Deadly Gift (5 page)

Finally his eyes lit on Caer.

He started, as if he recognized her, as if he’d seen her before. Maybe not. Perhaps he was just startled by anyone else being there at all. Or because she was there, not Sean’s supposedly loving wife. Or maybe, there was just something about her that looked familiar to him.

She recognized his eyes, though. They were the same true aquamarine she had seen in the picture, but even more powerful in person, as hypnotic as the sea, as deeply changeable. She felt as if he had the ability to look right through her.

She stared back, forcing herself to remain serene, expressionless, and prayed that her own eyes were every bit as enigmatic as his. Still, it felt as if time had stopped for a moment, for just a heartbeat.
Should
she know him? He’d been in Dublin before. Maybe it was one of those things where she had passed him once in the street and somehow the image had remained in her mind.

“Hello,” he said.

Maybe she’d imagined the whole time-had-skipped-a-heartbeat thing. He sounded friendly but nothing more, certainly not as if he thought he should know her.

She rose from the bedside chair, extending a hand. “Hello. Welcome to Ireland. I’m Caer Cavannaugh. How do you do?”

“Zachary Flynn. And fine, thank you.”

Naturally he had a great, firm handshake, she thought as she returned it.

“Caer’s the world’s loveliest and most patient nurse,” Sean explained.

“Thank you,” she murmured, her attention all for Zach Flynn, who was definitely studying her now. She felt as if she were blushing. Good God, how ridiculous. She didn’t blush.

“Mr. O’Riley’s too kind,” she said smoothly. “Well, I’ll let you two get on with it. A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Flynn.”

“Zach,” he said.

“Zach,” she repeated.

“Caer is accompanying us home,” Sean told Zach. He sounded gleeful. Like a little kid who had just acquired a toy that would make all the other kids jealous.

“Yes, Kat mentioned something about you traveling with a nurse,” Zach said, still looking at Caer. “Have you been to the States before?” he asked her.

“Never. It will be quite a journey for me,” she told him pleasantly.

“Quite an opportunity,” he said.

Still that smooth tone to his voice. Lulling. But was there also a note of suspicion in it?

“Indeed,” she agreed. “Well, if you’ll excuse me…?”

She left the room, but as she slipped out, she heard Sean say, “This is foolish. You having to come all the way here, just for me.”

She paused in the hallway, just out of sight, to listen.

“Kat is worried about you.”

“She should have come herself.”

Caer sensed Zach’s hesitation. At last he said, “She didn’t feel it would be in anyone’s best interest if she came.”

“Oh, that child! I love her, but she’s absolutely convinced that Amanda married me for my money and is just waiting for me to die.”

Zach didn’t bother to deny it.

“She’s overprotective,” Sean said.

“She loves you,” Zach told him.

Caer could see Sean, in her mind’s eye, waving a hand impatiently in the air. “She should have a little faith in me. I’m not a doddering old fool. I’m not desperate for love and affection—or sex.” He paused, then went on. “The thing is, you’re here—where you shouldn’t be—to protect me, when I’m not the one in trouble. Eddie is. You should be in Newport, trying to figure out what the hell happened to him.”

Caer continued to hover just outside the doorway, listening.

“Sean, the sooner we can get back, the better chance we’ll have of discovering what happened,” Zach said.

Caer heard just a hint of impatience in the man’s tone, telling her that he felt he should already be on the trail of the man who had disappeared.

“Eddie’s
got
to be all right,” Sean said.

There was silence. She knew that Zach didn’t think Eddie was all right, and he wasn’t going to lie to Sean and say that he did.

Sean spoke again. “Who the hell would want to kill an old geezer like Eddie? He’s never hurt anyone. People love him. Maybe he was swept overboard and picked up by someone else. Maybe he lost his memory.”

“Amnesia?” Zach offered.

“Yeah, amnesia. It’s possible.”

“Sean, I’ve checked all the area hospitals. No one has admitted anyone who fits Eddie’s description.”

