job again.That type of behaviour is unworthy of a Taoiseach.”
She held her breath and heard him draw in a large lungful before he spoke again.
“When do you want to meet?” he practically growled.
“Any time within the next fortnight.”
“That is not convenient.I will be busy for the next month.”
“This will only take an hour or two and we will meet you either in Galway or in Dublin, whichever is more convenient
for you.But it must be within the next fortnight.”
“Why is it so urgent?” he hissed.
“Because I believe you are stalling and there is no valid reason you can’t meet us on such an important matter – for your children at any rate.”
Again the sharp intake of breath nearly sucked her down the phone.She waited.
“I can meet you on Saturday week in Galway – in the apartment in Lady Gregory Court,” he said.
“Absolutely not,” Nicola said for the second time in as many minutes. “We will meet in my apartment.Alice would feel safer there.I have no doubt you know where it is.”
“I can find out,” he replied.“We’ll meet at three o’clock.”
“Feel free to bring a legal advisor if you wish. Alice will have one and we intend drawing up an agreement that will be legally binding.”
With that she put down the phone.
Then she sat and stared at the phone for at least five minutes until it rang again, causing her to jump.
“There’s a client of yours in reception,” the receptionist said.
“Thanks.You can tell her to come in,” Nicola said and she gathered her thoughts together so that she would be ready to deal with an entirely different case.
The following week Nicola and Alice met with Gerard Murphy again.He was absolutely delighted to be involved in this case though it hadn’t been easy and he’d had quite a few sleepless nights. At one point he was very concerned that he might fail to get the apartment for Alice.He knew that he could never boast about it to his friends – not while this Taoiseach was in power at any rate – but even the cloak-and-dagger element of it appealed to him.
They agreed that they wanted a down payment of €25,000 for pain and suffering caused to Alice and the children by his making them homeless and €300 per week maintenance for the children.They decided that they would not ask for anything for Alice since she would soon have her own livelihood and she was adamant that she didn’t want him to feel that he had rendered her incapable of earning her own living.The barrister said they would ask for a €75,000 downpayment as a starting point and €500 per week and see where it went from there.
Who is Alice? Page 24