The Girl Who Lied(71)

She searched for the information she was looking for and jotted it down in the notebook beside the phone. Next she needed to access Sean Keane’s records. Her fingers tripped lightly across the keyboard, the dexterity and familiarity with the system aiding the need to work at speed. She made another note on the pad underneath Fiona’s name.

Fiona 0+

Sean A+

Sophie B-

Finally, she went back to Erin’s notes. This was where her luck ran out. There was no mention of Erin being pregnant and, therefore, no record of any blood tests or note of her blood group. Roisin tapped her pen on the desk. It didn’t matter. What she had in front of her was enough. She might not be qualified in the medical profession, but several years of working at the surgery meant she had picked certain things up. She stared at the notepad. The implications were huge.





Chapter 24


Twice Kerry thought about going over to the café and twice he dismissed the idea. He had also had to put up with a cross-examination from Joe as to why he didn’t want to go over for breakfast that morning.

‘Lovers’ tiff already?’ said Joe, totally unaware that he was spot on.

Kerry was kneeling on the floor, fiddling around with the fuel pump on a Ducati, which was in for a service. He got up. ‘Give it a rest. I’m not in the mood.’

‘I take that as a yes, then.’ Joe grinned and ducked out the way of the oil-cloth that Kerry chucked at him.

Kerry went into the small kitchen area and flicked the kettle on. He hated this indecisive feeling. On the one hand he wanted to go over to Erin and tell her he was sorry he had reacted the way he did. He was sorry for upsetting her. He was sorry she had walked out. And he was sorry he hadn’t gone after her. However, on the other hand, he wanted to stay as far away from her as possible. He couldn’t get his head around the fact that she had given up her own child. How could a mother do that? She was no better than his own mother. And what of the child now? How could Erin not put the child’s feelings first? What would that little girl be thinking now, knowing her mother didn’t want her?

All these conflicting questions and emotions had kept him awake for the most part of the night. His feelings for Erin and his feelings for what she had done were at odds with each other. It was doing his head in.

Joe walked in, his arms up in surrender. ‘Don’t shoot,’ he said.

‘Coffee?’ said Kerry, accepting Joe’s indirect apology.

‘Cheers. So, want to talk about it?’

‘Not especially. Anyway, since when did you become a relationship counsellor?’

‘Ah, so it is Miss Hurley that’s the cause of your bad mood.’

‘That obvious, is it?’ Kerry poured the boiling water into the two cups, adding a slosh of milk and two sugars to each.

‘Matter of deduction. No football last weekend, so it’s not that. Nothing wrong with your bike, so that’s ruled out. The pub hasn’t burnt down, so we’re good there. Skip’s still here.’ Joe threw the dog a biscuit as he spoke. ‘So that only leaves women. Well, one woman. Erin Hurley.’

Kerry slid the mug of coffee over to Joe and picked up his own. He took a sip while he considered whether to confide in Joe or not. Despite being disappointed by what Erin had told him, he still felt loyal to her and didn’t want anyone else thinking badly of her. And it was disappointment. He thought she was pretty near-perfect but it had been naive and immature to think like that. No one was perfect.

‘I found out something about Erin that I didn’t like,’ he said at last.

‘Right, I take it you’re not going to elaborate.’

‘Nah.’

‘Well, that’s a good sign. She can’t have pissed you off so much that you don’t care about anyone knowing. You obviously feel some loyalty to her and that’s good, right?’

Kerry shrugged. ‘Suppose so.’

‘Is it something she’s done since she’s been back? Something to do with whatever is going on with her and Roisin?’

‘No. Something she did when she was a teenager.’

‘What? Here? In Rossway?’

‘No. After she left.’

‘Right, I was going to say, if it was here in Rossway, I’m sure we’d know about it. You know what this place is like.’ Joe placed his cup on the counter. ‘Doing something at sixteen or seventeen isn’t the same as doing something now, at twenty-six or twenty-seven. We’re different people now to what we were then. Sure, you’ve no life experience at that age. You think you’re grown up, but you’re only a kid.’ Joe leant on the counter. ‘You can’t judge what someone did as a teenager through the eyes of an adult. Jesus, I should know. I was a shit at times when I was a kid. Look at me now.’