A Case Of Murder (Kendall Book 6) (7 page)

Chapter Nine

Carrick Cove

“Good morning,” said a voice as Kendall and Mollie entered the dining room. “’tis a beautiful day, it is and no mistake.”

It was indeed a beautiful day. Yesterday’s rain had stopped at last, leaving a clear blue sky. And the weather forecast of the night before had clearly been wrong. There was no hint of bad weather. There wasn’t a cloud to be seen, and the sun was shining brightly. Nothing more had been said about Kendall’s planned visit to the Cove, so he decided that he had been worrying for nothing.
Perhaps it had been nothing sinister after all. Was it merely that it wasn’t worth going to see anyway?
Whatever the reason Kendall had made up his mind that he would visit the cove, no matter what.

“It’s certainly is a beautiful day,” said Kendall. “Let’s hope that this is how it’s going to be from now on.”

“Well, I think that might be just a little too much to hope for, but we’ll just have to see,” replied O’Rourke. “Now how about some breakfast?”

That sounded good to Kendall. Breakfast was the most important part of the day as far as he was concerned. A good hearty meal set you up for the day, well until lunch time at least. That was his philosophy anyway. “Good idea,” he replied.

“So what will it be?” asked O’Rourke.

Kendall thought for a few moments. “Ham and a couple of eggs sounds good.”

“And some fried tomatoes and mushrooms,” suggested O’Rourke.

Kendall smiled and simply nodded.
Some hash browns would have been welcome, but it was doubtful that they knew about such things here.

Mollie shook her head. “Just toast and coffee would be fine,” she replied. “And some jello, please.”

O’Rourke looked puzzled for a moment. “You mean jam I think,” he replied. No problem. Just make yourselves comfortable,” he said as he headed towards the kitchen. “It won’t be too long.”

He suddenly stopped and turned around. “The newspaper, if you’d like it, is over on the side table.” He then continued on his way. “It’s all bad news I’m afraid.”

* * *

With breakfast over Kendall and Mollie made their sightseeing tour of the village. Mallory wasn’t entirely correct in his estimation of how long it would take. From one end of the village to the other had taken Kendall and Mollie just over forty minutes. Although it would be fair to say that Kendall hadn’t been in too much of a hurry. And they had been stopped a few times along the way by inquisitive locals.

Killmacud was very much like any other small village on the west coast. Even with its small population it had two churches, St. Peter and Paul, the Catholic Church located at one end of the main street, presided over by Father Patrick McCarthy; and St. Dunstans, the Protestant Church, with Reverend Trevor Smith in charge, at the other. There were two other public houses, apart from O’Rourke’s. Kelly’s Bar was more of a wine bar, trying to be a sophisticated night club, and was the favoured haunt for the younger crowd. Then there was Flaherty’s, which was more suited for the family, boasting a family garden, and some swings.

There was a short promenade of shops, including Quinn’s Stores; Gallagher the Butchers; Paddy White the baker; Dress Up, a clothes shop; Murphy’s betting shop; and the Post office. And that was the sum total of the village.

“So much for shopping, then,” said Mollie. “It’s hardly Fifth Avenue is it?”

“There’s more to life than shopping,” Kendall suggested.

“Like what?” Mollie asked. “There’s more bars here than there are shops.”

Kendall looked at her and shook his head. “Not true, there are three bars, and six shops.”

Mollie shook her head, and made a face at him. “Manhattan needs to watch out, then,” she replied. “Come on, let’s get this over with. Where’s this wonderful cove anyway?”

Kendall reached into his inside pocket and withdrew a sheet of paper. On it was a sketch plan that O’Rourke had provided, showing the main parts of the village, and the directions to the cove. Kendall looked at the plan for a few moments, and then looked up at his surroundings.

“That way,” he announced confidentially, indicating the direction that they should take.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, Kendall and Mollie arrived at the track which lead down to the cove. The narrow pathway sloped gently down on to a shingled beach, with rocky outcrops at either end. The sea was rough, the sound of large breakers rushing in and hitting the shore, mingled with the cries of the sea gulls flying overhead.

Apart from two young boys down at the water’s edge, the cove was deserted. Kendall, and Mollie, slowly made their way down to the shore line. “Hi guys,” Kendall called out as he and Mollie reached where the boys were standing.

The boys turned to face Kendall. “You’re that Australian aren’t you?” said the elder of the two boys. “We heard all about you.”

Kendall looked surprised. “You’ve heard about me,” he repeated. “How come?”

