Who is Alice?

by Miranda Manning

  “I’d say Nicola is right,” Tom interjected gently.“Don’t worry, we’ll be with you.Do you want me to open the door?”

  Alice looked at him and then at Nicola.

  “No! I can do it,” she said and took out the new key which Gerard Murphy had acquired and put it in the lock.

  None of them had seen this apartment since it has been gutted so they didn’t know what to expect.Inside they found an empty shell. Everything was gone, the furniture, the personal affects, the floor coverings, the white goods, everything except the drapes, which along with the paintwork looked shabby in this stark environment.Even the lampshades were gone but the bulbs were still in the sockets.When Alice turned on the lights the stark shabby look was accentuated.

  “It’s like a barn,” Alice said in dismay.“A bleak barn!It so doesn’t look like the home I had here for so many years.”There was a crack in her voice but she didn’t cry.

  “In some ways it’s good that it’s so bare because you have a blank canvas,” Nicola said, trying to put a positive gloss on it.“When you decide what to do you can just go ahead and do it.There will be no deciding what to keep and what to remove.”

  “You’re right,” Alice said doubtfully.

  She looked at Tom McEvoy as if looking for an opinion but he just looked back at her.In all of his career he had only rarely come across a case as bizarre as this.

  “We’ll go into Cassandra’s apartment now,” Nicola went on.“You will both have to brace yourselves for this.”

  “Do you really think it is a good idea for Alice to look at that?” Tom said. “What you described to me sounded horrendous.” He was concerned that Alice, who he still viewed as a little fragile, might find it too much.

  But before Nicola could reply Alice spoke up. “No.I said to Cassandra that I would look at it and would tell her about it and then she could decide what to do.I can do this.I’ve done a lot of things over the last few months I wouldn’t have thought possible or probable.”

  “Okay,” Nicola said and she took out Cassandra’s keys and opened the door.

  Alice gasped at the sight that met her eyes.“My God.What kind of pervert did this?” Her voice was barely audible.

  “It’s pretty gross,”Tom agreed, going around the apartment, opening doors, avoiding gooey substances on the floor and furnishings, picking up a few pieces of jewellery that Nicola and Séamus had missed during their first visit.

  Alice began to wander around the apartment, taking it all in, but Nicola just stood there.The fact that it was her second time seeing this did not make it easier.This was just evil.The thug that did this should be locked up.

  “I wonder will Cassandra make a formal complaint?”Tom mused as if he were reading Nicola’s mind.

  “I don’t know.I suppose you’d better ask her.I know she had come across him before through her work but she hadn’t brought him back to her apartment because she was afraid of him.She recognised him and he recognised her when he came to attack her but she thinks he didn’t know until he arrived at the apartment that she was his target.”

  “There’s no doubt he did the vandalising as well, given what he wrote,” Tom mused.

  “I suppose so,” Nicola agreed and she noticed that Alice was just standing staring.

  “Compared to my apartment this is just evil,” she said eventually.

  “I think there is one thing in common,” Nicola said.“If I were Cassandra I wouldn’t try and salvage anything else.I’d just gut the place and start again.”

  “Good idea,” Alice said. “And then she could decide if she should just refurbish or if she should furnish it as well for the sale.I will have to make that decision as well.I’m not sure.I need to think about this.”

  “Do you think you have seen all you need to see?”Tom asked.

  “Too much,” Alice said.“But I have enough to think about and I can answer Cassandra’s questions. I think I’d like to go home now.”In her heart she was glad that Lady Gregory Court would never be home again. Her life had changed out of all recognition in six months.

  Alice said nothing at all as Nicola drove her back to The Coven.She thanked Nicola, said goodbye to Tom and slowly went up the steps to the front door.

  The girls ran to greet her when she went into Eliza and Hugo’s kitchen.

  “Eliza gave us a lovely dinner, as good as yours,” Orla said.

  “That’s because your mum cooked it before she went! I just served it.”Eliza laughed.

  “And she let us have two helpings of dessert,” Orla continued, determined to give Eliza credit for something good.

  “Guilty as charged,” Eliza agreed.“But it’s a one-off.I promise.”

  “Thanks, Eliza, and you too, Hugo,” Alice said. “You’ve been great. I’ll take these two upstairs and then, if you don’t mind, I’d like to come down again and tell you about the apartments.”

  “Grand,” Hugo said.“Don’t rush.We’ll probably be up for some time.Night, girls.”

  The girls said their goodnights and bounded up the stairs.Their relentless cheerfulness never failed to surprise Alice.She was delighted at how adaptable they were.She wondered if she had been so accepting when she was a child.But then again nothing quite so exciting had happened to her during her near idyllic childhood in rural County Mayo.

  Cassandra came into the kitchen while Alice was upstairs.She looked relaxed and Eliza and Hugo were pleased.

  “Do you know, I really don’t think I want to talk to Alice tonight,” Cassandra told them. “I feel so relaxed I’m afraid that if I hear what she has to say I might get upset and not be able to sleep.I’m going to make myself a cup of camomile and have an early night.Tell Alice to call me in the morning and if she has time we could walk the Prom or something.”

