Star Sullivan (8 page)

‘He did this to you?’ Kenny was horrified.

‘No, no . . . of course not,’ she said, but her voice was shaky and weak.

Kenny thought she was protecting Laddy. The man she still loved in spite of everything.

‘He’s not getting away with this,’ Kenny shouted, and ran next door. Before anyone could stop him he had grabbed Laddy, who was cleaning the barbecue, and started to pummel him.

It took Laddy about thirty seconds to recover from the shock, shake himself free, and land
Kenny a blow that knocked him down. By this time people had arrived from everywhere. Owen Hale was out of his house, Shay was over the hedge, Molly and Star were calling out for them to stop.

Laddy wiped the blood from around his mouth and looked over at Star. ‘Well done, kid,’ he said. ‘There you go again, upsetting everyone’s lives with your big innocent eyes.’

‘I didn’t say anything, I didn’t . . .’

‘Of course you didn’t, Star,’ he said, got into his white van and drove away, leaving everyone else to cope with Kenny and to try to work out what had happened.

On Monday Star wasn’t well enough to go to work at the supermarket. When Molly came home, she reported that Kenny hadn’t been in either.

Shay was barely installed in the kitchen of his hotel when he got a message that someone wanted to see him at the front office.

It was Laddy, carrying a parcel.

‘Your money, Shay,’ Laddy said in a cold voice. ‘I think you’ll find it all there, safe and sound.’

‘Now listen here, Laddy, I never meant –’

‘Yes, you did.’

‘If I gave offence, I’m really very sorry.’

‘You gave offence, certainly.’

‘Will you accept my apology then?’

Laddy shrugged. ‘If it makes you feel better.’

‘And, Laddy, do you have any idea where Michael is? He hasn’t been home.’

‘No idea. Sorry.’

‘But you
must
know. He works with you.’

‘No, he doesn’t, Shay, he works for himself.’

‘But he
lives
with you.’

‘He has a bed in our shed, yes, when he wants to stay there.’

Poor Shay looked bewildered. There seemed to be no answers.

‘And, Laddy, again, I’m sorry, we’re all sorry about that business yesterday morning. The young fellow from the supermarket, he got the wrong end of the stick.’

‘Yes, he did,’ Laddy agreed.

There was a silence.

‘You’re very good to bring this money to me. I don’t suppose you’d like to go on holding it for me?’

‘No I wouldn’t, as it happens.’

‘And what would you suggest I do with it, like, put it in the post office or what?’

‘I have no idea, and really I couldn’t care less,’ Laddy said, turned and was gone.

Lilly’s Nick, who was turning out to be more of a boyfriend than a journalist, came to supper on Monday evening. He brought a big chocolate cake and cut a slice for everyone. To Star’s amazement, Lilly ate a sliver like a normal person. And she didn’t disappear to the bathroom to be sick either.

Lilly looked so well these days. The boutique where she worked was having a fashion show. Lilly was going to model three items. Nick was making sure that one of these would get into his paper.

He noticed that the Sullivan family seemed a bit subdued.

‘Where’s Michael?’ he asked.

Michael would liven things up, he was not one for long silences. It had been the wrong question to ask, apparently. Nobody knew where he was and everyone seemed to be blaming someone else. Nick gave up in despair. Sometimes you just couldn’t get families right.

Star picked up the phone. Michael was on the other end.

‘Don’t say my name, pretend it’s someone else, that fellow from the supermarket or something.’ He sounded anxious.

‘Oh, hi, Kenny,’ Star said. Her mother looked up sharply but nobody else took much notice as Star took the phone upstairs.

‘Where are you, Michael, what
is
it?’ she whispered to him.

‘Star, have you any money, any money at all?’

‘No, of course I haven’t any real money. I’ve about sixty euro. Would that do?’

‘Listen to me carefully. Laddy is holding some money for Dad, I know he is. Can you get it from him, tell him the rainy day has arrived.’

‘Tell him
what
has arrived?’

‘You know the way people say they are saving for a rainy day? Well, it’s here, it doesn’t get much rainier than this. I’m in awful trouble, Star. I have to have the money tonight.’

‘I’m not speaking to Laddy, ring him yourself.’

‘This is not the time for games.’

‘It’s not games, let me tell you.
You
talk to him.’

‘He won’t talk to me,’ Michael admitted.

‘That makes two of us, then.’

‘This isn’t a joke, I
have
to have this money.’

‘Ask Dad then.’

‘I can’t
do
that, Star, it’s some kind of a secret. I’m not even meant to know about it. It was something you asked Laddy to do way back, to make Dad give up gambling, and Laddy did it, and he’s holding some money Dad won. So the money’s there, and if you could just tell him that it was for you, Laddy would certainly give it to you. He has a soft spot for you, you know he has.’

‘Not any more he doesn’t,’ Star said and hung up.

‘How was Kenny?’ Molly asked.

‘Kenny?’ Star looked at her blankly.

‘You were just talking to him,’ Molly reminded her.

‘Oh yes. That’s right. I was.’

‘So is he OK?’

‘He’s the same as always,’ Star said.

Star met Kenny next day when they both returned to work. He had a black eye and a bruise on his chin. Star had a cut and a bruise on her forehead. She pulled her white bakery hat low over her face and tried not to meet anyone’s eye as she served them scones or croissants with her pincers. So she didn’t recognise her brother Michael until he hissed at her, ‘Star, talk to me.’

‘God, I didn’t see you, Michael, you look
terrible
! What happened to you?’

‘What happened to me is that my sister hung up on me yesterday and I’m in deep, deep trouble.’

‘What kind of trouble?’

‘Well, these guys I know . . . half know . . . met, anyway . . . They took my van. And now the fellows who own the van want to know where it is.’

