Stand by Me (33 page)
And then pictures of herself, arriving at a function in the city, wearing a long black evening dress with a demure neckline at the front but cut low at the back. She was talking to Brendan, laughing and looking up at him, and he was smiling back at her.
She felt her throat constrict. She remembered the night. It had been a fund-raiser for the local GAA club. Two of its members were on the county hurling team. Brendan was a big supporter of the club and sponsored them generously. Dominique had teased him that he’d rather be playing for them than paying them. He’d nodded and said that she was right.
She hadn’t seen this footage before. She hated looking at photographs of herself, because then she would notice that her hips were too wide and her nose was too big and her lips were too narrow. She’d realise that the dress didn’t look quite as wonderful as she’d thought when she’d put it on earlier and that her hair was slowly falling out of its style. But this time, as she watched the images on the screen, she didn’t see anything of how she looked. All she saw was a woman who was smiling at her husband as though he was the most important man there.
‘There’s no suggestion,’ the reporter continued, ‘that Mrs Delahaye has been involved in any of her husband’s activities, although the chairperson of one of the charities she is associated with moved quickly today to secure that organisation’s funds. Mrs Delahaye is no longer a signatory on any of its accounts.’
Dominique was horrified. They were making out that in some way she was involved in something by saying that she wasn’t! She felt sick.
‘We’re totally shocked.’
The reporter had moved to the town and was talking to the young girl behind the counter in the local Spar. Dominique knew her. Cathy Callery. Her father had gone to school with Brendan.
‘I know Mr Delahaye well,’ she was saying. ‘He buys his paper here. And a sandwich sometimes. He’s very down to earth.’
‘A lovely man,’ said another woman whom the reporter stopped in the street. ‘Does a lot for the community.’
‘I always thought there was something dodgy about him,’ said a third. ‘He dyes his hair.’
Dominique blinked in surprise. Brendan didn’t dye his hair. It was hard to spot the grey in it, and it still retained a lot of its natural colour. Who was this woman who thought he dyed it? Why were they asking her questions at all? She knew nothing.
And then the camera location moved to outside the house. This time Dominique flinched as she saw the cluster of reporters’ cars outside and the camera zoomed to the windows. She drew back as though they could see her.
‘There have been a number of visitors to the Delahaye family home today,’ intoned the reporter in a serious voice. ‘Including members of the gardai. We have not been told whether foul play is suspected in the disappearance of Brendan Delahaye.’
‘Will I turn it off?’ asked Greg.
Dominique shook her head. They were showing pictures of both of them again.
‘I need to know what they’re saying.’
‘You don’t, Domino.’
‘I do.’
There had been no word from Brendan by midnight that night. Dominique had left more than twenty messages on his voicemail and Kelly had texted him dozens of times without reply. Both of them were facing the fact that, wherever Brendan was and whatever he was doing, letting them know wasn’t part of it. But they had never been part of it. He had obviously been planning this for some time. And Dominique still hadn’t had the faintest idea what was going on.
Chapter 17
Greg was staying the night at Atlantic View. Dominique asked Emma (who’d returned after leaving Lugh with Lily and Maurice) if she was OK with that plan. Emma’s glance flickered briefly between the two of them before she nodded and said that it would be good for Dominique and Kelly to have someone with them, and although she’d be happy to stay herself, it might be better all round if Greg was there. Especially if Brendan turned up.
‘Because I’d flatten him,’ she said. ‘Whatever’s happened, he should have called you.’
‘Why would he call me?’ asked Dominique hopelessly. ‘He’s left us. He’s taken his clothes.’
‘Maybe he can’t phone,’ said Kelly. ‘Maybe he had to go away and that’s why he took his clothes and now he’s out of credit.’
‘Sweetheart, the company pays his phone bill. He’s not out of credit.’
‘Maybe Uncle Barry pulled the plug on it. Or the people who are investigating the company.’ Kelly looked defiant.
‘I’m quite sure Barry might want to do that,’ said Dominique. ‘June’s made it perfectly clear that things between Barry and Brendan weren’t exactly rosy. But honey, even if for some reason he couldn’t call us on the mobile, he could get to a landline, and the thing is ...’ her voice faltered, ‘he’s taken all his stuff.’
‘I know.’ Kelly sounded defeated. ‘But that doesn’t mean he hasn’t got a plan. That doesn’t mean he won’t want to talk to us.’
‘Maybe.’ Dominique put her arms around her. ‘I want him to talk to us too.’
Kelly eventually went upstairs to her room and fell asleep, fully clothed, on her bed. Greg and Dominique sat on the sofa in the living room. The TV was still on in the background but there were no more news programmes. The phone had stopped ringing. Dominique felt as though she was in an alternative reality, cut off from real life. Somewhere, away from them, Brendan was making plans. But whatever they were, they didn’t seem to include her or Kelly. He had walked out on them without a word, knowing that his disappearance would be headline news. He had planned it. He hadn’t given her any warning. And that was what she could neither forgive nor understand. Whatever had happened, whatever problems he had, surely he could share them with her?
‘You OK?’ Greg’s voice broke the silence between them.
Dominique laughed shortly. ‘Hunky-dory.’
‘Domino . . .’
‘He planned this,’ she said. ‘He planned it over time. He’s left us.’ She clenched her jaw. ‘And he’s ruined us too.’
‘You don’t know that, Domino.’
‘I know that he’s gone. I know that the company has gone bust. I think that’s enough to be going on with.’
