“I’m fine. It’s been a long day and I’m sitting on the bus and unless you want everybody to think I’m a fruitcake with a mad family I’m not going to discuss it here. Honestly, you couldn’t make it up.”
Luke enveloped me in a bear-hug and was delighted to see me home.
“I’ve been so worried,” he said, echoing Frankie’s words.
“There’s no need to worry about me,” I said, nuzzling into his shoulder and taking comfort from his arms.
“Other people should be worried though. They should be very afraid because if what I’ve been told is true then I’d say that I have a very strong case on my hands for malpractice. How disgustingly unethical can you get?”
I had a restless night’s sleep where my dreams were plagued with images of a baby being forcibly taken away from a young woman with red hair whilst a nun, bound and gagged, sat beside her unable to say or do anything to stop it.
“What time did you tell Mammy we’d be down?” I asked Luke next morning.
“As soon as we could, basically. She sounded so excited on the phone. Her solicitor friend must have found something major in the will.”
I momentarily forgot my own news. “Well, that’s it then, there’s nothing for it. We’ll leave as soon as possible after I have a shower. One thing, though – on the way there there’s a wee pub I’d like to call into for a drink.”
“I know you’ve had a shock but showing up at your mother’s legless isn’t the best idea in the world, I don’t think.”
“I have no intention of getting drunk, Luke. It’s important. You’ll see why when we get there.”
I was too tired and weary to start giving explanations now. I needed to figure things out in my own mind first.
The journey to Donegal seemed to take much longer than usual but I suspected that my eagerness to arrive was making it appear that way.
“Turn left here,” I instructed once we had passed through Letterkenny and I saw the small black and white sign which indicated that Mulroy Cove was only ten miles away.
“We’re going in the complete opposite direction from your mother’s, Ruby. Will this take long?”
“For your own preservation, Luke, stop asking so many feckin questions and just drive. You’ll see why I’m so keen to go when we get there.”
We arrived in the main street about fifteen minutes later and it looked totally different in daylight. I got out of the car, stretched my legs and once I had got my bearings took Luke by the hand and led him up the street to where the back entrance to the pub was.
Two men were standing having a cigarette at the door and I recognised one of them as being the man who had bought me a drink and given me facts about the family the last time I was there.
I was apprehensive as I approached and didn’t have a plan as such but I needed some more information and this was the only way I could think to find it.
“How’re you doing, lads?”
“Grand. Lost again, are you?”
I laughed nervously and overcame the urge to kick up my heels and run in the opposite direction.
“I was wondering if you could help me. My parents were delighted to hear that I’d been in contact with people who knew their old friends and I was just wondering if you could tell me any more about them.”
“She’s interested in getting news about the Delaneys,” the man explained to his cohort who pursed his lips, nodded and took another sip of his pint.
“What is it that you want to know?”
“I’m particularly keen to get information about Georgina. She was the youngest, wasn’t she?”
“That’s right. A proper little goer, that one.”
The other man laughed lasciviously and I felt sick.
“Why would you say that? Did you know her personally?”
“No. But a lot of other fellas did.”
They guffawed again and I resisted the urge to knee the pair of them in the goolies. That would soon put an end to their amusement. Luke put his arm around me, sensing my discomfiture, and I took a deep breath and prepared to go on.
“Seriously, did you know her? Have you ever seen her?”
“No, I haven’t. But who the hell are you? Bloody Special Branch? Why so many questions?”
“It’s just important. Something happened a long time ago and I think that people may have been fed the wrong information about her. You seem to think that she was some kind of disreputable character even though you’ve never actually met her. Why would you say that?”
“It’s common knowledge. She left here years ago and there were stories about her being, shall we say, very friendly with the boys.”
“So she was a prostitute then?” I said through my teeth.
“God no, but we can only go by what we were told.”
“And who told you?”
“Well, her brother-in-law used to drink in here and he never had a good word to say about her. Nothing but trouble and an easy lay, he would say. His wife, who was an oul’ battleaxe, was constantly having to bail her out of trouble. Of course it helped that the wife had such a good job.”
“Where did she work?”
“She worked for the health department, I think.”
“No, actually,” the other man argued, “she worked with children I think. Took them away if they weren’t being looked after properly and that sort of thing .”
Chapter 59
I stalked to the car without looking back.
“I thought that you wanted to go into the pub,” Luke said.
“It wasn’t a drink I was after. I just wanted to find out more about what people around here think and that little conversation has just confirmed all my suspicions.”
“Which lead you to deduce . . . ?” Luke prompted.
“That she was set up somehow. Everyone has this awful opinion of her but nobody has ever met her. Her asshole of a brother-in-law was obviously loose-tongued and didn’t care how he portrayed her.”
“So you think that everything that has been said about her isn’t true?”
“I don’t think. I’m sure of it, Luke.”
We arrived at Mammy’s house about forty minutes later, following a journey where I was pensive and confused.
