Kilmoon: A County Clare Mystery Read Online Free PDF

over the rooftops to lay bare cobblestone streets. Light silhouetted legs long enough to bow-tie around Lonnie’s waist.
    “My name is Kate Meehan. And you’re Lonnie O’Brien?”
    “At your service. Needing help with the Internet?”
    “Hardly.”
    Kate strolled along a bank of computers, clicking each mouse so the blackened screens fizzed back to their colorful displays.
    “Much better,” she said.
    She settled herself in front of the closest terminal and twirled the chair so she faced Lonnie. Her skirt slid up as she twisted to lift a laptop computer from the leather case still hooked over her shoulder. She pressed the on button, and turned the machine around to show Lonnie the blank screen. “I’m having a problem with the battery, only the battery is new so it must be the AC inverter.” She waved a nonchalant hand. “You haven’t a clue what I’m talking about, do you?”
    “Not likely.”
    “I’ll wait for your man’s return then. He legged it out the back door just now. He’s the computer expert, right? You’re the pretty front man from the local rich family.”
    “Now, see here—”
    “I could use a good servicing also.” Her expression remained neutral. “For the laptop, of course.”
    Before he knew it, Lonnie was seated beside Kate, watching her sandal dangle then fall to the floor as she crossed her legs. Lonnie crossed his legs also.
    “You’re a man with connections,” she said. “That much is obvious.”
    “Too true. Join me for a drink and we’ll get started on the connecting.”
    “I’m here indefinitely.”
    He hesitated, caught off guard by her response. “Working then?”
    “Call it a whim.”
    Kate wriggled forward on her seat. She had arctic eyes this one, and their icy haze pinned him as if she were an oracle—and a damned creepy, seductive one at that. Lonnie recrossed his legs, too aware of the itch in his lower abdomen.
    “I might take you up on your drink offer,” she said. “I’m curious about this village of yours. I hear there’s a matchmaking festival each year.”
    “It starts on Monday, in fact. I can introduce you to the matchmaker. He’s a most interesting old codger.”
    “I’ll lay a wager on that.” She closed the laptop with a smart snap. Harder than necessary it seemed to Lonnie. “No need for introductions though.”
    After that bemusing dismissal, Ivan returned, scalp-scratching as usual. He descended into earlobe-pulling as Kate explained her laptop’s ailment. Her presence triggered a spasm in his English, much to Lonnie’s chagrin.
    “I must finding an AC inverter,” Ivan said and fled into his workshop with the malfunctioning computer.
    “Might be a couple of hours,” Lonnie said. “The man’s a pack rat.”
    “Fine. I’ll be back in exactly two hours.” She handed him a business card with only her name and phone number printed on it. “Call me.”
    Kate left, but her perfume lingered. No one settled in Lisfenora on a whim, this much Lonnie knew, and especially not a woman as calculated in her mannerisms as Kate Meehan.
    ***
    One hour later, Lonnie bestowed a pat onto Ivan’s back. After fixing the AC inverter, Ivan had bypassed Kate’s security password—somehow, who knew how the techno-freak did it?—to reveal Kate’s world on microchip, and what a scintillating world that turned out to be.
    Tsk, tsk, a naughty one was our Kate. So much so that Lonnie thought she might be the perfect woman.
    Lonnie chortled as he thought about nancy-boy Kevin again. Kevin didn’t know shit about shit, poor sod. When he did find out, he’d pop a blood vessel for sure. That pleasure was for the future, however. For now, Lonnie must concentrate on his cash flow.
    “I’d say a friendly chat with Kate is the order of the day,” he said.

• 4 •
    On the brink of Saturday’s dawn, Kevin Donellan hovered neither too close to his father nor too far away in case the stubborn old git lost his balance. Liam, as usual, sat on his