the sideboard in the adjoining dining room. I got the bottle and poured him a small measure.
“Not very generous,” he muttered and swallowed it in one gulp.
“It’s six-thirty in the morning. Besides I need you sober for now. What were you doing when the pooka called you to ride? Be precise.”
“Warmin’ up. Like I said, I was just gettin’ my strength back after the flu. I wanted to try a few steps but I never got the chance. The feckin’ pooka called me to ride. At first I ignored it, but the next thing I knew I was surrounded by broken glass and the pooka was in my livin’ room. It threatened to break my legs if I didn’t ride. I was terrified of losin’ my career. So I rode and look what happened. I lost my career anyway.”
I couldn’t afford to get emotional. I’d be no use to Ronan if I blubbered over his lost career. “Can you remember anything the pooka did or said? Did it give you any clue why you were targeted?”
He shook his head and a lock of dark hair flopped onto his forehead. “The beast didn’t say anything during the ride. At least, I don’t think so. It was hard to hear over the noise of the storm. It laughed when it threw me. Right before it galloped away, it said, ‘This is a warnin’. Leave me alone.’ It was a strange thing to say. The pooka had made contact with me , not vice versa.”
I made a note of what the pooka had said. Then, “I want a list of all the others who’ve been called to ride. Name, age, occupation, marital status and anything else you know about them. I want to build up a picture of the type of person who interests the pooka.”
Ronan got to work right away. He wrote quickly and soon handed me a list.
I read the names: Nola O’Malley , Derry Boyle , Siobhan Whelan . “Only three?”
“Five, including you and me. I assumed you didn’t want us on the list.”
“No, this is fine.”
As I perused the names and information, he asked, “You want breakfast?”
“Later. I’m going to study this list and work out the best way to proceed.” I went to Ronan’s guest room, where clothes spilled from my suitcase. Must hang them up sometime . But I didn’t do any hanging or even list studying. I had good intentions when I flopped on the bed with my list, but I ended up dozing for hours. It was after midday when I awoke to the smell of frying food.
After eating a super tasty brunch of eggs, sausage and bacon, I headed off to conduct my first interview. The storm had passed and the weather had perked up to something resembling summer. I tried hard not to mourn the blazing heat I’d left behind in Spain.
I set out at a brisk pace, which lasted only a few steps before my muscles protested. I had more strains than a virologists’ convention. In addition to my torn and damaged muscles, my inner thighs were covered in bruises. This called for a special massage from Dexterous Dermot, the fourteen-fingered elf, who worked at the Day Spa on the edge of Fairyland right here in County Wicklow.
You couldn’t just phone Dermot for an appointment. Elves don’t work that way. To make a booking I had to find a fairy at the bottom of a garden. Trouble was not all Irish gardens boasted fairies. You had to find a particularly pretty garden with lots of flower beds, little paths, and maybe a wishing well or some plaster gnomes. I found what I was searching for at the end of a country lane, which was actually called The Lane.
An elderly woman was clipping pale pink roses and depositing them in a basket at her feet. She glanced up. “Good mornin’ to you. Allegra, isn’t it? Everyone’s talkin’ about you. Sure, there are no secrets in small villages.”
I returned her grin. “Pleased to meet you...um...?”
“Oh, how rude of me. I’m Deirdre. Have you come to ask me about the pooka? I hear it’s caused all manner of havoc. But I can’t claim to have seen the beast.”
“Then I won’t need to question you.”
“No, I suppose not.” She seemed