“Say nothing about any of this,” I warned Luke. “I don’t want Mammy knowing anything until I’m totally sure of my facts.”
Aisling and Mammy were both sitting in the cottage drinking coffee when we arrived and Mammy immediately put out two more mugs and poured for us and offered us a slice of cake.
I took a large gulp of the strong sweet liquid and settled myself back in the chair.
“Should you not be at work, young lady?” I asked, wagging my finger at Aisling and noting that she was dressed in her civvies.
“I would only I don’t have a job any more.”
Only then did I notice that Aisling’s eyes were red-rimmed and she looked totally miserable.
“She was sacked yesterday,” Mammy said, patting Aisling on the hand.
“What happened? Did you finally lose your cool and smack her one?”
“No, but I wish I had now. She called me into the office yesterday morning and there she was with her father and the suit.”
“Mr Humphries,” I said, remembering the man who had been speaking to Mammy the night of Caitlin O’Donnell’s gallery exhibition.
“That’s the one. The three of them sat and told me that the hotel was going to be undergoing some changes and as such they were no longer going to need a tour guide or anyone to deal with tourism or publicity as they were going to appoint their own person.”
“They can’t do that!” I cried. “You have rights.”
“They’ve offered me a package to go quietly and say nothing to anybody about what has happened.”
“I hope you told them where they could stick it!”
“I’m supposedly thinking about it at the moment. I have to go up later and let them know my decision but what they don’t realise is that I h
ave information about their plans.”
I put my mug down and sat forward. “So there were plans. I always knew it.”
“Oh, there are plans all right. Plans that don’t include any of us and plans that were never going to suit your mother either. I was in the office one day looking for a phone number and noticed some papers sitting on her desk. They looked to me like architectural plans and I couldn’t resist having a sneaky peek. Basically they want to knock down the hotel and build a brand new one. A horrible glass-structured modern monstrosity with its own exclusive clubs which the locals aren’t going to be allowed to join. He intends to call his new hotel ‘Zada’s’. Research has recently shown that people like modern hotels more than they like the rustic theme that made Monroe Manor popular. Ultra-modern is what he’s aiming for. He’s going to have a glass lift going up through the centre of the building and a glossy glass front to the entrance which would boast a fountain and ice sculptures. The rooms would all be white or black with inset baths and balconies overlooking the cocktail bar and golf course that he’s building. There would be exclusive membership and the fees he is planning to charge would reflect that. Basically it’s going to be a haven for the filthy rich but more so for businessmen, with state-of-the-art conference facilities and fax-machines and laptops in every room. They’re even going to provide secretaries to type letters and do their memos whilst they stay here.”
“They can’t do that!” I said in total disbelief. “Surely that’s a listed building that can’t be destroyed? It’s been there for centuries. It has to be protected. People can’t just go knocking things down if they feel like it. And where was the sense in doing all the refurbishment work to it if they were simply going to destroy it?”
“They were very clever, Ruby. They were already offering deals to the punters that we didn’t know anything about. We could never understand why there were so many suits coming and going all the time but it turns out that they were already using the meagre facilities available and offering discount packages once the new hotel was built. The hotel refurbishment was to put everyone off the scent until they had built enough clientele to make it a viable business proposition.”
“What a nasty cow!” I spat. “Business seemed to be booming for them too. Why would they want to lose all that?”
“They won’t lose out. Not in the long run. There’s nowhere else for people to go around here any more, so if people want to go out they’ll come to the hotel regardless of what it looks like.”
“I thought you said that the locals wouldn’t be allowed into the clubs?”
“They won’t but there will be a bar there for them and golf and boating clubs linked with the hotel that locals will be encouraged to join.”
“But there were perfectly good clubs in town before they got . . .” I trailed off as realisation dawned on me.
“Yes, Ruby, there were clubs in town before vandals kept on going in and wrecking them.”
“The same way as thugs came in here and scared the life out of Mammy but didn’t actually steal anything.”
“Correct. I’ll let your mother take over from here.”
Mammy had been sitting quietly sipping her coffee with an envelope in front of her. She put down her mug, slid some papers out of the envelope and smiled broadly.
“Well, after he got over the back trouble, I spoke to my solicitor about Lord Bartley’s will, and he deciphered all the high-falutin’ legal language for me.”
I nodded and wondered where all this was going.
“Very specific instructions were written into the will. The Big House, Monroe Manor, was left to Harry McQueen but on condition that it was not to be knocked down or deliberately destroyed. The same goes for the cottage which, as you are already aware, is mine – a fact that neither Judith nor her father have ever respected. I don’t want to say too much more for the moment, as I’d like to go up to the hotel and get the staff and the locals together for a little chit-chat.”
“We’ve tipped off some of the local papers that there’s going to be a community rally and they’re going to be there in force to take notes,” said Aisling, looking particularly pleased when she imparted this nugget of information and I knew that, for her, revenge was going to be particularly sweet.
