Page 208 of The Missing Sister

Back at the Inchydoney Lodge, as the kids went off to find hot chocolates in the pub, I asked the receptionist if I could borrow a telephone directory. I took it over to one of the comfortable sofas and, with trembling hands, found the ‘N’s.

N-o... N-o-f... N-o-g... N-o-i...

My finger landed on the one and only ‘Noiro’ listed. And the initial was ‘H’.

My heart beating fast now, I scribbled down the number and the address. ‘Ballinhassig,’ I said to myself, the name sounding familiar. Handing the telephone directory back to the receptionist, I asked her if she knew where Ballinhassig was.

‘Sure, ’tis a small village – well, not even a village really – this side of Cork airport. Here now.’ The woman, whose name badge said she was called Jane, took a map of West Cork and pointed it out.

‘Thanks so much.’

Then I went into the pub to join my children and have a cup of tea.

‘MK and I were thinking we might go up to Cork City and look around tomorrow morning if that’s okay with you, Mum,’ said Jack. ‘Fancy coming along?’

‘Maybe. There’s actually a friend I want to visit who lives near there. I’ll give her a call, then I can drop you two in the city and go and see her. Okay?’

They both nodded and then we all went upstairs to our rooms to freshen up before dinner. Taking the piece of paper out of my handbag, I sat on my bed and laid it nervously by the phone. As I picked up the receiver to dial Helen Noiro’s number, I could see my hands were shaking.

She probably won’t even answer, I told myself. But a female voice did, after only two rings.

‘Hello?’

‘Oh, er, hello,’ I replied, wishing I’d rehearsed what I was going to say. ‘Is that Helen?’

‘It is indeed. Who’s speaking?’

‘My name’s Mary McDougal, but you might remember me as Merry O’Reilly. We used to live quite close to each other when we were younger.’ There was a pause on the line before Helen answered.

‘I do remember you, o’course. What can I be doing for you?’

‘Well, I’ve been abroad for a long time and I’m looking up... old friends. I’m coming up to the city tomorrow morning and I wondered if I could drop in?’

‘Tomorrow morning... Hold on whilst I check something... Okay, I have to be out of the house by noon. How about eleven?’

‘That sounds perfect.’

‘Grand. If you’re driving, it’s easy to find; as you’re coming down from Cork past the airport and into the village, look for the garage on the left-hand side. I’m the white bungalow next to it.’

‘Okay, Helen, I will. Thanks for that, and see you tomorrow. Bye.’

I put down the receiver and scribbled the directions underneath the address. I didn’t know what I’d been expecting, but it wasn’t the casual reaction Helen had just given me.

Maybe she didn’t even know what had gone on between me and her brother. Or maybe she did and thought I was just a girl from the past that Bobby had long since forgotten.

‘Maybe he settled down and is married with a few kids,’ I muttered to myself as I stood up, applied a little lipstick and left the room to go and have supper.

Having dropped the kids off in the centre of Cork the following morning, I headed back towards the airport. As we’d gone through the village of Ballinhassig on the way there, I’d glanced around and noticed the garage Helen had mentioned. It took no longer than twenty minutes before it came back into view.

There was a small, white-painted bungalow next door, and I pulled into the drive that had an attempt at a patch of garden to one side of it.

Switching off the engine, I suddenly wished someone was with me. What if Bobby actuallylivedwith his sister? What if he was inside this nondescript bungalow and would come for me, then hold a gun to my throat...

I sent up a quick prayer begging for protection, then opened the car door and walked to the front entrance. I tried the bell, but it didn’t work, so I knocked instead. A few seconds later, a woman dressed in a smart navy-blue suit, her shiny dark hair cut into a bob and her make-up perfect, answered the door.

‘Hi there, Merry... Everybody called you that in the old days, didn’t they?’ she said as she ushered me through the door.

‘They did, yes, and still do.’