Beneath an Irish Sky (Choc Lit) (32 page)

While they were waiting in the car at a red light, Emer spoke. ‘I know you won’t like this, Jack, but I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to go and see Jessie … no, hear me out. She may well have been told the same thing about you as Luke was. Travellers are very loyal to their friends, passionately so. If Jessie sees you, she might clam up completely …’

Or throw him out on his ear. What Emer said made sense but Jack had wanted to talk to the woman who’d been so close to Annie for much of the last twenty years. She might have a lot of answers.

‘Emer’s right, Jack,’ said Kate, from the back seat. ‘Why don’t you and Matt ring round the hotels tomorrow morning in case Luke’s checked in somewhere. He has the money if he wants to do that. I’ll go with Emer. Jessie might open up more easily if she knows I’m Luke’s girlfriend.’

Jack didn’t like that he’d be out of the loop, but Kate’s feelings for Luke were so positive that they’d surely shine through. She stood a better chance than he did of getting Jessie to help them.

He glanced round at Kate. Matt was snoring gently on her shoulder. ‘Okay, Detective Freckles.’

She smiled but her face was pale and strained. Like him, she probably wasn’t going to get much sleep tonight.

Next morning, Kate went with Emer to the Traveller halting site, where they’d arranged to meet with Jessie, the one sure person Luke would consider a friendly face.

‘We’ll pull in here,’ said Emer, as she spied a parking space in front of a boarded-up shop.

‘Why here?’ asked Kate. ‘It’s the next street, and it’s raining.’

‘Best be discreet,’ Emer told her. ‘Travellers are tight-knit. We don’t want to stick out like a sore thumb. I once turned up at a Traveller site wearing a suit, asking questions about a patient’s family. Met a wall of silence. Someone who looks official is often associated with prying authorities.’

They got out of the car and shared an umbrella on the short walk. Kate hoped Jessie wouldn’t clam up on them. Surely not, once she knew Kate was Luke’s girlfriend. She had to make the Traveller woman trust her. She was the only lead they had in their search for Luke. Kate felt her mouth go dry, her hands grow clammy. She tried to quell her anxiety, her desperation. She summoned up an image of Luke in her mind and willed him not to do anything foolish before she found him.

The halting site was made up of rows of bays, each one surrounded on three sides by low boundary walls. Jessie’s caravan was white with an orange trim, raised on blocks. There was a garden bench out front, surrounded by pots of flowers.

‘Could the council not provide a house for Jessie?’ Emer asked John, the site supervisor.

‘Doesn’t want one,’ he replied. ‘Been most of her life on the road. Traveller, through and through. Said she’d not be comfortable in a house.’

He knocked on the door and stepped back in view of the windows. A net curtain twitched and a small wrinkled face appeared. John gave a wave. A few moments later, the caravan door was pushed open.

‘I’ll get back to the office now,’ John told them. ‘Hope you find Luke. If you do, tell him I was askin’. He came here a lot – helped out where he could. Nothin’ was too much trouble, especially if it was for the older folk. He’s a good kid.’

Kate felt a surge of pride – and love. Hearing someone from Luke’s other life confirming he was a special person meant so much. Her mother, and even Abbie, had suggested Luke was only a novelty with a pretty face, and that romantic notions of Travellers had brought some excitement into Kate’s sheltered, privileged life. Maybe all that was true but Kate had also chosen Luke because he was a man who was decent and honourable.

‘C’mon, Kate,’ murmured Emer, putting a reassuring hand on her arm.

It was cramped inside Jessie’s caravan, and there was a powerful smell of lavender. The old woman was seated on a fold-down bed, stroking a cat with gleaming eyes. She indicated a bench settee, and Kate and Emer sat down, briefly introducing themselves.

‘Can’t offer any tea,’ said Jessie, in a voice cracked with age. ‘Electricity’s off. So – ye’ve come about Luke.’

Emer nodded. ‘That’s right. We haven’t seen him since Saturday. Thought he might have come back to Ennis. Back to you.’

Jessie shook her head. ‘Wish he had. My home’s his – he knows that. I’ve been prayin’ for him ever since I heard about … the accident.’ She stared into a corner, where there was a little grotto of porcelain saints. ‘John says ye’re from Dublin. From the hospital where they took Luke.’

‘I was Luke’s counsellor there,’ confirmed Emer. ‘I spent quite a bit of time with him.’

‘Was he stoppin’ with ye, then? After the hospital.’

‘No. Luke’s been in England, staying with his father.’

‘His father!’

