The Tinder Box (9 page)

Tuesday, 9 March 1999, 1.10 a.m.

Dr Bentley clicked his tongue in concern as he glanced

past Cynthia to her husband. Peter was walking

unsteadily towards them after answering the telephone,

his face leeched of colour in the lights of

the fire engines. 'You should be in bed, man. We

should all be in bed. We're too old for this sort of

excitement.' a

Peter Haversley ignored him. 'That was Siobhan,'

he said jerkily. 'She wants me to tell the police that

Rosheen is missing. She said Liam called the farm

from Kilkenny Cottage at eight thirty this evening,

and she's worried he and Rosheen were in there when

the fire started.'

'They can't have been,' said Jeremy.

'How do you know?'

'We watched Liam and Bridey leave for Winchester

this morning.'

'What if Liam came back to protect his house?

What if he phoned Rosheen and asked her to join

him?'

'Oh, for God's sake, Peter!' snapped Cynthia. 'It's

just Siobhan trying to make trouble again. You know

what she's like.'

'I don't think so. She sounded very distressed.'

78

He looked around for a policeman. 'I'd better report

it.'

But his wife gripped his arm to hold him back.

'No,' she said viciously. 'Let Siobhan do her own dirty

work. If she wants to employ a slut to look after her

children then it's her responsibility to keep tabs on

her, not ours.'

There was a moment of stillness while Peter

searched her face in appalled recognition that he was

looking at a stranger, then he drew back his hand and

slapped her across her face. 'Whatever depths you may

have sunk to,' he said, 'I am not-a murderer . . .'

79

I

LATE NEWS Daily Telegraph Tuesday, 9 March, a.m.

Irish Family Burnt Out

by Vigilantes

The family home of Patrick O'Riordan,

currently on trial for the murder of

Lavinia Fanshaw and Dorothy Jenkins,

was burnt to the ground last

night in what police suspect was a

deliberate act of arson. Concern has

been expressed over the whereabouts

of O'Riordan's elderly parents, and

some reports suggest bodies were

recovered from the gutted kitchen.

Police are refusing to confirm or deny

the rumours. Suspicion has fallen on

local vigilante groups who have been

conducting a 'hate' campaign against

the O'Riordan family. In face of criticism,

Hampshire police have restated

their policy of zero tolerance towards

anyone who decides to take the law

into his own hands. 'We will not hesitate

to prosecute,' said a spokesman.

'Vigilantes should understand that

arson is a very serious offence.'

i

80

i

Six

Tuesday, 9 March 1999, 6.00 a.m.

When Siobhan heard a car pull into the driveway at

six a.m. she prayed briefly, but with little hope, that

someone had found Rosheen and brought her home.

Hollow-eyed from lack of sleep, she opened her front

door and stared at the two policemen on her doorstep.

They looked like ghosts in the grey dawn light.

Harbingers of doom, she thought, reading their

troubled expressions. She recognized one of them as

the detective inspector and the other as the young

constable who had flagged her down the previous

night. 'You'd better come in,' she said, pulling the

door wide.

'Thank you.'

She led the way into the kitchen and dropped onto

the cushion in front of the Aga again, cradling Patch

in her arms. 'This is Bridey's dog,' she told them,

stroking his muzzle. 'She adores him. He adores her.

The trouble is he's a hopeless guard dog. He's like

Bridey - ' tears of exhaustion sprang into her eyes 81

'not overly bright - not overly brave - but as kind as

kind can be.'

The two policemen stood awkwardly in front of

her, unsure where to sit or what to say.

'You look terrible,' she said unevenly, 'so I

presume

you've come to tell me Rosheen is dead.'

'We don't know yet, Mrs Lavenham,' said the

inspector, turning a chair to face her and lowering

himself onto it. He gestured to the young constable

to do the same. 'We found a body in the kitchen area,

but it'll be some time before--' He paused, unsure

how to continue.

'I'm afraid it was so badly burnt it was unrecognizable.

We're waiting on the pathologist's report to give

us an idea of the age and - ' he paused again - 'sex.'

'Oh, God!' she said dully. 'Then it must be

Rosheen.'

'Why don't you think it's Bridey or Liam?'

'Because . . .' she broke off with a worried frown,

'I assumed the phone call was a hoax to frighten

Rosheen. Oh, my God! Aren't they in Winchester?'

He looked troubled. 'They were escorted to a safe

house at the end of yesterday's proceedings but it

appears they left again shortly afterwards. There was

no one to monitor them, you see. They had a direct

line through to the local police station and we sent

out regular patrols during the night. We were worried

about trouble coming from outside, not that they

might decide to return to Kilkenny Cottage without

telling us.' He rubbed a hand around his jaw. 'There

I

82

are recent tyre marks up at the manor. We think Liam

may have parked his Ford there in order to push

Bridey across the lawn and through the gate onto the

footpath beside Kilkenny Cottage.'

She shook her head in bewilderment. 'Then why

didn't you find three bodies?'

'Because the car isn't there now, Mrs Lavenham,

and whoever died in Kilkenny Cottage probably died

at the hands of Liam O'Riordan.'

83

Wednesday, 10 February 1999

She had stood up at the end of her interview with the

inspector. 'Do you know what I hate most about

the English?' she said.

He shook his head.

'It never occurs to you, you might be wrong.' She

placed her palm on the poison-pen letter on his desk.

