Read Online Irish Lady by Jeanette Baker - Free Book Online Page B

visitors?”
    â€œThey’re watched very closely, Meggie,” Annie reminded her. “We can’t ask anyone to take such a risk.”
    Meghann stirred sugar into her tea. “How long has it been?”
    This time it was Liam who spoke. “Thirty-two days.”
    Meghann froze. She couldn’t have heard correctly. “No.” She managed to form the single syllable.
    Bernadette nodded. For the first time in her life she was unable to speak.
    â€œWhy didn’t anyone tell me?”
    â€œWhat could you have done?” Annie asked reasonably.
    Meghann stood and walked to the mantel where a picture of the Virgin Mary stood framed in cheap plastic. “Is he prepared to die?”
    â€œWhen has Michael not been prepared to die?” replied Bernadette grimly.
    Meghann turned around and faced Michael’s family, seven pairs of identical blue eyes. “I mean to save him,” she said quietly. “Will you help me?”
    A collective sigh eased the tension in the room.
    â€œWhat do you want us to do?” Davie asked.
    â€œI’m going to bring him out.” She looked straight at Connor, the brother who most resembled Michael. “You’ll have to come with me. Hopefully, it will only be for a few days. But I can’t promise that.”
    Annie gasped but Connor only nodded.
    â€œBut Meggie,” Annie protested. “Connor is nearly as well-known as Michael. What do y’ intend t’ do?”
    Meghann pushed a curl behind her ears and leaned forward. Her eyes glowed, and the soft lamplight picked up the burnished red in her hair. It seemed to Annie that all the energy in the room was concentrated in Meggie’s slight person. When she spoke her voice was low, deliberate, and very calm. This must be the way she was in the courtroom, assured, convincing, with an edge of repressed excitement. Annie shivered, eased down the sleeves of her pullover, and forced herself to concentrate.
    â€œDo you know anyone who can come up with identification by Wednesday?” Meghann asked. She was not surprised when every head in the room nodded. She continued. “Michael’s condition will be very poor. We must make it seem dangerously poor, so that removing him to Victoria Hospital is necessary. No one will question it if Miles French insists. Organizing an escape from Victoria Hospital will be much easier than from the H-Blocks.”
    â€œWhat about you, Meghann?” Bernadette interrupted. “They’ll be suspicious if you announce that you’re Michael’s lawyer and suddenly he can’t be found.”
    Meghann laced her fingers together into a braid of white-knuckled, interlocking joints. “I have no intention of letting anyone know that I’m involved.”
    Liam, the eldest Devlin brother, spoke. “Will French cooperate?”
    â€œHe will know nothing about this. Fortunately, Miles is a humanitarian. The right words in his ear and he’ll play into our hands.”
    Annie twisted the wedding band on her finger. “What if Michael refuses t’ see him? It’s happened twice this month already.”
    â€œWe must wait until Michael can no longer make his own decisions.”
    Annie gasped. “Y’ mean until he falls into a coma?”
    The throbbing ache in Meghann’s temples shifted to one side and increased in intensity. “The moment that happens, you must take him off the strike, Annie. You’re the next of kin. The English don’t want a martyr. They’ll listen to you.”
    â€œI don’t know what Michael will do when he learns we’ve betrayed him,” said Bernadette.
    â€œThis isn’t a war crime,” replied Meghann, “and it isn’t IRA business. This is about murder. Someone will pay for James Killingsworth’s death. Do you want it to be Michael?”
    The silence in the room was deafening.
    ***
    One week later, despite her surface-level