The Boatman's Wife(68)

‘I was scared the truth would come out. I thought it was safer for you just to get out of here…’ Daniel petered out.

‘What exactly is the truth?’ Lily pushed, determined not to let up, despite the fact Daniel wouldn’t meet her gaze.

‘Look, let’s go somewhere else for a drink. The hotel bar down at the pier?’

‘Only if you tell me what’s going on,’ Lily said.

The last thing she wanted was to have a drink with Daniel Malone, but she also needed to know why he had sent her letters. Were there more secrets about Connor she didn’t know?



Daniel ordered himself a fresh pint of Guinness, while Lily got a black coffee. She watched Daniel’s hand shaking slightly as he took a sip of Guinness. Again, she wondered how she’d found him attractive the night before.

‘Right, then, tell me what it is,’ Lily said, her tone hostile. It was mortifying that she’d let this man touch her, when she’d only been widowed less than a month.

Daniel looked doleful, with big puppy eyes, clearly a look he thought worked on women – but she was no way falling for it.

‘Come on, spit it out,’ she said. ‘Why did you send me the letters?’

‘I’m sorry about the letters,’ he began, shaking his head. ‘I got scared.’

Lily took a sip of her coffee. It tasted particularly bitter. She tore open a sachet of sugar and poured it into the black liquid.

‘Go on,’ she said, her whole body tense with anticipation.

‘Sean always hated Connor, even before Eve died,’ Daniel said. ‘Eve and Sean were twins, you see. Grew up inseparable. I came along one year later, and it never really felt like I got a look in.’

Lily waited impatiently while Daniel downed some of his pint.

‘You’ve heard of my father? The Malones own a lot of land around here, as well as the pig farm,’ Daniel told her. ‘My father was a bit of a bastard to us when we were kids. Used to hit me and Sean a lot – although never Eve. She was the apple of his eye. My mam was very religious, and Eve was sent to a convent school.

‘Sean blames himself for Eve ending up with Connor. He joined the Irish army at sixteen and went abroad to serve with the UN. Eve really missed him. That’s when she began to go off the rails. Started hanging out with Maggie and her friends, who were a bit older. But it was great for me for a while because with Sean gone, Eve would bring me with her. It’s funny because they were twins and so close, but Sean never touched drugs, and honestly I think my sister spent most of her sixteenth year stoned.’

Daniel sighed, pushing his messy hair back off his forehead. Lily could see he was sweating, although it was far from warm in the hotel bar.

‘The night Connor and Eve got together, Maggie had organised a big rave in an empty hangar in Leitrim on her friend’s farm, and everyone was invited. Kids came from all over Ireland; it was deadly. I remember me and Eve getting dressed up together. She had on a tight little black dress and hid it under a baggy jumper and jeans. We told our parents we were going to a study group.’ Daniel smiled at the memory. ‘As if,’ he continued. ‘But it was while we were waiting for our ride to the rave on a road near his grandmother’s house that Connor walked past us. We all knew who he was. The kid with no mother or father. He was in the year above me at school. But I guess Eve hadn’t seen him since national school.

‘Eve asked Connor for a cigarette, and then she asked him if he wanted to share a joint. Next thing, he was squeezing in the van with all the rest of us.’ Daniel paused and took another gulp of his Guinness. ‘Such a night that was! But the point is, everyone says Connor led Eve astray, but it’s just not true.’ Daniel looked up, his eyes watery. Lily wasn’t sure if it was from the drink or if he was actually close to tears.

‘The three of us used to hang out a lot, you know,’ Daniel said. ‘I always liked Connor. He was sound. The sensible one out of the three of us. Kept an eye on Eve, and me too, if we got too high on E. Stopped me from going too far.’

It hurt Lily to hear Daniel talking about a Connor she had never known. The young teenage Connor, going to parties and raves. But being a little bit sensible, still.

‘I loved my sister, really, but she could be difficult, always wanting to be the centre of attention,’ Daniel continued. ‘I could tell she liked having Connor around, but she wasn’t that into him. Like, she had lots of fellas on the go.’

Lily leant forward elbows on the table, surprised.

‘I don’t know why everyone in this town talks about my sister as if she was some kind of angel and Connor Fitzgerald was the Devil tempting her into bad ways, because if anything, it was the other way around,’ Daniel mused. ‘Probably because of Connor’s mother, you know, and her reputation.’

Lily pricked up her ears. ‘What about Connor’s mother?’ she asked.

‘That’s a whole other story, isn’t it? All those rumours must have truth in them.’ Daniel clearly assumed Connor had told Lily all about his mother, and she was too embarrassed to reveal how little she knew about her husband’s family, so she said nothing. She waited, her body tense, sensing Daniel was building up to some kind of revelation.

‘So, look, what everyone thinks happened that night when Eve and the baby were killed – it isn’t the truth.’