Page 225 of The Missing Sister

I listened to them, finding they were all from Ally D’Aplièse, and urging me to call her back. With a sigh, I found the Atlantis number and did so; after all the anticipation and emotion of the afternoon, I really wasn’t in the mood for any further drama.

‘Allô? C’est Atlantis.’

The unfamiliar voice speaking French threw me for a second and I hunted around my brain for the words I needed to reply, as I hadn’t used French for so very long. In the end I gave up.

‘Hello, this is Mrs Merry McDougal here. I’ve had a message from Ally D’Aplièse to call this number.’

‘Ah! Of course!’ the woman replied immediately in English. ‘It is a pleasure to speak to you, Mrs McDougal. My name is Marina and I have looked after all the girls since they were small. I shall just go and find Ally for you.’

As I waited, I could hear the sound of a baby crying in the background, and wondered whose it was. At the same time, there was a knock on my door. I ran to open it and saw Jack standing there with his mobile phone in his hand.

‘Mum, I’ve just had a text from Ally. She’s desperate to get in touch with you,’ he said as I sped back to pick up the receiver.

‘Hello?’ said a voice at the other end. ‘Is anyone there?’

‘Yes, sorry about that, Ally. It’s Merry here. I got your messages and Jack’s just come in to tell me you sent him a text too.’

‘Yes, I did. I’m so sorry if you feel hounded, but we didn’t want you to leave West Cork before we’d spoken to you.’

‘Oh, why would that be?’

‘Because, to cut a long story short, some information has just turned up that we wanted you to know about.’

‘What is it?’

‘Well, it sounds a little strange, but each of us were given a set of coordinates telling us where we’d originally come from, so we could go back and trace our biological roots if we wanted to. All ours have been accurate so far. Last night, we found the missing sister’s coordinates, and they pinpoint a place in Ireland. So, we believe it must be you rather than Mary-Kate who they refer to. Shall I confirm with you where they lead to?’

‘Go on then,’ I sighed, ‘surprise me.’

‘Mum!’ Jack frowned at the cynicism in my voice.

‘Well, it’s in an area called West Cork. I’m not sure where exactly you are at the moment, because I know the region covers a large area, but the address the coordinates lead to is called Argideen House, near the village of Timoleague. Does that mean anything to you?’

I gulped in astonishment and sat down abruptly on the bed. Howcouldshe know?

Eventually, I found my voice. ‘I... yes it does. My family home here was originally part of the Argideen estate, so maybe that’s what the coordinates point to.’

‘We can see on Google Maps that the Argideen estate still covers a few hundred acres, but the coordinates we have point specifically to Argideen House,’ Ally replied.

‘Right. Okay.’ For some ridiculous reason, I wrote ‘Argideen House’ down on the pad next to the phone, as if I might forget it. ‘Well, thank you for telling me. I’m sorry I haven’t got back to you sooner, but it’s been a very busy day. Goodbye.’

I shuddered suddenly, hating the thought of this unknown, dead man telling his adopted daughters the whereabouts ofmybirthplace.

‘Mum, what is it?’ Jack stared at me.

‘They’ve had some new information and apparently they know where I was born. How do they know? Howcanthey know, when even I don’t?’

‘I dunno, but where is it then?’

‘It’s very near here actually, only a couple of miles from where we were last night – the farm where I was brought up. Which means they could have made a mistake with the coordinates, as I told her.’

‘What’s the name of the place?’

‘It’s called Argideen House, but in my day it was always known as the “Big House”. My grandmother Nuala worked there for the rich Protestant family who owned it during the revolution. And actually’ – I frowned and cast my mind back – ‘so did Nora, my older sister, for a while when I was young.’

‘I suppose it makes sense that it’s local, doesn’t it? I mean, is this house close to Father O’Brien’s house in Tim...’ Jack looked to me for help.

‘Timoleague. Yes, it is. Very.’