‘Mrs Marshall was in the village. She’s in a bit of a state,’ said Kerry, as he went back round to the car, followed by Pat. ‘She was very upset with Erin Hurley. I’m afraid she crashed into Jim Hurley’s car.’
Pat groaned. ‘Any damage?’
‘You could say that.’ Kerry nodded at the smashed bumper of the A3. ‘There’s a big gouge down the side of Jim’s car.’
‘Send me the bill,’ said Pat, with a sigh. He leaned into the car and hauled his wife out. ‘Come on, Diana. Let’s get you inside.’ He turned to Kerry at the doorway. ‘Thank you. And sorry.’
Kerry held up his hand. ‘No need to apologise, Mr Marshall.’ He went to walk away, but paused. ‘Mr Marshall. Just to say, we’re all hoping that Roisin comes back soon.’
‘Thank you, Kerry. I appreciate that. Goodnight.’ He closed the door.
Kerry let out a sigh. It was a sorry state of affairs all round.
Kerry crunched his way back down the gravel drive and out into the road. Erin was leaning against the side of the car, her hands in the front pockets of her jeans.
‘All okay?’ she asked as he neared.
‘Yeah, Pat’s taken her in. I think the pair of them have hit the bottle tonight. He’d been asleep. Had no idea she had even gone out.’
Erin rolled her eyes. ‘That woman has a serious drink problem.’
‘Is it any wonder?’
Erin got in the car and slammed the door. ‘It’s not my fault.’
‘I know that. I wasn’t saying it was,’ said Kerry, as he got in the car. ‘You’re very defensive and there’s no need to be. Not with me, at least.’
Her face softened and she gave him a small smile.
‘I know. Sorry, old habits and all that.’ She started the engine and pulled away down the road back towards the village. ‘She does hate me, though. Her and Roisin.’
‘No one hates you,’ said Kerry.
‘Not even you?’
‘Not even me.’ Far from hating her, Kerry acknowledged that his feelings for Erin were growing each day. He had thought long and hard about what she had done, about what his mother had done and he kept coming back to what Joe had said about not judging a teenager’s actions through the eyes of an adult.
‘What I did when I had the baby doesn’t mean I didn’t love her,’ said Erin. It was as if she had read his mind. She continued without waiting for him to speak. ‘I love my child, more than anything and giving her up was the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. Nothing has ever come close to being that difficult. Nothing. It doesn’t make me a bad person or a bad mother. I sacrificed motherhood for my child.’
He could hear the pain in her voice. It tugged at his heart. She was still staring straight ahead, her eyes not leaving the road, but as they neared the village and passed under the streetlights, he could see her biting on her lip.
‘I’m really trying to understand,’ he said. ‘Honest, I am. It’s just… well, having been shunned by my own mother, it doesn’t come easy.’
She nodded and a tear dropped down her cheek. She wiped it away with her fingertips.
‘You know, after a time, bearing a grudge becomes second nature. It’s easier to cut someone off and not speak to them than it is to face them and to face whatever the issue is. If you talk about things and resolve them, it means that you have to readjust everything that has kept you going for all that time, every word you’ve ever spoken against that person, you have to take back. You have to swallow your pride and take a very scary step into the unknown.’
As Erin turned the car onto Beach Road and drove towards the café, they saw two police cars parked in the bays.
Kerry sat up a bit straighter. ‘Looks like someone called the Guards about Diana.’
‘What are you going to say?’
‘Nothing, she was upset so I drove her home. I won’t be mentioning the alcohol. The poor woman has enough on her plate. You won’t say anything either, will you?’
Erin pulled into the parking bay. ‘No. What’s the point?’
‘Good.’
As they got out of the car, so did two guards from each of the vehicles. It was then that Kerry recognised Sean Keane.
‘Hi, Sean,’ said Erin. ‘Everything all right?’
‘There’s been a development on Roisin going missing,’ he said. ‘We’ve looked at her phone records. It seems the night she disappeared she exchanged text messages with both you and Kerry at separate times.’
Kerry exchanged a look with Erin. He didn’t like the tone in Sean’s voice and two squad cars was overkill for just a catch-up.