Scandal in Skibbereen Read Online Free PDF Page A

Sheahan—it was grand,” Billy said, his hands folded over his belly.
    “Sweet, anybody?” Ann asked. “Billy, I know you like the apple crumble.”
    “That I do. Will you join me, ladies?”
    “Sure, why not?” Maura said, as Althea shook her head. “And bring Althea some coffee, will you?” Maura added. When Althea started to protest, Maura said, “The drunk driving laws around here are pretty serious, and you’ve still got to find a place to stay tonight.”
    “Oh. Right,” Althea grumbled.
    “Straightaway,” Ann said and turned to head for the kitchen.
    When she was out of earshot, Maura turned back to Althea. “So that’s why you wanted to talk to Billy here about the local gentry.”
    “Exactly. I was hoping that whoever they are, assuming there are any and they’re still alive, they might still own the painting. If it exists.”
    “Why here?” Maura repeated.
    “This wasn’t my first stop. Look, the woman who originally had the painting didn’t leave much information behind, and Dorothy wasn’t much help. She said her grandmother had been tight-lipped about just about everything, especially her life back in Ireland, and she didn’t even remember the great-aunt.”
    Funny,
Maura thought,
Gran was the same way—didn’t talk about where she had come from, which was why I wasn’t ready for what I found in Leap
.
    Althea was still talking. “I did ask a friend to check censuses for the sisters and he found them in New York, but all the records said about where they came from was ‘County Cork,’ which as you know is kind of vague. Same with the ship’s records. At least I knew I had the right family, but there’s a lot of County Cork. Both Jane—that’s the great-aunt I mentioned—and her sister identified themselves as ‘servant’ in the records, so I’m guessing they must have worked in the big house wherever the painting was, or at least that’s what I’ve assumed. I’ve already visited a couple of dead ends. This place is my last hope, and I thought it was so out of the way that it was conceivable that a family could have had a major painting and nobody would have noticed. I know it’s an incredible long shot, but I figured it could be worth it. Yours was the first pub I came to in Leap, and I hoped somebody might know something about any manor houses around here that might fit the bill.”
    Billy finally focused on the conversation. “Ah, you’ve come to the right place, young lady,” he said, rubbing his hands together in anticipation.
    Althea turned to Billy. “I have?” She was interrupted by Ann depositing dishes of apple crumble drenched in heavy cream in front of Billy and Maura. Althea all but shuddered at the sight. “My God, is that cream?”
    “It is. This is a dairy region,” Maura said, picking up her spoon.
    “What’s the heart attack rate around here?”
    “Don’t know,” Maura said, digging in. She used the time spent chewing to try to figure out the angles. Althea said this was about her job, and uncovering a lost artwork, but there had to be money involved. If this painter was such hot stuff, a new old painting would be worth a lot of money. Maybe Althea worked for a gallery that had its eye on selling the painting somewhere down the road. Maybe she was setting up an art heist. Maybe she was just plain crazy or obsessed. Who knew? Maura wondered what Billy’s take on Althea was—from what she’d seen in the pub, he seemed to be a fair judge of character, even if he did usually give strangers the benefit of the doubt.
    Billy took his time scraping the last of the cream from his bowl. Then he looked squarely at Althea. “Tell me, will any money change hands?”
    Maura cheered silently, glad he’d come up with the same question she had.
    Althea looked at him for a couple of seconds, as if trying to decide which story to pitch. Finally she answered, “Not for me. But maybe, possibly, for the painting’s owners. I promise you, though, this