“You’re the talk of the village,” said the boy.

“We ain’t never met an Australian before,” added the other boy, not wishing to be left out of the conversation.

Mollie shook her head and smiled. “We’re not Australian,” she said. “We are from America. From Florida. You know, Disney World, Cape Kennedy.”

“Have you ever been there?” asked Kendall. The boys sadly shook their heads.

“Perhaps one day you might get there,” suggested Mollie. “You’ll love it.”

The elder boy looked down and shook his head. With his dad out of work, and his mum sick, a trip to Florida didn’t seem likely any time real soon. “’Tain’t likely,” he said quite simply.

“You’re a detective aren’t you?” said the other boy.

Kendall nodded. “That’s right,” he replied. “I’m a private detective. Do you know what that means?”

“You’re here about that murder aren’t you?” said the older boy. “The man they found on the beach.”

“He was lying right over there,” added the younger boy, pointing to a spot a few yards behind him.

Kendall turned to look, and nodded once again. “Did you know anything about what happened?” he asked.

“No sir, only what he said,” the boy replied pointing to his friend.

“Were you here that day?” Mollie asked.

The younger boy shook his head. “No, we were over at the river.”

“What river is that?” asked Kendall.

“The Carrick,” replied the boy. “We usually go down there, just by Lynch’s boatyard.”

Kendall nodded. “So you never saw anything,” he continued. “I mean anything strange. Any strangers walking around, anything like that.”

“We never seen nothing like that,” said the young boy. “All we saw was
The
Lady Jane
coming in.”

“
The Lady Jane
?” repeated Kendall. “What’s that?”

“Oh that’s Mr. Lynch’s boat,” explained the older boy. “I guess he’d been out looking at the whales.”

“Looking at the whales?” Mollie said.

“Yes, Miss, he takes people out to see them,” explained the younger boy. “They usually go out as far as the Point, and that’s where the whales can be found.”

“And you saw Mr. Lynch coming back,” said Kendall. The boy nodded. “And did he have many people with him?”

The elder boy shook his head. “No, he didn’t,” he replied. “There wasn’t anyone else on the boat, ‘cept Mr. Lynch.”

“What time was that?” asked Kendall. “Do you remember?”

The boys shook their heads. “Don’t know,” replied the older boy. “I don’t have a watch, but the church bell had just rung the quarter to.”

“The quarter to what?” said Mollie.

The boys shook their heads once again. “Don’t know,” said the older boy. “Six maybe.” He looked at his friend. “Do you know?” he asked.

“Could be six,” replied the younger boy. “Might have been seven.”

Kendall decided that he wasn’t going to get any more along those lines. He looked out at the sea, watching the waves rolling in. “I bet you come here all the time don’t you?”

“After school finishes,” said the older boy. “Most days, depends whether it’s raining or not. There’s not much else to do around here.”

“It’s not nice here when it’s raining though,” the other boy added. “It can be very cold.”

“And very windy,” continued the older boy.

“I’m sure you’re right,” Kendall replied, turning around to face the boys. “I’m Tom, by the way, and this is Mollie. What’s your names?”

The elder boy stepped forward. “I’m Michael, and that’s Alan.”

“Pleased to meet you Michael,” Kendall replied holding out his hand. The boy took hold and shook it. Kendall then turned to the other boy. “Hi Alan.” The boy smiled and nodded.

“I guess you must know Keiron,” said Mollie.

“Keiron Moore,” said Michael. “Sure we know him, but he’s older than us, so we don’t go around with him.”

“’Sides he’s always too busy working in O’Rourke’s, or in Lynch’s boatyard,” explained Alan.

“So what do you get up to then?” Kendall asked. “Fishing?”

“Does it look like they are doing fishing?” Mollie said.

The boys shook their heads, and looked at Kendall. “No we don’t go fishing, not round here anyway,” said Michael. “The sea’s too rough.”

“We usually go fishing down by Lynch’s boat yard,” added Michael. “On the river, you know, the one we mentioned.”

Kendall nodded. “The Carrick, right.”

“So what do you do here at the cove?” asked Mollie. “Do you go swimming?”

“No,” said Michael. “You wouldn’t want to go swimming out there, Miss.” He paused and looked out at the waves. “Too much sea weed, it gets around your legs and everything. Horrible stuff.”

“And it smells rotten,” said Alan.

“So what do you do?” asked Kendall.

“We explore,” Michael continued. “There’s caves, and rock pools, and all kinds of things. You never know what you’ll find.”

“Or what might be washed ashore,” said Alan.

