Heart Stopper Read online

  Reyna led Priya down the hallway. The heat leaked out and hovered around the open door through which Catherine had disappeared. Reyna opened the second door down the hallway and they entered a room with a double bed covered in a knobbly white bedspread. A chair and a large dark wood wardrobe were the only other pieces of furniture in the room that was warm, heated by a wall-hung radiator that was one of the few signs of the modernization of the house.

  “Sorry about the lack of luxury, Catherine hasn’t gotten to all the rooms yet.”

  “It’s lovely and toasty.” Priya dropped her bag on the bed.

  “Yes, Catherine made sure every room had good heating. That was one of the first things she saw to. I’ll leave you to freshen up. There’s the bathroom.” Reyna pointed down the hall as she left. “Come through to the living room when you’re ready.”

  Priya took her few bits out of the bag and placed them on the chair. The room felt like something out of the early part of the last century. It reminded her of the set that was on display at Maam’s Cross, a little cottage with life-sized mannequins of John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara in ‘The Quiet Man’. She took a towel and her toiletries down to the bathroom and washed her face. Even through the thick stone wall she could hear voices in conversation, two voices similar in tone. She heard Reyna’s laugh, and again the sound vibrated through her.

  ∞

  Tendrils of smoke floated in the light streaming through the window of the living room. There was turf burning in the open fireplace and stacked around the chimneybreast. The flagstone floor was covered in rugs and two couches were set around the fire, with throws draped over them. Through the open door, Priya could see another room with a dining table and an archway leading to what sounded like the kitchen. A large custom-built bookshelf full of books completely hid one wall of the living room.

  “I think Catherine has read more books than anyone I know, she reads everything she can get her hands on, she’ll even read instructions manuals if you let her,” Reyna said from the door. “Can I get you a drink, a glass of wine perhaps?”

  Priya shook her head. “Maybe with dinner. Something smells really good.” She realized how hungry she was, she’d skipped lunch to work on the figures and her stomach was making rumbling noises.

  “Come on in, dinner is served,” Catherine yelled from the kitchen.

  They ate out on the patio that had been built on to the back and side of the house in such a way that it was sheltered in parts, but on a good day it could be used for eating in the company of the stunning view. The large earthenware plates were full with rice and vegetables, and a variety of salads were placed out in bowls. Priya devoured what was on her plate and was surprised at how tasty the meal was.

  “I hope you don’t mind that it is vegetarian,” Catherine said. “I don’t think you are?”

  “I’m not, but I don’t mind at all, it is delicious!” Priya said, “I keep meaning to go vegetarian and every now and then I try cutting down, but I guess I’d have to go cold turkey.” She realized what she’d said when Catherine and Reyna burst out laughing. She laughed as well. “Sorry, didn’t mean that literally. I’d say I could happily be a vegetarian if I got this kind of food served to me every day.”

  ∞

  They cleared their plates and sat back.

  “I’ll wash up, you guys can chat.” Reyna started collecting the dishes.

  “Are you sure you don’t want a hand?” Priya didn’t want the conversation that was coming despite having been aware throughout the evening that Catherine had issued the invitation for a reason.

  Reyna waved away her offer of help and carried the plates into the kitchen.

  “Perhaps a glass of wine?” Catherine asked.

  “No, I think I’m going to need a clear head for this.”

  Catherine smiled. “I actually did invite you out because I wanted to see you again and I knew you’d enjoy this place. But I also want to finish the conversation we started. Have you had a chance to think about what I said?”

  Priya bowed her head. She said, “Reyna obviously hasn’t filled you in on what happened that night has she?”

  “She hasn’t said anything, but I know something must have happened between you two.”

  Priya jerked her head up. Catherine smiled. “I know you were both at the pub at the same time. My dear, there is enough electricity between you two to take care of my ESB bills for a year.”

  Reyna chose that moment to walk back out to the patio wiping her hands with a dishcloth. She halted as she heard Catherine’s words and Priya felt the heat in her face reflected in Reyna’s face.

