Now You See Her Page 0,23
that Devon wasn’t among them. A man was exiting the pub as she was going in, and he held the door open for her, the welcoming chatter from inside the room instantly enveloping her.
“Well, well,” a voice exclaimed above the din. “Come back to finish your tea, have you?”
Marcy walked directly to the bar. “You remember me?” she asked the handsome man behind it.
“I never forget a pretty face.”
Marcy felt strangely flattered. Her hand moved immediately to fidget with her hair. “I was hoping you’d be here.”
If the young man was surprised by her comment, he didn’t show it. His green eyes sparkled as his full lips parted in an easy grin. “Is there something I can do for you then?”
“There was a girl,” Marcy said, reaching inside her purse for Devon’s photograph. “Yesterday.”
“Ah,” he said. “A girl …”
“I think it was this girl.” Marcy pushed the picture of Devon across the bar. “Do you know her?”
He picked up the photograph and examined it for several seconds, slowly shaking his head.
“She walked by outside and waved to you,” Marcy pressed, trying to jog his memory.
His smile widened as he returned the picture to her waiting fingers. “I get lots of girls waving at me, I’m afraid.”
“Our Liam’s quite the ladies’ man,” a waitress said as she was walking past with a tray of empty beer mugs. “Shall I have a look?”
“Please.” Marcy handed Devon’s photo to the buxom young woman.
The waitress’s loose blond curls fell toward the photograph. “Hmm,” she said encouragingly.
“Do you know her?”
“She looks a bit like Audrey, don’t she?” she said to the bartender.
“Audrey?” Marcy and Liam asked together.
“Yeah. You know, the girl we see hanging around with that other one, what’s her name? The quiet one who works for the O’Connor family.”
“I’m not sure I know who you’re talkin’ about,” Liam said.
“Of course you do. The nanny. What’s her name? Shannon, I think.”
“Oh, yeah. Now I know who you mean.” Liam took another look at the photograph, gazing at it for ten long seconds before shaking his head a second time. “Nah, no way that’s Audrey.”
“Well, I give you she’s a little younger than Audrey and not so tough lookin’.…”
“This picture was taken a few years ago,” Marcy explained.
“Well, there you go,” the waitress said.
“So you think this could be Audrey?” Marcy asked, trying to fit her tongue around the new name. Devon had always loved Audrey Hepburn, she reminded herself.
“Well, I can’t be sure, of course. But it could be.”
Marcy stuffed the picture back inside her purse, her heart threatening to leap from her chest. “Do you know where I can find her?”
“Sorry. No idea,” Liam said, turning his attention to a man at the far end of the bar.
“You might try the O’Connors,” the waitress volunteered. “Shannon’s their nanny. She could probably tell you where to find Audrey.”
“Hey, Kelly,” a customer called from his table against the wall. “How are you coming with those refills?”
“Be right there.”
“Where do I find the O’Connors?” Marcy called after her.
“They live over on Adelaide Road. Don’t know the exact address. But it’s the biggest house on the street. You can’t miss it.”
Marcy walked quickly to the door. “Thank you,” she called back as she stepped outside, but both Kelly and Liam were busy with customers and neither was listening.
SEVEN
ADELAIDE ROAD WAS LOCATED in the southeastern section of the city about two miles from its center. It was a surprisingly wide, winding street built up the side of a steep hill. The houses were all two stories and relatively new, making up for in square footage what they lacked in design integrity. The majority of them were painted either white or gray, with black shutters framing the front windows. Occasionally a lavender house popped up, or a set of shutters in bold fire-engine red, to relieve the monotony, bringing a small smile to Marcy’s lips as she walked by. Kelly had said to look for the biggest house on the street, but so far, all the homes looked roughly the same size, the only difference being whether they had a one- or two-car garage.
A strong wind had started blowing, bringing with it the pungent scent of the harbor. Cork had the world’s second-largest natural harbor after Sydney Harbor in Australia. Before coming to Cork, Marcy hadn’t realized the city was a major seaport, but then she really hadn’t known very much about Ireland at all.
“Ireland’s the most beautiful country in the world,” she heard Devon pronounce as she followed