Page 13 of The Secret Bookshop in Ireland

‘Maybe, I can’t tell in this dim light,’ Maureen said.

‘We’ll have a look at them later.’ Ciara glanced at Brian, who was standing by the door, whining.

‘What’s the matter with that dog?’ Maureen asked.

‘He might feel the scent of whoever was in here,’ Ciara suggested. ‘It could still be lingering if the person was here very recently.’

‘Very likely,’ Maureen said. ‘Did someone break in and then they tidied the books only to vanish? But the door doesn’t look damaged, so the mystery tidier-upper must have had a key.’

‘Or I forgot to lock the door when I left,’ Ciara suggested.

‘I’d say you did,’ Maureen said. ‘I wonder if we should call the guards?’

‘And say what?’ Ciara asked. ‘Someone broke in and did a big tidy and then left? That’ll give them a good laugh. Hold on a sec, though,’ she continued, then fished her phone out of her bag and tapped in a number, hoping it would connect despite the poor signal.

Ronan answered straight away. ‘Hi, Ciara, what’s the problem?’

‘No problem at all. Everything’s fine,’ Ciara replied. ‘I’m up at Cherrywood again. I’m going to spend a few weeks here just to see if I can make some improvements on the building before I sell it. But I was wondering if you’ve organised another cleaning job? In the little shop downstairs, this time. Where the books are.’

‘In the shop?’ Ronan asked, sounding confused. ‘What kind of cleaning job?’

‘Dusting and wiping mould off the old books and…’

‘And what?’

‘And organising the books on the shelves.’ Ciara was suddenly embarrassed at having called him about this issue. ‘Oh, never mind,’ she said. ‘Nothing to do with you, really. Someoneseems to have been here and done a great tidying job, which is terrific, of course.’

‘Well, it wasn’t me,’ Ronan said. ‘Or anyone in the office. Now that your case has been dealt with, we’ve moved on to another one.’

His slightly curt tone made Ciara feel embarrassed. ‘I see. Okay. Sorry to have disturbed you.’

‘Speak up,’ he said. ‘I can hardly hear you. Your voice sounds as if you’re talking into a tin.’

‘There’s nearly no signal up here,’ Ciara shouted into the phone.

‘So I gather.’

‘Yeah, well, you answered my question so I’ll hang up. Bye, Ronan,’ she said and turned off her phone.

‘That sounded a little rude,’ Maureen said disapprovingly.

‘Well, he was quite short with me,’ Ciara replied. ‘So I didn’t feel like being polite. Anyway, we can put the books in the right order, and see what there is.’

‘I agree,’ Maureen said. ‘Well, let’s go and look at the flat, then. I hope all the stuff we ordered will arrive later today.’

‘They sent an email to say it will be delivered as promised,’ Ciara said. ‘They’ll call before they arrive, if they manage to connect.’

‘Good.’ Maureen walked across the floor towards the door that led to the lobby. ‘We can deal with this space tomorrow and take away the shutters that are blocking all the light. Is this the way to the top floor?’

‘Yes,’ Ciara replied, still looking around at the books on the shelves, wondering who had been there.

‘Come on, then,’ Maureen urged.

Ciara followed her mother into the lobby and up the stairs, thinking about what she might find in the flat. Maybe someone had been up there poking around too? But there was nothing tosteal and not much else to worry about. Brian seemed to have calmed down and bounded after Maureen up the staircase with Ciara following. Once in the living room, they were relieved to find that all was exactly as Ciara had left it and that the sun shone in through the window that Maureen flung open with a satisfied sigh. ‘Just listen to the birdsong,’ she said and sat down on the sofa, looking around. ‘What a nice room. We have to get the chimney swept and get some firewood and then we could have cosy evenings here by the fire, reading books and listening to music on my little radio. Won’t that be nice?’

‘Lovely,’ Ciara said and sat down beside her mother. ‘I’m so glad you came,’ she said. ‘It would have been too lonely without you.’

‘That’s true. This is a very quiet place,’ Maureen said. ‘Where is everybody? I didn’t see a soul when we arrived.’