Murder in Galway by Carlene O'Connor

Author:Carlene O'Connor
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington Books
Published: 2020-02-18T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

It was three days before the murder. Rose found Johnny Meehan pacing in front of her caravan. “He was wild-eyed with fury. Someone was stealing from his mill. He was sure of it. It started with a few minor things here or there. A poker for the fire. There were forty-seven in the collection. And then one day there were forty-six. A stained-glass window from Italy. One of his favorite pieces, one that would fetch a tidy sum. Missing one week after he’d hung it in a prominent spot in the mill. And then a lion’s-head door knocker. He began to stay awake at the mill, never going home, never going to sleep, roaming the grounds like a deranged security guard.”

“Why didn’t he just get a security system?”

Rose shook her head. “It wasn’t his way.”

“Did he find anyone?”

“He caught Alanna tripping home with a lad one night,” Rose said with a shrug. “I suppose it’s not against the law.”

Interesting. Would Rose have told her if it was Danny? Or was it okay for lads to trip home to bed with a partner, just not the lasses? Sexism aside—did Alanna have a secret boyfriend? Or had this “lad” been the actress playing Hamlet?

“For a while everything quieted down. Until the banker from Manchester finally agreed to sell the pig. Johnny was over the moon. Traveled there himself. Why, I think that’s the only time I ever heard of that Johnny Meehan set foot out of County Galway.”

“Because Emmet paid him a lot of money for it?”

“That, and Emmet was obsessed. He was one of Johnny’s best customers. Threatened to never buy from him again if he didn’t get that pig. Johnny couldn’t have that.”

“Go on.”

Rose explained how Johnny had put Emmet Walsh’s cast-iron pig in his office. Right on the desk. He’d locked it up tight. When he returned, only hours later, it was gone. “By the time Johnny came to me, he was spitting mad. Even accused me of stealing it.”

“Why did he accuse you?”

“He said I was one of the few people who knew about it. He was acting like a nutter. I told him so.”

“Who else did he accuse?”

“Danny, of course. He was so angry he quit. Then he accused Alanna. And of course, her father.”

“Do you know if he searched Alanna’s room at the mill?”

“He did, of course. Didn’t find a thing.”

“Did he say what he planned on doing next?”

Rose pursed her lips, clasped her hands together tightly. “He was going to dig.”

Tara wasn’t sure she heard her correctly. “Pardon?”

Rose’s eyes radiated fear. “He said he was going to dig and dig and dig until he caught the thievin’ bastard.” She exhaled. “I tried to read his cards. I’ve never seen such a sinister reading. Death all around him. But when I told him this—he flew into an even bigger rage. Accused me of purposely giving him a bad reading, bilking him out of his money. I charged him for the reading, ’course I did. But I’m no thief.

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