Page 43 of The Stolen Child

‘How do you get them like that?’ Lily said, walking up behind him. ‘My baskets at the front door are pitiful in comparison.’

‘Pasta water,’ Gaga said, putting down his watering can and turning to give Lily a warm hug. ‘Next time you make pasta for dinner, keep the strained water and pour it on your flowers. It’s full of vitamins and minerals to nourish them – trust me. And free!’

‘I’ll remember that.’ Lily linked arms with her Gaga, and they walked into the bungalow. ‘Does that mean we’re having your famous pasta bake for dinner?’ Lily asked hopefully.

‘It sure does. Chorizo, tomato, onion and lots of cheese. It will be ready in forty-five minutes. I’ve a bottle of Tempranillo breathing out on the patio. Let’s have a glass while we wait for the bake to finish.’

‘One small glass for me, Gaga. I need to drive home today.’

‘I miss the days when you could have a couple of drinks and not worry about the Gardaí pulling you over and bagging you.’

Lily decided to avoid debating the dangers of drunk driving. She’d leave that for another day. She sniffed the proffered glass of red appreciatively. Gaga always bought good wine. Lily took a sip and savoured the plum and blackcurrant notes that danced in her mouth.

‘Why don’t you cut straight to the chase and tell me what’s wrong?’ Gaga said.

Lily raised an eyebrow at him. ‘What are you, a mind reader?’

‘You always visit with Michael and Ben. If you come alone, it usually means you’ve got something on your mind that needs mulling over.’ He pinched the bridge of his nose and asked quietly, ‘Is it Jason? Has he gone a bit funny after that TV interview?’

It was a fair question. Lily’s dad had form. The highs of the possibility of a breakthrough typically led to a spectacular low when things got quiet again.

‘Yes and no,’ Lily replied. She’d rehearsed what to say to Gaga all the way over on the drive. But nothing felt right. How did you tell someone news as big as this? ‘A man has come forward claiming to be Robert.’

Her grandad’s face blanched and his hand shook, sending droplets of red wine falling onto his white T-shirt. He placed his wine glass on the table and said in a voice strained with emotion, ‘Tell me everything.’

Lily went through the past few days’ events with him, sparing no detail. Her granddad listened without interruption, nodding along as she spoke.

‘Are you okay, Gaga?’ she asked in concern when she’d finished bringing him up to speed.

He raised his glass of wine to his lips. He took a sip, then put the glass down. ‘I never thought we’d see this day.’

‘Me neither,’ Lily answered. ‘We don’t know that it’s even him . . .’

‘But you think it is,’ her grandad stated. ‘I can see it in your face when you say his name.’

Lily was surprised that he said that, because she wasn’t sure she knew what she thought. Most of the time she felt sick with fear when she thought about Zach.

‘You came here to know whether you should tell Kimberly and Jason.’

There was little Gaga missed. While his body had slowed down over the past couple of years, his mind was as sharp as ever.

‘Should I wait until the DNA test comes back? Or tell them now?’ Lily asked.

‘It’s a tricky situation, but, for what it’s worth, I think you have no choice but to speak to them about it. It will be another week or so before you have DNA results. You can’t keep them in the dark that long. They won’t forgive you for it.’

‘What if it isn’t him? What if we all get our hopes up again, only for them to be dashed.’

‘What if it is, though? I never believed he was dead. I wasn’t sure we’d ever find out where he went, but over the side of that ship, no.’

Lily looked at him in surprise. ‘Why are you so sure of that?’

‘Look at the situation logically. Robert was six months younger than your Ben. There is no way he managed to unlock the cabin door, leave, make his way up to the top deck, climb onto a railing over six feet high and then fall overboard. It doesn’t make any sense.’

‘But they found his cuddly toy up there.’

‘That they did.’ He took another sip of wine, then said wearily, ‘If Robert drowned that night, then he was murdered. I can’t allow myself to think about that. Because if that happened, then Kimberly or Jason . . .’ He stopped, shaking his head to throw the thought away.

Lily gasped as she felt fresh dread claw at her insides.