Suddenly she felt frightened. Why had she arranged to meet him here?
She dialled the number of Derry King's mobile. It was up on the screen, but she needed to press the green button for it to start ringing. Before she could do that she saw Don. He was moving towards her, arms out.
"Angel," he cried. "Oh, Angel, nothing matters now. I'm just so glad to see you again." Derry didn't know how the day passed, so much happened, so much was seen and noted. Even in his busiest days setting up his own business in the USA, he had not met so many people in the space of one day.
His cousins brought him back to their headquarters and explained the business from the ground up. How it had seemed such a great idea to hire themselves out to builders as master painters, to put a seal on their work as it were. But there were problems.
They told him unemotional stories about their own father, now dead, and their mother, who was in an old people's home and would love to see him, but maybe in another visit, not this one. They pushed him not at all and he felt he had known them all his life.
He went back to Quentins to follow how the day was unfolding there. He met the staff, saw them learning the names and nature of the new cheeses, watched the clever switching of tables as bookings changed minutes before lunch was served. And noted the clockwork precision of the kitchen, where everything had its own rhythm.
Derry saw Brenda on the phone and she told him she had just heard that Don Richardson was in Dublin.
"Does Ella know?" he asked immediately.
"Apparently so, she's safe at Firefly Films. With Nick and Sandy." .
"He didn't waste much time," Derry said.
"No, I suppose he thought he'd better run in before the Guards got their paperwork ready," Brenda said.
"If he sees her ..." Derry began.
"He won't."
"No, but if he does, do you think she might go back to him?"
Brenda noticed what she thought was more than a professional interest in the question. His face was very concerned. Wishing she believed what she was saying, she assured Derry that there wasn't a chance in hell that Ella would look at that man again. "Hallo, Don." Ella's voice was flat. "Oh, my darling Ella." "No, Don, none of that." "But nothing's changed. There's been such hell and I know that I
put you through it, but I had to. So that in the end we would be..."
"No, Don, you didn't. You didn't have to do anything."
"It's going to be all right now, Angel. You and I can go away now. We'll get that money your mother and father wouldn't take, that will get us abroad anywhere, then with the computer we can get everything sorted out."
She looked at him in disbelief. He really meant it. He thought it was possible that she would drop everything and run away with him.
What did he think her life had been like for all these months, what kind of grasp on reality did he have?
She looked at his face, wondering how he could be so confident and loving. He really did think she was going with him.
"I can't believe that you're here, Don, walking right back into the lion's den .. ."
"You didn't give it to them, Ella. I know your voice. I know everything about you, honestly I do. I know "what you're like asleep and awake. I think of you all the time. I know every heartbeat. I can tell when you're lying, when you're frightened. I never knew anyone as well as I know you. I know every breath you take." He "was shaking now, trembling, and there "was a heavy sweat on his forehead.
Suddenly she got frightened. She pressed the green button on her phone, which was behind her. She could hear the number being dialled. Please God, may Derry be there. Please may he hear me.
"Don, believe me, I'm not going away with you," she began.
"You are of course, Angel Ella, and we'll be together as we were always meant to be."
She could hear something click on the phone behind her. May it be Derry picking up.
"I didn't come out to meet you in Stephen's Green to talk about this, Don," she said.
"Why did you come then, if you don't love me, want to go away with me to have a life together? Why else did you come?"
"To say goodbye and to say sorry, I suppose."
"Sorry? You're not saying sorry for anything, Angel. You haven't given anything to anyone. It's all somewhere waiting for us to collect."
"No. I gave it in."
"Before or after you talked to me?"
"After," she said, looking at the ground.
He smiled almost dreamily. "I knew, I was right about that, that I could tell when you were lying."
"Well, can you tell now? Can you tell that this much is true .. . that as soon as I put the phone down I rang the Fraud Squad and they came round and took the laptop. And we went and got the bag from the safe deposit. And they took that too." She looked at his face. He did believe it now.
"Why did you do this to me?"
"To have the courage to look you in the face and say it's over and you should give yourself up. Say you're sorry. Put your hands up. There has to be something that can be rescued. Do your time, give the boys some dignity in their father. And your wife, too, for that matter."
His face seemed contorted now. "Will you shut up. Do you hear me? Shut up, mouthing these pious wishes. Are you going to come in and visit me in the gaol for twenty-five years and wait until you are an old woman?"
She was very scared of him now, afraid that he would hit her. "I'm only just up the road from you," she shouted over her shoulder, hoping it would reach the phone behind her.
"What are you talking about?" he cried.
I'm saying where I am to stop myself being frightened of you, Don, and the horrible look in your eyes. I'm in Stephen's Green beside the ducks. That's where I am, and I'm not afraid. It's the middle of Dublin City. You're not going to add to all you've done by hurting me."
"Hurt you, Angel? Are you mad? I love you," he cried.
"No, you never loved me. I know that now."
"I came back for you
"You came back for your computer," she said.
His eyes seemed very mad. Had they ever been like this before?
"Go away, Don," she said in a weary voice. "Please, go away."
"Not without you."
"You don't want me any more. I've given away what you thought I had. You should never have come back."
"You are such a stupid, stupid fool, Angel."
"Oh, yes, Don, I was, I know that now."
He was very near her and he looked totally out of control. "You could have had everything, Angel, anything you wanted." "I want you to go. Maybe you might even get away. Escape before they catch you. You've plenty of friends who'll hide you."
"Not so many nowadays, Angel. Not without the computer."
Then she saw people moving towards them. Out of the shadows, behind the trees and bushes of the park. The mother duck had taken the little ducklings away from the scene as if she knew it wasn't the place for them to be. A place where a grown man sobbed like a child to policemen and howled out, "I did it for you, Angel. I did it all for you."
And here Ella Brady trembled and shook in the arms of Derry King, who held her as if he was never going to let her go.
Chapter Sixteen.
The meeting in Quentins that night was cancelled. There had been too much drama. No one could concentrate on a possible film documentary when real life itself had been so full of passion and fear. Over and over, people told each other the events of the evening. Nick and Sandy told Deirdre how they had run out to get a taxi to Stephen's Green when they heard from Derry what was happening. Brenda and Patrick told Tom and Cathy how Blouse had been crossing Stephen's Green on his way back to the restaurant and had seen it all. There was Mr. Richardson crying out and roaring like a child. Barbara Brady told anyone who would listen that she had finally found her courage and her voice possibly when it was too late. But she would remember for ever that she stood up to Don and told him she didn't care what happened to him in the future.