Scandal in Skibbereen Read Online Free PDF

isn’t about the money. I’m looking for the attention I’ll get if I bring home the painting, not the cash. But that said, yes,
if
I find the painting, and
if
the owners want to part with it, then it’s possible that they could do very well, even in the current market for artworks, and they might be grateful to me for making it happen. But I’m not counting on it.”
    “And what would you be meaning by ‘very well’?” Billy pressed.
    Althea looked down at the table, avoiding their eyes. “The last known Van Dyck to come to auction was a small self-portrait, a few years ago. It sold for over thirteen million dollars.”
    Billy didn’t seem surprised. “But whatever such a sale might bring, it would go to the owners, not to yourself?”
    “Like I said, I might get something like a finder’s fee, but I’m not working under contract to find it, or anything like that. I’m running around Ireland—and paying out of my own pocket, I might add—to save my career, because I really like what I do, even when it brings me to godforsaken places like this. Is that enough for you?”
    Billy looked at Maura, and she could swear his eyes twinkled. “Then I’d be happy to help a fine young lady like yourself. You’d be wanting to take a look at the Townsends.”
    “The Townsends?” Althea repeated.
    “The line goes back to the Townsends of Castletownsend, not far from here, in the seventeenth century—just about the time you’re after,” Billy said proudly.
    “Hang on—let me get something to write on.” Althea rummaged through her large and expensive-looking handbag and pulled out a leather-bound notebook. “Townsends of Castletownsend, you said?”
    Billy continued, “The founder, Colonel Richard, served as a soldier under Oliver Cromwell and handed him the keys to Cork city when they won the battle of Knockoness. He bought quite a bit of land over the years. In the end they held a good deal of land around here, more than three thousand acres, I hear tell, in the early days. That’d be Irish acres, not regular ones, so it’s more like two-thirds again as big. And they kept adding to it. Good thing he did, for I’m told the colonel had nine sons. I could tell you about . . .”
    Maura stared at Billy. She’d had no idea he had information like this stored in his head, or what half of it meant. “Billy, how do you know all this?”
    He winked at her. “I wasn’t there for the ceremony, if that’s what yer thinking. But we learned a bit about it in school. And the Townsends were well-known hereabouts. Yer gran worked at the big house, before she married and yer da came along.”
    Before Maura could follow up on this unexpected piece of information, Althea interrupted. “Where would the biggest and best manor house have been?”
    The glint in Billy’s eyes took on a steely cast. When he spoke, it was, if anything, more slowly than before. “Well, let me think . . . There’d be Derry House, near Clonakilty. The old house was damaged during the Troubles, but some of it still stands. Or Roury House, not far from there, but that’s not very large. There’s a few other homes scattered about, in Bunlahan, Brade, Union Hall, Ballincolla . . .”
    Maura realized that Billy was toying with Althea, as payback for her insistence, and sat back to enjoy the show. Althea looked ready to burst, and finally Billy took pity on her. “Of course, the big house is Mycroft House.”
    “And where would that be?” Althea demanded.
    “No more than half a mile from where we sit, just over the harbor there.”
    “I’ve never heard of it,” Maura said. “But then, I’m still new here, and I don’t hang around with those kinds of people.”
    “Is anybody living there now?” Althea said, ignoring Maura altogether.
    “Ah, it’s a bit of a sad story, it is. It might go down better with a bit of whiskey . . .” He looked hopefully at Althea.
    Althea gestured to Ann. “Can you give this guy whatever he