“And you’ve checked the morgues, too, right?” Sean asked hesitantly.

“Yes.”

“And no Eddie, right?” Sean asked.

“No,” Zach agreed.

“Maybe someone kidnapped him,” Sean suggested.

“Yeah, sure. Maybe,” Zach said. He sounded unconvinced. “So where’s Amanda?”

“At the hotel. She was feeling all wrung out from the stress of worrying about me, taking care of me…you know. Anyway, I told her to take some time today. Get herself a massage. She’ll be around later tonight. She’s anxious to see you.”

“I’m sure,” Zach said, not sounding sure at all. “What about the doctor? I have to talk to him. Kat will have my head if I don’t come back with a full list of all your medications, what you can do, what you can’t do.”

Caer heard footsteps in the hall, probably Sean’s doctor on the way. She slipped around the corner and headed for Michael’s office.

“Help. Is anyone out there?” came a weak cry from one of the rooms.

Caer paused, turned and headed in. A frail old woman was lying in one of the beds. She looked as if she had lived several lifetimes, all of them tough.

“Hi, what do you need?” Caer asked gently.

“Just the telly thing, there, dear. I hate to ring the bell and be botherin’ a nurse for such nonsense, but I can’t get the thing. It fell.”

Caer smiled and stooped down for the remote. “It should be on a string, attached to the bed,” Caer said. “I’ll see that someone comes in and fixes that for you.”

“Ah, bless ya, lass,” the woman said. Caer looked at her. She was old and worn, but her eyes were bright. Her hand, as it fell on Caer’s, was all bones and age spots, but it felt surprisingly strong. Her eyes narrowed as she looked at Caer, and something seemed to disturb her, but she offered a tremulous smile. “Gentle and kind, you are.”

Caer squeezed the woman’s hand and backed away quickly, glancing at the woman’s chart and her name. “Mrs. McGillicutty, when you need something and you can’t get it yourself, you ring that bell, do you hear me?”

“I don’t like to be a nuisance,” Mrs. McGillicutty said.

“You’re not a nuisance, so get that thought right out of your head,” Caer said firmly. “And I’ll send someone in here right away to fix that remote.”

As she started out of the room, another woman came in, moving quickly. She was perhaps forty or so, and pretty, except for her look of fatigue and stress. She smiled at Caer hesitantly. “Is everything all right? Mum is…?” Her smile was beginning to fade.

“Fine, fine. She just needs a bit of very simple technology—a cord for her remote,” Caer assured her, and the other woman let out a sigh and went to the bedside, kissing the old woman’s cheek as she took her hand.

“Mary, me love. So good to see ya.”

Mrs. McGillicutty took her daughter’s hand, and her eyes were bright.

Caer was surprised to feel a sting of tears come to her own eyes. She was startled by her own show of emotion and swiped impatiently at her cheeks. But it was beautiful, the loving bond between mother and daughter.

“That pretty nurse is just going to be seeing to it that I can reach my telly-thing here,” Mrs. McGillicutty said happily, then turned to Caer.

“Mary took over my husband’s pub when he passed away,” she said proudly. “You’ll have to stop in—it’s just down the street. It’s called Irish Eyes.”

“Mum,” Mary said, “I’m sure she has better things to do.”

“I’d love to stop by,” Caer said. “I’ll come tonight.” She smiled warmly.

Mary flushed slightly. “’Tis just a working man’s place,” Mary said.

“And a working woman’s, as well,” Mrs. McGillicutty chastised.

“I just meant that…well, it’s a pub. Family style. Nothing fancy,” Mary explained.

“Nothing fancy needed. I’d love to stop by.”

Caer had the feeling that it would be old-style and charming, not like all those soulless new bars taking over the city.

And, she thought, irritably, if she was heading to America, Michael could stuff himself if he didn’t think she deserved a night out before she left. She had that envelope full of money to spend, straight out of petty cash, and she didn’t see any reason not to spend some of it at Mary’s pub.

