Deadly Intent Read Online Free

neighbour a meaningful look. ‘Well, are you still on for Kenmare, Darina? I wouldn’t mind joining you, and I’m sure you’d like company tonight—’
    â€˜Hold your horses now, Sal,’ said Nessa. ‘If you think you’re going anywhere on a weekday night, you can forget it. I’m sorry, Darina, I hadn’t realised that we’d upset your plans for the evening.’
    â€˜It doesn’t matter now,’ said Darina. ‘I’d just mentioned earlier that I might go to a music session in a pub in Kenmare. But really, I don’t feel like it.’
    â€˜OK then, but tomorrow night is definitely on, Darina, isn’t it?’ Sal looked defiantly at her mother. ‘Friday night, see? We’re both invited to a big party and you can’t possibly, like, lock me up for the weekend, can you now?’
    A knock on the kitchen door prevented Nessa’s reply. It was opened cautiously and Fergus Malden stood looking at them. Unlike his father, he was shy and rather quiet.
    â€˜Excuse me,’ he said uncertainly. ‘If things are too busy … But my stomach is still upset and I thought, maybe …?’
    â€˜Come in,’ said Nessa. ‘I’m sorry you’re not feeling any better.’ Earlier in the day, she had accompanied him to the nearest town, Castletownbere, to go to a chemist. It was one of the reasons her day had been so busy.
    â€˜I can wait until the kitchen is quiet.’ He seemed about to close the door again. ‘I was going to heat up some milk but if I’m in your way …’
    â€˜It’s no problem, Fergus, please come in and I’ll do it for you.’ Nessa opened the fridge. ‘You know you’re welcome to whatever you’d like.’
    â€˜I wonder if I could ask you …?’ Darina removed her jacket from the back of her chair and spoke quickly. ‘I’m Darina O’Sullivan, we met over at my studio on Tuesday and I spoke to your father again this morning, down in the village. He told me he might call in to the Barn before he left Beara, but as he didn’t make it …’ She bit her lip as she continued, ‘I hope you won’t mind my asking, because I’d hate to be pushy—’
    â€˜You’ll have to up your sales pitch, Darina,’ said Sal with a laugh. ‘What you’re really trying to say is that you’d love Fergus’s dad to commission a painting or a portrait from you. The great Oscar Malden as rendered by Darina O’Sullivan, isn’t that your idea? But now you’re afraid you’ve missed your chance?’
    â€˜Of course, whatever I can …’ As Fergus spoke, Nessa noticed how grey he looked. For her own sake as well as his, she hoped fervently that he would recover by Saturday. She could hardly wait to put her feet up.
    â€˜Well, that’s it, I actually did a drawing for him today, just a little thing on a card, but I’d like to put a few finishing touches to it.’ Darina hesitated at the sink, cup in hand. ‘I didn’t have time this evening, but tomorrow …’
    â€˜That’s OK. I’ll give it to him and I’m sure …’
    Fergus had a habit of tailing off his sentences, and Sal joined in again. ‘You could bring it over in the evening,’ she said to Darina, ‘when you come to collect me for the party.’ She winked conspiratorially at their neighbour, and in spite of her worries about homework, Nessa was glad to see them becoming friends. There were very few young people in the immediate area, and as a result, Sal often pestered her parents to be allowed to gad about further afield. As for Darina, Nessa suspected that her life was rather solitary – she had lived alone since her mother, barely into her forties, had died of cancer a few years earlier.
    Nessa poured warmed milk into a cup. She felt exhausted, and did not argue when Darina turned