by Val Collins
‘Did you like the zoo, Ellen?’
Ellen ducked behind her aunt.
‘Her cousins keep talking about a baby elephant their school sponsored and Ellen was dying to see it, weren’t you?’ Irene put an arm around Ellen, easing her forward and giving her a little squeeze.
The small, dark, curly-haired child nodded shyly.
‘I’ve been meaning to ring you, Aoife, but Ellen was sick last week and I was tied up with her. Have there been any …’ She glanced at Ellen. ‘Any developments?’
‘I’m no longer certain everyone was at the pub that night,’ Aoife said.
‘Really? Why?’
‘There seem to be conflicting stories—’
Ellen had been standing quietly waiting for the conversation to finish. Now she pulled away from Irene and ran towards the crowd exiting the zoo, calling, ‘Gavin! Gavin!’
*
Gavin was pushing the triplets in the buggy while Laura pushed Amy. They each held one of Cora’s hands and were swinging her in the air. They didn’t hear Ellen over Cora’s screeches.
‘Ellen, come back!’ Irene ran after her and Aoife followed.
‘Gavin!’
Gavin spotted her and froze. Laura glanced at him, then at Ellen. She let go of Cora’s hand and bent down to speak to Ellen. ‘Hi, Ellen, were you at the zoo?’
Ellen nodded, giving Gavin a puzzled look.
‘Gavin, aren’t you going to say hello to Ellen?’
‘Of course. Hi, Ellen.’ He bent down and gave the child a quick hug. ‘You’ve grown so tall I didn’t recognise you.’
‘Who’s—’ Cora started. Laura pulled a handful of change out of her pocket and shoved it at Cora.
‘See the ice cream van over there, Cora? Do you want to buy one?’
Cora ran off happily.
Irene put one hand on Ellen’s shoulder. ‘Hi, I’m Delia’s sister, Irene. I don’t think we’ve met.’
Laura held out her hand. ‘I’m Laura. I worked with Delia. This is my husband, Gavin.’
Gavin shook hands.
‘How do you know Ellen?’
‘Delia brought work to my house when I was on maternity leave. She often brought Ellen with her. Gavin ended up doing most of the child minding, didn’t you?’
‘Yes. We’d better go after Cora before she buys up the whole van. Aoife, why don’t you come home in the car with us? There’s plenty of room. Irene, can we give you and Ellen a lift anywhere?’
‘No, thanks. We’d better be going. Come on Ellen.’
‘Bye, Gavin,’ Ellen said. She took her aunt’s hand but walked with her head turned, watching Gavin until they rounded the corner.
‘She’s looking well.’ Laura’s voice was a little shaky.
‘Yes, I’m glad she’s got someone to take care of her,’ Gavin said.
*
Aoife sat in the back with the children. Gavin drove. Cora, clothes stained with chocolate ice cream, chatted to Aoife about the zoo, but Gavin and Laura didn’t speak. Aoife saw Laura place her hand over Gavin’s. She kept it there for a few minutes. When she removed it, she leaned her head against his shoulder and left it there for the rest of the journey.
TWENTY-TWO
Aoife never worked Thursday, but Dan insisted everybody had to attend a strategy meeting and, of course, Thursday was the day he picked. It ended at midday and everyone headed for the canteen. Aoife switched on the kettle. Someone, whose name she couldn’t remember, was moaning loudly that the meeting was a complete waste of time.
‘I wouldn’t mind if they held it another day,’ she said. ‘Why did it have to be on my day off?’
‘That’s my fault.’ Laura placed her mug beside the boiling kettle. ‘Dan was only available today or Tuesday and I have to go to Tipperary on Tuesday to view the venues for our Away Day. I’m sorry it caused you problems. What about you, Aoife? Could your mother-in-law take Amy?’
Aoife was rooting through the cupboards. ‘Yeah. Thursday’s her day for meeting the girls. They always have a long boozy lunch, but she said she didn’t mind missing it for once. Anyone seen my mug?’
‘Is this it?’ Eilis handed her a mug with a large A on the side. ‘Sorry. I should have taken one of the visitor mugs.’
