Mum and I had gone for dinner to Clancy’s pub. She was tired and we both needed a break from our cramped living quarters. It was nearly ten o’clock, and Mum was enjoying an after-dinner drink. It was relatively quiet; there were two couples I didn’t know finishing off a late meal, and Mary and Lydia were sitting at the table behind me. They were the most unlikely best friends in the world. Mary was so prim and organized; Lydia so cool and carefree. Lydia had said hi to us when she came in, but wasn’t her usual friendly self. I was sure she knew something about that note. I was close enough to overhear what they were saying, but couldn’t really concentrate when Mum was chatting to me. When two of Mum’s new teacher friends came in and joined us I had a chance to eavesdrop on Lydia and Mary’s conversation.
‘Do you have any cocktails, Joe?’ asked Mary, her elbows resting on the table.
‘Where do you think you are?’ Joe joked with them.
Mary sighed. ‘Fine! We’ll have two more white wines, please.’
‘Coming right up,’ said Joe, and then disappeared through the door behind the bar.
‘And remember that time,’ said Mary, ‘the three of us snuck off to the disco in Drumshanbo, and we would have got away with it if Beth hadn’t forgotten her bloody key!’
I couldn’t believe my luck. They were actually talking about Beth. Maybe I’d learn something more about her. Even if she wasn’t the spirit who needed my help. I was intrigued.
‘Oh, that was hilarious!’ said Lydia. ‘I got in so much trouble over that. But it was worth it. One of the best nights ever. We should go out more, you know. We used to go out all the time.’
‘I wish I could,’ mumbled Mary. ‘But it’s nice that we go out for Beth’s birthday, no matter what.’
‘To Beth,’ said Mary.
‘To Beth!’ said Lydia, and they clinked glasses.
‘Lydia,’ Mary paused. ‘Do you think she’s… you know… looking down on us?’
‘I like to think she is. I’ll never forget it, Mary. The day she went missing. I’ll never forget it as long as I live. I wish I hadn’t fought with her… that I’d just gone shopping like she’d asked.’
‘You can’t keep blaming yourself,’ said Mary. ‘It wasn’t your fault. You weren’t to know something terrible was going to happen.’
Lydia took another sip of her drink. ‘Do you have any idea who did it?’
‘No,’ whispered Mary. ‘I don’t.’
‘There you go,’ said Joe, placing two tall glasses on the table.
‘What’s this?’ asked Lydia.
‘You made us cocktails!’ said Mary.
‘I tried my best. May not be what you’re used to, but -’
‘Thank you!’ said Lydia.
‘What’s it called?’ asked Mary. ‘What kind is it?’
‘A bloody Mary! What else?’
Mary found this hilarious and started laughing hysterically.
Lydia took a sip from her blood-red drink.
‘Go on, Mary, have a sip.’
Mary took a gulp from her glass, then twirled the little party umbrella sticking out from it.
‘You’re brilliant, Joe,’ she said.
‘Ah, would you stop,’ he chuckled as he went back out through the door.
‘Imagine,’ said Lydia, turning to Mary. ‘Yourself and Joe could have been an item.’
‘Yes, I know,’ she sighed. ‘You never know what turns your life will take, do you?’
There was a loud burst of laughter that drowned out the conversation. Suddenly I realized I was sitting at a table of teachers. I could tell they were censoring their gossip for my benefit, so I decided to go out for some air and leave them to it.
Joe was standing outside, smoking a cigarette.
‘Jacki!’ he said. ‘I have something to ask you. We saw your poster in the parish hall, and myself and Brigid would love to hire you for the party, just to sing one song. We already have the band, but I think Mary would love it if you sang too.’
Oh no. I had planned to avoid the party. I didn’t want to hang out around Nick any time soon. But Joe looked so enthusiastic that I found myself saying, ‘I’d love to!’
‘Great!’ Joe took out a little crumpled piece of paper from his pocket. On it was a list of ten song titles written in red pen.
‘These are a few she likes.’
‘How did you get the list?’
‘I made it myself. I know all of Mary’s favourites. Just pick whichever one you like.’
‘OK, thanks. How’re the party preparations going?’ I asked as I put it in my pocket.
‘They’re going great. We still have a lot to do though.’
‘And Mary still has no idea about the party?’
‘Not a clue. She wanted to organize a Tidy Village Committee meeting for Friday, but everybody kept saying they had other stuff on. She was in a right huff yesterday! I can’t wait to see the look on her face. It’s going to be priceless.’
‘How are you going to get her there so?’ I asked.
Joe checked over his shoulder to make sure Mary was with Lydia at the bar and well out of earshot. ‘Well, you know her husband, Michael, the sergeant – he’s going to pretend to be taking her out to dinner, and then he’ll say that he has to drop something off in the hall, and then he’ll come out to Mary and say that I want to talk to her for a minute, and we’ll all be there when she comes in!’
‘She’ll be delighted.’
‘I hope so,’ said Joe, flicking his cigarette ash on to the ground.
‘Joe… do you know anything about the Beth Cullen murder?’
He looked at me strangely. ‘That’s a bit out of the blue! Why do you ask?’
‘I overheard Lydia and Mary talking about it just now, and I’ve seen her name mentioned in a couple of places.’
Joe sighed. ‘That was a long time ago… yet in ways it’s like yesterday. Do you not know what happened to her?’
‘I know she was murdered and her body was found in the forest.’
‘Yes, and she was… well, you know…’
‘She was what?’
‘She was… she was molested,’ whispered Joe, his voice quivering on the last word. ‘From the… evidence left on her body they were able to determine the blood type of the killer… they took blood samples from all the men around here to try and find a match. I gave a sample, along with all the other men in the village.’
‘But they didn’t find a match?’
‘Well, I suppose they narrowed it down to a certain number, but they didn’t have enough evidence to charge anybody.’
‘Why didn’t they do DNA testing?’
‘That wasn’t available back then.’ Joe took a puff from his cigarette. ‘Personally I didn’t think anyone from around here would be capable of murder… But the human mind is a strange thing… You never know what will make somebody snap.’