Deadly Reunion Read Free Page A

bedrooms ready.
    Rafferty had been expecting this. It had only been a matter of time, he told himself. His ma still liked to poke her nose into his life and since his June marriage to Abra, she must be consumed with curiosity to see for herself how wedded bliss was going; staying with them over several days was the only way to indulge this curiosity that would fully satisfy Ma. Rafferty, facing what couldn’t be avoided, had given a tiny sigh and said, ‘That’s all right, Ma. When do you want to come and stay?’
    But it seemed he’d misjudged his woman. His ma wasn’t requisitioning one of his bedrooms for herself after all, as she was quick to tell him.
    â€˜Don’t be stupid, Joseph. Sure and why would I want to come and stay with you when I’ve got a perfectly good house of my own not half-a-mile away from you?’
    â€˜What do you want it for then, Ma?’ he had asked in his innocence. ‘Do you want to store a pile of Bring and Buy stuff for Father Kelly?’ As long as it wasn’t his ma’s illicit ‘bargains’ she wanted him to give houseroom to. He’d draw the line at that.
    â€˜No.’ She paused and Rafferty wondered what was coming.
    For once, Ma seemed a trifle diffident. It was unlike her. His ma was nothing if not forthright.
    â€˜The thing is son, you know I’ve got some long-lost cousins coming to stay?’
    â€˜Yes.’ His ma had first mentioned this a month ago. But he couldn’t see that it would affect him. Beyond a courtesy meal out with them, it was unlikely, between his new wife and this new case, that he’d see much of them. But now, as his ma explained, he learned that this family reunion had snowballed. His ma had been on the internet – not so much a ‘silver surfer’ as a dyed brown one – and it turned out that she’d unearthed not only the known-about Irish and American cousins and their wives or husbands, but also Canadian, Antipodean and South African ones. The Aussies, no doubt, being Raffertys, would have descended from family who had got there via an ‘assisted’ passage courtesy of the Crown.
    Rafferty was dismayed as he guessed, rightly, what was coming. He hated having people to stay. He never felt his home was his own with others in the house. And the couple his ma wanted to foist on him – for all that they were family – were total strangers to him. The thought of sharing a bathroom with people whose habits were an unknown quantity was unnerving.
    â€˜Sure and most of them are pensioners like meself,’ she told him in wheedling tones. ‘Can’t afford fancy hotels.’
    â€˜They don’t have to be fancy, do they? Bed and breakfast would do, surely? Or the YMCA these days has nice rooms as cheap as you’ll find anywhere.’
    â€˜And haven’t I told you,’ a faintly cross tone entered his ma’s voice, ‘they haven’t the money for hotels of any description. The air fare’s enough for most of them. And then, they’ll need spending money. And they’re family, Joseph. Family I’ve not seen for a long time.’
    â€˜Can’t one of the girls put them up?’ This was a rearguard action and not one he expected to hold the tide. But he had a plentiful supply of siblings and he thought that, between them, his two brothers and three sisters should be able to accommodate several cousins, especially if they farmed their kids out at their friends’ houses.
    â€˜The girls have no room, you know that. Besides, even if they were able to foist the kids on someone for the duration, Maggie and Neeve are in the middle of decorating.’
    His sisters could be as crafty as all their sex. Rafferty wished he was up to his eyelashes in magnolia emulsion. It would give him the excuse he needed. But once back from their honeymoon after their move to the semi from Rafferty’s flat, he’d delayed making a