Alright, here is another chapter! This is a chapter full of good bombshells, so enjoy! Tell me what you think in a review!
The next morning she sat on the edge of the bed in the white robe, trying to repair a hole that had appeared on her skirt with the sewing kit she'd found in the basket of toiletries . Elliot had been on the telephone, talking with the airline, changing plane tickets, but now he was polished her shoes. An oblong of sunlight lit the room from behind the white net curtain. She thought she had probably not moved at all while she had slept. When she'd woken, Elliot had already showered and dressed.
"These are almost unsalvageable" Elliot said
"I only have to make it home."
"We'll go down to breakfast" he said "Have a real breakfast."
"That would be nice"
"There's no hurry"
She sewed patiently and evenly, as Serena had once, long ago taught her to do. She was aware that Elliot was watching her intently, her gestures seemed to be taking on a special precision, being so closely observed.
"You look almost happy" she said, glancing up at him.
The insanity of yesterday lurked in the shadows. Olivia knew, and it would always be there, a dark place in a lighted room. It would nag at her, drag her down when she let it. She thought then that she ought to be able to say she'd had the worst, got it over with. She could almost feel the freedom of that, to live one's life and not to be afraid.
But she knew already that such freedom was an illusion and that there might be more to come. All she had to do was imagine Julia on the plane that had gone down. Life could dish out worse than Olivia had had, and worse than that. In fact, she thought, her life might be all the more harrowing for knowing what was out there.
She put down her sewing and watched Elliot buff her shoes. The gestures reminded her of James, his foot perched on the pulled out bread drawer. How long ago was that exactly? She rose from her chair and kissed Elliot at the side of his mouth, her hands full with the stitching, his with her shoes. She could feel his surprise. She put her wrists on his shoulders and looked at him.
"Thank you for coming with me to London." she said "I don't know how I'd gotten through last night without you."
He looked at her, and she could see that he wanted to say something.
"Let's eat" she said quickly "I'm starved"
The dining room had wood paneled wainscoting with a subdued blue wallpaper above it. There was a red oriental on the floor. They were shown to a table in a bow window framed with heavy drapes. Elliot gestured for her to take the seat in front of the window. The table was laid with heavy white linen, nearly stiff from its pressing, and set with silver and a china she didn't recognize. She sat and put her napkin in her lap.
She glanced at the window at her side. The sun glistened on the washed street, the room reminded her of drawing rooms in British Films. A fire burned in the grate, and they had ordered eggs and sausages, toast in a silver rack. The coffee was hot, and she blew over the edge of the cup.
She looked up and saw the woman standing in the doorway. Coffee spilled onto the white tablecloth. Elliot had his napkin out to blot the mess, but Olivia stayed his hand. He turned to see what she had seen.
The woman walked quickly toward their table. She wore a long coat over a short wool skirt and sweater. The woman had drawn her hair up into a ponytail, and she looked frightened. As she approached the table, Elliot stood up, startled.
"I was unforgivably cruel to you yesterday." the woman said straightaway to Olivia
"This is Elliot Stabler" Olivia said
He held out his hand.
"Muire O'Brien" the woman murmured by the way of introduction, which he hadn't needed. "I need to speak with you" she said to Olivia and then hesitated. Olivia understood the hesitation to refer to Elliot.
"It's all right" Olivia said
Elliot gestured for the woman to sit down.
"I've been angry" Muire O' Brien began. She spoke hurriedly, as though she had little time. Sitting closer to the woman she she had yesterday, Olivia could see that Muire had the same enlarged pupils as her daughter. "Angry since the accident" Muire commented "Actually, I've been angry for years. I had so little time with him."
Olivia was astonished. Was she meant to forgive the woman? Here in this room? Now?
"It wasn't suicide" Muire said
Olivia felt her mouth go dry. Elliot asked, still operating in a world the women had abandoned, if Muire could like a cup of coffee. She shook her head tensely.
"I have to hurry" Muire said "I've left my house, you won't be able to get in touch with me."
The woman's face was pinched. Remorse did not produce such features, Olivia knew. But fear could.
"I have a brother whose name in Michael" Muire said "I had two other brothers. One of them was shot by paramilitaries in front of his wife and three children as they ate dinner. The other one was killed in an explosion."
Olivia tried to process the information. She thought she understood. She felt buffeted, as though someone had knocked into her.
"I'd been a courier since I'd started with the airline." Marie continued "It's why I went with United, for the New York-Heathrow route. I carried cash from America to the U.K. Someone else would then see that it made it's way to Belfast."
Later, it would seem to Olivia that it was here that time stopped all together, looped around itself and then slowly began to unwind. The world around her, the diners, the waiters, the vehicles on the street, even the shouts from passersby, existed in a kind of watery pool. Only her immediate surroundings, herself, Muire O'Brien, Elliot, the white linen with its coffee stain, seemed sharply defined.
A waiter came to the table to blot the coffee, replace the napkin. He asked Muire if she wanted to order breakfast, but she shook her head. The three sat in awkward silence until the waiter had left.
"I'd met at each airport, New York and Heathrow, coming and going. I had an overnight bag. I was to put the bag down in the crew lounge and walk away. A few seconds, I'd pick it up again. Actually, it was quite easy." The dark haired woman reached across for Elliot's water glass, and took a sip. "Then I met James." she said "and I got pregnant."
Olivia felt her feet go cold.
