The Girl on the Cliff (37 page)

Kathleen stopped walking and studied the object in the palm of Joe’s hand. She had no idea how long it must have taken Joe to carve the wood or how his huge hands had found the delicacy to do so.

‘Joe,’ Kathleen said with genuine admiration, ‘it’s beautiful, it really is. I’d say you have a real talent for sculpting wood.’ She put her own hand on top of his palm. ‘And she’ll be thrilled with it, so, I know she will.’

Gerald and Lily had already set up camp by the time Kathleen and Joe arrived. A small fire was blazing on the sand and Gerald had begun to toast sausages on the flames.

‘Hello, you two,’ said Lily excitedly. ‘Hope you’ve brought lots of food, I’m starving! Isn’t this wonderful?’

The three of them watched as Lily suddenly careered across the beach, leaping and twirling with happiness.

‘Even though she hates ballet, she’s definitely inherited her mother’s grace, wouldn’t you say, Kathleen?’ commented Gerald, his eyes never leaving Lily’s dancing figure.

‘Yes, she has.’ Kathleen cast a glance at Joe, who was staring at Lily in wonder. Kathleen took up the blankets she’d brought with her and spread them on the ground. ‘Sit down there now, Joe.’

Joe did so, without taking his eyes from Lily.

Lily arrived back panting and threw herself to the ground to catch her breath. ‘Oh! When hateful boarding school is over I shall come back here and live at Dunworley forever. Anyone for a swim before supper?’

Kathleen shook her head. ‘Too cold for me, Lily.’

‘What a yellow-belly you are. Where’s your sense of adventure? It’s my last night!’

‘Oh, go on then,’ Kathleen replied reluctantly. ‘You be taking care of those sausages now, won’t you, boys?’

The two boys watched the girls run off towards the waves. Gerald pulled a bottle out of the knapsack he’d brought with him. ‘And while they go for a swim, I thought you and I could take a taste of this to keep out the cold.’

Joe’s gaze turned slowly from Lily’s disappearing figure towards Gerald. He surveyed the bottle in Gerald’s hand.

‘It’s poteen. Homemade at that. One of my father’s tenants gave it to him. Have you ever tried it, Joe?’

Joe shook his head slowly.

‘Well, let’s both have a little snifter. Cheers!’ Gerald knocked back a healthy gulp and passed the bottle to Joe.

Joe sniffed the contents and wrinkled his nose.

‘What are you? Man or mouse? Every Irishman should try their national drink. We wouldn’t want Lily thinking you were a coward, Joe, would we?’

At this, Joe put the bottle tentatively to his lips and took a swig. Choking and coughing, he handed the bottle back to Gerald.

‘The first gulp is always the worst, promise it tastes better after a few more.’ Gerald took another swig.

When the girls arrived back, the sausages were cooked, and Joe and Gerald seemed to be laughing at some unknown joke. Shivering, Kathleen wrapped a blanket around herself, glad to see there was no tension between the two boys.

‘Have some elderflower juice.’ Gerald winked at Joe and handed both girls a glass. They both downed it thirstily.

‘Yuck!’ spluttered Lily. ‘It’s got a very strange taste.’

‘It has, so.’ Kathleen eyed Gerald. ‘What’s in it?’

‘Just a little something to keep out the chill, eh, Joe? Like some more?’

Kathleen watched through the firelight as Gerald passed Joe a bottle.

‘Now, who would like a sausage?’ he asked.

Forty minutes later, Kathleen was lying on her back looking at the stars, wondering why they were spinning. She’d never seen them do that before. She could hear Gerald and Joe giggling uproariously at something and the shadowy image of Lily dancing in the firelight.

Kathleen smiled, feeling very warm and content. She closed her eyes and went to sleep.

When she awoke, she felt disorientated and very, very sick.

‘Jesus, Mary and Joseph!’ she said as her stomach heaved and the contents landed on the sand next to her. Twice more she was ill, but at least when she was done her head had stopped spinning. When she’d buried her mess, she felt a raging thirst on her and turned towards the fire to find the bottle of water she’d brought with her.

The blankets next to her were empty and the fire had gone out.

She drank thirstily from the bottle then stood up to see if the other three had gone swimming. Her legs feeling strangely shaky, she walked towards the shore, but could neither hear the normal shouts of exhilarated laughter nor make out figures splashing in the waves. Turning back towards the camp, Kathleen shouted for them again. ‘Come on now, you three, I know you’re hiding from me. Come out, wherever you are!’