Luke and I went out to the car to get our things after we had got up from the table. Aisling had left to go and have a shower and Mammy was preparing lunch as Donal and Robbie were both coming over.
“This certainly is the day for revelations,” Luke said, rubbing his hair in disbelief. “Just when you thought things couldn’t get any more complicated.”
“Not a word about the other situation to Mammy,” I warned. “It might take me some time but I intend to get to the bottom of it and have all my facts straight before I say a word. Hearsay will simply not be good enough for her. She’ll need evidence of some description.”
Chapter 60
We all left to go to the hotel two hours later. Aisling and Mammy were both carrying envelopes which were full of astounding information that would cause Harry McQueen’s empire to come crashing down around him and hopefully when it did fall it would smack Judith up the face.
“What’s going on?” Judith asked as we all trooped in.
“Check the booking list,” Aisling said. “We’ve booked the main suite for a public meeting. You’re more than welcome to come. Invite your father as well as this concerns you.”
“You have no right to be here!” she shouted, her face twisting in a nasty sneer. “You lost whatever rights you had two days ago when you were given your marching orders.”
“I hope that you’re taking good note of this,” Aisling said to a man behind her who suddenly produced a notebook and began to scribble furiously.
“Simon Reid from the Donegal Chronicle, Miss. Tell me – on what grounds was your ex-employee sacked? Do you think you made a mistake?”
Judith backed into her office with a look of pure terror on her face.
“That’s it, run along to Daddy and tell him he’d better attend this meeting,” said Aisling.
By the time that Judith and her father did arrive, the room was buzzing with activity. Local people had come in force and the staff were all in attendance. Aisling had been very busy and had basically knocked on doors and encouraged as many people as possible to come along as there would be some very interesting revelations. I scanned the room and everyone looked very solemn.
“That’s the owner of the Smugglers’ Inn,” Robbie said, nodding at a man who looked pale and unshaven. “He’s been through a terrible time. His wife and he split up after the inn was ransacked the second time. They’ve been under terrible pressure. Rumour has it that he might lose his house.”
“And that’s the bar manager from the golf club,” Donal continued as we looked towards a man in a suit whose eyes seemed to be literally sparking with anger.
A group of gentlemen wearing T-shirts with Smugglers’ Bay Yacht Club on them obviously were representing the bar there which had also lost its trade. I wondered if Judith and her father had ever thought about the amount of damage they had caused to people in their attempts to line their already burgeoning pockets.
Aisling stood up and went over to the side of the room where she tapped a glass with a spoon in order to get everyone’s attention.
“Good afternoon, everyone. For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Aisling Redmond and I’ve lived in Smugglers’ Bay all my life. It’s a beautiful place which boasts its own marina, has several well-known beauty spots as well as an award-winning restaurant, golf club and boating club. Unfortunately in the last six months we’ve seen thugs come in and destroy all of these businesses. Strangely, though, this hotel has never been touched.”
“We have an excellent security system in place here,” Harry McQueen began to explain, standing up.
“Sit down, Mr McQueen!” Aisling barked. “When I want your opinion I’ll ask for it and I’ll be asking for it very shortly.”
> Harry McQueen looked positively shell-shocked and I was glad to see that Judith was shifting uncomfortably in her seat. Mr Humphries was also present but his smugness was nowhere to be seen and had instead been replaced by a worried frown.
“It has come to my attention that big plans are afoot for Monroe Manor. This hotel has been part of our community now for many years and is a much-loved attraction with tourists coming here over and over again which obviously boosts the economy of the area. It would appear that this wasn’t enough for the McQueens, however, as they put together plans to knock down the hotel and build a new one – some modern monstrosity called ‘Zada’s’. A hotel which I hasten to add was going to be far too good for the likes of us. Exclusive membership only, apart from a purpose-built golf course and a small boating club which were only being put there as a token gesture to attract the locals and put the other clubs in the area out of business. They would, however, be far enough away from the hotel to ensure that the tone of the place wasn’t brought down. Isn’t that the way you worded it in one of your memos, Harry? There would also be bars attached to both these facilities but the bar in the hotel itself was going to be for guests only. The present staff were all to be sacked and new suppliers brought in.”
It was with great satisfaction that I saw several of the barmen and porters flexing their hands and cracking their knuckles whilst the McQueens and Mr Humphries all looked nervously towards the nearest fire-exit door.
“Harry McQueen has insulted the integrity of practically everyone in this room. Integrity, there’s a word you mustn’t be too familiar with, Harry. I’ll explain its meaning to you later. The biggest news, however, is that in actual fact this hotel is no longer yours.”
I saw Harry and Judith look at each other in shock and then at Mr Humphries.
“I don’t know where you’re getting your facts from, Aisling, but I can assure you that the hotel is mine and that as such it’s mine to do with what I wish,” said Harry. “You talk of giving this rural backwoods an economy boost. Just you wait until I build my new hotel. You ain’t seen nothing yet!”
Anyone for Me? Page 32