Gemini Rain (6 page)

‘Paul,’ his friend laughingly interrupted, ‘you’re the new Minister for Justice, make no bones about it. And you always presume things, for Christ’s sake don’t deny you’re thinking the same way as me. The icing on the cake?’

Paul assuredly smiled
back at his friend
thinking, how you know me so well and how I love you for that alone.

As Paul walked across the courtyard of the Irish Parliament buildings, Dail Eireann - the other TDs, even those in opposition were not holding back from congratulating him. An elder of the TD
hierarchy came across to him, ‘o
ne of the youngest, if not the youngest to be promoted to such a position. How times are a changing,’ he delighted, ‘do us proud son!’ warmly shaking Paul’s hand.

Straightening himself as he approached An Taoiseach’s outer office, Ireland’s equivalent to a Prime Minister
or US President
, Paul calmed himself as he casually strolled to the junior secretary.

‘I’ll inform An Taoiseach’s assistant you’re here, please take a seat,’ she smiled, secretly admiring the tall, good-looking politician standing in front of her, nearly all the young office women in Dail Eireann at one time or another had fantasies about this guy. His height and build were just perfect and his eyes – Ohh those smiling, dark-sea blue eyes, would I love to swim in there! Dreamily staring at her switchboard she automatically presse
d the key
with the top of her pen.

Five minutes later he was shown through to the of
fice, An Taoiseach was sitting
behind his overly large and intimidating
dark
oak desk worki
ng on his laptop
he ignored
Paul entering the room.  The desk was unusually cleared of all papers and files, except for one large brown folder. About six or seven inches th
ick it was bulging at the seams;
some CDs and
t
wo USB keys
lay beside it. 

Not
ing it but not
paying too much attention to it, instead Paul’s eyes wandered around the room, yet another interior designer or architect was paid a fortune to decorate this office.
‘
Why?
’
he wondered,
‘
did every new Taoiseach feel the need to wipe away their predecessor’s existence by changing the colour scheme and layout when they moved in.
’
The only reminders were the old official photographs lining one wall, deliberately placed so visitors would have their backs to them upon entering. 

The papers had a field day when it was leaked how much this new refurbishment cost, even Paul remembered gulping when he saw the near million figure
and with all the cutbacks supposedly happening within the public service, it was not a good day for PR
.

An Taoiseach looked up then turned toward Paul, with a familiar devilish grin stretched across his face, ‘I wasn’t going to give you this job you know,’ his short tubby fingers tapping on the folder in a rhythm as if he was still contemplating the matter.

Paul was beginning to feel uneasy and about to interrupt to ask what job when An Taoiseach held his hand up to continue, ‘but I know you’re perfect for this position - despite what some advisors are saying.’

Paul curiously looked at An Taoiseach, of course he knew about Paul’s relationship but it was kept discreetly under wraps.  Paul ensured no one outside of his family would ever know, so what was the hell was An Taoiseach talking about?

The brown folder was pushed towards Paul, reluctantly leaning forward he immediately slipped off the thick elastic bands and opened the file while disquietly eyeing An Taoiseach.  Photographs of a family he knew and a woman he once loved were glaring out at him, his jaw dropped - so his counsel was right when he was advised not to go to Peter Connolly’s funeral
, the pit of his stomach started to churn
.

His eyes grew into large dinner plates rather than saucers as he read the incriminating start of the report, the look of disbelief on his face was pretty evident.  ‘Oh Christ Lauren,’
immediately
grimacin
g because of the fact he said the name
out loud then looking despondently at An Taoiseach who in turn knew of Paul’s concern.

‘Don’t worry accordi
ng to that file and
to our knowledge she and her children are the unfortunate innocent party in this embarrassing mess and safely tucked away in the south of France at the moment.
Albeit on
a long
holiday but my contacts say the holiday co-insides with a view to moving there permanently.
’  An Taoiseach paused for a se
cond but then decided to add, ‘Lauren may be innocent but by God
she aided and abetted in setting up an extremely difficult contract.’

‘Embarrassing mess!’ Paul was surprised and confused at those words, ‘but it’s not this government’s fault Maguire’s Export has this contract with us. That’s the fault of the opposition when they were in government and … and Lauren was just doing her job,’ he protested feeling the need to defend his old friend - a natural instinct especially when it
’
s just been stated that she was an innocent party.

He was beginning to get anxious now, will he ever find out what his new role in Government was going to be or was An Taoiseach going to continue playing this guessing game, this was not the type of meeting he was expecting.

