“No!” Ru snapped and almost spilled the water he’d just opened. “I can hold a grudge too. Twelve years of my life spent thinking my parents and my brother were dead. Ten years of my brother’s life spent in prison because the English police didn’t do their job properly and because my parents were stupid enough to believe the body that was found was mine and that my brother had killed me. My brother has only just come out of the hole he was in. My uncle has wrecked so many lives. I’m angry with my parents for the mistakes they made. I can’t forgive them for the way they treated my brother. My brother has had to start his life all over again and now I have to do the same. Why should my uncle just get to live his life as if he’d done nothing?” He took a deep breath. He’d rattled that out at high speed and high volume. “Sorry for raising my voice.”
“That’s okay. We’ll be speaking to your uncle now you’ve given us a statement.”
“I’ll testify against him in court, if it comes to that, but I won’t be staying in Ireland for long. I don’t have to stay, do I?”
“I needed to see you and get a statement but no, you don’t need to stay.”
“I have to take care of the horses. I paid Malone to look after them.” He gave a humourless laugh. “Using my uncle’s money. Does he want the rest back? I suppose he does. Fine. It wasn’t the amount he told you, either.”
Ru picked up his backpack. “I’ll give you the money.”
“Just leave it for the time being.”
“No. I don’t want to.” He counted out the Euros and put them on the table. Thank goodness he’d brought enough. “I’m not a thief.”
“No. I can see you’re not. I’ll give you a receipt for this. I should tell you that the farm is up for sale. There’s already been an offer. The horses are being sold tomorrow.”
Ru stared at him in shock. “But… They…” He wanted to cry. “I told them I’d come back for them. I told them… Where are they being sold?”
“Whittaker’s in Wicklow.”
“Thank you.” Ru pushed to his feet.
“Do you have somewhere to stay?”
“I’ll find a guest house. Will Whittaker’s let me see the horses?”
“I’m sure they will.”
Outside the station, Ru released a shaky breath. Why wasn’t anything simple?
What did you think you were going to do with the horses?
He hadn’t thought. Of course they were going to be sold. Ru swallowed the lump in his throat and walked back towards the town. He’d seen a sign for a tourist office on the way to the Garda so he made his way there. It was almost five so he wondered if they’d still be open, but they were. A middle-aged woman sat behind a desk and Ru walked over to her.
“Excuse me. I’m looking for a cheap place to stay for the night. If it’s near Whittaker’s auction house then that would be grand.”
“Whittaker’s is outside of the town. Places around it tend to be busy when there’s an auction on.”
“Anywhere then.” He’d just have to set off early tomorrow.
She made a couple of phone calls and found him a place for fifty euros. It felt like a lot of money, but he didn’t feel he had much choice. It was kind of her to help him. Armed with directions, he set off on foot, though when he passed a supermarket, he went in to buy a pack of sandwiches, a piece of fruit and a bottle of water because he didn’t want to waste money eating out. He should have brought the bottle from the Garda station. Going into a supermarket still made his head spin. All the things for sale he’d never seen before. And so many people. He didn’t cope well with crowds.
The B&B was okay. It was a roof over his head, had its own bathroom, and there was a TV. Ru took off his shoes, plugged in his phone and lay down. He was tired, not physically but emotionally. Sometimes he felt as if he didn’t want to open his eyes ever again, as if he was content to let the world crush him. But he owed it to Ink to keep fighting, to keep going.
He jumped when his phone rang and his heart sank when he looked at the display. His father. Ru didn’t want to speak to him, but it might be about Bela.
“Yes,” Ru said carefully.
“Hi, Ruari. How are things?”
“Grand. Is Bela all right?”
“She comes and goes. She’s taking the food. Have you spoken to the police?”
“Yes. It’s not so straightforward as I thought. Uncle Felan is saying I begged him to take me away because you were abusing me, and that I caused his accident on the quad bike.”
“What? Thesleeven…” His father sounded furious.
