‘They were extremely intelligent, Sandra particularly so. Mathematically, they were each beyond their years. That’s always a good indicator of IQ. Sandra was the quieter of the two.’ He sighed. ‘Sometimes I wondered if she was taking the information in at all, but she always did well in the end-of-term tests. I guess being quiet doesn’t mean you’re not listening.’
‘What about the girls’ parents?’ Kate watched for his reaction. This time his eyes looked angry.
‘I didn’t teach the parents, only the children.’ His tone was notably hostile too.
Kate let it go. ‘What you said about them being more at home in the woods than anywhere else, did you think they were running away from something, or someone?’
For the first time, he unfolded his arms, tapping the table with the fingers of his right hand. ‘Sandra’s mother – or, rather, her grandmother – was a cold fish. Her harshness came from somewhere rotten.’ He emphasised the last word. ‘I doubt the child was ever hugged or praised, or received a kind word from that woman. Alice’s mother was a drinker. Her parents led a somewhat bohemian lifestyle. Most folks around here put them down as eccentric, but it was borderline abandonment, if you ask me. The girls learned to fend for themselves. Although they were different, they were equally desperate. I guess desperation and fear can make the strangest partnerships.’
‘Did you report either set of parents to Social Services?’ Lynch asked flatly.
Barry Lyons gave him another sharp look. ‘A lot has changed in this country in thirty years. When those two girls were children, an alcoholic mother was tolerated, and an unloving one was far too common. They were fed, dressed and sent to school. They got on with their education. That was enough for folk not to meddle. As I said, I had a lot of knowledge, but not so much wisdom …’ He trailed off.
Kate wasn’t sure how her next question would go down, but decided to forge ahead. ‘Did you ever think that either of the girls had been abused?’
Instead of the hostile look he had given Lynch, sadness was again etched across his face. ‘Yes,’ he replied, breathing deeply. ‘I’ve thought about that over the years, and not only in relation to those two girls. Back then, we only ever saw what we wanted to see. As I said, it was a different time.’ His voice rose. ‘Some people think it was a time of innocence,’ he spat on the floor, ‘but it wasn’t. Ignorance, selective or otherwise, was the mantra of the day.’
‘You said they were always in the woods.’ Kate needed him to stay on-side. ‘How did you know that?’
‘Even before I retired, I found the woods a place of solace. I would be out walking, and at varying times I’d come across the girls. They would be up to some childhood mischief or other. Later, before they moved to secondary school, I saw them less, but that didn’t mean they weren’t there.’
‘Did they hang out anywhere in particular?’
‘They had a few favourite spots. I would often catch the two of them smoking, or lighting fires to stay out late at night.’ His voice lowered again, as he looked out towards the forest. ‘There was something almost bewitching about them.’
‘How do you mean?’ Lynch asked, leaning against the back door.
‘Although they were physically different, you could tell they had a certain quality that would attract others, especially men. The last time I saw them together in the woods was a month before they moved to secondary.’
‘That last day,’ Kate asked, ‘what were they doing?’
He didn’t answer immediately, looking away from the forest to the floor where Kate sat. ‘As far as I remember, they were messing around with cards, not your regular kind but those Tarot cards, the cards of the devil. I had seen them with them before, but there was something different that afternoon.’
‘What?’ Lynch pushed.
‘It was the concentration on their young faces, their enthusiastic glances to each other, almost as if they believed the cards had answers. I remember …’ he scratched his head ‘… they had this large red cloth laid out on a flat boulder. There was a fire crackling to their side, as they each took a turn picking a card from the deck and turning it upwards. They looked at one another almost as if there was no need for words.’
‘Did you approach them?’ Kate asked, keeping her tone gentle.
‘No, but I kept watching. Something stopped me going over. I can’t be sure what, but I do know that at one point one of them looked at me. Maybe she heard something, but either way, they stood up, gathering the cards. Then they picked up the red cloth, each of them holding a side. The wind bellied the cloth as they ran. It was like …’
‘Like what?’ Kate asked.
‘Both of them were so slight,’ he whispered. ‘The further they moved away from me, their bodies got more lost among the trees, the red cloth looking as if it was flying magically within the green of the forest, as if somehow I’d been put under a spell.’
LEACH, COUNTY WICKLOW