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She turned to Niamh and Feargal. “Well, at the end of the day whichever one it is – or if it’s both of them in cahoots – I don’t want any of us here to be around for this situation to get any worse.”
Lilith
“Right. So do you guys have passports?” I asked Niamh and Feargal.
“Er, sure?” Niamh replied, clearly puzzled. “I mean, not that we’ve been anywhere exotic or anything, but we took Sol to Birmingham to visit Feargal’s Nan last year. Why?”
“Because you need to come back with us back to Santa Marita,” I stated. “All four of you.”
Niamh gave an incredulous laugh. “What? I mean, when?”
“Preferably yesterday, but failing that, tomorrow morning. As soon as I can arrange it, anyway.”
“But work -” Niamh began.
“Work needs to wait,” I stated. “Because what we all need right now is to get out of Dublin as soon as humanly possible, and I know Finn and I can keep you safe back at home.”
“Well, I mean that would be lovely and all, but there’s no way we can afford that kind of trip,” Feargal said.
“Uh uh.” I shook my head. “No, this wouldn’t be a holiday. This is entirely about keeping all of you out of harm’s way. I’ll cover the flights, and there’s plenty of room back at our apartment.” And before they could start thinking of any more reasons not to accept, I threw in the clincher. “And ultimately, what you guys feel about the offer is irrelevant. You need to do this to protect Sol. ”
That appeared to do the trick. “Fuck. You think it’s that serious?” Feargal asked, and pulled his baby son just a little closer to his chest. Niamh looked like she was about to cry.
I nodded. “Absolutely. A poet called George Herbert once stated that ‘Living well is the best revenge,’ and that’s what I’m aiming for here, for all of us. With a distinct emphasis on the ‘living’ part.”
“Ah God Fearg,” Niamh said, suddenly frantic. “I can’t face those bastards in our lives again. Not after last time. And not with Sol here. Not our baby. Just the thought of one of them getting anywhere near him, or Sinéad …” She gave a half-sob and buried her head into Feargal’s massive shoulder. In return he placed a protective arm around her and kissed her cheek.
“That won’t happen, sweetheart, I promise you,” he assured her, then turned to me. “In that case Lilith, thank you. That’s bloody generous of you. We’ll find a way of paying you back and all, but if you’re offering to get us out of here right now I reckon we’d be right idiots to turn you down.”
I smiled. “Excellent decision.”
Despite everything, I felt my shoulders drop a little. Partly from relief that Feargal and Niamh had agreed to the evacuation, but also, if I were honest with myself, from the sense of familiarity that came from actually being in control of something again.
“Finn, could you give The Rossmont a call? Ask them to send a car as soon as possible? Oh, and tell them to bring a baby seat.”
Finn nodded and picked up his phone, whilst I began scrolling through flight times on mine. “Oh, bugger it,” I said.”I forgot about the bloody winter schedules; the next flight to Alicante isn’t until midday tomorrow and I wouldn’t be able to charter anything before that either. Right, onto Plan B...”
“Okay.” Finn put his phone down on the table. “Car’s on its way. The guy on the desk reckons it’ll be about half an hour.”
“Brilliant,” I said. “Right, this is what you’re going to do now. The car’s going take you straight back to your place, and the chauffeur will wait outside with the engine running whilst you grab the essentials. I’m talking passports, medication, anything you need for Sol, that kind of stuff. Don’t worry about packing everything – we can sort out more clothes when you get to Santa Marita, and the less time you spend in the house, the better. Oh, and all the drivers at The Rossmont have done evasive driving courses,” I added. “So whoever they send you’re going to be as safe as you possibly can be when you’re on the road.”
“Jesus,” Feargal said “This is all getting a bit too real now, like. We’re talking about our home here for God’s sake. Just the thought of those fuckers within a mile of the place makes me want to puke.”
“Ciaran’s done it before; set fire to our old flat, just after Tack… After he went away,” Niamh said in a quiet voice. “He pushed a lit rag soaked in petrol through the letterbox when we were all asleep. If I hadn’t got up for a glass of water…”
I remembered Finn telling me when we were back at Albermarle. It had been part of his ‘punishment’ for trying to kill himself just a few months after he had arrived. But even death hadn’t been permitted as an escape route for him; Blaine had had Ciaran O’Halloran set fire to the sisters’ flat, and Sinéad had been assaulted on her way home from school.
No one was ever charged.
“Yes, well that isn’t going to happen this time,” I said, hoping I sounded sufficiently confident about the whole business. “You’re going to be a couple of thousand miles away by this time tomorrow, and those bastards aren’t going to get anywhere near you. You just go straight to the airport with one of my credit cards,” I handed the card over as I spoke. “And as soon as you get there, book yourselves into the executive lounge and don’t leave. Finn and I will meet you there tomorrow morning, and then that’s where we’ll all stay until our flight’s called.”
“So what are you guys going to do now?” Niamh asked.
“We’ll stay at this salubrious establishment for the exclusive after-party and wait until you’ve all been dropped off, “Finn said. “And then we’ll get picked up after that, I’m guessing. I mean, we’d invite you, but you know how it is...”
His sister actually managed a tentative smile. “Well now I’m just jealous.”
“Well if your name’s not on the list and all that,” I added. “But yeah, we’ll get back to the hotel and get packed, then grab some painkillers and a couple of hours’ sleep to see if I can get rid of this headache. We could probably both do with a proper clean-up, too, and get this blood swilled off. We’ll join you at the airport early tomorrow morning though - and don’t worry, the hotel’s as safe a place as any.”
