The House by the Liffey (9 page)

‘You came to rescue me too, Tommy!' and then the tears started and she began to shake.

‘My sweet Izzy! The whole of the Butler and Flynn families would have come to your rescue if they had been allowed.'

She looked dreadful, worse than he had anticipated, and he tried not to show his shock.

Milo wrapped her in his jacket and held her close all the way home. Sean had promised to call Riverside immediately and let them know Izzy was safe and they were on their way.

At Riverside the day had crawled by on the proverbial leaden feet. Mageen, Bill and Harry found it difficult to face the idea of going to the office, knowing the call was due at midday, but agreed to go to keep up the pretence that nothing was amiss. They did, however, excuse themselves after a couple of hours on the pretext of approaching exams and revision. So they had all been in the library when the call had come through. After Milo and Tommy had driven away, Noola stayed glued to the phone and radio receiver, with Maggie never straying from her side. Everybody fidgeted around unable to settle to anything, but always staying close to the library. Shortly after the two men had left, Freddie called.

‘I wish there was something I could do to help, Mageen. I can't go out there at the moment. My tutor wants to see me at three o'clock this afternoon, but I can get there after that.'

‘I'd love to have you here with us, Freddie. If all goes to plan we should have Izzy home around that time and we'll be celebrating in such a big way. We're all just a bit worried as to what sort of state she'll be in. She'll have been through such an ordeal. There'll be lots to tell you when you get here.'

Although dying to see Freddie and tell him everything, knowing the line was tapped Mageen felt that, even at this late stage, she should be ultra cautious as to what she said.

Early in the afternoon there was an unexpected bonus in the shape of Paddy, arriving with Aunt May, still looking rather battered and bruised. Although he thought she should stay in the hospital for at least a week to be on the safe side, she wouldn't hear of it. This proved to be a welcome distraction for they all loved her and she was thrilled to bits at the welcome home that she was given. Maggie had promised to phone Paddy as soon as the call came through, so he had been able to give May the news in the hospital.

‘Do you really think anyone would persuade me to stay here when, with any luck, our Izzy will be home later on today? Poor little scrap. I hope she's all right. I'm going straight home to wait for her arrival with everyone else. And if you won't take me, Paddy Flynn, I'll get a taxi.' She grinned at him.

Paddy, also anxious to be there when Izzy arrived, had taken the rest of the day off. He knew it would be essential to give her a very thorough once-over and then to stay close by for the rest of the evening and, if necessary, overnight.

As soon as she heard the news of the expected arrival home, Kitty felt it would be sensible to prepare a really good meal. If all went well, there could be quite a large crowd sitting down to dinner that evening and, for a change, eating heartily. Like so many others, she was praying hard that the little girl would be brought back to Riverside safely.

At long last Sean's call came through.

‘She's all right. Milo's got her and Tommy's driving them home.'

‘Thanks be to God and thank
you
, Sean.'

‘We're all delighted. Got to run. All the details when I get back. Bye!'

‘Goodbye, Sean. God bless!'

Noola put down the receiver and, bursting into tears, passed the news to everybody else. Then everyone else started to cry. Even the boys and Paddy found their eyes filling up. The joy and relief was overwhelming.

‘Okay everybody, now the huge welcome home. We've all been too upset and apprehensive to think further than getting Izzy back safely so let's get organized. There's lots to do.'

‘Good for you, Granny,' and they all ran around, happy to follow Maggie's and Aunt May's suggestions and filling the last waiting minutes very effectively. Except for Noola, who stood outside, pacing up and down. A huge welcome home was wonderful, and was keeping the others occupied, but all she wanted was to have her child in her arms. To her the wait was unendurable, but at least Izzy was alive.

Then they arrived, Tommy blowing the horn continuously all the way down the long drive, so that the whole of Riverside would hear. Everyone, including every member of the staff on duty, ran to the front of the house. Each one carried a rose, a flower that Izzy loved and which was in plentiful bloom at that time of the year. The car screeched to a halt and almost before it had stopped, Milo was out with Izzy in his arms. He put her down and Noola was right there, arms open, waiting to gather her child to her heart.

