“This is madness,” I grumbled, hugging myself for additional warmth.
“You’re right for certain.” Deidre sank into a rocker by the lone window and waved a hand at the rough-cut chairs that flanked a wooden table. “Pull a seat near the hearth so you don’t freeze yourself while we talk.”
I dragged one of the chairs across the floor and placed its hind legs toward the fire. Turning to sit, I stopped partway to peer through the window for any sign of Henry.
Deidre laughed. “Believe me, lass, there’s naught out there that can hurt your man.”
My view was limited to a few trees and the horses’ heads. “How can you be so sure?”
“He’s a rare breed, that one, with a wildness I’ve not felt in a long time.”
She was right on both accounts, though I had no idea how she had arrived at the truth so quickly. Grudgingly, I sat down and glanced around the dismal room.
Smoke had dulled the once white walls to a dingy cream. Everything else offered varying shades of brown, from the rafters to the floorboards and all the items in between. A large trunk and a three-legged footstool rounded out the scant furnishings of the rocker, chairs and table. Overhead, at least half a dozen bundles of dead leaves and flowers hung from the rafters. Steam rose up from a large iron pot set near the fire, smelling of thyme, meat and onions.
Rather than using the other chair, Ailish had settled on the footstool near the wall opposite the hearth. She stayed very still, legs tucked up to her chest and eyes turned toward the sole interior door that I assumed led to a bedroom. By the tilt of her head, she seemed to be listening to something.
I angled an ear in the same direction, but heard nothing above the fire crackling and the gentle scrape of rocker treads over the floor.
“So, you’re looking for young Deri, are you?” Deidre asked. “What makes you think the devil’s come to Wexford?”
Ailish gave no indication of hearing the woman. Perplexed by her silence, I watched as she lifted her nose and sniffed the air. I took a breath as well, but caught nothing over the scent of what simmered in the pot.
I turned back to Deidre. “I followed her here from London five days ago.”
“Crossed the sea, did she? I figured her for Dublin, but I guess London be good a place as any for the likes o’ her.” Deidre paused rocking long enough to pull something from a basket at her feet. With a weary sigh, she settled back into the chair, a small square of knitted green wool suspended between two long needles over her belly. “Some nerve, she has, coming back, seeing there’s a hangman’s noose waiting.” Her hands began to move in a rhythmic pattern, working more yarn into the square. “The hell spawn murdered me Roddy, you know, afore she ran away. Soldiers searched the woods for her, but she weren’t to be found. That one’s good at hiding, and even better at killing.”
Nora’s face flashed in my head. I pushed the image away, though there was little to do for the knot that clenched in my stomach. “Do you know where we might find her?”
“She’s not returned to me cottage, if that’s what you’re hoping. I’ve not seen hide nor hair o’ that devil for four months past. Not since Lughnasa, when me Roddy took her into the village to celebrate the harvest and to see who was getting handfasted.”
My mind pulled apart the Gaelic word. Lughnasa... Lugh’s Day... August first.
“We didn’t expect to find her in your cottage.” I threw a furtive look at Ailish, wondering why she chose this time to be so quiet when she’d been a veritable chatterbox outside. The look went unnoticed with her gaze now pinned to the floor. Her head remained tilted toward the bedroom door. Concentration lines marred her face.
I stared hard at her downcast eyes, willing her to look up. What are you doing? She took no notice of me, and my silent question went unanswered.
Deidre clucked her tongue. “Why did you come to me home then?”
Frowning, I returned my attention to the woman. “We thought you would know some places in the area where Deri might try to hide.”
She nodded without taking her eyes from the yarn. “If the devil’s really come home, I suspect she’s gone back to her blood mam.”
I swallowed hard. “Do you mean Carmen?” Please say no... Please say no...
The needles stopped moving, and Deidre looked up at me. “She’s the one, the very creature that laid waste to Ireland three thousand years back. How did you come to have her name on your tongue?”