“You mean treasure, things like that,” suggested Mollie.

The boys started to laugh. “Oh no, Miss, we ain’t found nothing like that,” said Alan.

“Would be good if we did,” added Michael. He looked at Alan and started to laugh.

“So what have you found?” asked Kendall.

“Shells,” replied Alan, enthusiastically, as though he had discovered the Crown jewels.

“We’ve hundreds of shells, all shapes, and sizes,” explained Michael. “And different colours too. But we’ve also found money. You know people sit on the beach, and the money falls out of their pocket, and they never notice.”

“They forget all kinds of things,” Alan continued. “We found a camera the other day.”

“And pens, and a watch,” said Michael.

Kendall was fast losing interest, and tried to stifle a yawn, and failed. He started to walk along the shore. “What about these caves you mentioned. Where are they?” he asked.

The boy turned slightly and pointed. “Over there,” he replied.

“Well if you are going exploring just be careful,” said Mollie. “It looks dark and damp, and you don’t know what’s in there.”

Kendall shook his head. “Oh come on, nothing going to hurt them. They’ll be alright.”

The boy slowly made their way towards one of the rocky outcrops.

“Guys,” Kendall called out to the boys, who were now some distance away. “If you find anything let me know will you? You know where to find me.”

The boys stopped. They turned and waved. “Be seeing you,” Michael called out. They then entered the cave.

Kendall watched until they were out of sight. “Well that’s that,” he said.

Mollie heaved a sigh. “Not sure that served any real purpose,” she said.

Kendall said nothing, but silently admitted that she was probably right. He looked at his watch. “I think we’ll get back to the hotel,” he said.

“Good idea,” replied Mollie. “I could do with a nice cup of coffee.”

That sounded good to Kendall. “Wonder if they’ll have some of those nice chocolate cookies to go with it?”

* * *

Thirty minutes later Kendall and Mollie were seated in the dining room, a large coffee pot, and a plate of chocolate biscuits on the table in front of them.

* * *

Chapter Ten

The Ceilidh

It was a little after nine o’clock when Kendall and Mollie entered the bar that evening. It was already fairly crowded, although there was still fifteen minutes to go before the evening’s entertainment was due to commence. It seemed that everyone from the village was there, together with several others from the neighbouring villages. It was noisy, with the sound of people laughing, or talking loudly, trying to make themselves heard over the din. Over in the corner a young couple seemed to be arguing about something. Just to their left was a group of tourists anxious to soak up the sights, and sample the local culture.

O’Rourke waved to them as they came in. He was talking to the same two men, the fishermen that Kendall had seen him with a few days before. Once again the older of the two men looked across at Kendall, and then quickly looked away.
For some reason I’m not flavour of the month,
Kendall thought.
Can’t think why. Maybe they just don’t like private detectives, or maybe, just like Mulligan, they don’t like Americans.
Kendall shrugged, and sighed.
It happens, I can live with that.

Kendall waved back. “Busy I see,” he said as he walked to the bar. The two men quickly finished their drinks and moved towards the door.
Obviously, they were very shy, especially around strangers, and liked to keep themselves to themselves, as O’Rourke had intimated,
Kendall thought, shaking his head. Or maybe it was something more basic.
Perhaps it really was personal, and maybe they just disliked him. Maybe it was his aftershave. Which would be very odd, because he never used any.

O’Rourke smiled and nodded, as he walked over to where Kendall was standing. “Oh, this isn’t busy, not yet at any rate.” He looked at the clock on the wall. It was just a quarter after nine. “It’ll get much busier than this, just you wait. It’s the ceilidh you know, people come from all over to hear it. It’s the highlight of the week around here. Give it another fifteen, or twenty minutes. Then it’ll be really busy, you’ll see. It’s like this every Saturday night.”

Kendall looked around at the assembled crowd, and tried to imagine how it could actually get any busier. He gave up, and turned back to face O’Rourke. “I didn’t mean to send your two friends away,” he said. “I’m real sorry about that, but clearly they just don’t like me.”

“My friends?” replied O’Rourke. “You mean those two,” he pointed towards the door. “Oh don’t worry about them they had to leave, they had an appointment I believe.”

Strange,
Kendall thought.
If they really did have a previous appointment to go to, why bother turning up here at all. Why not just go straight to wherever they were expected.

“Don’t they like the Ceilidh?” Kendall asked.

O’Rourke smiled and shook his head. “Oh, I think they like it right enough, but as I said they had an appointment, so they had to go.”