Several cups surrounded the kettle, so Aoife filled them all. She was refilling the kettle when someone shouted, ‘Aoife, your phone’s ringing.’ Leaving Laura to finish the teas, Aoife rushed back to the office. She was engrossed in a heated argument when Laura placed the mug on her desk. Aoife covered the receiver with one hand. ‘Do you have the proofs from the printers? They’re insisting the mistake was ours.’
‘Top shelf, third folder from the left.’
Aoife put the call on hold and went in search of the document. She opened the folder and a pile of papers landed on the floor. Silently cursing whoever had been too lazy to open a new file, Aoife was on her knees sorting through the mess when Karen entered.
‘Sorry I’m late. I got held up after the meeting.’
‘I’m on a call, Karen. I’ll be with you in a sec.’
‘Okay.’ Karen sat at Aoife’s desk, fiddling idly with her stationery. Ten minutes later she was still waiting. ‘Your tea’s getting cold.’
‘I’ll make another one.’
‘No point wasting this,’ Karen said, taking a sip. ‘Ugh! It’s awful. How much sugar do you use?’
‘None. Ah, found it! I knew it wasn’t our fault. Two minutes and I’ll be with you.’
‘I’ll put on the kettle.’
Fifteen minutes later Karen hadn’t returned, so Aoife went looking for her. She found her in the canteen, gripping the countertop.
‘I’m ready now. Sorry for the delay.’
Karen stared at her with large, panicked eyes.
‘Are you okay?’
‘Zzy,’ Karen mumbled.
‘What?’
‘Zy!’
‘Dizzy? What’s wrong with you? Here, sit down.’
Aoife helped Karen to a seat, ran into the corridor, roared, ‘Laura!’ and raced back to Karen.
‘What’s the matter?’ Laura shouted.
‘I’m in the canteen. Call an ambulance.’
*
‘What happened?’ Laura took one look at Karen, ran into the nearest office and dialled 999. ‘They want to know what’s wrong with her,’ she shouted.
‘I think she might be having a stroke.’
‘Oh my God!’ A few minutes later Laura joined them in the canteen. ‘What should we do?’
‘I don’t know.’
Karen gripped her head with both hands, moaning softly.
‘What’s going on?’ Joe was standing in the doorway.
‘Karen’s sick,’ Laura said. ‘We called an ambulance.’
‘Karen, what’s up?’
Karen looked at him, opened her mouth and a spew of vomit rose in an arc and landed in a splash, inches from his feet. Joe hopped to one side but drops of vomit landed on his shoes. Aoife gasped. The vomit was laced with blood.
Joe could be heard running down the corridor.
‘He’s a great help,’ Laura said. She wet a J-cloth and wiped Karen’s mouth. Three minutes later Karen threw up again.
Aoife dragged Karen’s chair to one side and wiped the vomit from her clothes while Laura cleaned her face.
‘I don’t think it’s a stroke,’ Aoife said, pointing at the vomit.
Laura shrugged. They were standing helplessly, waiting for the next eruption, when Joe rushed in and charged across the floor, sliding on the vomit. He grabbed the counter to steady himself, twisted the top off a bottle and poured liquid into a cup. Crouching down beside Karen, he held the cup to her lips. Karen swallowed and threw up again. Joe didn’t even flinch. Holding the cup to her mouth he said, ‘Come on, one sip. It will make you feel better.’
‘What is it?’ Laura asked.
Joe shook his head. Aoife went over to the draining board and held up the large bottle of Smirnoff vodka
.
Laura frowned. ‘Should you be giving her that, Joe?’
‘I know what I’m doing. Come on, Karen. Drink up.’
Aoife and Laura exchanged glances. Getting Karen drunk wasn’t going to help.
‘Joe, that’s enough,’ Laura said.
‘Shh, hand me the bottle.’
When nobody moved, he got the bottle himself and refilled the cup. ‘You’re doing grand, Karen. You’ll feel much better any minute now.’
‘Should we stop him?’ Laura whispered.
‘I don’t know. Try googling her symptoms. No, ring 999. No, ring a hospital.’