  “So, which one of you is going to tell me about it?” Catherine asked.

  “It would probably be better if Reyna filled you in on the first part as she remembers what happened in Massimo.” Priya felt herself blushing harder as Catherine raised an eyebrow. Reyna was leaving her to explain to Catherine that she was the woman who had been in the apartment with Daniel. Some kind of twisted punishment. Seemed rather sadistic towards her own mother though, not to relieve her mind. Unless she still thought that Priya had something to do with Daniel’s death.

  Priya took in a deep breath.

  “I was in the apartment that morning. Reyna dropped me off there.”

  Catherine looked stunned. Reyna sat down and the patio chair creaked under the sudden weight. She had changed into a pair of stonewashed jeans and a white top with a pale blue sweater. Priya could not meet her eyes; she focused on the blue of the sweater.

  Priya rushed on.

  “I was in the guest room. I didn’t sleep with him.” She lowered her head. “I found him though.”

  Priya gave Catherine and Reyna as much detail as she could about the morning, about finding Daniel, and about her feeling that something was off, about the faint smell. Their eyes widened when she told them about the voices she heard when she was in the stairwell.

  Catherine was shaking her head slowly. “I got a strong sense that someone had been in bed with him.”

  Priya was hesitant to tell them about her suspicions that someone had searched her house or that she had been followed. She didn’t think they’d get how particular she was about her books or how her mind mapped patterns. And the car could have been a coincidence, the noises outside could have been the imaginings of her heated mind.

  She felt like an open book when Catherine said, “There’s more, isn’t there?”

  Priya told them about her suspicions.

  “Who were all the people with you that night?” Reyna asked.

  “Tara, of course, she’s the other tech, that is, she carries out the regular checks on the pacemakers using the controller.” She saw the look of confusion in Catherine’s eyes. “When a pacemaker is installed at the clinic, the patient has to come in for regular checks for a while after that. Once a month for the first two months post-op and then every three months for the rest of the year after that and then it goes to six monthly, then annual visits. Tara and I use something we call a Controller to read data off the pacemaker and to communicate with it if necessary.”

  Catherine nodded and Priya continued, “Let me see, Aidan was there, and Sheila, Lorna, Maeve, and Laura, they’re the nurses at the clinic. Lorna’s husband and Maeve’s boyfriend were there too. James doesn’t go out to these things; he lets Daniel do the socializing bit. And of course, Clodagh, she organizes all of these things, when it’s someone’s birthday or when we’re celebrating anything; she’s the one who lets everyone know and picks the place. I think Sean was there too, he’s the other doctor. So really, all of the clinic staff except James, and Sean really just showed his face and then left early. I remember meeting the others there, I was a little late and I drank a bit too much and a bit too fast. The rest of the night is a blur, actually to be honest; I don’t remember anything after the first hour.” Except the memory of Reyna’s lips and her body beside mine. Priya pushed that sudden and unwelcome thought out of her mind, but she had glanced at Reyn
a’s lips involuntarily and was mortified that Reyna caught the look.

  Priya turned to Catherine trying to keep Reyna out of her line of vision. “Did Daniel say anything to you, anything at all, about tiredness, or chest pain or shortness of breath or any other physical symptoms?” she asked.

  Catherine said, “No, in fact, he said at the last Sunday lunch I had with him, two weeks before he died...” She paused and cleared her throat. “He said he was feeling great physically.”

  “Physically? Was there something else? And why ask me about the people who were there that night?”

  Catherine looked at Reyna and said, “I think we should tell Priya.”

  Priya felt a flash of annoyance when Reyna hesitated.

  Priya said, “I know what you think of me, leaving Daniel like that. But I’ve been thinking since that he died of a heart attack and in a strange way, that fact had given me a little relief. It made me sure I didn’t have anything to do with his death. Since Catherine spoke to me in New York, I’ve been scared again. I had this underlying fear that I might have been involved in some way. But, you know what? I wasn’t in his bed and I didn’t do anything to him!”