“Odd that they came at all then, don’t you think,” Kendall continued.

“No, not really,” O’Rourke replied. “They probably just forgot about it, that’s all, or maybe they just had some time to kill. You know how it is.”

Kendall nodded. Yes he knew how it was. He certainly could be forgetful on occasion, but somehow he didn’t think those two fishermen would be absent minded like that. They didn’t seem the type. They looked like they knew exactly what they were doing every single minute.

“I saved you a couple of seats over there,” O’Rourke continued, as he pointed over to the far corner. “I think you’ll get a good view from there.”

Mollie looked at Kendall. “Sounds good to me,” she said. “What do you think?”

“Can’t wait,” Kendall replied.

“Now can I get you people some drinks?” asked O’Rourke.

“Is the Pope Catholic?” replied Kendall.

O’Rourke was taken aback for a few moments, then he started to laugh. “Indeed he is, to be sure. Indeed he is.”

Kendall smiled, and in the best Irish brogue that he could muster replied, “Now, would I be wanting air to breathe?”

O’Rourke smiled. “It’ll be a whiskey no doubt,” he said as he reached for the bottle.

“It will,” said Kendall. “Make it a double, and a martini for Mollie here.”

Kendall collected the drinks and he and Mollie made their way over to the far corner, and sat down. He looked over at the door. “Did you notice that our friends didn’t stay?”

Mollie looked up. “What friends?” she asked.

“The two fishermen,” explained Kendall. “They’ve gone.”

Mollie shook her head. “Well maybe they don’t like the music,” she suggested.

Kendall nodded. “Maybe, but why come here at all,” he replied. “Why didn’t they just give the place a miss completely?”

Mollie heaved a sigh. She had no idea, and cared even less. She casually looked around at the crowd. She was looking forward to an enjoyable evening, and had no interest in O’Rourke, or the two fishermen, or any suggestion of strange goings on.

“O’Rourke said they had remembered an appointment,” Kendall continued.

“Well maybe they did,” said Mollie, turning to face him. “Simple as that. So what’s the problem?”

Kendall shook his head. “No way,” he said. “There’s something going on. I just know it.”

Mollie shook her head. “There’s nothing going on,” she said. “Except soon we will be watching and listening to some Irish music. So let’s just forget about them, and enjoy ourselves.”

Now it was Kendall’s turn to shake his head. “I’m telling you, there’s something ….”

He was interrupted as a huge cheer went up from the audience as three young men and a young girl came in and made their way to the side of the room. The young girl was carrying a fiddle. One man had an accordion, a slightly older man had a guitar, and the third carried a small drum. 

The group spent a short time tuning the various instruments and then the music began. All talking suddenly stopped, and the hand clapping began. Then came the foot stomping. The music was fast and loud. The louder it became, the louder the hand clapping. The drumming became louder still, the guitar riff faster than ever. The fiddle jumped in the hands of the young girl. She jumped with it, not letting go. It wasn’t going anywhere without her. The music became louder still, and ever faster. Kendall began to sweat, and wondered how the young group was able to keep going at such a pace. Then, with a crash on the drum, and the bow drawn across the fiddle strings the first tune came to an end.

The audience cheered and whistled. The elder man laid the guitar down and took a tin whistle from his inside pocket. He placed it to his lips, signalled to the young girl by a tap of his foot, and the second tune commenced. As before it was loud, fast and repetitive.

Two young girls suddenly stood up and commenced to dance a jig, much to the delight of the audience. Very soon they were joined by two others.

* * *

The young girl carefully laid the fiddle down on to the nearby table. In her soft lilt she started to introduce the next item. She explained that it was a traditional song from the country, about a young gypsy girl, and her lost love. It sounded quite mournful and Kendall was beginning to think that it was just possible that you could have too much of anything. He had now reached that point as far as the Ceilidh was concerned.

He checked his watch. Eleven twenty five. He slowly looked around the room. Certainly it was a little emptier, but not by much. Obviously, despite his opinion, the Ceilidh was clearly popular, very popular. He shook his head, he couldn’t understand why.
It would never take the place of music that was for sure.

Time to call it a day,
he murmured. He looked over at the bar. There was no sign of O’Rourke. Obviously the music had proved too much for him as well. Idly Kendall wondered when he had left. Kendall couldn’t blame him though, he knew just how he felt, because he felt exactly the same way.
How long had O’Rourke survived,
he wondered?
Did he really do this every week?

