Entrenched Beliefs by Robert W Fisk

Author:Robert W Fisk
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: mystery, thriller, secrets, search, disappearance, bomb, social themes, family, shame
Publisher: FOXBURR PUBLISHING
Published: 2018-05-28T00:00:00+00:00

The McManus family lived in Aurum, in a house on a street that ran up the hill to a dead end at the start of the forest. The forest had been planted forty years before and was due to be felled. That meant heavy machinery and noise and dust and fumes so the whole street was praying that the price of logs would stay down, making felling and milling uneconomic and therefore leaving the street in peace. The advantage for Connor McManus was that he could slip away into the trees and not be seen.

Eamon and Mavis's two girls went to the Area School in Aurum after they turned five. They were happy in the school which supplied a very good education, with many extra activities. The one hundred and eighty pupils of all ages formed a close knit community of their own. The girls grew older and became involved in sports and clubs. They brought home all the gossip, including the Pony Club news that Edwina was not Eric Blake's daughter.

"But you're not my daughters, and I'm still your father," Eamon told them. At twelve and eleven, the year between them was a chasm. The older girl, whose name was Niamh but which was pronounced 'Neev', meaning radiance or brightness, cogitated silently, then said, "So a father is a father because of what he does, not because of his sperm."

"I beg your pardon, miss!" Mavis had said. "We'll have none of that talk in this house."

"Mum, what's sperm?" asked Sally. "Is it something big like a sperm whale?"

"I'll tell you later. Shut up for the nonce," whispered Niamh.

The girls had to share a bedroom while Granda was with them. He had the big room that was really Niamh's while the girls had to share Sally's smaller room. Although they loved their grandfather they would be pleased when he went back to Ireland.

So would Mavis. "Eamon, I've had enough." She pronounced his name the Irish way, 'Ae-man', not 'Ee-mon' like New Zealanders, who also called Nimh ‘Neem’, which annoyed her considerably.

“You get your Da on the next plane, or I'll be on it instead," she said. "He arrived just before that poor girl disappeared, probably run away, poor thing, with everyone knowing that you're not your father's spawn but that of an Irishman preaching for the Church of England. And the one and the same man who brought Niamh and Sally into our home, God Bless him. That was three months ago or more, and it's time your Da was gone. I never know where he is, nor what he's up to."

"Love, Da's harmless. Just likes to wander round the hills and the houses," said Eamon. "Don't worry, love. I'll have a word."

That had been two weeks before. Now Mavis was on his case almost every day. Normally, Eamon walked home happily after being in the pub, which he went to every workday evening, arriving home after the children had eaten and before they went to bed.

This night, the confrontation

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