‘And can’t you tell them that the other people stole it?’

‘Not really, you see, I wasn’t meant to have it out the night it disappeared.’

‘But what about the insurance?’

‘Wake up, Star, these kind of people don’t have insurance.’

‘Michael, I can’t do anything for you, I don’t
have
anything. It’s Tuesday today, I get paid again on Friday. Would that be any help?’

‘By Friday I’ll have two broken legs.’

‘
No!
’

‘Yes. Star, can’t you speak to Laddy?’

‘I told you, there was awful trouble at the party, you missed it all. Biddy left Mr Hale, and Kenny hit Laddy, and he hit Kenny back, and I fainted and got this.’ She showed him her bruised face.

‘God, Star, are you serious?’

‘Yes, it couldn’t have been more horrible.’

‘And Kenny?’

‘He’s got an awful bruise, worse than mine. I haven’t talked to
him
either.’

‘And why did he hit Laddy?’

‘A misunderstanding. He thought Laddy had hit me.’

Michael looked thoughtful. ‘Where does he work, this Kenny?’

‘Over that way, the fish and deli counters. You’re not going to go and hit him too, are you?’

‘No, why would I do that?’

‘I don’t know why anyone does anything,’ Star said.

At her lunch break she decided to face Kenny and went over to his counter.

‘He’s gone home,’ someone said.

‘He’s not feeling worse, is he?’ Star asked.

The others looked with interest at her face. Could she and Kenny really have had a violent punch-up? Watch the quiet ones, people said.

They told her that he had said he had to go out on urgent business and would be back in the afternoon.

Star waited until four o’clock to be certain, then she headed for Kenny’s counters again. He was back at work.

‘I did it, Star,’ he said.

‘Did what?’

‘Got Michael the money, like you asked.’ He was very pleased to have helped her.

‘How much?’ She could hardly speak.

‘Two thousand, like you said,’ he said proudly. ‘I had to go to the bank, but we got it for him in time.’

‘I went to the bank today,’ Shay Sullivan told them at supper. ‘And I have a nice little piece of news for us all.’

‘That’s the first time I ever heard that going to a bank brought
good
news,’ Kevin said. He and Gemma had come to discuss the plans for the Sullivan father and son setting up the much talked of health-food snack bar in the hotel’s leisure complex.

‘They’ve been overcharging you for years and now they’re going to refund it?’ Nick suggested. Nick was becoming a fixture in the Sullivan house with Lilly these days.

‘Tell us the news, Shay,’ Molly begged.

Star sat like a stone, uncaring, unhearing.

‘All right, I will. When I lost interest in all that gambling thing I had one big win, remember?’

‘Yes indeed, it was Small Screen that won,’ said Molly. ‘Everyone thought Lone Star was going to win. And you gave us all a present.’

‘Well, I actually won a great deal more that day, over ten thousand euro, and someone was holding it for me. Now I’ve put it into the bank with an explanation of how I got it. They won’t take big lumps of cash these days without knowing where it came from. And anyway, Kevin and I can now set up the business together.’

‘God, that’s great, Dad,’ Kevin said, eyes shining.

‘Well done, Mr Hale, you’re home and dry.’ Nick reached forward to shake him by the hand.

‘Oh Shay, aren’t you marvellous,’ cried Molly.

Star said nothing because she hadn’t been listening. So they told it to her again.

‘Someone was holding it for you. I expect that was Laddy,’ she said eventually.

‘Well now, love, it doesn’t matter who was holding it, the main thing is that it’s safely in the bank,’ her father said.

‘Do you need it
all
for the restaurant?’ Star asked in a curiously flat voice.

‘And more, but it will begin to pay off in a year or two, believe me. Your brother and I are going to be tycoons.’ He laughed happily.

‘Could I have two thousand now, do you think?’ she asked.

They all looked at her open-mouthed.

‘Well, not
just
now, Star, later on, maybe. We could have a big divide-up all right, give you girls your share, and Michael of course if we ever see him again.’

‘No, I really mean it, Dad, I need two thousand euro tomorrow. Please can I have it?’

‘But what
for
, Star?’ her mother asked. ‘Why could you possibly need that kind of money?’

‘It doesn’t matter why, it’s a secret, you all have secrets, why can’t I have one?’

‘It’s an awful lot of money,’ Lilly said.

‘Not now, Star, later on, when we’re up and running, if you want a car or a holiday or whatever –,’ her father began.

‘I don’t want a car or a holiday, I just
need
that money now and I can’t tell you why.’ Her face, with the livid bruise on the forehead, was white and tense. The Sullivans, Gemma and Nick looked at each other in alarm.

‘What could be so urgent that it can’t wait?’ her mother asked.

‘This can’t,’ Star said.

‘Oh my God, she wants an abortion!’ Lilly cried.

‘It couldn’t cost all that, could it?’ Gemma’s eyes were enormous.

Star spoke very slowly. ‘If I were to tell you that it
was
for an abortion, would you give it to me?’ she asked her father.

‘No, not like that. We’d need to have a
discussion, look at other possibilities,’ he replied.

‘This isn’t something where you can just write a cheque, there are a lot of things to talk about,’ her mother said. ‘Like whether it would be the right thing to do, which I must say I don’t think it would at all.’

‘
Is
that what you need the money for?’ Kevin asked.

‘Why?’ Star’s voice was cold.

‘Because one way or another it’s very sad that Dad’s great news has ended up in a big crisis discussion about you, as it always does. No matter what happens in this family, it’s always a question of let’s not upset Star.’ His face was red and angry.

It was so like what Laddy had said before he went off in his van. It was so unfair, Star thought. All she had ever wanted was for everyone to be happy. And now everyone was cross with her and saying it was her fault.