  Reyna leaned forward. “You sound like you’re trying to convince yourself. Because you really can’t be sure, can you?” The harshness had come back into her voice and face.

  “No, I racked my brain. And my gut. Reyna, there are good reasons why I wouldn’t even have gone to Daniel’s in the first place, and I certainly wouldn’t have been in his bed, even with all that drink in me.”

  Catherine said, “I believe you Priya. I wouldn’t have talked to you about it in New York if I felt you had anything to do with Daniel’s death. Do you want to tell us what happened last year with Daniel?” She reached across the table and took Priya’s hand. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to. I got the feeling from Daniel there was something he wasn’t proud of and it concerned you. But that’s all I know.”

  “It’s complicated. And I don’t think it had anything to do with Daniel’s death. It happened last year on my birthday in October and the police got involved, but that never went anywhere and then my mom died and nothing mattered anymore. Daniel and I eventually found a way to live with it. He was very good to me when my mom died; he seemed to understand more than the others.”

  “Are you saying Daniel raped you?” Reyna’s voice was strained and unbelieving.

  “No. I said it was complicated. Some things happened the night of my birthday.” Priya took her hand away from Catherine’s and rested her face in her hands. “I haven’t told anyone this. I was too ashamed. I came on to Daniel that night to stop something happening with someone else. It worked; he ignored her and gave me a lift home. I was drunk, but there was no way I would sleep with him. But, as I said, I was drunk, and I really don’t drink much, never have, I can’t handle it. It’s just since… since things went wrong…and I felt like I had led him on…”

  Catherine came around the table and sat in the chair next to Priya. Reyna was staring across the table with a stony expression on her face and Priya’s voice got weaker.

  “I have this stupid sense of responsibility so when he parked outside the house and kissed me, I didn’t stop him. But I came to my senses almost immediately and stopped him and he seemed fine at first and then he figured out what I’d done and he started talking and this anger just started to build in him. I could feel it like it was some kind of physical wave rising in him. It wasn’t directed at me though, but I guess I was the one there.”

  Priya continued, her voice tight and small, “I panicked when he slammed the steering wheel and I tried to get out of the car. I think he just reacted too; he reached out and grabbed my hand as I was getting out and something snapped in my arm. It felt like that anyway.”

  Reyna’s mouth had dropped open. Catherine put her arm around Priya’s shoulder as Priya continued.

  “I screamed, and Daniel released my hand. He came around and told me to get into the car while he examined my arm. He said we had to get to A&E immediately. He drove us there. We didn’t speak at all. When we got there, he came in with me to the waiting room, but then I think it dawned on him how it would look. I think he panicked. He left. When I was eventually seen, I told them I had twisted my arm, but the doctor could see the bruise on my wrist and with that type of spiral fracture, of course he asked who had done it. The admissions people had seen Daniel with me. They thought we were in some sort of abusive relationship and that I was protecting him. They reported to the Guards who spoke to Daniel. He said I had come on to him, and that it had just been an accident. There was enough of the truth in there and I wasn’t saying anything so they had to drop it, but I got the impression that they thought there was a lot more to it. It took weeks, during all of that time my mum was sick in India, and I didn’t go to see her. I hated them all for that after she died. I asked them to drop it, they’d never have done anything to him anyway, he was too important. And at that point, I didn’t care. It seemed so minor in comparison.”

  They were silent for a few minutes. All Priya could hear was the soothing of Catherine’s hand on her shoulder.

  Catherine said, “It’s not my place to apologize for Daniel’s actions; I think he did try to make up for it in his own way. I know he was feeling bad about something, but he wouldn’t talk about it, not to me anyway.”

  Reyna butted in, “I am sorry. He mentioned you quite a few times to me. I got the impression you were on his mind a lot and you were someone important to him. And then when he said he was seeing one of the researchers I assumed you were together. I can’t believe I took you to his apartment. And left you there!” Reyna got up from the table and stalked into the house.

