The Celtic Riddle

"No," Eithne said. "Mother wouldn't stand for it. She wants to remember my father as he was, not the man on that videotape. I still do what my mother tells me," she added ruefully. "Sean isn't either, I think I can say with some assurance. He doesn't believe there really is a treasure. He thinks my father was too far gone, mentally that is, when he made the videotape, that the clues were just a mean joke from someone who didn't know what they were doing anymore."

"Neither am I," Fionuala added. "Breeta, I can't speak for, although I don't think she is. She couldn't anyway, come to think about it. Mother took Bree's clue out of the safe in Da's office and tore it up, along with her own. Mother is a very determined woman," Fionuala added.

"Are you telling me there was no robbery?" I asked.

"Of course there wasn't," Fionuala replied. "Mother went off on the most awful tear. She tore the pages out of Da's diary and burned them, along with two of his maps. She was afraid there'd be something in the diary she wouldn't want to know, and the maps might have something on them that would encourage the rest of us to go after the treasure. We didn't call the police, or anything, so it wasn't so terrible a thing to do, was it?"

"No," I replied. As long as you didn't burn one of those rare old maps, I thought. Although, come to think of it, the diary burning could be seen in another light. Perhaps Margaret really was trying to protect herself from painful things her dying husband might have written, or there were things she wouldn't want others, Garda Minogue and Rob, for example, to read.

"Anyway," Fionuala went on, "The only one I can think of who might be still looking is Conail. He's really angry at Sean, and now with this split with me, he might be doing it to spite the family. He told me, yelled at me actually, when I told him to get out, that he'd find the treasure first."

"Someone trashed our room at the Inn," I said. It was a statement, not a question, but I was still hoping for an explanation. "And tried to swamp us in a boat."

The sisters exchanged meaningful glances. "That might be Conail," Fionuala sighed. "Just his style, I'm afraid. Never one to tread lightly in any respect. It was what I liked about him once. Sorry to hear that, though. And he doesn't have a boat, you know."

"But he does know how to handle a boat," Eithne added. "Do you have another question?"

"How about Padraig Gilhooly?"

"Paddy, looking for the treasure? I don't know," Eithne said, misunderstanding my question. "Oh, you mean, how does he fit in the family? Or do we think he'd trash your room and swamp you in a boat?"

I nodded. "All of the above. And where he came from, too."

"I can't imagine he'd do anything like trash your room and swamp you out on the water. He's actually quite nice, despite his rather sullen looks. I'm not sure where he came from, though, do you, Nuala?" Fionuala shook her head.

"Da just kind of adopted Paddy. He did that sort of thing. He liked giving people a chance. He helped him buy his boat and set him up in the charter business. Paddy almost lived at Second Chance for a while. But then he imposed on our hospitality," Eithne giggled. "That's the way Mother put it. He started going out with Breeta, more than going out, if you see what I mean, right in the house, too." She blushed.

Fionuala laughed. "Scandalous!" she said.

"Mother was furious, said Paddy wasn't good enough for Breeta, and threw him out of the house. That made Breeta really angry. She didn't blame Mother for some reason. We're all a little afraid of her. She blamed Da and his money, which was silly, but Breeta saw it to be the root of the problem with Paddy, Mother thinking we were too good for him. They had a fight. I've never seen Da so angry. I think it was in a way because Breeta was his favorite, and she really adored Da. I think it works that way sometimes, themore you love each other, the worse the fight. Anyway, Breeta left. I heard she's not going with Paddy anymore, so it was hardly worth it," she said.

"That's what your father meant then about Paddy being considered a member of the family. He wouldn't have minded if Breeta had married him?"

"Yes, I think so," Eithne said. "That's all he meant. He never said anything about our boyfriends. I don't think he liked either Sean or Conail very much, but he didn't object to our marrying them."

"Your father went on about how the family was always squabbling. How he wanted the treasure hunt to bring you all together. Is this a squabbling family?"