Jessie’s expression was so angry, Kate wondered if Emer should have mentioned Jack at all. Maybe it would have been better to explain the circumstances first, and tell her how Jack’s family had been so manipulative.

‘A lot has come to light about what happened all those years ago,’ said Emer. ‘Jack didn’t know about Luke – he didn’t know why Annie left him, or that she asked him for help.’

‘And what about the letter?’ Jessie shook her finger at Emer.

‘Jack never received that letter,’ Emer told her, but Jessie looked even angrier.

‘I don’t want to hear your lies,’ she said, her voice emotional. ‘He got that letter – because he wrote back tellin’ her he didn’t want her, or the boy. Said their marriage was a mistake – that he couldn’t be connected to a ‘gypo’. He sent her a fancy necklace and told her to sell it. As if she could be bought off. And I know all this because the package was brought direct to me.’

Kate looked at Emer, who seemed uncertain how to deal with what, to her, was new information. She bit her lip – Luke had told her about that letter, and he’d told Jack who hadn’t believed him. But there obviously was a letter – had Jack been lying all the time? She didn’t know if she should mention it to Emer now or wait until they were back at the hotel.

‘That letter broke Annie,’ Jessie continued, and Kate could see the gleam of tears on her cheeks. ‘Made her feel like nothin’. How could anyone be so cruel? I hope Luke got a chance to tell Jack Stewart exactly what he thought of him. All those years of sufferin’ he caused.’

The cat jumped from Jessie’s arms and hid under the bed. The old lady was breathing heavily now. God help them if her heart gave way. Kate got up and knelt in front of Jessie, staring into eyes that seemed as old as the world. ‘Jessie, I’m Kate. Luke is my boyfriend.’ She pulled out her mobile phone and showed Jessie a photo of her and Luke, arms entwined, as proof of what she said. ‘I’m so worried about him. We all are. Please help us find him, if you can.’

Her eyes filled with tears but she maintained eye contact with the old woman, who suddenly took hold of one of Kate’s hands, turning it palm up, tracing the lines with her gnarled fingers.

‘Are ye a Traveller, lass?’ Jessie asked, still staring at the hand she held.

‘No, I’m not,’ Kate admitted. ‘But that makes no difference to how I feel about Luke. We love each other.’

‘I can see that,’ murmured the old woman. ‘And he’s easy to love, is my Luke. But it’s a hard road for Travellers and country folk to walk together. Annie found that out. And, ye know, a Traveller man needs respect more than anythin’. Can ye respect who Luke is and not want to change him?’

‘I can.’ Kate was already at odds with her mother over Luke. If that wasn’t proof of her love, what was? ‘I wouldn’t ever want him to change.’

‘Ye say he’s disappeared. Is that down to the Stewart man?’

‘There was a misunderstanding,’ Emer told her. ‘Jack is here with us – he’s come to Ireland to find Luke. To sort things out. I don’t know about the letter he’s supposed to have written, and I will ask him about it – but the important thing is that we find Luke.’

‘Luke’s not been here,’ said Jessie. ‘His uncles came by, though, askin’ if I’d heard from him, but they didn’t get anythin’ out of me.’

‘Oh God!’ Kate felt sick to her stomach. ‘They mustn’t find him. He told me what they did to him. If he goes near them, they might hurt him again.’

Jessie nodded, pulling out a set of rosary beads from her pocket and passing them one by one through her fingers. ‘He must have trusted ye to tell ye about that. Sit up here beside me, lass.’

Kate did so. It seemed like she’d gained some of Jessie’s trust. ‘He did trust me. He also told me about you – how you were like a grandmother to him, a mother to Annie. He loves you very much.’

‘And they were my family,’ whispered Jessie. ‘Gave me somethin’ to go on for after I lost my man and my two babies.’

Luke had told Kate about that tragedy. How a faulty gas canister had exploded in Jessie’s caravan while Jessie was taking tea with a friend on the same site – Jessie had had to be held back by other Travellers as her caravan burned out of control.

‘I’m so sorry about that,’ whispered Kate.

The old woman didn’t appear to hear. Her eyes were distant, replaying some memory. ‘And now my poor Annie’s cold in the ground. I told her not to drive them roads at night. I wanted her to stop with me and go in the mornin’. But she was so scared. That accident – it was all Joe and Liam’s fault really. They made her life a misery. Treated her like a slave. Bullied that poor child. Sometimes, when we were all on the road together, I could hear Luke at night in his grand-da’s caravan, cryin’. I told Annie I could have him with me. Keep him out of Joe’s way. But Luke wanted to be with his mammy.’ Jessie sighed. ‘The damage Joe Kiernan’s done to his own folk, I wonder he can sleep at night.’

