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Authors: Dorien Kelly
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unit that had arrived at Nora’s market yesterday. It was a fine rig, more than adequate for his purposes. As it should be, since he was out nearly forty-five hundred euros for the pleasure of owning it. This with business bills mounting would seem irresponsible to some. For Liam, it was a necessary cost. Necessary to keep his mind moving as his regular work ground to a halt, and most of all, necessary to give him hope.
“Hope,” Liam said aloud, thinking what a small word it was to balance against the unpleasantness in life.
As Liam drove the slight distance from town to Nan Kilbride’s house, he mentally reviewed what more he’d learned this morning in his two-hour-long phone session with the GPR technician. It was already past noon and he had yet to do what he most craved—take the unit for a stroll on Nan’s potentially treasure-rich land.
Oh, he was aware that Vi owned the land now, but it was easier to nose about when he thought of himself as offending only Nan, who surely had better things to do than watch over him. Otherwise, he’d have been obliterated by a lightning bolt through the heart the day she died. Since he hadn’t, she was either occupied elsewhere or didn’t share Vi’s beliefs regarding his behavior that last Duncarraig summer.
Nosing looked to be an easy task today. No car was in front of the house, and the massive rubbish container he’d had Cousin Brian drop early this morning still sat untouched. Liam pulled past the dwelling and as far toward the open land behind it as the ruts in the road would permit. When at the lane’s end, he parked.
Using a mallet and stakes he’d also borrowed from Brian’s construction supplies, he marked the perimeter of the field in the grid pattern that the equipment’s training manual had instructed. Once done, it was back to the car. He fiddled for a while, coordinating the GPR unit’s wireless function with his laptop computer, all loaded with software to help him interpret what he might find.
Liam didn’t give a dead rat about fashion, but even he had to admit a certain amount of unhappiness with the next step. Thankful there was no one to witness him, he strapped the unit’s belt-and-brace rigging about his waist, shaking his head at the little black metal arm that now protruded in front of him. An aluminum foil cap and antennae for his head and he’d be bait for the local Gardaí to question. Luckily, Duncarraig had always been protective of its madmen, or half his family would be in trouble.
“Ready, then,” he said to himself. Liam locked the GPR unit onto the arm. This being part man and part machine definitely felt more natural in the sea than it did on land. He switched on the unit, gave one last check of his laptop, and then settled the computer on his car’s roof.
For the third time in less than a week, he walked Nan’s field. This time, though, he was far less interested in its topography than in what might be hidden beneath the surface. This land had passed down woman to woman for as long as anyone knew. And while Nan’s decrepit house was hardly modern, neither was it old enough to have been standing in the days of legend.
His shiny new GPR would map not only metal, but also remnants of former structures that Liam’s untrained though careful eyes might not discern. Ancient foundations, cisterns, and other voids beneath the earth’s surface would be revealed without so much as a needless shovelful of dirt being turned. Technology was miraculous, indeed, especially for a man with limited time to devote to a task.
If Liam found nothing, he could confess to Vi what madness he’d been up to…how he’d begun a chase based on a jeweler’s notations regarding sale of gold by a Rafferty in the 1800s. Hell, for all Liam knew, that long-ago Rafferty had sold a British general’s gold teeth rather than a piece of a trove long disappeared.
After Vi had cooled—for he knew she’d initially respond with fire—they would laugh
“Hope,” Liam said aloud, thinking what a small word it was to balance against the unpleasantness in life.
As Liam drove the slight distance from town to Nan Kilbride’s house, he mentally reviewed what more he’d learned this morning in his two-hour-long phone session with the GPR technician. It was already past noon and he had yet to do what he most craved—take the unit for a stroll on Nan’s potentially treasure-rich land.
Oh, he was aware that Vi owned the land now, but it was easier to nose about when he thought of himself as offending only Nan, who surely had better things to do than watch over him. Otherwise, he’d have been obliterated by a lightning bolt through the heart the day she died. Since he hadn’t, she was either occupied elsewhere or didn’t share Vi’s beliefs regarding his behavior that last Duncarraig summer.
Nosing looked to be an easy task today. No car was in front of the house, and the massive rubbish container he’d had Cousin Brian drop early this morning still sat untouched. Liam pulled past the dwelling and as far toward the open land behind it as the ruts in the road would permit. When at the lane’s end, he parked.
Using a mallet and stakes he’d also borrowed from Brian’s construction supplies, he marked the perimeter of the field in the grid pattern that the equipment’s training manual had instructed. Once done, it was back to the car. He fiddled for a while, coordinating the GPR unit’s wireless function with his laptop computer, all loaded with software to help him interpret what he might find.
Liam didn’t give a dead rat about fashion, but even he had to admit a certain amount of unhappiness with the next step. Thankful there was no one to witness him, he strapped the unit’s belt-and-brace rigging about his waist, shaking his head at the little black metal arm that now protruded in front of him. An aluminum foil cap and antennae for his head and he’d be bait for the local Gardaí to question. Luckily, Duncarraig had always been protective of its madmen, or half his family would be in trouble.
“Ready, then,” he said to himself. Liam locked the GPR unit onto the arm. This being part man and part machine definitely felt more natural in the sea than it did on land. He switched on the unit, gave one last check of his laptop, and then settled the computer on his car’s roof.
For the third time in less than a week, he walked Nan’s field. This time, though, he was far less interested in its topography than in what might be hidden beneath the surface. This land had passed down woman to woman for as long as anyone knew. And while Nan’s decrepit house was hardly modern, neither was it old enough to have been standing in the days of legend.
His shiny new GPR would map not only metal, but also remnants of former structures that Liam’s untrained though careful eyes might not discern. Ancient foundations, cisterns, and other voids beneath the earth’s surface would be revealed without so much as a needless shovelful of dirt being turned. Technology was miraculous, indeed, especially for a man with limited time to devote to a task.
If Liam found nothing, he could confess to Vi what madness he’d been up to…how he’d begun a chase based on a jeweler’s notations regarding sale of gold by a Rafferty in the 1800s. Hell, for all Liam knew, that long-ago Rafferty had sold a British general’s gold teeth rather than a piece of a trove long disappeared.
After Vi had cooled—for he knew she’d initially respond with fire—they would laugh
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