Chain of Evidence by Cora Harrison Read Free Book Online Page A

the cattle raiders. A slight discourtesy to Garrett’s relations was of little importance compared with keeping safe the boys that she had placed under his care. She held her hand up to shield her eyes from the setting sun and then to her relief saw Fiona’s bright yellow hair and behind her the tall figure of the Scots woman and behind that Peadar, all making their way slowly down from the terrace above. A few minutes later they were all in front of her.
    ‘Will you come back with us to the law school?’ asked Mara hospitably, hoping that her housekeeper, Brigid, had enough food in her store cupboard for three unexpected guests. Turlough, she hoped, would be back within a couple of hours, with his bodyguards and probably Teige and some of his men might be with him. There would have to be a late-night supper prepared for them. Her celebration dinner for two people would have to be stretched to accommodate the pair from Scotland and the man from England.
    ‘Do you think that I should?’ said Rhona hesitantly. She took a step nearer to Mara with the air of one who wanted to say something in private and Mara moved with her away from the others.
    ‘Should we go back to the Carron Castle, myself and Peadar; what do you think, Brehon? I hate having such bad feeling between us and Slaney. And between Garrett and Slaney, also. I haven’t been able to talk to her, been able to explain, but now Garrett and Jarlath will be off chasing cows and Stephen will be with you, so perhaps it’s a good time for the two of us to talk.’
    ‘That’s well thought of,’ said Mara, feeling that she was liking this woman more and more as time went on. ‘But if I know Slaney she will want to be out there directing operations,’ she continued. ‘I think you should leave it for the moment. Today will be full of anger and frustration if Garrett’s cows are stolen. Do come back with us and give everything time to settle down.’ Privately she thought that there was little that Rhona could do about the situation. A woman like Slaney would not forgive easily.
    Rhona agreed so readily that Mara suspected she was dreading an interview with Slaney. Allowing the younger ones to go ahead the two of them walked side by side and chatted. Rhona had been the daughter and only child of a cattle dealer who had built up a business in buying and selling the small, hardy cattle from the mountains of Scotland to lowland farms.
    ‘He was disappointed that I married a sea-going man and then when my husband died and we, myself and Peadar, came back, he was furious that the boy spent all his time at the monastery, gardening for the monks and that he had no interest in cows. My father died last year and he left all his stock and the farm to his brother’s son and Peadar and I were left with nothing.’
    Well, that perhaps solved the puzzle of why Rhona had come over to Ireland to seek out Garrett after fifteen years. Under Brehon law the woman had a right to name the father of her son at any stage during her life, even when on her deathbed. But why had Rhona not contested her father’s will, sought the help of this Brehon whom she had mentioned? None of my business, thought Mara. In any case, Rhona soon excused herself and went to walk beside her sulky-looking son, talking to him in hushed tones while Mara fell back to join her other guest.
    ‘So how did you find the O’Donnell when you were in Donegal?’ she asked casually as Stephen Gardiner gallantly offered her an arm down a steep section of the mountain. She scanned him narrowly as she asked the question. Was he here to cause trouble?
    ‘The O’Donnell – oh, you mean the earl; you mean Earl O’Donnell,’ he contradicted her with a pleasant smile. ‘The king has ennobled him, you know. The first of many, it is hoped. I met him in Scotland with King James IV. I was on a mission to the Scottish court and when he heard about Cardinal Wolsey’s project to write about Ireland, the noble earl extended