"When I left the airline, Michael came to the house." Muire said "He asked James if he would carry on. He appealed to James' Irish Catholic heritage," she paused, rubbed her forehead "My brother is a very passionate man, very persuasive. At first James was upset with me because I hadn't told him. I hadn't wanted to involve him. But then, gradually, he became intrigued. He was drawn to risk, certainly, but it was more than that. He began to take on the cause for himself , to become a part of it. As time went on, he became almost as passionate at my brother."
"A convert" Elliot said
Olivia closed her eyes and swayed.
"I'm not trying to hurt you by telling you this." Muire said to Olivia "I'm trying to explain."
Olivia opened her eyes. "I doubt you could hurt me any more than you have done" she said
Unlike yesterday, the woman sitting across from her seemed unkempt, as though she'd slept in her clothes. The waiter came with a coffee pot, and Elliot quickly waved the man away.
"I knew that James was in over his head." Muire said "But he seemed a man who was not afraid to get in over his head." she paused. "Which is why I loved him."
The sentence stung. And then Olivia thought, surprising herself with the thought: It was why he loved you. Because you offered him this.
"There were others involved." Muire said "People at Heathrow, in Belfast."
Muire picked up a fork and began to scratch the tablecloth with the tines.
"The night before James' trip" she continued " a woman called and told him he was to carry something the other way. JFK to Dublin. The same procedures would be in place. It wasn't absolutely unprecedented. It had happened once or twice before. But I didn't like it. It was riskier. Security is tighter leaving JFK than arriving. But in essence, the task itself wasn't that much different."
Muire put down the fork. She looked at her watch and spoke more quickly.
"When I heard about the crash, I tried to reach my brother. I was frantic. How could they have done that to James? Had they lost their minds? And politically, it was insane. To blow up an American plane? For what purpose? It guaranteed to turn the entire world against them."
She put her fingers to her forehead and sighed.
"Which of course, was the point"
She fell silent.
Olivia had the anxious sense of receiving important messages in code, a code that needed immediate deciphering.
"Because it wasn't them" Elliot said, slowly understanding
"It wasn't the IRA who planted the bomb."
"No, of course not" Muire said
"It was intended to discredit the IRA" Elliot said, nodding slowly
"When I couldn't reach my brother" Muire added "I thought they'd killed him too, and then I couldn't reach anyone."
Olivia wondered where Muire's children were right this very minute. With A?
"My brother finally called last night. He's been hiding. He thought my phone..." she gestured with her hands
Around her, Olivia was vaguely aware that other diners were eating toast and drinking coffee, perhaps conducting business.
"James didn't know what he was carrying." Elliot said almost to himself, putting it together for the first time
Muire shook her head. "James never carried explosive material. He was very clear about that. It was understood."
In her mind, Olivia saw the scuffle on the plane.
"That's why James doesn't say anything on the tape" Elliot says "just as shocked as the engineer."
And Olivia thought then: James too, was betrayed.
"It's all coming apart" Muire said and stood up "You should go home as soon as you can"
She put a hand on the table, leaned down close toward Olivia, who caught a brief scent of stale breath, unwashed clothing.
"I came here" Muire said "because your daughter and my children are related. They have the same blood."
Did Muire O'Brien mean for an understanding to pass between the two women, an elemental understanding? Olivia wondered. But then, almost simultaneously, she realized that of course the two women were linked, however much Olivia might wish it was not true. By children, certainly, half sisters and half brothers, but also by James. Through James.
Muire straightened, clearly about to leave. Panicky, Olivia realized she might never see the woman again.
"Tell me about James' mother" Olivia blurted in a rush, an admission.
"He didn't tell you then?" Muire asked
Olivia shook her head.
"I thought he hadn't" Muire said thoughtfully. "Yesterday when you were there..."
Muire paused.
"His mother ran away with another man when he was nine." she said
"James always maintained he was dead" Olivia said
"He was ashamed he'd been left. But, oddly, he didn't blame his mother. He blamed his father, his father's brutality. Actually, it's only been recently that James could acknowledge his mother at all."
Olivia looked away, embarrassed for having asked.
"I absolutely must go now." Muire said "I'm putting you both at risk by being here."
The accent might of done it, Olivia thought. Acted as a trigger. Or was she simply searching for a reason for the inexplicable: why a man fell in love?
Elliot quickly glanced quickly from Muire to Olivia and back again. He had an expression on his face Olivia had never seen before, anguished.
"What?" Olivia asked him
He opened his mouth, then closed it, as if he would say something but then had thought the better of it.
"What?" Olivia repeated
"Goodbye" Muire said to Olivia "I am sorry."
Olivia felt dizzy. How long had it been since Muire O'Brien had walked through the doorway. Three minutes? Four?
When she looked up Muire was gone. And she and Elliot were left. Olivia stood up, and her napkin fell to the floor. Her movements startled the other dinners, who glanced over at her with expressions of faint alarm.
She walked from the dining room straight upstairs towards the hotel doors. She had gotten her key out and entered her room, closing the door behind her. Not nearly a minute later had Elliot followed her. A knock on the door made her turn around, opening the door.
"Olivia, why did you-" he said, breathlessly
"I want to go to Ireland. As soon as possible"
So what do you think?
If you are confused as to what James was involved in heres a explanation: James and Muire had connections with other countries, and James and Muire did illegal importing through Muire's brother, Michael. The bomb in James' bag that caused the plane to explode was planted there because of Muire and her brother's illegal importing schemes.
Anyways, hope you liked the chapter, and please review!