  “We will, Cassandra,” Eliza said. She was worried about Cassandra. She wasn’t as tough as she let on and she was definitely not as assertive as she had been before the assault.

  “I’m glad that’s over,” Nicola said to Tom as they drove back to her apartment from The Coven.

  “Yes, it can’t have been easy for her,” he replied.“But she seemed to handle it well.”

  “Considering all that has happened to her over the last six months she has really dealt with it remarkably well. She is some woman and when I met her first I thought she was completely naïve.”

  “She seems like a nice young woman.I find it hard to believe that someone as nice as her could be taken in by a sleazebag like Jack Madden.”

  “Do you?” Nicola asked.“I’d say very few people think of Jack Madden as a sleazebag.I never would have thought that he had any big secrets before I met Alice. In fact, I thought she was stark raving mad when she told me the story initially.Why do you not like Jack Madden? You’re probably the first person I have met that had negative feelings about him even before this. I thought everybody liked him.”

  “I never trusted him.Maybe it’s the guard in me but I am always suspicious of people who are too perfect and Jack Madden was one of them.”

  “Well, you were right and I think that both Alice and Hugo are very lucky that you are so astute.”

  “Thank you very much.But maybe I’m not so astute when it comes to my own life.”

  Nicola looked at him, stunned.She was hoping that this man whom she hardly knew was not going to show her the skeletons in his family cupboard.

  “None of us is perfect!” she laughed, hoping that would put an end to that particular discussion.

  When Alice came back down to the kitchen Hugo made them all hot chocolate and they indulged in some leftover desserts. Alice told them what she had seen that evening.Even though they already knew some of the story, Hugo and Eliza were shocked.They were glad that Cassandra had decided not to visit at this stage and they were amazed at how well Alice had taken what she saw.

  “I can’t get over how ruthless that thug was.I also can’t get over the fact that Jack set Cassandra up for this.Do you think he really intended to kill her?�
��Alice was long past the stage when she thought he was a nice person but it still shocked her that he might be capable of murder. It was a possibility she couldn’t ignore.

  “I don’t think there is anything to be gained from speculating,” Hugo answered calmly.“We will never know for certain and it might be best from all of our points of view to give him the benefit of the doubt, though he probably doesn’t deserve it.”

  “God, there’s no end to it!” Alice sighed. “Still, maybe we’ll enjoy the redecoration.”

  She finished her hot chocolate and went upstairs.When she turned on the TV Jack Madden was on, in a political debate regarding the constitutional protection of the dwelling.

  They were drawing up outside Nicola’s apartment when Tom McEvoy asked, “Do you mind if I come in for coffee?”

  Nicola’s head spun around to look at him and he saw the shock in her face.

  “I’m not propositioning you,” he laughed.

  “I never thought you were,” she replied but she could hear a level of hysteria in her own voice.

  “I have a problem, which I thought, as a social worker, you might have some experience of.”

  “I thought gardaí never had problems and in any case my expertise is in child protection so I don’t know if I can help.”

  “Well, this is definitely not child protection but you might be able to point me in the right direction.It’s not the type of thing I would tell everybody, but I need to tell someone.”

  Nicola’s heart sank.If he was having an affair she didn’t want to know – though he seemed too nice. Maybe his wife was having an affair.What would she do?She decided that she had to let him talk – mainly because she didn’t know how to turn him down. She regretted, not for the first time, that the days were gone when people just went to confession when they did something wrong and that was the end of it.

  “Right, come on up.I’ll make you a coffee.”

  “Thanks,” he said and followed her up the stairs in silence.

  “Well,” Nicola asked as she poured the coffee, “what is so awful that you can’t discuss it with your friends or family?I bet it’s not as bad as you think.”

  “Maybe not. In fact I’m hoping that as soon as I articulate it, it won’t seem that bad, but I don’t know where to begin.”

  “Try the beginning and be assured that even though you are not a client I will apply client confidentiality to what you tell me. Fire away.”

  “It’s my wife, Helen,” Tom said.“I have just discovered that she owes more in credit-card debts than is left on our mortgage.Just when I began to feel that we could relax about money I discovered letters in a drawer from various credit-card companies demanding payment.”

  “That was a bit of a shock,” said Nicola, feeling a bit relieved that he hadn’t disclosed something worse. “What did she say?”

  “Nothing really! She said it wasn’t a problem.She said she had it under control. But she hadn’t.”

  “What did she spend it on?”

  “I’m not exactly sure.I’ve never actually seen the bills.There is no evidence in the house. Just the demands.”

  “Did you ask her?”

  “Yes, but she said clothes and things.I don’t see anything in the house that could amount to that.”

  “Don’t ye have a joint account?”

  “Yes, but about ten years ago she went back to work as a school secretary and opened an account of her own.I didn’t think anything of it.Effectively, I thought she was entitled to her own salary – she had looked after the children for many years and indeed continued to take the lead role in that, even after she went back to work.”

  “And did she make any financial contribution to the household?”

  “A bit but nothing organised.She would treat the children or maybe pay to redecorate a room or get something special that maybe we didn’t need urgently.As I said, it meant that she didn’t have to watch money any more and in a way neither did I.”

