The Wife Before Me(6)

‘How long have you been a partner with KHM?’ She changes the subject deliberately.

‘Just over five years,’ he replies. ‘What about you? How long have you been in Australia?’

‘About three and a half years. I backpacked for the first two years, picking fruit and working in vineyards. I worked as a lifeguard for a while.’

‘Sounds very adventurous.’

‘It was… in the beginning.’

‘Oh?’ He tilts his head, quizzes her with his eyes.

I’m with an advertising agency now,’ she replies. ‘I was temping at first but I was made permanent shortly before my mother…’ She pauses and takes a steadying breath. ‘Do you ever feel the urge to travel?’

‘Travelling is part of my job. I’m in New York next week. A three-month stint this time. You’ll probably be back in Brisbane when I return.’

‘That depends on how quickly I sell her house.’

‘Is it your childhood home?’

‘No. She downsized when I moved. I never lived there, apart from a few holidays. Rosemary doesn’t think I’ll have any problem selling it.’

‘You won’t,’ he agrees. ‘Brooklyn Terrace is an excellent location. I advised Isabelle to buy that property when it came on the market. Could be worth your while holding off selling for a while? House prices are rising again. A year will make a big difference. Why not rent it for the time being?’

‘I don’t fancy being an absentee landlady.’

‘What’s your email address?’ He takes a fountain pen from his breast pocket. ‘I’ll send you the name of a reliable management company who could handle everything for you. The more information you have, the easier it’ll be to make the right decision.’

‘I need the capital now,’ Elena admits. ‘I’m hoping to set up my own business when I go back.’

He rests his elbows on the table and studies her. ‘You could do that here? The recession’s over. Green shoots and all that.’

‘I’ve nothing to keep me in Ireland.’

‘And you have over there?’

Her fingers burn from the spilled coffee. She doesn’t want to talk to him about Zac, to tease out the ‘what might have been’ scenarios. ‘It’s where my life is, now. I’ll be guided by Rosemary’s advice.’

‘Of course. I’m sorry.’ He sits back in his chair and grimaces apologetically. ‘I appear to be interfering.’

‘You’re not. It’s just…’ She finishes her coffee and stands. ‘I’d better go. I’ve so much to organise.’

He accompanies her to the car park. ‘Be kind to yourself, Elena,’ he says before they part. ‘Take time to rest and consider your future. Rushing into a decision when you’ve been through such a shock is not a good idea.’ The stretched pull of his lips when he smiles convinces her that the advice he gives must come from personal experience.

When she returns to Brooklyn Terrace, she googles Amelia Madison. It’s all there, every heartbreaking detail. How beautiful she looks in the photographs, her short black hair swept to one side, her eyes, so startlingly green and vibrant.

Tragic Family Connection to Incident on Mason’s Pier

Colin Orwell



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A tragic accident took place yesterday evening when a car slid into deep water off Mason’s Pier. A dog walker noticed skid marks on the pier and reported his grim discovery to the gardai. Divers soon located the car but the search for the missing woman, Amelia Madison, (30) continues. It is believed that she managed to break the window on the passenger side with her boot and escaped being drowned inside her car. Serious concerns for her safety are compounded by the fact that she is unable to swim and the water surrounding Mason’s Pier is notorious for current and high tides.

Tragically, twenty-five years earlier, her mother, Jennifer Pierce, (31) drowned in the same location. Her death occurred during a family holiday when Amelia, then five years old, fell off the pier. Jennifer Pierce dived to her daughter’s rescue but was unable to reach her. An off-duty fireman, Leo Byrne, 44, rescued Amelia but, tragically, was unable to fight the currents that swept Jennifer Pierce out to sea. She was unresponsive when rescued and declared dead on admission to hospital. Her husband, John Pierce, was queuing at an ice cream van at the time and was unaware of the tragedy occurring just a short distance away from him.

Amelia Madison is a well-known interior designer, specialising in commercial and residential premises. She is a regular guest on the television series The Hidden Corner. Her husband, Nicholas Madison, a junior partner with KHM Investments, is well known for his down-to-earth business reports on radio and television. When he was unable to contact his wife on her mobile overnight, he reported her missing.

‘Amelia and I are in constant touch with each other,’ he says. ‘I knew immediately that something was wrong when she didn’t answer her phone. But not this. Not with her fear of water. I’m heartbroken but still clinging to the hope that somehow she is alive and will be returned to me.’





Amelia Madison had never learned to swim. Elena, who could swim before she could walk, finds this incredible. With such a childhood history, she must have been terrified when the waves lashed over her red Subaru. Elena looks at a photograph of the pier with its slanting slipway and imagines the horror of being unable to stop that slow, relentless slide. Oblivion. She hopes death came swiftly.