Nothing but Trouble_ A Kevin Kerney Novel - Michael Mcgarrity [68]
Wondering if Brannon had some reason to avoid going to his office, Fitzmaurice gave her a questioning look, which she answered only with a smile.
“Not at all,” he said. “You’ll have it within the hour. Tonight Paquette is scheduled to attend an award ceremony for a Canadian writer. I’ve secured tickets for both of us.”
“Excellent,” Sara asked.
“Do you need help with your bags?”
“I can manage, thank you.”
After Fitzmaurice drove away, Sara checked in at the reception desk, where she was greeted by a pleasant young man who told her all about the hotel’s restaurant, spa center, and pub before handing her the room key. The room had a view of the River Liffey and was quite spacious, with a high ceiling capped by ornate cornices. Furnished with an overstuffed easy chair, small dining table, desk, a double bed, and a large armoire that hid a television, it had framed landscape prints on the walls and beige window drapes.
Sara unpacked, took a shower, and had just finished dressing when a Garda officer arrived with the police files. She sat on the bed, propped against the pillows with her legs crossed, and read the paperwork, until her body demanded physical activity and her head required her to stop thinking. She grabbed a tourist guide from the writing desk that had a map of the city center with points of interest highlighted and left for a walk.
Out on the street she strolled briskly to the O’Connell Bridge and turned to find herself in front of Trinity College, a wonderful campus that seemed both restrained and grand. Unwilling to stop in fear she’d become distracted for the rest of the day, she hurried on to Grafton Street, a pedestrian walkway filled with high-end shops, pubs, and milling tourists serenaded by street musicians playing fiddles, whistles, pipes, and guitars.
By the time she reached St. Stephen’s Green, Sara was completely entranced. A beautiful park surrounded by stately buildings, the green was as manicured and inviting as any she’d known.
She circled the green and spotted the hotel where Joséphine Paquette was staying. It was a truly elegant building, with a fancy ironwork entrance bracketed by two bronze statues of women holding what appeared to be torches above their heads.
Reluctantly, she retraced her way toward her hotel, feeling clear-headed and invigorated, thinking how wonderful it would be to come to Dublin on a holiday with Kerney and Patrick and spend time together seeing all that the city had to offer. In her room she checked for an e-mail message from Kerney and found an upbeat note from him, reporting that Patrick had been enrolled in a highly recommended preschool they’d visited over the noon hour. He would start in the morning.
With a smile on her face Sara went back to work and spent the rest of the morning combing through the various reports, trying to find anything that would get her closer to George Spalding.
In the afternoon Sara took a short nap, finished working on her notes, and walked to the Canadian embassy on St. Stephen’s Green, where she presented her diplomatic credentials to a Royal Canadian Mounted Police liaison officer, laid out the facts of the case, and asked for a full and immediate investigation to be mounted in Toronto regarding Joséphine Paquette’s current personal and financial status.
That evening Hugh Fitzmaurice, wearing a fresh suit, picked Sara up at her hotel and drove her a short distance through busy traffic to University College, where the award ceremony and reception for the Irish-Canadian writer was to be held in O’Reilly Hall.
“Did you glean anything from the file?” he asked as he braked for a car that cut in front of him on the motorway.
“This afternoon I telephoned estate agents and pretended to be looking for an Irish retreat in Dún Laoghaire. It’s not often that seaside villas in the town come on the market, and they sell quickly at premium prices. I can’t believe Paquette simply waltzed into Dún Laoghaire and snapped up a desirable house in a prestigious location by chance.”
“The estate agent assured