Antique pearls want to find their way home.
PRISONER OF THE PEARLS
Chapter One
Karen Cogan
Ireland, Present day
Liz O’Clancy didn’t trust her cousin, Deidre, nor did she trust her own fiancé, Rick. The two sat shoulder to shoulder on the sofa, unaware Liz hid in a shadow of the great hall and listened to Deidre discuss her search of the castle.
Liz had flown in yesterday after being unable to contact her grandmother, Anna, for several days. Her worry mounted when she arrived to find the elderly woman missing. Liz had already decided that Deidre was not searching for Anna. Most likely her search involved finding something valuable, maybe jewels, a bag of gold, a famous painting. Whatever it was, it sounded as though Deidre was trying to talk Rick into helping her find it.
Deidre’s deceitful green eyes held Rick’s rapt attention.”I’ve taken the sensor into every room, and I haven’t found even a hint of it.”
“I bet the old woman knows. That’s why she’s hiding,” Rick said.
Liz scowled. The little strumpet, Deidre, would use every ounce of her considerable charm to lure Rick into her clutches. But would Rick agree?
Regrettably, she didn’t get to hear more of their conversation. Rick spotted her and jerked away from Deidre. If Liz hadn’t been so upset, she would have found the guilty flush of his pale face comical.
Yet, there was nothing comical about Deidre’s search for something that did not belong to her. Grandmother Anna must have known about a treasure when she disappeared. That’s why she’d
sent Liz the clue””something of value hidden where Liz had been forbidden to play as a child. And now she was counting on Liz to find it before Deidre did.
Rick straightened his shirt in an attempt to present the air of an injured party. “I suppose your boyfriend has left.”
He referred to Donnnegan O’Riley, Liz’s childhood friend who had come to visit today. She hadn’t realized how much she missed him when she moved from Ireland to New York. Now that she was back, it was only natural they would see one another.
Liz pinned Rick with a sharp look. “He has left, though it doesn’t look like you’ve missed my company.”
Deidre’s cat eyes narrowed into green slits. “Relax. We were only talking. And from what Rick told me, you have no right to complain.”
“I’m not complaining, Deidre. I’d be glad to tell you what Donnegan and I said. Will you tell me about your conversation with Rick?” Liz made her voice frosty as a blizzard, her eyes cold as blue shards. She pressed her lips into a tight line because she knew Deidre would never tell the truth.
Rick shifted. Liz thought he looked uncomfortable. He’d be a lot more uncomfortable if he spouted that psychiatric platitude about unresolved childhood issues. As a child she’d been schooled to keep cool. She’d squeezed down her anger as Anna had expected. It had been Anna’s expectation. But Anna wasn’t here.
Liz said coolly, “I believe you were searching for something?”
Deidre widened her jade-green eyes. “I was speaking of Anna, of course.”
“You’re not looking for Anna. You don’t care about Anna.”
“That’s not true. I’ve been telling Rick my greatest childhood sorrow was in knowing she loved
you more than me.”
Rick nodded. “It’s true. She did say that.”
“What else did she say?”
“Not much. We’ve only been talking for a few minutes. I told her how I felt about you taking Donnegan as your confident instead of me. I was hurt, but I overreacted. I shouldn’t have complained about his coming here. Will you forgive me?” Rick asked.
His apology caught her off balance. Was he only looking for a sympathetic ear when Deidre cornered him? Nonetheless, she felt uncomfortable stirrings of mistrust in the psychiatrist she’d been dating, a man she’d trusted with her very soul, her deepest thoughts and emotions, her past and her hopes for the future. She’d thought she knew him well. But how much had he shared with her?
He’d told her about his mother in upstate New York and his father, who had been a stockbroker before he died. He had no siblings, and he enjoyed his status as an only child. He didn’t care for animals, and his personal goals were all related to success in his business.
Although she’d presumed a great deal, what did she truly know about his character? Nothing. This admission left her feeling emotionally naked and distinctly disadvantaged.
It also made her determined to discover what Deidre wanted so badly. She would do all in her power to defeat her. However, it would help if she knew the object of her search.
Rick was still waiting for her reply to his plea for forgiveness. She studied the sharp lines of his face and wondered what was going through his mind.
She summoned her composure. “If your only offense is your jealousy of Donnegan, I forgive you. What I could not forgive, is for you to believe Deidre’s telling the truth.”
Rick waved his hand in dismissal, winked at Liz and said, “I’m qualified to know the truth when I hear it. Don’t worry about that.”
She studied the two of them. “I hope so.”
“Are we friends again?”
“Of course.”
He yawned. “Then I’m going to take a nap. All this dissention’s worn me out.”
Deidre gave Liz a devilish smile. “I’ll join you, Rick. In my own room, of course,” she added.
Liz glared at Deidre’s retreating back. Her copper hair swung loosely at her shoulders. Her hips fit closely in her well-cut jeans. What man wouldn’t find her attractive?
The question reminded her of the insecurity she’d fought all of her life. If Anna had thought modeling would cure it, she was wrong. Instead, it had only made her worse.
Liz waited until Deidre was in her room to knock on Rick’s door. She opened it quietly. As her eyes adjusted to the dimness, she saw he had the disheveled appearance of someone who had just fallen into bed. Bereft of glasses and with tousled hair, he looked surprised to see her.
He covered his surprise with a smile. “Come in, Liz. Does this mean I’m forgiven?”
He squinted at her as she took a seat in a tall-backed floral chair beside the window and said, “I only want to talk.”
“All right. Let’s talk.”
As he slipped on his glasses, she prayed she’d know if he were telling her the truth. She took a deep breath to steady her nerves and said, “I heard enough of what was said, enough to know Deidre is searching for something. Did she tell you what?”
“Yes. It’s really nothing.”
Liz leaned forward in the chair. “What is it?”
He peered though his round lenses, like a blue-eyed owl.
“When she visited here as a young girl, she lost a valuable ring her parents had given her. It was as green as her eyes, with small diamonds set beside the emerald stone. She searched her room and found no trace of it. Now she’s searching the castle.”
“Why wouldn’t she tell me?”
He made a tuttering sound. “I’m afraid trust doesn’t run very deep in your family. Deidre said you knew she liked the ring. She thought you might have hidden it for spite.”
Incredulous, Liz felt her jaw drop. “She’s telling a lie. I don’t even remember this ring.”
He shrugged. “She seemed pretty upset about it.”
“She never mentioned it before.”
He studied her with an expression of doubt. “She told me about it years ago. But being her psychiatrist, it was privileged information I wasn’t allowed to share with you.”
Liz stared out the window, down at the beloved grounds of her estate. The back lawn lay carefully tended and surrounded by hedges. The rich ebony soil of bare round garden awaited the arrival of spring. Bright flowers would burst forth to contrast with the green of the hedges. Beyond the wall, the grounds were left wild to support a soft coat of heather that lay beneath a thin layer of frost. Trees scattered like lone sentinels, bare-armed in the wind, becoming thicker as they banded together into a thick wood south of the castle. Though this wood, Liz had taken the path along the stream, over sodden leaves to old Maggie’s house just yesterday. She’d hoped Maggie, her grandmother’s best friend, might have some idea where her grandmother had gone.
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