Kendall had barely managed two hours. It had to be said that it really wasn’t his kind of music. He was sorry, but there it was. Some people clearly loved it. Others, well they had different tastes that’s all. It was far too loud, and far too repetitive. He much preferred Simon and Garfunkel.
Now that really was music.

He shook his head. Something wasn’t quite right though. There was no way that O’Rourke didn’t like the music.
If he disliked it that much, why have it every Saturday night?
Kendall looked around.
Okay, so it was clearly a nice little earner, but none the less, there was something else. No, O’Rourke had other plans as simple as that, that’s why he had left.
Kendall wondered if O’Rourke had joined the other two, the fishermen, for some unknown reason. There was something going on that was certain, but exactly what, was still a mystery.

Kendall looked back at the musicians. They had just started another of their fast jigs. He heaved a sigh. Time to go he thought. It was getting late anyway. He looked at Mollie hoping that she would be ready to leave. Clearly that was not the case. She thought the music was great.
Never heard anything quite like it before,
she said. Kendall silently agreed with her on that. He had certainly never heard anything quite like it either. Furthermore he was sure that he never wanted to hear anything like it ever again.

Mollie wasn’t quite ready to leave. “Not just yet,” she said. “You go. I’ll stay a bit longer yet.” 

“I’ll see you for breakfast then,” said Kendall as he started to walk away. “If you wake in time.”

* * *

By the time that Kendall got down to the dining room the next morning, Mollie was already there waiting for him. She looked at the wall clock. “So what time do you call this then?” she asked as Kendall sat down.

Kendall heaved a sigh. “I’ve already been on a bit of a jog,” he replied. “Must keep fit you know.”

“So how far did you go?” Mollie asked.

Kendall smiled. “All the way from my room to here,” he replied. “How far is that?”

Mollie shook her head. “It’s a lovely day,” she said. “Let’s hope it lasts.”

Kendall nodded. “I’ll second that,” he replied. “Incidentally what time did you finally go up last night?”

Mollie thought for a little while. “It was after two,” she replied. “The band had just finished. Mr. O’Rourke came back and ....”

“He came back,” Kendall interrupted, surprised. “What time was that?”

“I don’t really know,” Mollie replied. “But it wasn’t long before I left the bar. About ten minutes to two, something like that.”

“You mean he was gone all evening?”

Mollie nodded. “As far as I can tell,” she replied. “I never really noticed. Why, is it important?”

Kendall had to admit that he wasn’t sure whether it was important, or not, but it was odd to say the least.
Almost five hours that O’Rourke had been away from the bar,
Kendall thought.
Where had he gone, and more importantly, why. And who was he with?
“I wonder what he was up to,” replied Kendall. “What about the other two, the fishermen did they return?”

Mollie shook her head. “There wasn’t a sign of them,” she replied.

“I wonder where they got to then?” asked Kendall.

“Probably just went back to Kinsale, I guess,” suggested Mollie.

Kendall shook his head. “Not likely,” he replied. “Take it from me. O’Rourke was up to something last night. Something that also involved the other two.”

“The fishermen, you mean,” said Mollie.

“If they are really fishermen, I’m the Pope,” said Kendall.

Mollie smiled but said nothing. The thought of Kendall has the Pope was enough to stop any further conversation.

“What’s that about the Pope?” a voice suddenly asked.

Kendall looked up. Standing at the side of the table was O’Rourke. “Oh, nothing really,” Kendall stammered. “I was just wondering if the Pope enjoyed Irish music.”

O’Rourke smiled. “I guess he’d like it right enough,” he replied. “So what did you think of the Ceilidh last night?”

Kendall hesitated for a few moments, then took a deep breath. “Oh, last night was okay I guess,” he replied. “Well it was certainly different, but Mollie enjoyed it, didn’t you?”

He turned to look at Mollie. “I thought it was okay,” she replied. “A bit loud maybe, but not too bad.”

Kendall shook his head. “A bit loud,” he repeated. “That’s an understatement if ever I heard one.” He turned towards O’Rourke. “I’m sorry to say it really wasn’t my kind of music,” he continued. “It seems that it’s not really your kind of music either.”

“Why do you say that?” O’Rourke asked.

Kendall heaved a sigh. “Well you seem to have left the bar almost as soon as it started. I looked for you at about nine thirty, and there was no sign of you. Not that I blame you,” he replied. “And I also understand that you didn’t get back until quite late, after it was all over. You missed the whole thing.”

“Oh, I see,” said O’Rourke, smiling. “No, it was nothing to do with the music. I just had some business to attend to that’s all.”