‘Izzy, my darling Izzy, you're home in my arms at last. I love you so very, very much.'

‘Mum, Mum, I love you too.' But, exhausted by her appalling experience and overwhelming emotion, at that moment she was beyond saying any more.

Then the others all crowded around and Izzy, to her delight, was showered with hugs and roses.

* * * * *

Sitting between her mother and father, and surrounded by the rest of the family Izzy ate her first real meal in days. Kitty had done her proud, producing all her favourite food, including salmon, freshly caught from the river; roast chicken raised on the estate; fresh peaches and grapes from the conservatory and mountains of ice cream. Then she had been bathed and given an extremely thorough once-over by Paddy. As well as the split lip, her face was badly bruised where Willie had hit her and the dermatitis was severe. But everything was treated and she was already feeling a lot better physically and dramatically improved emotionally and psychologically. Everyone was dying to hear all the details of her story but all were acutely aware of the difficulty she would probably have in talking about it. She started to give Milo and Noola a slightly garbled account of some parts of her ordeal, but was asleep before she even got as far as the bed. The only place that she was willing to sleep that night was between her parents in their huge double bed. Feeling exactly the same way themselves there was no argument. Noola climbed into the bed beside her and she too quickly fell into an exhausted sleep, Izzy safely in her arms at last.

* * * * *

A good two hours after the others had arrived home, Sean got back to the house with Bertie and Jack. The two would love to have met Izzy but, since she was already in bed, they realized that would have to wait. Having greeted and rejoiced with the rest of the family Sean then took Milo and Tommy aside.

‘Sorry about your Uncle Bob, Tommy.'

‘Please don't be. It's actually a relief. I was never close to him and any affection I might have had rapidly disappeared when I heard that he had helped with the abduction of Izzy. In the end he was the one who tried to kill her. So don't worry, Sean.'

‘Okay, Tommy. Milo, I know you and Noola won't be happy about this but I would like to get as much information from Izzy as possible while it's still fresh in her mind. I'd like to have a chat to her in the morning, after she's had, I hope, a good night's rest. Has Paddy given her a sedative?'

‘Yes, he has. Let's just wait and see how she is. She's told us quite a lot already and we can pass that on to you.'

‘We still need to be careful. Whoever's behind this will want to eliminate that injured man so that he can't talk. In a day or two we'll possibly release information implying that he didn't survive, simply for his own protection. But we mustn't give away anything about how we came to be on the spot at the point of handover.'

‘So we still need to preserve the inner circle?'

‘Yes. Oh and, Milo, sorry about the money. The whole lot went up in flames. Nothing left except ashes.'

‘Do you know, Sean, I don't give a damn. We've got Izzy back safely and that's all we wanted. If it's cost us a million pounds then it's been worth it. We owe you three and others in your force, Sean, so much. More than we'll ever be able to repay.' He turned to Jack and Bertie.

‘I'll collect the sterling as quickly as I can without raising too many questions. The bank manager will wonder what's going on, but I'll work out some plausible story.'

‘Oh, I shouldn't bother, Milo.' Bertie grinned at him.

‘What do you mean? Of course I must bother. It's a million pounds that's literally gone up in smoke. And it belongs to your organization.'

Jack and Bertie were both laughing now.

‘It's all right, Milo, honestly. You see it was counterfeit.'

‘
What?
My God
!' Milo was really shaken. ‘Supposing they'd realized that. It would have been the end of Izzy and probably Tommy and me too. Those fellows were really trigger happy.'

‘Not a chance. We wouldn't have taken that risk. They were such good counterfeit that it would have taken an expert at the Royal Mint to detect what they were. Not even the bank people would have known – well not too easily anyhow. Believe me we've used the deception very successfully before. But that's not information to go beyond this room, or we could never try it again. The beauty of it is that had things worked out differently and they'd got away with the money, once they'd started spending it they would have left a trail as wide as an airport landing strip leading us straight to them.'

Milo collapsed into a chair. He was silent for a few seconds and then started to laugh. Sean looked dumbfounded, then he started to laugh too and Tommy joined in.