'But you're wrong about this. Bridey cares about my

opinion - she cares about me - not just as a fellow

Irishwoman but as the employer of her niece. She'd

never do anything to jeopardize Rosheen's position

in our house because Rosheen and I are her only lifeline

in Sowerbridge. We shop for her, we do our best

to protect her, and we welcome her to the farm when

things get difficult. Under no circumstances whatsoever would Bridey use me to pass on falsified evidence

because she'd be too afraid I'd wash my hands of her

and then persuade Rosheen to do the same.'

'It may be true, Mrs Lavenham, but it's not an

argument you could ever use in court.'

'I'm not interested in legal argument, Inspector,

I'm only interested in persuading you that there is a

terror campaign being waged against the O'Riordans

in Sowerbridge and that their lives are in danger.' She

watched him shake his head. 'You haven't listened to

84

a word I've said, have you? You just think I'm taking

Bridey's side because I'm Irish.'

'Aren't you?'

No.' She straightened with a sigh. 'Moral support

is alien to Irish culture, Inspector. We only really

enjoy fighting with each other. I thought every Englishman

knew that. . .'

85

Tuesday, 9 March 1999, noon

The news that Patrick O'Riordan's trial had been

adjourned while police investigated the disappearance

of his parents and his cousin was broadcast across the

networks at noon, but Siobhan switched off the radio

before the names could register with her two young

sons.

They had sat wide-eyed all morning watching a «

procession of policemen traipse to and from Rosheen's

bedroom in search of anything that might give them

a lead to where she had gone. Most poignantly, as far

as Siobhan was concerned, they had carefully removed

the girl's hairbrush, some used tissues from her wastepaper

basket and a small pile of dirty washing in order

to provide the pathologist with comparative DNA

samples.

She had explained to the boys that Rosheen hadn't

been in the house when she got back the previous

night, and because she was worried about it she had

asked the police to help find her.

'She went to Auntie Bridey's,' said six-year-old

James.

'How do you know, darling?'

'Because Uncle Liam phoned and said Auntie

Bridey wasn't feeling very well.'

86

'Did Rosheen tell you that?'

He nodded. 'She said she wouldn't be long but

that I had to go to sleep. So I did.'

She dropped a kiss on the top of his head. 'Good

boy.'

He and Oliver were drawing pictures at the kitchen

table, and James suddenly dragged his pencil to and

fro across the page to obliterate what he'd been doing.

'Is it because Uncle Patrick killed that lady?' he asked

her.

Siobhan searched his face for a moment. The rules

had been very clear . . . Whatever else you do, Rosheen,

please do not tell the children what Patrick has been

accused of. . . 'I didn't know you knew about that,'

she said lightly.

'Everyone knows,' he told her solemnly. 'Uncle

Patrick's a monster and ought to be strung up.'

'Goodness!' she exclaimed, forcing a smile to her

lips. 'Who said that?'

'Kevin.'

Anger tightened like knots in her chest. Ian had

laid it on the line following the incident in the barn . . .

You may see Kevin in your spare time, Rosheen, but not

when you're in charge of the children . . . 'Kevin Wyllie?

Rosheen's friend?' She squatted down beside him,

smoothing a lock of hair from his forehead. 'Does he

come here a lot?'

'Rosheen said we weren't to tell.'

'I don't think she meant you musn't tell me,

darling.'

87

James wrapped his thin little arms round her neck

and pressed his cheek against hers. 'I think she did,

Mummy. She said Kevin would rip her head off if we told you and Daddy anything.'

88

Tuesday, 9 March 1999, later

'I can't believe I let this happen,' she told the inspector,

pacing up and down her drawing room in a frenzy

of movement. 'I should have listened to Ian. He said

Kevin was no good the minute he saw him.'

'Calm down, Mrs Lavenham,' he said quietly. 'I

imagine your children can hear ever}' word you're

saying.'

'But why didn't Rosheen tell me Kevin was threatening

her? God knows, she should have known she

could trust me. I've bent over backwards to help her

and her family.'

'Perhaps that's the problem,' he suggested. 'Perhaps

she was worried about laying any more burdens

on your shoulders.'

'But she was responsible for my children, for God's

sake! I can't believe she'd keep quiet while some low

grade neanderthal was terrorizing her.'

The inspector watched her for a moment, wondering

how much to tell her. 'Kevin Wyllie is also

missing,' he said abruptly. 'We're collecting DNA

samples from his bedroom because we think the body

at Kilkenny Cottage is his.'

Siobhan stared at him in bewilderment. 'I don't

understand.'

89

He gave a hollow laugh. 'The one thing the pathologist can be certain about, Mrs Lavenham, is that the

body was upright when it died.'

'I still don't understand.'

He looked ill, she thought, as he ran his tongue

across dry lips. 'We're working on the theory that Liam,

Bridey and Rosheen appointed themselves judge, jury

and hangman before setting fire to Kilkenny Cottage

in order to destroy the evidence.'

90

Daily Telegraph - Wednesday, 10 March, a.m.

ii

Couple Arrested

Two people, believed to be the parents

of Patrick O'Riordan, whose trial at

Winchester Crown Court was

adjourned two days ago, were arrested

on suspicion of murder in Liverpool

yesterday as they attempted to board

a ferry to Ireland. There is still no clue

to the whereabouts of their niece

Rosheen, whose family lives in

County Donegal. Hampshire police

have admitted that the Irish Garda

have been assisting them in their

search for the missing family. Suspicion

remains that the body found in

Kilkenny Cottage was that of Sower

bridge resident Kevin Wyllie, 28,

although police refuse to confirm or

deny the story.

91