Page 34 of The Book of Irish Secrets (Magnolia Manor #5)

TWENTY-SIX

Claire woke up early the next morning after a restless night.

She had stopped crying but had still gone to bed with a feeling of hopelessness.

Pierce had backed away and she had hung up on him before they had a chance to talk about what was troubling him.

But she had got the message anyway. He didn’t want them to go on the way they were.

Partly because of Jo but there had been other reasons, he had said, and then explained exactly how he felt about her actions since she arrived here.

Maybe his feelings for her were not what she had thought.

Claire decided to wait and see and not try to contact him until after she had told the Fleurys everything.

Then she could tell him they knew the whole story and try to make things right between them before she left.

Apart from that, the conversation with Marian had gone round and round in her mind.

She had finally fallen asleep, only to wake up a few hours later, staring into the dark, thinking about everything that had happened and how she would continue her research.

Claire got out of bed and gathered everything that she had hidden under her bed and put it all on the little table in front of the sofa: Auntie Rachel’s book, Maria Fleury’s strange little copybook diary, her own files and finally, Louis’ birth certificate with that all-important note.

Then she made herself some tea and toast and looked over it all, flicking through Auntie Rachel’s book while she absentmindedly chewed on her toast and sipped her tea.

The family tree didn’t tell her much that she didn’t know already, nor did any of the photos, although Claire found details in them that she hadn’t noticed before.

The photo of the twin brothers was still fascinating, but now Claire noticed a stiffness between them and body language that told her they might not have been as close as she had thought previously.

The look in Cornelius’s eyes seemed resentful somehow, and Louis appeared to be clenching his jaw in an odd way.

Hmm , Claire thought, there was something going on there even at an early age… But what?

There was no answer to that, but it was time to get dressed and go to work.

Claire decided to leave everything on the table in order to look at it all when she came home that evening.

There were things still to discover and it was best to leave it all alone for a while.

She needed to keep up appearances until she could reveal who she was and what she had been trying to find out.

She took a final look at all the material before she left.

Spread out like this, she would have a bird’s eye view of everything.

Maybe a eureka moment might happen if she gave herself time to reflect and put all the pieces together.

She had been very tempted to leave and go back to Dublin, but now she felt sure she had to stay and reveal everything to the Fleurys and find out what their reaction would be.

Leaving like a thief in the night seemed suddenly cowardly and wrong.

As the day progressed, Claire managed nearly all her tasks and was about to go to the kitchen to report to Karina when her phone pinged. It was a text from Rose.

Please come to the flat asap. I need to know what you’re doing here.

The flat? Claire read the message again. Was Rose in her flat? In that case, she must have seen all the stuff on the table, all the material Claire had gathered about the Fleury family. ‘Oh no,’ she exclaimed and picked up her jacket and bag. As she rushed out of the office, she bumped into Karina.

‘Hey,’ Karina said. ‘Are you leaving already? I thought we could discuss?—’

‘I have to get back to Magnolia Manor,’ Claire said. ‘Sorry, Karina, it’s a… a… family emergency. I’ll call you later.’

‘A family emergency?’ Karina said. ‘What family?’

‘I’ll explain later, promise,’ Claire said and pushed past Karina, breaking into a run down the corridor.

‘Okay,’ Karina said. ‘Talk later, then.’

Claire didn’t reply but raced out the front door and jumped into her car which she had parked outside.

Then she drove down the street that, as luck would have it, was empty of traffic.

She drove as fast as she could down the road, speeding up the avenue to the manor, and pulled up by the front steps in a shower of gravel.

Then she ran in through the front door, up the stairs and into her flat, where she found Rose standing at the table, gazing at all the documents and other material. She looked up as Claire arrived.

‘There you are,’ Rose said in a cold voice.

‘Yes,’ Claire said. ‘But how come you’re here in my flat?’

‘I have a key and I let myself in to put a fire extinguisher in the kitchen. I forgot to do that when you moved in. I think I told you about that?’

‘No, you didn’t,’ Claire replied.

‘Well, it’s in the regulations,’ Rose said. ‘So that’s why I’m here. And then I saw all this.’ Rose gestured at everything on the table. ‘Please explain what all this means.’

‘It’s not what it looks like. I can explain,’ Claire said.

‘I certainly hope so,’ Rose snapped. ‘This looks like you’re planning some kind of heist, or identity theft or something.’ She stared at Claire. ‘Who are you and what are you really doing here?’

Claire’s legs suddenly turned to jelly and she sank down on a chair. ‘It’s a long story. But first maybe I should tell you who I am.’ She paused for a moment, trying to gather up enough courage to continue. ‘My name,’ she started, ‘is Claire Fleury. And I’m your third cousin.’