‘Yes I know,’ An Taoiseach sighed, ‘but despite all efforts their services are still being used, legally they have to be we can’t get out of the god-damned contract any other way. I want it finished Paul!’ he said angrily sitting up straight, ‘every resource you have, everything you need to do. I want
you
to do it and close this case, efficiently and as discreetly as possible.  As quickly as possible,’ lowering his tone he hit the desk as he delivered Paul’s first assignment, ‘I’m putting my trust in you, as you once did in me. Kill this problem now and for God’s sake don’t let it get out. This is one piece of news I want under wraps Paul, the public are not to know. God knows we have enough public tribunals
and protests
to handle at the moment.’

Paul cleared his throat, ‘Are you going to tel
l me what my new title is, that i
s if I have one. I … I mean the rumours, I mean…’ Oh shit Paul what exactly do you mean feeling his face go red
–
‘
are you back in school or what
,’
he scolded himself!

An Taoiseach relaxed slightly with an almost apologetic look on his face, ‘I’m sorry Paul but the rumours aren’t true I want you to be second to the Minister.’

There was silence for a minute or two the two men just stared at each other, then
just
as Paul worked out the correct response and tried to express an appeal or debate the decision An Taoiseach immediately pressed a button on his intercom. The action resulted in one of the side doors opening, Paul didn’t even realise it was a door.

‘Allow m
e to introduce Commissioner Corcoran
Head of An Garda Siochana, Deputy Commissioner Childers in charge of operations, Deputy Commissioner Thompson in charge of Strategic and Resource Management and Detective Inspector O’Reilly.’ An Taoiseach leaned back in his large leather chair secretly he sometimes loved seeing people writhe with discomfort.
‘
Gotta keep them in their place
,
’
thinking
contently.
‘I hope you will enjoy each other’s company, you’ll be meeting a lot in private and of course in public.’

Turning to the men now filing into the room he stated, ‘Gentlemen, welcome and please come and greet our new Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform.’

Confused, Paul quickly turned to face the head of his government.

‘P
rivately I want you
answerable to the former Minister
of Justice
and
me but in the meantime – meet and greet!’ An Taoiseach gestured his hands towards the new arrivals in his office. 

Watching Paul shake the hands of his new colleagues, An Taoiseach knew it was a cruel test to play on him but he wanted to see Paul’s reaction to
both the file and
a sidestep, would it just be disappointment or would Paul
lose his temper and
try to persuade him to rethink. An Taoiseach knew straight away by Paul’s body motion that it was disappointment
and that Paul had the knack to think before arguing his point
, An Taoiseach’s
own
ability to read people was one of the reasons why he was now
in this position of head of the Irish Government
.  He knew who his genuine supporters were and his ability to pre-empt questions
from reporters was renowned. 
‘He’s a good lad’ he thought to himself, ‘perhaps my successor if…. no, that’ll never happen. Persuasions, in Paul’s eyes are for his policies and beliefs and he was there for me when I needed support, Paul believed in me and persuaded others to follow in that belief.  I’ll try my damnest to be there for him when he needs
me a
nd that could happen at any time, I’m taking a big risk with you my son, a big risk.’

‘
Right Gentlemen, down to business there’s a lot to cover and I have 30 minutes before I must leave for Brussels.
’

Paul left the office nearly an hour later, his jubilation now overshadowed by the battered folder he carried under his arm
and two USB keys safely in his jacket pocket
. He could hear the sirens outside as An Taoiseach sped out of the grounds to the airport, there will a lot of disgruntled travellers in the airport today, delays did not create happy passengers and Paul knew An Taoiseach’s private jet would get priority in the flight slots. 
‘
How the hell am I going to sort this mess out?
’
His thoughts turned to Lauren,
‘could he help her? And probably just as
importantly, could she help him?
’

Lauren Maguire Connolly was one of the closest friends he ever had; they shared something special never forgetting each other over the years. Surprised to hear that she was now
planning to live
in France, it was only now the realisation dawned on him that over the past two years or so that they had somehow lost the genuine contact of close friends. But to just up and leave like that without even a goodbye, it was something he found hard to believe Lauren could do to him. Why would she do such a thing, after all he did for her and visa versa?

The last
ti
me they spoke was last March
when he telephoned her to offer his condolences on hearing of Peter’s death and of course, to give his excuses for not attending the funeral. His counsel advised him not to attend but gave no reason except to indicate it was to do with
a clash of
their
work
and Peter’s
business dealings
. But now he knew why, Paul wanted to talk more needing advice on his next line of action.

He hesitated stopping his slow walk towards his office, should he explain why? His counsel will understand, yes they will he shouldn’t doubt that, after all his relationship with Lauren was in the past. And Paul had a point to prove – he is the new Minister for Justice, unlike others who considered An Taoiseach being the pinnacle of their
political
trade the Justice Department was something Paul aimed for since starting his career in politics. Earlier he thought today was going to be the day and now despite his cautiousness… it hadn’t been too much to expect after all.