  Catherine said, as she watched Reyna go, “She’s got a temper like Daniel’s I’m afraid. But it comes out very rarely. Her anger is usually directed at herself. She doesn’t get mad at other people even when she should. She’s not able to see things clearly at the moment.” She turned to Priya. “I’m grateful you were able to tell us about it. And I’m always here for you if you want to talk more.”

  Priya felt a bit lighter than she had since that night, a small portion of the weight carried away on the stream of words that she had let flow.

  Catherine said, “I know there’s something else that’s happened. You’re not ready to share that yet. You’ve been through a terrible time losing your mother, what happened with Daniel, but there’s something more. Something that happened before last year.”

  She nodded as Priya looked at her in surprise.

  “My dear, something must have got you to a place where you as a comfortably gay woman would come on to a man to stop him going after a woman.” Priya cringed and Catherine said, “Don’t get me wrong, I am not judging you. I get the sense that you’ve been through hell in the last while, but you’re not facing up to it. You’re running and you’ve found yourself in a very bad place.” She sighed. “Like Rain.”

  Catherine examined Priya’s face. “The two of you as individuals have got all this negative energy surrounding you at the moment. And you’re both too proud to admit that. So you both go bouncing around the place hitting off things. I just hope this chemistry between you is not a result of all that. Because there is a potential for so much good. Rain doesn’t trust her own judgment anymore. So she doesn’t trust anyone now. Always thinks the worst of people, especially women.”

  ∞

  Reyna walked back onto the patio. She was carrying a large brown package and a glass of water that she placed on the table in front of Priya.

  “I don’t know if you’d still want to help us. Catherine received this in the post. It’s from Daniel. It was here when she got back from the funeral.”

  Catherine patted Priya on the shoulder and got up.

  She said, “Thank you for telling us what happened. I know it was difficult.”

  She sat back down in her chair across from Priya and picked up the package. It was thick and papers were s
ticking out of the open end.

  “As Rain, sorry, Reyna said, you may not want to help us and I’ll understand if you don’t. I don’t understand what the papers are about. There seems to be a lot of information on pacemakers and frequencies, a lot of figures and graphs. I called Reyna when I got them. She’s looked through them too and she doesn’t understand them either.”

  Priya sipped at the water. She sensed that Reyna was just being polite phrasing it as a request for help rather than a command. But she was curious. She reached for the envelope and Catherine handed it to her.

  Reyna said, “Daniel had been worried about something in the last month. He came to New York a few weeks ago and he went through a lot of papers and filing cabinets. He spent a bit of time with our grandfather. He told me there was something wrong, but he didn’t tell me what it was all about.”

  “When did he tell you this?” Priya took the papers out of the package and laid them on the table.

  “He came to New York in the first week in July, a week before he died. He actually got me worried, that’s why I came to Galway to see him. I arrived on the Thursday and stayed with Catherine. He was supposed to meet me on the Friday evening. He said he always went to the birthdays of staff members so I agreed to meet him in Massimo. I waited there and I saw you with a group. I presumed it was the group from the clinic because Daniel had spoken about you and there were no other Asian looking women there.”

  Reyna stopped and looked at Catherine.

  Priya said, conscious too of Catherine sitting there, “Much as it embarrasses me because I don’t remember, I need to know what happened that evening.”

  “You were with the group for the first while. It was a noisy bunch. You and Tara were coming back with drinks and you saw me. You stayed with the group, but you kept looking at me and smiling.”

  Priya felt the familiar heat creep up her face as she cringed inside.

  “You came over after about half an hour and asked if I minded you joining me. Daniel had just texted to say he wasn’t feeling well. That was around 8 p.m. I think. He also added that he had been worrying about nothing and that he’d see me later over the weekend. And then when you told me your name, I knew I should have just left. I was going to, but you were very … interesting. We spent the next few hours talking.”