Chapter 16 Chapter Fourteen

When the man from the Irish embassy entered the audience room, he was accompanied by a woman of about thirty.Sinead ignored them.Earlier, just before being brought here by two uniformed policemen, she had refused breakfast. "I've brought the lawyer, Sinead," said Connor Barrins, introducing the woman to her. "This is Rosemary Kavanagh, and she's going to do what she can to fix this. We are How about trying to arrange your return to Ireland?" Sinide gave them a back view, and replied coldly: "It doesn't matter." Rosemary glanced at Connor, then walked around the table to Sinead so that she was facing her.She held out her hand, but Sinead ignored it and turned her head to the wall.

"If you don't cooperate, I can't help you," Rosemary explained.Her tone was gentle and thoughtful, her smile warm and sincere, but Sinead ignored it all.Rosemary was wearing a neat dark blue suit and a white shirt, and her short, shoulder-length brown hair was neat and tidy.She pulled a chair from Sinead's side and sat down, took a notepad from her briefcase, and a pen from her coat pocket. "Would you like to talk to me and tell me what's going on? I understand you made a rape allegation against a pilot. Before we talk about anything else, do you want to talk about that first?"

What I really want to ask is: where the hell did you get the explosives, how did you get them on the plane, and who is helping you, because you sure as hell can't do it alone.As for the rape allegations... Sinide took a deep breath and swallowed hard.She raised her head slightly, met the lawyer's eyes, and quickly turned her head away.After an anxious, long silence, Sinead decided to speak. "No one believed me then, and no one will believe me now, so what's the point of saying it?" Rosemary adjusted her sitting posture and made some notes on a pad.There was a soothing force in the hand she placed on Sinead's right shoulder. "May I try it?" the lawyer said softly, turning to Connor carefully. "Can you leave us alone for a few minutes?" Connor nodded and left the room.

Sinide let out a deep sigh of depression and dropped her shoulders.She recalled what happened, and tears welled up in her eyes.Rosemary took a tissue from her pocket and handed it to the other party.Sinead wiped away her tears and began to tell her story. She was seven, maybe six, the night it first happened.She curled up on her bed, the glass in the room was covered with fog, and the ground outside was covered with snow. "I tried telling my mum, but she wasn't as interested as usual, she was all about him. It was always him, him, him!" "Him?" Rosemary asked, noticing that Sinead's eyes had filled with tears.

"It's mom's new boyfriend." Sinead felt sick at the thought of him. "Where's your father?" Rosemary asked. "Work, he's always working." "I see," Rosemary wrote in the note, "what does he do?" "I don't know. Maybe a taxi driver. He's never at home." "So, where is he now?" "Probably dead." "Okay," Rosemary put the question aside for a moment, "so, can you tell me who sexually abused you?" "The doctor." "The doctor?" "Yes, our family doctor."

"So it's not Rory O'Connell?" Rosemary was a little confused. "He also has a share." "Can you tell me about this?" Sinead shook her head painfully. "That bastard—he ruined my life." Rosemary got up from her chair and walked over to Sinead, putting her arm around her shoulders and wiping the tears from her distorted face with the other. "Cry all you want, you know, you need to let it all out." Sinide finally calmed down a bit, took a deep breath, and tried to continue speaking.She looked at Rosemary. "Can I have a cup of coffee?"

The lawyer laughed. "No problem." She got up and opened the door.Connor was sitting in the hallway when Rosemary caught his attention. "Two cups of coffee with milk," said Rosemary. "It's going on." As Rosemary turned back into the room, Sinead stood up. "I want to go home." "That's why I'm here," Rosemary reassured her. "Would you like to tell me more about Mr. O'Connell?" "I don't know. You probably won't believe me either, no one ever believed me." Sinead sat back in her seat. Connor brought two cups of coffee and a few packets of sugar.He put the things on the table, smiled at Sinead, closed the door, and left the room.

Rosemary tore open a small packet of sugar, poured an appropriate amount into the cup according to her preference, sat down and took a sip.She looked at Sinide, who was also drinking coffee. "You said he raped you, when was that?" "At his house, after school. It's scary--horrible..." Sinead cried.She pushed the table away from her, spilling the coffee.The coffee spilled at her feet and pooled on the ground.Rosemary jumped up and rushed to Sinead's side. "It's okay, it's okay." Rosemary said as she put her arms around Sinide, letting her head rest on her shoulder.She rubbed Sinead's back and comforted her until she calmed down. "I don't want to remind you of pain, but it's important that I hear your story."

Rosemary called Connor in, who wiped up the spilled coffee and brought a fresh one.Sine apologized, and sat down at the table with Rosemary again. "He said...he said...he said he liked my uniform. He made me wear it when he was doing those things." Rosemary tried to hide her shock as she scribbled more notes on a pad.She took Sinead's hand and looked into her eyes. "I'm very sorry," Rosemary whispered. "No little girl should have to go through this." "Do you trust me?" Sinead asked as she wiped away the tears on her cheeks with a tissue, "Do you really trust me?"

"Why don't I believe you?" Rosemary asked back. "How many times has this happened?" "three times." "Did you tell your mother?" "No, what's the use of telling her? She doesn't even believe about the doctor, how can she believe about Rory?" She paused, wiping away her tears, "One morning, I went to school as usual, And never came home again." "where did you go?" "To my grandmother's house, on the other side of town." "Did you tell her what happened?" "No - I told Granny that Mum and her... her boyfriend... were arguing a lot and I needed to be quiet. Granny understood. I lived with her before, and it happened before, So she didn't think much of it at the time."

"Are you an only child?" "yes." "When did you see your mother again?" "She came a week later and said he was gone and it was safe to go home, so I went back. When I was old enough I left there for good and found a place to live on my own." "Have you seen Mr. O'Connell again?" "It didn't take long—he was in the papers, he was a pilot, he looked so happy—the bastard. And I was frugal, I couldn't keep a job, I couldn't have a relationship—he was completely Completely ruined my life, so I want to ruin his too." "Are you really going to blow up a plane?" Sinead looked her straight in the eye. "I really hate him, I hate him with all my heart. You have no idea how much I hate him." "I think I understand," said Rosemary. "So what now?" Rosemary looked down at her notes, thinking about her argument.Whatever happened to this woman's childhood doesn't justify trying to blow up a plane, that's for sure. "It depends," said Rosemary. "It depends on a lot of factors. But first, I'll have to find a way to get you home. After that—well, we'll see how it goes. Anyway, it's a terrible thing." Not an easy thing to do. There are a lot of people who want to talk to you." "What about him? What will happen to him?" "Let's talk about that next time," said Rosemary.