There was no answer. Only the sound of the waves breaking evenly on the sand. ‘Surely they wouldn’t have gone home and left me?’ Kathleen said to herself. ‘There’s no way I’ll be carrying this lot up the cliffs by myself.’

Having shouted until she was hoarse, Kathleen sat back down on the blanket. And noticed an empty bottle lying on the sand. She picked it up, smelt it and groaned, understanding now why she’d been so ill. Gerald must have laced their elderflower juice with poteen. Made out of potatoes by many around these parts, she knew how lethal it could be.

‘You eejit, Gerald! What were you doing feeding us this?’

An ominous feeling of dread assailed Kathleen as she imagined the other three drunk, wandering into the waves, not in their right senses. She tried to work out what she should do. If she went for help, her daddy would flay her alive if he thought she’d been drinking, and would doubtless not believe how Gerald had laced the elderflower with it. And just how much had Joe drunk? He’d never tasted a drop of alcohol in his life. The saints only knew what kind of effect it would have on him.

Having spent another ten minutes searching the beach and calling their names, Kathleen realised with a thumping heart she had no choice but to go and raise the alarm. She had no idea of the time and, as she stood up, decided her only hope was that the three of them had left her sleeping where she was and headed home. Not caring about leaving their belongings on the beach, Kathleen turned miserably and began to walk towards the cliff path.

Suddenly she heard a shout coming from the corner of the beach, which led on over rocks to the next cove.

She turned and looked back, but could not make out the figure.

‘Kathleen, is that you?’

‘Yes!’ she shouted back.

‘It’s me! Gerald!’ He began running towards her. When he reached her, he was panting with effort and bent over to catch his breath. Looking up at her, he asked, ‘Have you seen them? Lily and Joe? They said they were going for a swim an hour or so ago. I said I’d mind the camp, because you were sleeping. When they didn’t return, I went to try and find them. But there’s no sign of them
down on the shore. Have they been back here? Have I missed them?’

‘No, I’ve been here the whole time and I haven’t seen the hide of either of them.’

‘God,’ groaned Gerald, standing upright. ‘Joe especially was pretty merry. I hope something awful hasn’t happened to them.’

‘Well now,’ Kathleen put her hands on her hips, ‘what did you think you were doing, feeding him drink?’

‘Joe is a grown man. And he wasn’t saying no.’

‘And what about Lily? And me?’ Kathleen’s anger and fear rose to the surface. ‘You put poteen in our juice, you eejit! What possessed you? What if Lily’s drowned out there in the sea? It’ll be
your fault
! And how will you live with that, Mr Lisle!’ she shouted hysterically.

‘Look here, Kathleen, I’ve done nothing except spice up a rather dull party. And no one can prove it anyway. Besides, who do you think they’re likely to believe, eh? You or me? Anyway,’ he shrugged, ‘that’s irrelevant. We need to find Lily and Joe as soon as possible. I’ve looked for them everywhere, and there is literally no sign.’

Kathleen’s eyes were drawn to a murky patch of blood on Gerald’s shorts.

‘What’s that, there?’ she pointed.

Gerald looked down. ‘Must have cut myself clambering over the rocks and it’s seeped through. Never mind that, do we search again or go for help?’

‘I’d say we go for help.’

‘Right. And I’m warning you now.’ Gerald bore down on her and she shrank back in fear. ‘You might own a few acres of useless bog down by the stream, but you’re still a
tenant on my father’s land. You say one word about the bottle I brought down to the beach tonight and I’ll have my father throw you and your family out of your house and off our land faster than you can possibly imagine. Understand?’

‘Yes,’ Kathleen nodded tearfully. ‘I understand.’

An hour later, the small community of Dunworley had been alerted to the emergency and was down on the beach, searching the coves and the sea for signs of either Lily or Joe.

As dawn broke, a local farmer called everyone to a small cave in which Lily lay, unconscious. Her dress was ripped and she’d been brutally beaten. The farmer carried her up the rocks to a waiting car. She was placed gently in the back, and driven off to the hospital in Cork city.

Twenty minutes later, Joe was found fast asleep behind an outcrop of rocks, not twenty yards from where Lily had been lying.

When they woke him, he was disorientated.

‘Lily,’ he murmured, ‘where Lily?’

There was a knock on the door of the farmhouse later that afternoon. Two Gardai were standing on the doorstep when Sophia opened it.

‘Mrs Doonan?’

‘Yes?’

‘We’d like to speak to your son and daughter about last night,’ said the guard.

‘They’re not in trouble, are they?’ Sophia said nervously as she let them in. ‘They’re both good children, never done anything wrong.’

