"I'm sure he is, his very level best. No, I didn't lose anything, but I have great friends who were ruined."
"And believe me, they will be recompensed, compensated."
"That's not what we read in the papers."
"What do journalists know? And it's actually about that I'm calling. Is this a convenient time?"
"Yes. You interrupted a marriage proposal, but it can be continued when we've finished talking." Nick leaned over and stroked Sandy's face.
I never know whether to take you seriously or not."
"I know, it's a worry." Nick let a silence fall.
"Anyway, our friend hasn't been able to contact Ella."
"I think Don probably knows Ella's phone number."
"It's not as simple as that."
"It probably is, or he could send a letter, a postcard, an email."
"I'm going to cut to the chase, Nick. You're not being as cooperative and understanding about the problem as we'd hoped."
"We?"
"Urn ... Don and I."
"You're with him as you speak?"
"That's neither here nor there. What I was going to do ..."
". .. was cut to the chase. I heard you."
"There's this briefcase with a laptop computer."
Til bet there is."
"Which Mr. Richardson inadvertently left in Ms Brady's apartment ..."
"That must have been a day or two ago."
I beg your pardon?"
"Don Richardson ran out of here four months ago. He must have missed his briefcase before now."
"Now is when he's looking for it, Nick."
"Well, he can come home and pick it up, can't he?"
"He can't find Ella. She's not in that apartment. She's not in the house in Tara Road."
"And I imagine he knows why. They had to sell everything, give up everything, because of him."
I don't think he sees it that way . .."
"You do surprise me!"
I'd like to give you a phone number. Please give it to Ms Brady and ask her to call Mr. Richardson."
I wouldn't hold your breath, Mr. Martin."
"I'll dictate the number, and I'm sure you'll be responsible enough to pass it on."
"I'll take lessons in responsibility from your pal Don, will I?"
"Have you a pen or pencil?"
"Yes, but what's to stop me giving this to the newspapers, the authorities, or some of the people he robbed blind?"
"I'm sure you'll do the right thing, Nick," said Mike Martin, and read out a number. Then they both hung up.
"What was that all about?" Sandy asked, round-eyed.
"About a tactless oaf who interrupted you when you were about to kneel down in front of me ... wait, wait ... and meet me kneeling down in front of you, and we were going to ask each other the most important question of our lives."
"And that guy in Spain?"
"Can wait his turn like everyone else," said Nick, kneeling down on the floor. Barbara and Tim Brady were having a late lunch in the little bit of garden they had kept for themselves beside their Annexe. Through the bamboo hedge they could see the Main House, where they had lived until three months ago. All of it now let at astronomical rents. Oddly, they didn't miss it nearly as much as they had thought they would.
Looking back on it now, they realised it had been too big for them. And lonely, too. Somehow, since they had come here, it was much more companionable, and they saw so much more of Ella as she dashed in and out and grabbed cups of tea. Her friend Deirdre called a lot, which was nice. They still had a great deal of anxiety and the nightmare about the debts they owed and the people in Tim's office who had lost money. But all in all, it was a happier time, a better quality of life. They hardly dared to admit it to anyone except each other. And they were able to talk to each other these days. Which was another change for the better. "It's not too hard, when you put your mind to it," Simon said. "That's what I've always found," Ella agreed. "But of course, there's no real point to it," Maud said.
"I don't know. There's a sort of a point, like it's a principle, a formula. When you know how to do it once, you can always apply it again."
"But when would you ever want to apply it again?" Maud wondered thoughtfully.
Tor exams, I suppose," Simon said. "Do we really need to do that whole page of problems before next week?"
"Yes, you do if I'm to be sure you've understood it and move on to the next thing."
"Nobody else at school has to do a page of problems," Maud said with a slightly downturned mouth.
I know, Maud. Aren't you lucky that they're paying extra for you to learn more?" Ella said.
Maud was debating this when Ella's phone rang. It was Nuala. She was in tears. She was so sorry, she was such a fool, she had quite rightly had the head bitten off her by Deirdre. She'd love to talk to Ella. That is, if Ella would ever forgive her.
"Sure, I'll forgive you," Ella said. "That bastard upsets everyone, makes them behave out of character, that's all."
Maud and Simon exchanged glances.
"But Nuala, I have to go. I'm at work at the moment."
"Dee says you never stop."
Chapter Six.
"No, I'm fine. I'm entering the social phase of work now. Isn't that right, Maud and Simon?" she said to the children.
They looked at her, startled.
"What on earth does that mean?" Nuala asked with a giggle.
"It means that Simon and Maud are going to put away their books, get me a huge mug of tea, and I'm going to tell them all about my very unhappy life," Ella said.
"You sound absolutely unhinged, Ella, but I'm so glad you forgive me. You can behave however you like. I'll call you tonight."
"Not between six and midnight," Ella said cheerfully and hung up her phone.
She had just got to telling the twins the bit of her very unhappy life where she hadn't been chosen for the hockey team.
"It doesn't sound terribly unhappy," Maud complained.
"No real, awful things," Simon added.
"If you wanted to be on the First Eleven, and should have been, then that's pretty terrible," Ella protested.
Her phone rang again. This time it was Nick. She listened and her face got red and then white again. The twins watched her with interest. "The bastard," she said eventually. "The class-A bastard." She took down a number on the back of her notebook. "Thanks, Nick, I'll get back to you on this." Her voice was slightly shaky, but a promise was a promise.
Those children had got their heads around quadratic equations. Now she had to tell them the story of an unhappy life. "So the day of the school's hockey final approached . .." she began.
"Could you tell us about the bastard, please?" Maud asked politely. "It sounds much more interesting." All evening she thought about that slimy Mike Martin, out there in Spain with Don, after telling the television cameras that he couldn't understand the disappearance, the flight, the whole thing. He had told the nation that Don Richardson adored his wife, the lovely Margery Rice. Now he was contacting Ella, the mistress, and looking for a computer.
The only thing this proved was that there was something in the laptop that they didn't want found. Now that was interesting. Very interesting. And also a little frightening. It was only a matter of time before they found where she lived. Someone would tell Mike Martin that they lived in the garden shed on Tara Road. And then surely he would come to collect the computer that belonged to the great Don Richardson, and presumably must contain some of his secrets. Ella had assumed that Don must have deleted every file in it, and that was the reason why his password, "Angel", didn't work.
It was packed with her things in storage at the Annexe in Tara Road. She hadn't thought about it in weeks. She wouldn't think about it now, she was working too hard. And also because she did not want to believe that it had not been left there purposely. And so he would not be coming back for it himself. Ever. "God, Ella, you look dreadful," Nick said when they met down by the Liffey for coffee.