The Life You Left. Carmel Harrington

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       Chapter Five

      ‘Come on, lazy bones,’ Molly shouted to her husband, Pat.

      ‘I’m on my way, woman,’ he answered good-naturedly. ‘I must be mad agreeing to a walk at this ungodly hour!’

      It was 7.30 a.m. on a bright October morning and the elderly couple had arrived at Ballyaislinn beach, ready to have an early morning stroll.

      ‘You heard what the doctor told you,’ Molly continued, getting ready to go into full monologue. ‘Exercise and a healthy diet are very important for a man in your condition.’

      Shaking his head, Pat knew there was no point arguing with his wife. Plus, he knew she was right. He had gotten pretty lazy since his retirement the year before. The most exercise he managed to get these days was switching the TV channels.

      Catching his wife by her hand, the couple started their walk, chatting amicably about their grandchildren’s forthcoming visit that weekend.

      After a few minutes, Molly paused as she heard a noise.

      ‘Did you hear that, Pat?’ she asked her husband.

      He stopped beside his wife and listened, ready to tease her about hearing things. But he did hear something. ‘Yes. You’re right. Sounds like a baby crying, almost.’

      They stood for another minute trying to work out the direction of the noise and then together walked from the shore towards the dune in front of them, where they felt the noise was coming from.

      ‘That’s definitely not a baby,’ Molly said suddenly. ‘That’s an animal of some kind. It sounds like a dog keening.’

      Walking up the dune, Molly and Pat started to have a poke around the green dune grasses.

      Molly stopped and grabbed her husband by the arm.

      ‘Let’s go home, Pat.’ She shivered despite the warm anorak she was wearing. Somehow she knew that whatever was over to her left would not be good.

      ‘You stay here, love.’ Pat said. ‘I’ll go check out this noise.’

      Shaking her head, Molly indicated that she would be going with her husband if there was any investigating to do.

      The couple ran over to the area where the noise was originating and then stopped suddenly. Never in their lives had they ever witnessed anything so terrible. Lying in the dunes, naked and bloodied beyond recognition was a body of a woman. Beside the woman almost as if keeping guard was a dog, also injured, with a large bloody gash across its body. It was the dog that was making the keening noise. Even without checking, Pat and Molly knew that the woman was dead. Had been for quite a while it seemed.

      ‘Molly, go call the Gardaí. Go on now, love.’ Pat shouted at his immobile wife.

      ‘I’m not leaving you here. What if whoever did this is still around?’ she asked in a terrified voice.

      ‘Whoever did this is long gone.’ He answered. He, of course, didn’t know this, but taking in the scene it looked to him like this had happened hours before.

      ‘Go get help, Molly.’ He finished more gently. He walked over to the body of the woman and carefully felt for a pulse. He didn’t expect to find one but he had to look.

      He took no delight in being correct in his assumption. The poor woman was dead. He automatically crossed himself.

      Shaking his head, Pat turned to the dog. ‘Here, boy.’ Pat said gently patting the dog’s head. ‘You hang in there.’

      The dog looked up at Pat and he swore he saw tears in its eyes. He wasn’t sure what to do, but wait for Molly and help. Taking off his jacket he laid it gently over the dog and the woman. He didn’t think the dog was going to last much longer.

      Sarah felt like her whole body was reeling. She had arrived at school to pick the kids up and the Principal, Art O’Leary was at the gate greeting the parents. Sarah liked Art and more importantly the children loved him. Surprisingly she noted there was no sign of any of the children coming out.

      As she got closer to Art, she realised that something was very wrong. He looked awful, his eyes puffy and red. ‘I’ve some bad news I’m afraid. I’ve just been telling some of the other parents.’ He said to Sarah gently.

      ‘I’m sorry Sarah; there is no easy way to say this. Ms Finch, Rachel Finch, our 2^nd class teacher has been found dead on Ballyaislinn beach this morning.’ He paused, and then added. ‘She – she was murdered,’ the normally articulate Art stammered. He was obviously deeply distressed.

      The dream of the bloodied body on the beach flashed back into Sarah’s mind. Was that Rachel Finch? She felt the blood drain from her face and held onto Ella’s pram for support.

      ‘Ms Finch? That’s Katie’s teacher.’ Sarah eventually managed to say. ‘When, what happened?’ She felt sick. This was just awful. This was the kind of news you see on RTE news. You don’t expect to come face to face with it at the school gates.

      ‘Molly and Pat Donovan were out for a walk and found her yesterday morning. She’s been identified by her parents.’ Art continued. ‘There’s no doubt I’m afraid.’

      ‘I can’t take it in. That poor girl and her parents. God help them.’ Sarah said tears glistening in her eyes.

      Art moved towards Sarah and reached over to touch her hand, before he continued, ‘She didn’t turn in for work this morning. Which I thought in itself was strange. She’s never off sick, extremely diligent. When she didn’t call in I phoned her and got no answer. Her parents were at the hospital when I called, identifying her body.’ He finished.

      Sarah looked around, there were groups of parents all gathered together, some crying, all looking completely shocked.

      ‘I can’t believe it, Sarah. She was only twenty four, beautiful, her whole life ahead of her.’ Art finished. ‘I’m sorry. I just can’t get my head around it all. She was my friend.’

      ‘That’s understandable.’ Sarah said with sympathy, wiping her own tears and this time, she moved to him and gently patted his arm in reassurance. ‘Do the kids know?’ The thought of Tommy and Katie having to deal with this was unbearable to her.

      ‘Not yet. We’re going to have an assembly in the morning to talk to them all. But we wanted to give the parents the option of telling them at home tonight first of all. It might be better if they are with you when they hear of it. We’ll have counsellors in the school all day tomorrow, it’s all organised. They can help the kids talk through how they feel.’

      She couldn’t take it in. A murder in her village and not only that, it was Katie’s teacher. This had to be the murder that Edward told her to prepare for. She needed to lean on Ella’s buggy for support once again.

      When the kids came out she gave them both an extra big hug. ‘Come on you СКАЧАТЬ