  “So!Do you know what happened?When did she start overspending?”

  “I really don’t know.All I know is that she owes in the region of €35,000 – and that’s only the demands I saw.I’m really not sure what to do.”

  “And you’re asking my advice?”

  “Yes. Where do I go from here?”

  “It looks like some sort of an addiction to me but there is usually some evidence around the house and you say there isn’t.”

  “No.I don’t see any evidence.”

  “Could she be a gambler?Or an addict of some sort?Or is she perhaps supporting someone who is? Does she have a family member who is an addict? Or is it likely she’s having an affair?”

  “I don’t think any of those situations arise.I’d say I would have spotted any of those.It’s the sort of thing I see a bit in my work.I’d recognise the signs. What do you think I should do?”

  “You have a right to know the extent of her debts because in this country if she can’t pay them off it will fall to you because she is your wife, so I would start there. When you find out exactly how much she owes and how much she has in the bank you can start to deal with it.It may not be as bad as you think but the fact that she is getting demand letters means that at least some of her creditors are not happy.”

  “And then what do I do?”

  “That depends on what you find out.Come back and talk to me when you find out the extent of the problem and in the meantime I will talk to a friend of mine who is an expert on addictions.”

  Tom McEvoy finished his coffee and slowly descended the stairs, wondering how he was going to approach his wife on this very sticky subject.

  Chapter 41

  The following morning when Alice came back from the school Cassandra was waiting for her on the steps.

  “Have you time to take a walk?”she asked.“I thought we’d do the Prom.”

  “Give me half an hour to prepare a casserole for Hugo and Eliza and then I’ll be with you.I’ve loads to tell you.I’d say we’d need to wear something warm today.It was breezy when I was coming back.”

  They used Cassandra’s car for the first time since the assault. Cassandrajust approached it with a business-like air and Alice followed her.They didn’t turn on the radio as they drove the fifteen-minute trip to the Prom.

  “The disadvantage of the Prom is that you always meet people you know,” Alice smiled.

  “Yes, but we can ignore them today,” Cassandra said grimly.“We’ve other fish to fry.Tell me all.All the gory details!”

  “The good thing was that the usual doorman wasn’t there and the new guy had no interest in us so we went up to the apartments unimpeded.”

  “What state were they in?”

  “Mine was completely gutted and yours was totally ruined.”

  “What do you mean by ruined?”

  There was no easy way to say it so Alice opted for blunt.She knew Cassandra well enough to know that she would want to hear exactly what Alice had found.

  “I mean vandalised, destroyed, unliveable.”

  “What kind of destroyed?”

  “Clothes shredded, carpets and walls spray-painted, lipstick and make-up ground into the floors.Curtains shredded.The beds slashed.Expletives written on surfaces.Everything strewn around the place.”

  “Don’t go easy on the details,” Cassandra grinned, knowing that Alice hadn’t.

  “You asked!”

  “I know and somehow, now that it is said, I don’t feel so bad.I was hoping this would be how I would feel.What do you think I should do?”

  “I don’t know,” Alice replied.“But I was thinking that I will probably get the advice of an interior decorator and decide if I should just have my place painted and maybe put in some new drapes and carpets or if I should go for a complete refurbishment.I thought you could do the same.”

  “There’ll be more work in mine,” Cassandra said.“It will have to be gutted first and then done up.”

  “If you need any money I could lend you some.I got the
€30,000 from Jackand I am working now so I can get a loan if needs be until I sell the apartment.”

  “Alice, you are so kind – probably too kind for your own good. But I don’t need any loans thanks.I have quite a bit of money saved.”

  “Great. We could get a decorator together and do a deal.It might be cheaper that way and it might be good to sell them together.We could offer them to some of the multinationals for visiting staff from overseas.They’re in a great location and of very high quality.”

  “Aren’t you becoming quite the businesswoman?” Cassandra laughed.“That sounds like a plan but we might discuss it with Nicola, Eliza and Hugo first – just to get their views.What do you think?”

  “Good idea.Will we have a coffee before we go back?”

  “Okay. Let’s live dangerously and have cheesecake as well.”

  “Don’t you think we have been doing enough dangerous living over the past months to last us a lifetime?”

  Laughing, they went into CoCo’s and picked a table from where they could see the sea.

  Once Cassandra had made up her mind she decided to forge ahead.She looked up the Golden Pages and found a house-clearing company from Limerick and decided to go with them. She didn’t want to get someone she was likely to bump into on the streets of Galway when she had changed her way of life.She rang up and got an estimate which was well within her reach.The man said he could come to Galway the following week and she arranged to meet him and give him his instructions. He said he would probably be finished in a day or two and she was pleased with that.

  Alice, in the meantime, was looking up Daft.ie to see what price they could expect.She also bought interior-design magazines to get some idea of what they should do with the interiors of the apartments.They were both anxious to speed up the process.They were hoping that they would have the apartments sold beforesummer and would be in a position to look for alternative accommodation and start their new life when the city was at its best.They still had no clear idea of what they were going to do in the future but they knew that the first step was to sell the apartments.