Page 15 of Charlie
Kit crossed her arms. “Then tell us yer plan.”
“I’m going to befriend him and hopefully be invited inside. Once I’m there, I’ll start to ask him questions to make him see how strange it all is.”
“You can’t do that.” Eileen rested her elbows on the scratched-up kitchen table. “If you’re not a full-on believer, O’Brien won’t allow you to hang about. And if you push Charles too hard, he’ll be caught between you and them. He might find you dramatic and not worth the trouble.”
The kitchen fell silent again as my shoulders fell.
“I think…” Eileen paused and looked thoughtful. “I think your best chance of getting Charles out is to geteveryoneout.”
“Ooohh, ambitious. Keep talking!” Kit sat up straighter.
“Conor is a criminal who thinks he’s above rules and laws. If you could get inside and observe for a while, you might be able to help Kit and the gardai build a case against him. I mean, if Conor goes to prison, the Red Manor Group falls apart and that would free not only Charles but everyone there.”
Kit turned to me. “What do ye think?”
“Well, I like the idea of saving everyone of course, but I’m not sure how to do it. Eileen, how do I get invited to stay there?”
She scratched her cheek. “I’m afraid there’s no set formula. There has to be a room available. Conor is like a collector of people. If he sees someone he wants, he’ll look at the people already occupying his rooms and get rid of the ones he likes the least to make room for his newest addition. It’s unlikely that he’ll invite you to stay, but if you get a chance, take it. And another thing…” Eileen leaned forward and took my hand. “See if you can get close to the children. They observe a lot more than the adults realize, but they don’t always understand what significance it holds. You might get them to tell you things that no adult would.”
“All right.” I nodded. “I’m going to seduce Charles, try and become a member of the group, and lure information out of the children.”
“Aye. Now, don’t ye look so terrified.” Kit rubbed my back with her hand. “Let’s just take one step at a time. Charles works at Trinity, and tomorrow, I’ll help ye bump into him and make it look like a coincidence. Maybe things will work out.”
I gave a skeptical glance and rubbed my neck.
“Or maybe…” Kit looked to the kitchen counter, where a butcher block stood with large knives in it. “Maybe we should cut off a beloved part of O’Brien.”
“You want to castrate him?” Eileen’s tone lifted at the end of her sentence, expressing horror, but her eyes lit up with excitement.
“Naw, I was thinking about cutting out his lying tongue so he can’t bewitch and trick more people. If we work together, I think we could do it.”
I was trying to read Kit and looking for any sign that she was joking, but there was no smile or wink.
“Ehm, okay, let’s keep within the law for now, and avoid any blood if possible. I’d love to know more about the people living there and any tips you can give me about do’s and don’ts.”
Eileen nodded and pulled out a notebook. “I’ve written down what I think might be useful to you.”
Over the next hour and a half, she talked me through the different members, including the five children. She kept pulling her pink cardigan closer around her like a safety blanket to protect herself from the pain of reliving all that happened to her.
“Thank you so much for taking the time to brief me.”
Eileen gave a small smile. “I don’t like to talk about it, but Kit said that she’s working on collecting evidence to take down Conor, and I support that. The man ruined my life.”
Kit narrowed her eyes. “That bastard is so bad he’d even steal the blessin’ from the holy water. Someone has to stop him and why not us three?”
Eileen nodded and put her hand in the middle of the table. “I’m in. I’ll reach out to anyone I can remember leaving the group while I was there, and I’ll search my memory for things that might help the case against him.”
Kit covered Eileen’s hand with her own. “Good! I’ll help Liv meet Charles and then I’ll keep searchin’ high and low for any mistake Conor might have made, so we can bring him to justice once and for all.”
I placed my hand on top of theirs. “I’m ready to open Charles’ eyes and bring him home to make peace with his dying grandfather.”
In that moment, Eileen’s grandmother walked in with two dogs trailing after her. She came to a full stop and looked at us three women sitting around the kitchen table with our hands stacked. “What’s this?”
“We’re making a pact to bring down Conor O’Brien,” Eileen answered, and I quickly added,
“And save my friend Charles.”
The old woman was plump like Eileen and she looked well into her eighties. “Ah, I see…” she crossed her arms. “An Irishwoman, a Brit, and an American sittin’ in a kitchen cooking up plans together. There has to be a joke there somewhere.”
