Aftermath (20 page)

“I wonder if she’ll show up again?” he asked without thinking.

“How would I know?” Saoirse’s voice was taut. “I think she’s a total nut case. I’ve never met anyone so melodramatic and attention-seeking
in my entire life
. She actually hyperventilated in our living room. I was so embarrassed for her. I think mom actually felt sorry for her! She’s not married to my dad, no matter how much she insists otherwise.
I don’t care what she says; D
ad wouldn’t do that to us.”

“It’s crazy, I know,” Milo said, his voice was full of sympathy for her. “If there’s anything I can do to help just let me know.”

“Thanks. You’re a star.” Saoirse sunk into his arms for a few more minutes. “I don’t think there’
s anything anyone can do. I hope and pray
D
ad shows up soon so he can tell that stupid woman where to go.”

“Hopefully it will be sooner rather than later,” Milo agreed, stroking her hair gently.

“Nobody knows where he might be or if he’s dead or alive. Not knowing is the worst part.”

“He can’t stay missing for year
s
,” Milo said. “You have to get some news of him one way or the other soon.”

“How do you know?” Saoirse snapped. “We have detectives and experts searching for him and even they said that the search could
go on for years. Nobody knows;
that’s the problem.”
She stormed out of the house and marched down the road.

He f
ollowed her quietly
, not daring to say anything. Her back was ramrod straight and anger crackled in the air around her.

“Saoirse, wait up!” he called, eventually breaking the silence between them.

She stopped and turned to face him and when he caught up with her he could see that her eyes were bright with unshed tears.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I was trying to be helpful. I don’t know what to say. I’ve never been good at finding the right words.” He put his arm around her shoulder
s
and pulled her close.

She glanced up at him.
“I’m sorry too,” she whispered. “None of this is your fault and I shouldn’t be taking it out on you. I’m trying my best to put on a brave face for mom. You’re the only one who gets to see me this upset.”

“I understand,” he smiled and kissed her cheek.

“You’ve been amazing,” she said. “I don’t know how I’d cope without you.”

“I care about you.”

“Thanks.” She was the one who kissed him. They moved into the shadows and Saoirse slipped her hands under Milo’s white t-shirt and hugged him close. She loved him, she knew she did. She’d never felt anything like this for anyone else. He was kind and caring, just wonderful. She lost herself for a moment in his arms, before abruptly pulling away.

“I have to go,” she said reluctantly. “I can’t be late.”

“I know, try not to worry, everything will be fine in the end.”

“I don’t want to leave you,” she said, searching his face earnestly.

“I don’t want you to go,” he whispered, his voice was hoarse with longing for her. “My parents are away next weekend.”

“Call me,” she stared into his eyes.

“You know I will,” he smiled and kissed
her
quickly on the lips before she turned and walked up the drive to Ballycotton House.

Saoirse nervously put her key in the door and unlocked it. She knew that she was a little later than she’d promised her mother and that she’d probably be annoyed with her, but she was beyond caring. “Hi mom, I’m home!”

The house was silent and there was no sign of her mother. A stab of fear ran through Saoirse and her heart began to race as she looked frantically around the dark, empty living room. She ran upstairs and burst through the door of her mother’s bedroom. Kerry was lying on the bed, dozing and her eyes fluttered open when she heard her daughter enter. “H
ello, darling, I must have nodded
off,” she smiled blearily.

“Are you ok?” Saoirse asked. Her mother never went to bed until the
early hours of the morning. S
he looked absolutely dreadful. She was very pale and her whole body seemed to have shrunken in on itself. Saoirse felt a pang. Her mother had always seemed so capable and in control but ever since the tsunami she seemed to have gotten small and weak.

“I’m fine, love, just a bit tired, that’s all.”

“You’re not sick or anything?” Saoirse asked, unable to keep the note of fear out of her voice. Kerry heard the childish fear in her daughter’s voice and opened her arms to her for a hug.

“Come here
,
you,” she said. “I’m grand, just worn out from all the drama.”

“You can’t
get
sick, mom,” Saoirse said, hugging her mother tight.

“I’m as fit as a fiddle,” her mother joked. She sat up in bed and Saoirse could see that the colour was returning to her cheeks. “Don’t worry about me, darling.”

Saoirse studied her face
uncertainly.

“Honestly, I’m fine,” Kerry insisted. “I don’t know about you but I’m absolutely ravenous.
Do you fancy sharing a pizza with me?”

“Sure,” Saoirse smiled. She loved pizza.

“You stick the pizza in the oven and I’ll meet you downstairs in five minutes.”

“What are we g
oing to do about that woman, mom
?” Saoirse asked, as she sat munching on her pepperoni and cheese pizza.

“There’s not much we can do, love,” Kerry shrugged, not sure how to answer her daughter’s question.

“How
could he, Mom?
How could he do that to us?”

“I don’t know, love, it’s something we have to sort out. Try not to upset yourself, there’s no point getting into a state about it.”

“I think it’s very wrong.”

“I know, I agree with you.”

“She’s his mistress, his heavily pregnant mistress.”

“Please, Saoirse, can we
enjoy our pizza?” Kerry sighed. “I know it’s difficult, but we can’t keep going on and on about her.”