She hadn’t checked the amount, of course, but she doubted that it was too “petty.” She would spend the afternoon of the day shopping and doing a bit of research on another O’Riley, and then she would stop by the pub.

“I’ll see you later,” Caer said with a smile.

“Lovely,” Mary told her.

Caer left the room at last, seeing to it that a nurse’s aide went to take care of Mrs. McGillicutty’s remote control, then quickly changing out of her uniform. On her way out, she stopped by Sean O’Riley’s door. He was still in conversation with Zachary Flynn, but their voices were too low for her to hear.

Caer left the hospital and wandered the streets, shopping for what she thought she might need in America, though quite frankly, she had no idea what would be stylish for a Rhode Island winter. She did the best she could, though she was handicapped by the fact that she seldom dressed in normal street clothing.

With her purchases made, she went on to the hotel where Sean and his wife were staying. Amanda wasn’t in her room; at least, she didn’t answer when Caer called her on the house phone. Deciding that the other woman must still be in the spa, Caer decided it was time to find out what the ritzy establishment had to offer.

It was all on Michael’s euro, after all, she thought with a satisfied smile.

She checked her purchases with the bell desk and headed for the spa. Apparently, everyone felt the need for something exotic, since Mandarin specialties were prominently advertised. She managed a quick look at the register and discovered that Amanda O’Riley was in the orange-herbal baths. Happily, she was able to arrange for a walk-in treatment for herself.

She was escorted to a room where sitar music played softly, and she was offered slippers, a bathrobe and herbal tea. She asked if they had Irish breakfast tea, instead, which the consultant prepared for her, but only after looking at her strangely. Apparently few people turned down the herbal variety. Then she was served strawberries, which were delicious—she could barely remember tasting anything so sweet—and then she was whisked off to the bath, where she shed her robe and slipped into a giant tub filled with hot water, herbs and orange peels. Now she was listening to harp music, and luckily, she was in the tub right next to Sean’s wife.

The blonde was lying back in the water, her hair wrapped in a towel to keep it dry, just as Caer’s had been. A pillow rested beneath her head, but she had removed the cucumbers she had been given to set on her eyelids and was chatting to the woman on her other side.

The water was soothing, and a series of small jets kept it in constant motion. That, combined with the orange peels and whatever concoction of herbs floated in the water, intended to soften the skin, was extremely pleasant. She allowed her cucumbers to remain on her eyelids and listened in, though she hardly imagined that—if Amanda had indeed caused Sean’s illness in some way—she was going to blurt out a confession to a stranger.

“Eddie is such a nice guy. It’s too bad he’s the one who’s missing, not Marni, Cal’s wife. Talk about a piece of work. She has a husband of her own, but she’s always looking to sweet-talk
mine
. Not that I blame her, really. You’d have to know Sean to understand just how fabulous he is, even though he’s so much older than I am. He’s got the constitution of an ox. He’s never ill—well, usually. Honestly, I don’t understand what could have happened.” The woman sounded genuinely puzzled, Caer thought. “All this has really upset me. I needed today. Absolutely
needed
a break from the depressing atmosphere of…that crummy hospital.”

Caer almost sat up in indignation. The hospital was understaffed, admittedly. But it was a good hospital, and the employees worked very hard. It was more than a job to the people she had come across there—it was a caring way of life….

And depressing? Crummy?

Christmas was still weeks away, but in their free time, the staff had put up trees on every floor and in every ward. They had festooned the walls with decorations, and done everything they could to brighten the patients’ rooms for the holidays, so those stuck in bed to while away their hours of pain and sickness would have something cheery to look at.

Well, she hadn’t cared much for Amanda when she had met her, and nothing she was hearing now was doing anything to change her opinion. She certainly didn’t seem like the kind of woman a man like Sean would choose to marry.

“You know,” Amanda said to the woman on her far side, “he may be older, but all those years of experience certainly pay off in bed.” She giggled. “I mean, he’s
hot
. Maybe that’s what I should do,” she said, considering. “Something risqué, like making it with him in his hospital bed.”