‘To be with Harry?’
‘We’re going round in circles,’ Finn said. ‘I’m not registered on any Irish genealogy sites, but I’ll get myself an account and then we can search for Elsie and Harry on there.’
‘Perhaps they got married in Ireland and lived happily ever after.’
‘I hope so.’ Finn still had his arm around me and now he pulled me closer again and we kissed. ‘I’d like them to have a happy ending.’
I felt so completely happy that I almost expected little birds and butterflies to appear around us like in a Disney fairy tale. I grinned at Finn. ‘Me too.’
And then, there it was. The little niggle in the back of my head that told me not to relax. That if I was feeling happy now, something bad was bound to happen.Remember when you were happy about your exhibition, it told me.Remember how you thought everything was working out and then Max turned up and you messed everything up? Remember, remember, remember …
I took a deep breath in and Finn looked at me, concerned. ‘Okay?’
‘Might just get some air,’ I said. ‘I’ll wait outside.’
I picked up the book and hurried out to the front of the museum where I sat on a bench and gazed up at the two Spitfires that were displayed next to the entrance. My breathing was recovering now and I was pleased that I hadn’t panicked.See, I told myself.It’s all going to be all right. Finn’s here. You’re here. It’s all fine.
While I waited for Finn to say goodbye and thank you to the staff at the museum, I looked at the odd notes I’d found. “Kill me” was such a blunt, awful thing to read. Such a blunt, awful request for someone to make.
Who was it? I wondered. Who had asked Elsie to do such a terrible thing? I turned the page over and looked at the message there.
‘Mammy, I am so sorry I didn’t get to say goodbye,’ I read under my breath. Mammy? What was that? Did Geordies say “Mammy”? Or was it Scousers? I was sure someone I’d spoken to recently had said it. I looked up into the sky, trying to think.
‘Ready to go?’ Finn appeared next to me. ‘Are you working later?’
‘I have the night off as it happens,’ I said. ‘I was planning a Netflix binge with some takeaway pizza.’
‘Want some company?’
I looked at him, this lovely clever man who seemed to want to spend time with me, no matter what we were doing, and I nodded. ‘Yes please.’
‘I can bring wine.’
‘Yes please,’ I said again, and he laughed.
I got up from my bench and followed him to his car and just as he unlocked the door I remembered where I’d heard “Mammy” recently.
‘Irish,’ I said, getting into the passenger seat. ‘Mammy is Irish.’
‘Your mammy?’
I chuckled. ‘No, the note in Elsie’s book that’s addressed to “Mammy”? On the other page to the alphabet?’
‘What about it?’
‘Mammy is what some Irish people call their mums. You know grumpy Helen at Tall Trees? I’m sure she mentioned her mammy the other day and she’s Irish.’
Finn started the engine and winked at me. ‘So Ireland could be a link between Elsie and Harry and the person who was dying,’ he said. ‘We just have to find out what it means.’
*
Finn stayed the night. We watchedCasablancaand ate pizza and talked for hours about Harry and Elsie and whether they could have gone to Ireland together, and it was lovely. And then we went to bed and that was lovely, too. Really lovely. We slept with our legs tangled up together and again I thought that I was completely happy – and this time I didn’t have the fear that it was all about to go wrong.
I woke up early to find him getting dressed, tiptoeing around the room.
‘Are you going?’ I felt a lurch of fear. ‘Stay. I don’t have to be at Tall Trees until later.’
‘I’m going to go into work and use the uni logins for the Irish genealogy sites,’ he told me. ‘It’s best to get in early before the summer school students arrive at the library.’