‘But what story are we going to tell the family? We can't leave them thinking the million was lost. After all, they all knew we'd got it, although not where from.'

‘Don't worry, Milo. A rescue by the Special Branch, which must be kept very hush-hush, might convince everyone. Very few of us know that the money was burnt. Even Izzy can't be aware of it. Maybe we can let it be thought, within the family, that we managed to retrieve it. The only person besides ourselves who would know what really happened would be Noel, who, may I say, is vastly disappointed that his grenade didn't hit the chopper. He's already been warned to say nothing to
anybody
until we've decided how much, if anything, we're going to release for general consumption. He's a good man. I trust him. We need to think this through slowly and carefully before we come up with an agreed strategy. We're all too tired now and if Kitty could find something for us to eat, that would be great.'

‘That won't be a problem. She cooked enough for an army when she knew Izzy was safe and on her way home. Jack, Bertie, how long can you stay with us without anyone realising there's something that doesn't quite fit in your cover story?' Sean stepped in quickly.

‘Oh I think I could give anyone reason enough as to why I still need them here. And indeed I do for a few days for a debrief with yourselves and the others in the team. There's an awful lot to discuss.'

‘I'd love to stay for a day or two longer and get to know the family under less distressing circumstances. What do you think Bertie?'

‘I'd enjoy that too. I'm sure we'd be given leave to stay for just a day or two, if that's all right with you, Milo?'

‘So far as I'm concerned stay as long as you like. It would give me and indeed everyone else the greatest of pleasure to have you with us for a bit longer.'

‘Great! We must report in though and give an update. They'll be delighted at the way it's turned out.'

‘Good. And now I want to get back to the rest of the family and then join Izzy and Noola for a good sleep.'

* * * * *

The family and staff outside the inner circle accepted, without protest, that there was still need for great caution. The feeling of relief throughout the whole household was palpable. They would all have loved to sit with Izzy and hear her story but understood she needed to be whisked away. Noola had never once left her side and Milo only at the request of Sean for further debriefing and planning of strategies.

With Tommy, Freddie, Jack and Bertie joining them, the rest of the family celebrated on for a while, but, feeling emotionally exhausted, some of them started to drift off to bed, thankful that they could now relax and have a decent night's rest. Mageen and Freddie strolled into the conservatory, built onto the lovely old Georgian house during Tom Butler's lifetime. It was originally to house his orchids but there were not many of those left now with only Maggie trying to look after them for Tom's sake.

‘Thanks for coming and celebrating with us, Freddie. Having you here from time to time over these dreadful days has meant such a lot to us, especially to me.'

‘Well, Mageen, you know I love little Izzy and I'm as relieved as the rest of you to have her back with us again. I'd love to hear her full story. I still can't understand the mentality of anyone who could do such a thing to a frail child.'

‘Thanks, Freddie. Would you like to stay the night?'

‘No thanks. Got to get back. I'm still
way
behind in the revision and I'm seriously concerned about those exams, but I'll run out again tomorrow morning.'

‘But not too early, please.'

They both laughed.

‘Mageen, when all this is over and things have returned to normal, there's something I want to ask you.'

‘Oh? Why not now?'

‘It's not an appropriate moment. I do have some sensitivity towards the family's feelings.'

Mageen's heart was beating so fast. She did love Freddie to the point of distraction and had not been absolutely certain that he returned her feelings.

‘I love you, Mageen, so much. You do know that, don't you?'

‘Well, I do now that you've told me. And, Freddie, I love you so much too.'

They kissed each other long and passionately and, after a lapse of some time, he told her he must get back to his rooms and they walked up the long drive together. She stayed with him until the bus back to the city arrived. They kissed goodbye and he hopped on.

As she started back down the drive she reflected how lucky she was to have found a kindred spirit like Freddie: they seemed to have so much in common. She was highly delighted that everyone in the family liked him too. Not only that, she had met his sister, Katie, when she came over to have a look around Dublin and she and Mageen had really hit it off. Katie had confirmed for Mageen what Freddie had told her about having been orphaned during the war and being brought up by their grandparents. If Freddie's question was what she hoped, then there would be another cause for celebration and a bonus to add to the safe return of Izzy.