Deadly Intent by Anna Sweeney

over to the Latif property and suss it out. We’ve had enough of the old geezer at the gate, and with any luck, we’ll catch the boy on his way back. We could do with something meaty …’
    Nessa wished she could cover Ronan’s ears as they stayed hidden in the field. She did not know how to explain to him why they had to run away. But she was sure of one thing – she would have to arrange for him to leave Beara and stay with friends elsewhere for a few days at least. She had seen the mix of excitement and genuine fear in his expression when he scrambled to join her in the undergrowth. Whether she and Sal could leave too was a different decision, and she even wondered about hiring a private security firm to protect Cnoc Meala from intruders. But it would be a relief to get Ronan out of harm’s way. Then she could find time to think properly about the hurricane that had brought havoc to their lives since Thursday.
    She stood up when the voices nearby died away. Her jeans were soaked below the knees, as were Ronan’s. She whispered to him that they could get out of the field at a gate further along, onto a minor road that ran parallel to the coast road. Darina’s house and studio were only five minutes along that byroad, and their best chance was to ask her for a lift home, out of sight in the back of her van. Otherwise, they would have to pick their way across fields and thickets, like fugitives wrongly accused of a crime they had not committed.
    â€˜Oh, I’m sorry, you startled me!’ Darina’s face appeared out of the gloom of the henhouse at the back of her place. Nessa had put her head around the door when there was no response at the house or the barn she used as a studio.
    â€˜No, it’s my fault, Darina, I’m so jumpy myself that I forgot you might be the same. Have you been hassled by the media crowd yet?’
    Darina shood away a hen pecking at Nessa’s feet. ‘Not here at the house, no, but I was down in the village earlier and I was stopped by somebody who wanted to know whether I knew you, and had ever met Oscar, and what I had to say about it all.’
    Nessa looked around to check on Ronan, who had been very quiet on the way to Darina’s. He was pulling flowers from the long fuchsia hedge that separated the studio and henhouse, and trying to suck the sweet juice from the purple-red bells.
    â€˜To be honest, I said I didn’t really know you,’ said Darina. ‘I was afraid I’d be pestered with questions, you see, and it seemed the best way.’
    â€˜I think you were absolutely right to say as little as possible.’
    â€˜It all seems unreal, doesn’t it? Have you been to Derryowen today and seen those monster trucks with satellite equipment on top? The place looks like a film set or something.’
    â€˜So it’s true that there’s a big media presence?’
    â€˜The place is swarming, Nessa, and I’ve heard that some of our neighbours are even refusing to open their doors. I’d just never imagined this sort of thing in Beara.’ Darina glanced over at Ronan, who was losing interest in the fuchsia. She handed him a hosepipe and told him to continue what she had been doing, spraying water into the henhouse to clean it. ‘I was talking to my cousin Marcus yesterday evening and he said he saw gawkers just driving up and down, satisfying their curiosity—’
    â€˜Marcus O’Sullivan, did you say? He’s your cousin? The same lad Sal is so keen on?’
    â€˜Did you not realise, Nessa?’ Darina chewed on her lips as she regarded her. ‘But of course that was the reason … The party we went to the other night, Sal wanted me to get us both invited, that’s how it came about, you see. I mean, I wouldn’t have bothered on my own account, because I’m not into his crowd.’
    Nessa felt a splash of water on her feet as Ronan whirled the hosepipe towards