Page 58 of The Secret Bookshop in Ireland

‘Yes. Wait till I tell you who she is.’ Ciara was about to tell Maureen about Nuala and how she had been present at her father’s birth when her phone suddenly rang. Surprised, she took it out of her pocket. ‘It’s Ronan,’ she said as she saw the caller ID. ‘I hope nothing has happened.’

‘You’d better respond,’ Maureen said. ‘I’ll see to the dog.’

Ciara quickly answered, still standing outside the door. ‘Hi, Ronan. What’s up?’

‘Everything,’ Ronan said, sounding elated. ‘You have no idea what’s happened to me.’

‘Tell me quick,’ Ciara urged. ‘I can’t take any more drama.’

‘Yeah, well, it’s about Elaine. She has been very angry with me for how I felt about her injuries. She’s told me off for turning myself into some kind of victim. She said she never really blamed me for the accident and I shouldn’t have done that either. She said we have to make some serious changes in both our lives.’

‘Go on,’ Ciara said, anxious to hear more. Ronan sounded practically drunk with happiness.

‘She said that she wants to change everything and that she wants to get a full-time carer,’ Ronan explained. ‘Then she said that I have been looking after her long enough and now it’s time I have a life. So once we get that person to care for her, I can leave. In fact, she said she wants to throw me out of the house.’ He drew breath and let out a laugh. ‘Do you realise what this means?’

‘Wow,’ Ciara said. ‘How fabulous. We’ll be able to…’ She stopped, feeling awkward.I can’t take for granted that he’ll want us to be together, she thought.He’ll want to meet his friends, go to parties, get drunk, flirt with other girls and do all the things he couldn’t for so long. This is not about me, it’s about him.‘That’s great, Ronan,’ she said out loud. ‘I’m so happy for you.’

‘I knew you would be,’ Ronan said. ‘I can’t wait for it to happen. I feel as if I’ve been in prison for eight years.’

‘And so you have,’ Ciara said. ‘What’s the first thing you’re going to do?’

‘I’ve been thinking about that,’ Ronan said. ‘And I know what I must do as soon as I can.’

‘What’s that?’ Ciara asked, hoping he’d say he’d want to see her. The memory of that kiss in the dark passage at Powerscourt that day three weeks ago was still so vivid she could nearly feel his lips on hers and his arms around her for that brief moment before they had pulled apart.

‘I must call Angela. The girl who texted me when we had the accident. My then girlfriend, I mean.’

‘Why?’ Ciara asked, not really wanting to hear the reason. He was probably going to see if this girl was still available. Maybe they had been very close and now he wanted to reignite the flame?

‘Because she…’ Then the signal waned and there was a buzzing sound before it died completely.

Then Maureen reappeared, looking upset. ‘Ciara, Brian is missing. I can’t find him anywhere.’

TWENTY-EIGHT

Ciara stared at her mother. ‘What do you mean – missing?’

‘The door to the living room was open,’ Maureen said, wringing her hands. ‘I think he’s been kidnapped.’

Ciara looked at her phone as Ronan’s words still resonated in her mind. ‘Kidnapped?’ she said as she turned off her mobile. ‘Why would anyone want to do that? And how did they get him to come with them? He never leaves the house. He knows he has to mind it. It would take a lot of persuading for him to go anywhere with anyone.’

‘They might have dangled a steak in front of him,’ Maureen suggested as they walked together up the stairs. ‘You know how he can’t resist a bit of meat.’

‘Yes, that’s true. But come on, Ma, you’re letting your imagination run away with you. He probably just got bored and wandered off.’

When they arrived on the upstairs landing, Ciara noticed that the door they had left closed was indeed open. But there was no sign of anything else suspicious. ‘How did he get out?’ she asked, looking around the room where Brian’s cushion still had the indent of his body. Apart from that, everything was as they had left it.

‘Someone has a key,’ Maureen said. ‘Remember how you said the books in the shop had been tidied up? The same person must have taken Brian.’

‘I don’t think that’s what happened. But he must have got out somehow,’ Ciara said, feeling a stab of desperation. ‘Brian is so precious to me. I can’t bear the thought of losing him.’Especially now that Ronan has been set free and is hooking up with his ex-girlfriend, she thought.

‘Neither can I,’ Maureen confessed. ‘I didn’t like the idea of you having such an enormous dog, but now that I’ve got to know him, I’m getting more and more fond of that animal.’

‘He’s so lovable,’ Ciara said with tears in her eyes.

‘He’s a darling,’ Maureen agreed, putting her arms around Ciara. ‘Come on, don’t give up. We will find him.’

‘How?’ Ciara asked against her mother’s shoulder.