‘We’ll be speaking to your daughter first, Mrs Doonan,’ said one of the guards as Sophia led them into the sitting room.

‘How’s Lily? She must have fallen down the rocks. Kathleen, my daughter, said. I –’

‘That’s what we’re here to talk to her about,’ interrupted the other guard.

‘I’ll go and get her,’ said Sophia.

Kathleen entered the room a few minutes later, her knees shaking with fear.

‘Kathleen Doonan?’

‘Yes, sir.’

‘Sit yourself down, Kathleen. There’s nothing to be nervous about, we’re just wanting to ask you some questions about what happened last night.’

‘Lily is all right, isn’t she?’ Kathleen asked anxiously.

‘She’s going to be fine, don’t you be worrying,’ said one of the guards. ‘Now, Kathleen, can you talk us through the events of last night? From when the four of you went on to the beach.’

‘Well now,’ she swallowed, ‘we went down to have a picnic to celebrate Lily’s leaving before she went away to boarding school. The boys minded the fire and cooked the sausages while Lily and I went in for a swim,’ Kathleen stated, watching the other policeman take notes.

‘And then?’ he prompted.

‘We came back, ate our picnic, and then I … well now, I fell asleep.’

‘Were you tired?’

‘I must have been, sir.’

‘What time did you wake up?’

‘I don’t know, but when I did, Lily, Joe and Gerald had gone. I went looking for them everywhere but I couldn’t find them. Then I saw Gerald, coming from the cove where Lily was found. He said he’d been looking for them too. Then we went to raise the alarm. And that,’ shrugged Kathleen, ‘is all I can be telling you that you won’t already know.’

‘Kathleen, I’d like you to answer me honestly,’ said the guard gently. ‘Would you four have been taking any drink last night with your picnic?’

‘I … no, sir. Why would you be thinking that?’

‘Because there was a fair amount of alcohol found in your cousin Lily’s blood when they tested her at the hospital. Are you saying she was the only one partaking of it?’

‘Sir …’ Kathleen remembered what Gerald had said to
her last night about throwing her family off their land if she ever told the truth. ‘Yes,’ she admitted, shame-faced. ‘We all had a drink, so. But not very much, sir. And I couldn’t be saying about Gerald,’ she added hastily.

‘What about your brother, Joe?’

‘I’d be thinking he’d had a swig or two,’ Kathleen answered honestly.

‘Well now, when we interviewed Master Gerald before we came here, he told us your Joe was mighty drunk.’

‘I don’t think so, sir. Joe never drinks, so maybe even a little would go to his head.’

‘Something went to his head,’ muttered the other guard under his breath.

‘Master Gerald said your brother was very fond of Lily. Is that true?’

‘Oh yes, sir, he adores her,’ Kathleen agreed.

‘Master Gerald said he heard Joe say he wanted to marry Lily. Was he hearing right?’

‘Ah, now,’ Kathleen struggled to think of the right answer, ‘we’ve always known each other since we were kids. We’re family. Joe’s always loved Lily.’

‘Yes, miss, but you’re not kids any more, are you? Or, at least, your brother isn’t,’ the other guard said grimly. ‘Would you say your brother is an aggressive character, Miss Doonan?’

‘Joe? No! Never! I’d be thinking he was one of the gentlest souls to walk the earth. He wouldn’t hurt a fly, so.’

‘That’s not what Master Gerald told us, Kathleen. He said Joe punched him in the face a few weeks back. He said you saw it. Did you?’

‘I …’ Kathleen could feel herself sweating with the
stress of the situation. ‘Yes, I saw Joe hit Gerald, sir, but Joe only did it because Gerald had said something Joe wasn’t liking about Lily. As I said, he’s very protective of her. I’m promising you, ask anyone, Joe is harmless,’ Kathleen added desperately. ‘He’s kind and loving and he didn’t mean it, honestly he didn’t.’

‘Would you say he was obsessed with his cousin Lily?’ asked the guard.

‘No,’ Kathleen shook her head, feeling she was being led down a path and made to say things that sounded all wrong. ‘He just adored her,’ she shrugged.

‘Kathleen, did you ever see your brother touch Lily?’

‘Of course! All the time! He’d give her piggybacks, pick her up and throw her into the sea … they’d play together …’

‘Thank you, Kathleen. We’ll be having a short word with your mammy now, and then we’ll be talking to Joe.’

‘I don’t understand, sir. Please, Joe’s in no trouble, is he? He may have had a bit to drink, and hit Gerald that time, but you have to believe me, he’d never harm a hair on anyone’s head, especially not Lily’s,’ she urged desperately.