“We can’t ignore it either, mom. We can’t keep pretending that he hasn’t lied to us, that he isn’t a complete bastard. I hate him!” Saoirse
slammed the remains of her pizza on to her plate
and stormed out of the kitchen.

Kerry sat in shock
and pressed her fingers to her forehead, which was b
eginning to ache and pound. She hoped it wasn’t the start of another debilitating migraine. Ever since Hope’s arrival at her home she hadn’t been able to rid her mind of
images of Conor and Hope
together. When he made love to her was he thinking of Hope? The very thought made her skin crawl. Did he go from Hope’s bed to hers? The police were involved now too and the thought of her personal, most intimate relationship being part of an investigation made her feel physically sick.

Isabel had been polite and sympathetic but Kerry felt humiliated at having to show her a marriage certificate and photographs of her wedding, like she had to somehow prove herself. Part of her couldn’t help wondering about the other woman too. Would Hope
have a marriage certificate
and if so how was it even possible?

Kerry wished she could stop thinking and obsessing about the whole sorry situation. She wanted to concentrate on finding Conor, not on his mistress or wife or whatever the hell she was. She kept telling herself
that she was the
legal wife, but that wasn’t much comfort when Hope had clearly identified him as her husband too. Kerry wondered if she would have the audacity to show up at
her home again. She
hoped not. She didn’t know if she had the strength to deal with another confrontation like last time.
The woman is
crazy eno
ugh to show up whenever she feels
like it,
Kerry thought. She pressed her fingers to her temples, willing her headache away
. If she truly believes she’s married to Conor
, then I can’t really blame her for her reaction
.
How can Hope still believe she’s legally married to my husband?
Kerry pondered.
Surely, Isabel would have told her that I’m Conor’s legal wife?
Hope would have to accept, sooner or later, and preferably sooner, that she didn’t have a leg to stand on
.

The ache in Kerry’s head began to build as the anger she
felt towards Conor grew
.
How could he have done such a thing? How could he have betrayed me like this?
She’d been so embarrassed when Isabel had questioned her about her marriage, asking her about the likelihood of Conor having another wife. Never, in all their years together, had she even consi
dered for one moment that he
could have been u
nfaithful to her, let alone had
a whole other life with another wife! Even during their rough patches, when their relationship had
admittedly been quite
strained, she’d always believed and trusted faithfully that Conor loved her
and only her
.
Not for a single moment had she imagined that the times he was away, supposedly on business, he was actually with his other wife!

Why di
d he have to marry her?
She
couldn’t get her head around it. How could she ever forgive him? His secrets and lies and utter deception scared her. Did she know him at all? What else was he capable of? A one
-
night stand might be forgivable, in time, but his relationship with Hope seemed to be very serious. It couldn’t really get any more serious; after all, she was pregnant with his child. How the hell could he love two women? Kerry was beginning to think that he never loved either of them. It was p
robably just a sick ego boost for
him.

Chapte
r
13

Isabel Murray sat at her desk and sipped her strong black coffee. It wasn’t even ten o’ clock and alre
ady she was on her fourth Americano
. She needed something to wake her up as she hadn’t been getting much sleep over the past weeks. The Darcy-Gilligan potential bigamy case constantly played on her mind. The words of her legal professor from college came back to her; “find the motive and you’ll find the solution.” Money was usually the motivation in most crimes, but she couldn’t see how money was the motivating factor here. What was the motive in this case? She wrote the word “motive” in big, block capital letters and drew rings around it.

She was even more confused than ever after interviewing Kerry and Hope. Conor’s relationship with Hope seemed to have started while he and Kerry were going through a bad patch in their marriage. Even more puzzling was how different the two women were. They were complete opposites in looks and personality. It was fascinating
. F
rom her own experience and the psychology
modules she’d studied
,
most people were usually attracted to the same “type.” Maybe Conor ha
d wanted some
one very different to the domestic family life that he’d built with Kerry.

What possessed him to actually set up home with another woman? How on earth had he managed to keep both lives separate for s
o long? Most men would have simply
had an affair. It would have been a lot less complicated. How did he get away with not being there at Christmas or holidays?
He must be a very skilled manipulator
, Isabel surmised
. Both women seemed to be
lieve and trust him implicitly.
He worked everything out perfectly and his job gave him the ideal excuse to be away, even over the holidays. Somehow, she would have expected Kerry or Hope to be suspicious of his absences, but then again, why would they? Lots of people worked over the holidays, herself included.

I’ll have to investigate Conor and Niall’s background more closely
, she tho
ught. Although she doubted very much
they were two different men, it remained a slim possibility, which she had to follow up.
Twice the work
, she sighed.
She hoped and prayed there wasn’t another wife waiting to be discovered somewhere. Kerry
’s
and Hope
’s
backgrounds would need to be checked too. Maybe Kerry and Conor were actually divorced and Kerry was claiming otherwise. The one thing that she’d learned since joining the police force was to expect the unexpected. She’d come across many people who seemed genuine on the surface but when she’d dug a little there was often a very different story to be told.

“I think you should see a solicitor and get some legal advice,” Darren Kennedy advised his daughter.