Another remark that I won’t dignify with a response.
‘Goodbye, Ed.’
I get out the car. It’s raining, but I don’t care. I stand on the path, watching him pull away until the tail lights disappear out of sight.
That part of my life is over. I now have a new part ahead of me.
I check my watch. It’s still quite early. The meal had been a quick affair. I dart in the doorway of the café for cover and take my phone from my bag. I scroll through the contacts list, stopping at the name I’m searching for.
I take a deep breath and fire off a text. ‘Only the brave,’ I say out loud. ‘Only the brave.’
Chapter 26
As the evening wore on, Roisin came to a decision. Asking her mam tonight about Erin would be a bad idea. Diana had shut herself in the sitting room and was now listening to the CDs Niall used to play all the time. It was a bizarre event. A middle-aged woman, ex-GP, listening to music from a decade ago, music that doesn’t sit naturally with her. Music to which she knows the exact words and slurs them out in between sipping her wine whilst slumped in a wing-backed library chair. It was a sorrowful sight.
Roisin reassessed her plan. She would force the Hurley family’s hand. She was going to make them admit to what she had found out. Roisin had the proof, so even if they didn’t want to, she would be able to force them. She would do it publicly, if necessary. She didn’t care. Not about them. She cared about her mam and what had happened to her family.
If her mam had something to live for again, if she knew part of her son lived on, then Roisin was sure Diana would pull herself together. It would give her the incentive to sort herself out. She could be the mother Roisin longed to have back. The Marshalls would be well on the way to being fixed. There would be another Marshall to love and welcome into their arms. Just how it should be.
Her phone bleeped in her handbag. Roisin took it out and read the text message.
‘Would you look at that?’ she said out loud. She read the message again. A small smile spread across her face. She licked her lips, tasting victory already.
Grabbing her coat from the hall stand, Roisin wriggled her feet into her shoes. She looked from the closed sitting-room door on the left to the closed living-room door on the right. Would either of them notice if she went out? Would they care? Probably not, to both those questions. Checking she had her car keys, Roisin slipped out the front door, closing it quietly behind her. She would be back before they locked up for the night. She would nip back in, go up to her room and neither her mam nor Daddy would be any wiser.
The village was quiet. Roisin didn’t notice anyone as she drove along Beach Road, heading out to The Spit. The gravel road that led out to the headland was unlit and her headlights cut through the darkness. The weather had taken an unhealthy turn at some point in the evening. The wind was picking up and as the wheels scrunched along the unmade track that ran alongside the water’s edge, the rain came down heavier.
Arriving at the end of the track, Roisin parked the car. There was no other vehicle there and certainly no sign of who she was meeting.
The knock on her window made her jump and Roisin screamed with fright.
‘Jesus!’ she said. She couldn’t see that well in the dark, but she knew who it was. They beckoned her out of the car and impatiently opened the door. ‘You could have warned me you were here, instead of lurking in the shadows. Frightening me half to death. Haven’t you got a torch?’ said Roisin, swinging her legs out. The fierce wind swirled her hair around her head. She caught it in her hand, taming it and tucking it into the collar of her coat. ‘Do we have to stand out here? I’m getting soaked.’ But the figure, huddled into their coat, was already walking away towards the end of The Spit. Roisin swore under her breath. She had little choice but to follow.
I take the steps the flat as quickly as I dare in this weather, but at the same time with an urgency to get out of my wet clothes and to dry my hair, which has turned into a mass of copper coils. As I open the door to the flat, something makes me glance to my right and I see the bathroom light is on. I don’t remember leaving it on.
As I walk into the living room, I sense I’m not alone. The door to the hallway is open and I can see a shadow move across the bottom of the closed bathroom door.
The door opens and I jump, letting out a small squeal.
‘Mum!’ I hold my hand to my racing heart. ‘I wasn’t expecting you to be here. You scared me.’
‘Sorry, I decided to come home for the night,’ says Mum. She’s wearing her dressing gown and her hair is wrapped in a towel. In her hands is a bundle of wet clothing. ‘I got caught in the rain.’