Cold Spring by Patrick McGinley

Author:Patrick McGinley
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: New Island Publishing
Published: 2013-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

14

Tom Barron was a sound man. He was Nick’s favourite neighbour. Talking to him had helped clear Sharon’s mind, not because of anything he’d said but because of the way he had of talking. It wasn’t an intimate way of saying things; it was long distance, as if an ocean lay between him and you. Earlier, she had felt confused and uncertain. Now she could see what must be done. She had missed him from the bed around three, and she must have lain awake for at least an hour, wondering where he’d gone. Then she fell asleep again and didn’t wake till after seven. When he still hadn’t come back, she became worried. It was the second time he’d left the house in the middle of the night.

The first time was the night Paddy Canty was murdered. On that occasion he came back two hours later, barely able to talk. The following day he swore black and blue that he’d had nothing to do with the murder, and she had given him the benefit of the doubt. Now she wasn’t so sure. There was only one explanation for his disappearance. He had obviously done a bunk, having realised that the law was closing in on him. Red Miller had been enquiring about him. Soon word would get around that he’d absconded, and she would be in trouble for not having reported him missing. She took Emily by the hand and went over to Daniel Burke’s.

‘You haven’t seen Nick by any chance?’ she said.

‘Not since yesterday. He said he’d be working for Red Miller today.’

‘Well, he isn’t with Miller. I was wondering where he could have gone. You see, he hasn’t been home all day.’

‘Didn’t he say where he was going?’ Daniel asked.

‘He was missing from the bed when I woke this morning. We had a row last night, I’m afraid. At first I thought he’d gone off in a huff and that he’d be back after an hour or two when he’d simmered down. It’s now nearly six and he still hasn’t turned up.’

‘Maybe you should tell the guards.’

‘Well, I don’t want to do anything stupid. He left in a huff once before when we were living in Dublin, but he came back the following day.’

‘Leave it till tomorrow, then. If he doesn’t turn up in the meantime, I’ll run you down to the barracks in the morning.’

That night she went to bed without bolting the door, thinking he might come back. She woke up in the middle of the night and put over her hand out of habit, but his half of the bed was cold. The possibility that he might not be coming back hit her like a fist in the face.

* * *

It had been a long night. It was freezing in the barn. The cold had seeped through his body to the very marrow of his bones. He felt terrible. His head was on fire, and his arms and legs screamed out in protest against the ropes that bound them.

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