Laura was hurrying down the corridor when Aoife ran past. ‘The doctors next door,’ she said. ‘I’d forgotten about them.’
She raced down the road to the local medical centre.
‘There’s an emergency,’ she panted. ‘I need to see a doctor.’
‘All the doctors are with patients right now,’ the young receptionist said. ‘Please take a seat and I’ll ask the first available doctor to speak to you.’
‘You don’t understand. This is an emergency. I work a few doors up and one of my colleagues is very sick. Somebody’s giving her vodka. I think he might be making things worse.’
‘You need to call an ambulance.’
‘I already did, but she needs help now.’
‘Is she a patient here?’
‘How would I know? Didn’t you hear me? She needs a doctor right this minute.’
The receptionist looked at her blankly.
Screaming would not help. Aoife took a deep breath. ‘Could you please tell a doctor there is an emergency and I need somebody to come with me right now?’
The receptionist hesitated. The phone rang and she reached out to answer it. Aoife covered the receiver with her hand. ‘Listen to me. Are you going to let somebody die or are you going to get a doctor?’
Aoife almost felt sorry for the receptionist, who clearly had no idea what to do. After a short pause she opened the door to a long corridor and, casting doubtful looks at Aoife, closed the door carefully. Two minutes and I’m opening every one of those doors until I find a doctor, Aoife decided, only then realising an entire waiting room of patients were staring at her as if she were a lunatic. The receptionist returned with a middle-aged man.
‘I understand you’re not feeling well,’ he said.
Oh my God! Aoife wanted to choke the receptionist. ‘I’m fine. My colleague is seriously ill. Please come with me now.’
‘Have you called an ambulance?’
‘Of course. Please, you have to come now,’ Aoife said, heading for the door. Thankfully the doctor followed. He asked to be left alone with Karen so he could examine her. Aoife, Laura and Joe waited in the corridor.
‘Why did you give her vodka?’ Laura asked.
‘Alcohol’s good for most things.’
In the distance they heard the wail of an ambulance siren.
‘Thank God!’ Aoife ran down the stairs. ‘Fourth floor,’ she shouted at the ambulance men. She pressed the lift, then, as the lift was full of their equipment, ran up the stairs. When she got to the fourth floor, the ambulance men were in the canteen and the doctor was in the corridor.
‘I’ll leave it to them. Hospital is the best place for her. I hope everything works out. Don’t worry about the vodka. It won’t do her any harm. In rare circumstances it can actually help.’
‘What’s wrong with her?’ Aoife asked.
‘It’s too early to be certain. I better get back to my patients.’
The ambulance men came into the corridor carrying Karen on a stretcher.
Laura ran into the office and grabbed her bag. ‘I’m going in the ambulance. Karen’s husband will meet us at the hospital. Let Dan know what happened.’
Well, that’s really screwed things up. Everything’s spinning out of control. It’s only a matter of time now.
TWENTY-THREE
Aoife put a “Closed” sign on the canteen, and she and Joe did their best to clean up the mess. They were wiping vomit off their clothes when Joe said, ‘Karen has young kids, hasn’t she?’
‘Two. The youngest is only a baby.’
‘Another poor little tyke left without a mother. It’s one thing after another in this place, isn’t it?’
‘Don’t say that. She might make a full recovery.’
‘You don’t sound very convinced.’
‘It looked pretty serious.’
‘Those poor kids.’
‘If the worst happens, they’ll still have their father.’
‘It’s not the same.’
‘No, but a lot of kids grow up in single-parent families,’ Aoife said.
‘Most of them get to see both parents. They don’t spend their lives wondering how different things might have been if they had known their ma or their da.’
‘Do you think your life would have been very different if your father had lived?’
‘Bound to have been, isn’t it?’
‘Do you remember your dad?’
‘Not much. Me ma told me a lot about him, so sometimes I think I remember bits, but it’s probably just things I was told. She didn’t tell me about the house feeling different, though. I remember that bit meself.’
‘Different how?’