‘Annie wrote to Claire, Jack’s sister. Is that right?’ Emer asked Jessie.

‘That was my idea,’ confirmed Jessie. ‘They got close over there in England. A woman’s touch can soften things at times, right? Annie was so desperate, the poor wee lass.’

Kate knew Jessie had been well-meaning yet if the letter had gone to Jack, not Claire, Annie and Luke’s life would have turned out very differently. There was no point in saying that, though, and hurting this old woman.

‘Truthfully, Jack never got Annie’s letter,’ said Emer. ‘Neither did his sister.’

Jessie stared at Emer, shock written large all over her face, as she heard how Grace and Richard had conspired to keep Annie away from Jack. Eventually, she managed to croak a question: ‘Does Luke know this?’

‘No, he doesn’t. We only found out after he left. Jack’s mother confessed, although we didn’t know there was a fake reply letter until you said. I assume they did that, too. I know it’s a long time ago but do you know what happened to the letter? Did Annie keep it?’

‘I don’t know,’ said Jessie. ‘I never learned how to read, so she told me what was in it. Said he didn’t want her or Luke. She was so upset. Walked away and left it on my table. I thought of burnin’ it – and Jack Stewart’s soul with it – but I gave it back to her later when she was calmer. Said she might need it one day … when she’d made it by herself and could wave it under the noses of them Stewarts. But, of course, that never happened …’ Jessie’s voice tapered off into sadness.

‘Why didn’t Annie leave Joe and Liam long ago?’ Emer asked.

‘That’s easy enough for country folk. Much harder for a Traveller. Besides … Annie took sick not long after gettin’ the letter. She had a kind of … breakdown, I guess they call it. Nerves and that. She was lookin’ after the boy all right but she wasn’t eatin’ enough herself and got run down. Kept sayin’ she was tired and just wanted to sleep for a long time and wake up when the memories had all gone. She was cryin’ a lot, too.’

‘Did she get help?’ asked Emer.

Jessie nodded. ‘One of them Traveller activists got her a bed some place and Luke stayed with me. About four weeks later, Annie came home. She took pills for quite a bit after that. And then of course her daddy had a couple of strokes. Needed her to look after him.’

Kate sighed. ‘So sad …’

‘What makes ye think Luke’s comin’ back here?’ asked Jessie.

‘He left his car at Holyhead,’ Emer replied. ‘So he must have been making his way back to Ireland. It’s somewhere he knows, and he might want answers about what happened all those years ago.’

‘If he goes to talk to Joe and Liam, he’ll not risk goin’ to the house, I’m sure of it. They’re always drinkin’ in The Green Man of an evenin’. He’d talk to them there.’

‘Like Jack, he still doesn’t know why Annie left England,’ said Emer. ‘Do you know? Did she ever tell you?’

Kate held her breath, hoping they’d finally get the answer to the last part of the mystery.

Irritatingly, John chose that moment to knock on the door and enter the caravan. ‘Just to tell you the electricity is back on, Jessie,’ he said. ‘In case you wanted to make your visitors some tea.’

‘No, they’re leavin’,’ Jessie told him.

Kate wondered if what appeared to be a sudden change of attitude was because of Emer’s last question. Maybe she was just being suspicious but Kate was sure she’d seen a knowing look on Jessie’s face. It was a dead end for now, though. She stood up. ‘Thanks for your help, Jessie. If Luke does come to see you, please ask him to call one of us. Tell him – tell him that the information he was given on May Day was incorrect. It’s really important he knows that. We’ve tried calling him but his phone is switched off.’

‘Happen he doesn’t want to talk to ye.’

‘He would if he heard that message,’ said Kate. ‘I promise you.’

Jessie nodded. ‘And if ye find him first, tell him to keep away from Joe and Liam.’

Kate prayed Luke
would
visit Jessie first. He could hardly expect a welcome from his uncles. Surely he knew that? Perhaps he no longer cared about himself or his safety. Or maybe he just wanted a family of any description.

Jack and Matt arrived at the small backstreet pub in Ennis after a fruitless morning spent tramping round hotels and guesthouses in search of Luke. Emer and Kate were already there, and they shared the details of the meeting with Jessie. The biggest revelation was the answer letter Annie had received, supposedly from Jack.

So many things were starting to fall into place now. ‘It makes sense, Luke resenting me so much,’ said Jack.