‘I’m sure he’s trying to work something out,’ said Greg.
‘I thought that too, at first. But now ...’
‘You need to sleep.’ Greg heard the exhaustion in her voice.
‘I can’t possibly. I need to be awake in case we get some news.’
‘Try, Domino. Nothing’s going to happen now. Go upstairs and lie down.’
She shook her head. ‘I can’t. But you go ahead. There’s no need for you to stay awake.’
‘I’m not a good sleeper at the best of times,’ he told her. ‘Drives Emma nuts.’
‘I guess we’ll both be up all night, so.’
She closed her eyes. She didn’t want to talk to anyone, even Greg, any more.
Barry Keane, June’s husband, was the first to arrive at the house the following morning. He turned up shortly after seven, and by that time Dominique was awake again. She’d showered and changed her clothes and was dressed in a sleeveless linen top and Capri trousers, her dark hair still damp and caught back in a ponytail so that - despite her worried frown - she looked young and vulnerable.
Barry told them that the banks had appointed a receiver over non-payment of debts. That Matthew, the company’s accountant, had given statements to the gardai, and that he himself would be going in to the offices later in the morning to assist the receiver. Additionally, said Barry, there were applications in front of the High Court to freeze Brendan’s assets, because he owed a lot of people a lot of money. In particular there was an issue over the money he had raised from private investors for the Barbados deal. A separate company had been set up for this development, but there was no money in its bank account. The financial people were trying to trace it, but at the moment they didn’t know where it was. And, of course, nobody knew where Brendan was either. However, Barry said, there was no actual evidence of a fraud yet. At the moment it was just bad management and an uncertain paper trail.
‘Thanks, Barry,’ said Dominique, when her brother-in-law had finished. ‘You’ve been great. I appreciate it.’ Then she smiled weakly and said that she needed to use the bathroom.
‘I’ll kill him,’ Barry told Greg when Dominique left the room. ‘He’s messed up my life and my family and now he’s fucked off with our money, even if they can’t prove it yet.’
‘Did you invest in the Barbados thing?’
‘No.’
‘Then he hasn’t fucked off with your money, has he?’
Barry stared at Greg. ‘Are you standing up for him?’ he demanded. ‘Whatever’s happened, he’s run away in disgrace. He’s ruined us all.’
‘He gave you a job when you were out of work,’ Greg reminded him.
‘He lied to me,’ said Barry. ‘He told me everything was fine, and it wasn’t. I don’t know what was going on with the company books. That wasn’t my concern. But I’ll tell you now, Dominique had better get herself a good lawyer, because he’s left her and Kelly up shit creek, and there’s sure as hell no paddles where that boat is.’
‘I’ll talk to her about it.’
‘Talk to me about what?’
Dominique walked back into the room.
‘I need to get hold of Brendan’s solicitor again,’ she said. ‘I had no luck yesterday afternoon, but maybe she’ll return my calls today.’
‘She’s helping the receiver too,’ Barry told her. ‘She arrived yesterday evening. She’s acting for the company, what’s left of it. Not for the family.’
‘Do you have a solicitor?’ asked Dominique.
‘Yes. For me and June. We have to look after our interests.’
Dominique looked at him, concern in her eyes. ‘You mean your interests might be different to mine?’
‘Hey, Domino, we all have to look after ourselves. I have two daughters and a son as well as June to take care of.’
‘Yes. June did point that out last night. I’m sorry that my husband seems to have messed up your lives.’ There was a sudden sharpness in Dominique’s voice. ‘I’m sorry that you might think it necessary to make mine even worse.’
‘Look, there’s no need—’
Barry’s words were interrupted by the sound of the gate buzzer, and all of them jumped and looked at each other.
‘It can’t be Brendan,’ said Dominique quickly. ‘He has a zapper.’
‘Hi,’ said a voice when Greg pressed the intercom. ‘I’m here to see Domino. It’s Gabriel.’
Dominique hadn’t seen Gabriel in over a year. He’d spent a lot of the last twelve months in South America, working on a UNICEF project to bring safe water to the semi-arid regions of Paraguay. She’d been astonished when he’d told her his reasons for going. But she’d told him that it was up to him to make his own choices.
He looked older but happier, she thought now. His handsome face was tanned, and his black hair was still without the slightest hint of grey. His dark eyes seemed even darker and they were full of concern for her. He was wearing a pair of faded Levis and an olive-green T-shirt.
‘Hey, Domino,’ he said, opening his arms wide and pulling her into his embrace. ‘I was in London all week and I’d planned to come to Ireland for a visit. Mam phoned me yesterday. I got a flight this morning.’
‘Oh, Gabriel.’ She hugged him fiercely in return. ‘It’s good to see you.’
And, surprisingly, it was. She’d never expected to be relieved to have her brother beside her, but she’d been feeling under siege by the Delahayes. Emma and Greg were being nothing but supportive, but June and Barry had their own agenda, and she knew from what Greg had said last night that Lily, Maurice and Roy were absolutely stunned by the news and more anxious about Brendan than they were about her. When the chips were down, she’d thought earlier, it might not be easy for Greg and Emma to stay friendly either. They were lucky, because Greg had never got involved with the company, and so, unlike June and Barry, they weren’t worried about their immediate future. But she still didn’t know how things might evolve. And even though she couldn’t honestly believe that Greg would ever desert her, it was nice to know that she had someone who was totally on her side. Who wasn’t a Delahaye.
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