‘It used to be full of life. After Da died, me ma had to work so hard she fell asleep any time she sat down. The house was like a morgue most of the time. I would have liked brothers and sisters. I’d probably have had a load of them if me da had lived. I often think about Delia’s young one. Whoever killed her should have stopped to think what they were doing to that kid.’
‘Joe, were you in the pub the night Delia died?’
‘You mean did I murder Delia?’
‘I don’t mean that. I overheard you all talking about keeping the truth from me. Laura said you had to stick to your story or it could affect Gavin’s career. What story were you talking about?’
Joe was silent for so long Aoife thought he wasn’t going to reply. She was about to ask again when he said, ‘The day the body was found, the police interviewed everyone. I guessed they knew the hanging was staged, and if they were looking for a murderer, who better than me? They recognised my name the minute they heard it, and everyone says I look a bit like me grandad. If they couldn’t get him for murdering one of their own, I figured maybe I’d be a good second choice. I panicked and said I was with Laura and Rachel all evening.’
‘You weren’t?’
‘No. I went home. Both Laura and Rachel were out that Monday, so I had a chance to speak to them before they were interviewed. I knew the police would check I was in the pub, but I figured most people wouldn’t be sure whether I was there or not, and if Laura and Rachel said I was with them, the police couldn’t prove I wasn’t. When I found out they’d both left the pub early and none of us had an alibi, we decided it would be best for everyone if we said we left the pub early and went to McDonald’s together. No one working in a fast-food place remembers everyone they serve, and the weather was so bad that night, everyone was covered up. I figured the police wouldn’t be able to identify anyone on the CCTV cameras.’
‘How does Gavin come into it?’
‘Friday night he came to give Laura a lift home. He must be the guy Colette from the chemist saw.’
‘How can you be sure?’
‘Gavin didn’t pay any attention to the people at the bus stop, but Rachel noticed Colette there when she was going home and a few minutes later she saw Gavin on the opposite side of the road. It had to be him.’
‘Why did Gavin go to Dame Street when Laura was in the pub?’
‘She sent a text asking him to pick her up. Either she forgot to say where she was or he didn’t read it properly. He only got as far as the lift before Laura returned his call. Then he went straight to the pub. They met up outside and went home together. Laura thought it better to leave Gavin out of it, him being a guard and everything.’
‘How
could being in the building damage his career?’
‘He seemed to think it would. Maybe ’cos he didn’t admit to being there. It’s too late to say anything now he’s one of the main suspects. If anyone finds out, he’ll be lucky to keep his job.’
‘I heard you threaten Delia.’
‘What?’
‘She taped your meeting. The one you had the day she died. You said she wasn’t the only one who knew how to be unpleasant.’
‘Where’s the tape?’
‘It’s somewhere safe.’
‘Aoife, where is it? If the police get their hands on it, I’m done for.’
‘Nobody will find it. What did you mean when you said Delia wasn’t the only one who knew how to be unpleasant?’
‘I meant I wasn’t putting up with her bull. She said she found an e-mail on my computer, but I deleted it the minute I read it. Delia knew all along about the holiday. A1 told me they checked with her before offering it to me. She had no problem with it then. Either she was saving it up to use against me later, or she suddenly decided I had to go and that was the best weapon she could think of. Whatever she was up to, I wasn’t putting up with it. I would have gone to the papers if I had to. They like stories about charities being mismanaged, but I never even thought of killing her. You have to give me that tape, Aoife.’
‘You’re not the only one on the tape. I need to hang on to it a little longer.’
‘Aoife, you don’t understand—’
‘I understand, and I promise nobody will ever find that tape. I made sure of it.’
*
Aoife arrived at work the following day to find Rachel in a state of high excitement.
‘Karen’s husband phoned. She’s been poisoned.’
‘Is that all? It looked a lot worse than food poisoning.’
‘The hospital thinks it was antifreeze, although they won’t know until her tests come back and that could take weeks. They said if she had ingested more, it would have killed her. Even with the amount she took, if Joe hadn’t given her vodka there’d be a lot more damage.’
‘How come?’
‘The doctor said alcohol’s an antidote for antifreeze. Isn’t it amazing Joe knew that?’