Emerald Magic_ Great Tales of Irish Fantasy - Andrew M. Greeley [107]
“Before you left? Where are you going?”
“It’s come through quicker than I thought,”sh e announced. “A singing tour in Australia. A car is calling for me any moment and taking me to the airport. There’s another group who are joining me, and we are picking them up along the way.”
I was dumbstruck.
“Are you off to Australia now?”I demanded. “So soon?”
“It’ll only be for three months, Joe,”sh e said. “I know what you did to help me get this job. You know, the medical thing. I appreciate it. I really do.”
I shrugged.
“I knew you wanted the job. What’s the point in raking up Art Moledy and his problems? But look after yourself. Check with a doctor in Australia when you can.”
She leaned forward and gave me a quick peck on the cheek.
A car horn sounded outside.
She was suddenly very excited.
“That’s the car. I must go. I’ll send you a card. Look after the place while I’m gone.”
“Shouldn’t I come with you to the airport?”I asked.
“The car will take me there. And we don’t want Ronayne, if he is there, to realize that Doctor Joe Sheehan and Miss Étain Moledy are related, do we? At least not until after the tour.”
Then she was gone.
I just caught a glimpse of a large black Mercedes drawing away into the evening dusk.
I kept myself busy for a week. The private practice was building up nicely even though I hardly had any clients from Averty Enterprises during that time. There was plenty of time to pursue my own work.
There were no further calls from Detective Halloran, and I wondered if they ever solved the mystery of the disappearing body.
Thinking about it did prompt me to telephone the hospital and speak to the medical examiner who had signed the death certificate.
I explained who I was and that I had made an examination of the girl only weeks before for insurance purposes. I pointed out that there had been no sign of her being anything other than a normal, healthy eighteen-year-old.
“You saw my certificate.”Th e pathologist was clearly irritated. “It was the worst case of anemia I’ve seen. Not a red corpuscle in her entire body. I can’t believe anyone in that condition was healthy just a week or so beforehand. I can only report what I found.”
He hung up with a petulant grunt before I realized that he had impugned my professional ability. I decided to let the matter drop.
IT WAS ABOUT THREE O’CLOCK in the morning when my mobile telephone buzzed.
It was Ronayne. I have never heard a man in such a state of distress as he was.
“I need your help, Doctor. Need it desperately and right away. Where are you? My car will be round to collect you as soon as it can get there.”
“Are you ill?”I asked curiously, trying to shake the sleep from my head.
“No, not me. Not me.”
“Then . . . ?”
“It is the chairman of our company. Right? He is ill.”
“Chairman? Doesn’t he have his own physician? And if it is that urgent, then the emergency services . . . ?” I began to protest.
He interrupted me with a snarl. “May I remind you that you are the company doctor? Right? Give me your address now!”
A large black Mercedes slid to a halt outside the house, and, clutching my medical bag, I climbed in. Ronayne was in the back. He looked pale and nervous. To be truthful, I was rather grateful that he was so preoccupied. Otherwise, he might have realized the Chapeli-zod connection with Étain.
“You best tell me something about the patient,”I invited as the car purred off into the night.
“Mister Averty? What can I tell you?”
“Mister Averty?”I was surprised. I had not realized that there was an Averty still controlling the company which I knew had been formed back in the music hall days. “What are the symptoms? What is the problem?”
“I think that you’d best wait until you see him for yourself.”
We drove across north Dublin to Artane. Artane used to be a sleepy village north of Clontarf in Coolcock barony. Now it is just part of the sprawling mess of north Dublin suburbs.We turned into the secluded grounds of Artane Lodge. It had once been the lodge of Artane Castle, which had been the seat of the O