19
Realizing that the sun was setting in Glencree and his office was growing dark, Declan reached forward and flipped on the lamp perched on his desk corner. He quickly pulled back the sleeve of his shirt to check the time and then rubbed his eyes tiredly.
Ever since Kate O’Hara had left his office that morning, he had immersed himself in searching for precedent on cases similar to what had been presented to him.
This could be a monster project—emotionally, legally, politically, even. It had all of the touch points of something that could be big—precedent-setting, in fact. The kind of case he’d dreamed about when he was a student.
But instead of groundbreaking, law-changing civil work that had been Declan’s passion, he’d been stuck on conveyancing, land-registry technicalities and the endless right-of-way issues that so many Irish people relished fighting over. Granted, that had always been the bread and butter of his father’s practice and it paid the bills, so Declan couldn’t complain, but for once he longed to work on something that really got the synapses firing.
Kate O’Hara’s situation could be it.
“Knock, knock” came a voice from the doorway, his sister Alison—a twenty-one-year-old UCD law student in her final year, who helped out now and again to bulk up her experience. “Why are you still here this late of an evening?”
Declan pulled his gaze away from his computer screen and turned to face her. “Just doing a bit of research. That’s all.”
“On what?” Alison asked, entering the room. Her brow was furrowed; she was obviously trying to figure out what pressing boundary dispute he would be working on so late.
“It’s a case, a potential one. Hey, remember when you were in the States last year and that MMR vaccination trial was going on?”
“The one where the dad took the mother to court for not vaccinating? Of course. Why do you ask?” Her eyes widened with interest. “Something similar on the cards here? Wow.”
“Kind of, but not the same. Christine brought in a woman from Knockroe today. Her daughter wasn’t vaccinated and now she’s in a coma. Measles.”
“What? Why wasn’t the poor thing vaccinated?” Alison asked, making a distasteful face. She reached into her pocket and extracted a rubber band in order to pull her jet-black hair up into a messy ponytail. “Don’t tell me, the dad’s the anti-vaxxer.”
“No, that’s not it. Seems her daughter couldn’t be vaccinated when she was a baby due to allergies. But another girl got sick and passed the disease on to Kate’s daughter at school, and it seems the other family are the anti-vaxxers.”
Alison pursed her lips in disapproval. “Unbelievable. What is wrong with people? You know, I’ve always said it was only a matter of time until something like this happened. But wow, Declan, sounds like an amazing case! Can I help—please? I would give my right arm to—”
Declan put his hands on the desk and tapped his fingers as if playing an invisible drum. “It’s not even a case yet, though I do think there’s something there. Apparently, the other mother knowingly sent the kid to school while infectious—not that she intended any harm, I’m sure, but—”
“Willful negligence. But how can we prove that she did so—”
“Alison, hold your horses, we’re not proving—or indeed trying—anything. The mother, Kate, was here purely on an exploratory mission. To be honest, I don’t think the possibility of legal action had even entered her mind until Christine got in her ear...”
“Good old coz. If there’s a tile loose on the path, you can bet Christine will find someone to stumble over it.”
“Stop it, she’s not that bad. But, for once, I’m thinking she might be right with this one. Kate’s daughter almost died, and she still might. And when you think it could have been prevented...”
“Jesus, this is why I hate these freakin’ hippy conspiracy theorists. You know me, I’m all about personal liberty, but honestly, they should all be rounded up and forced to take a needle themselves. Grr.”
Declan had to smile. “Don’t hold back on saying what you really think, Allie. One thing’s for sure, though, with something like this, there are bound to be some very strong opinions on either side.”
“It’ll be amazing! Parents up and down the country will be going nuts over it. The media’ll be salivating, the Health Service will be hand-wringing and the internet will probably explode! Oh, Declan, you have to do it.”
He sighed deeply and ran his hands through his hair. Glancing out the window, he said, “It’s not that. I wouldn’t be looking at this as a way of raising my profile. It’s something else. I don’t know how to describe it...” He swallowed hard. Declan especially didn’t want to try to explain this to his sister. “It’s the mother, Kate.” He looked down as he said the name and then glanced up to meet Alison’s eyes. She was giving him a warning look. “No, it’s not like that.”
He knew that she was thinking in the most basic of interpretations: that Declan was attracted to Kate. Not that Kate was unattractive, but the woman was going through unimaginable suffering.
“Obviously, she’s really vulnerable at the moment, but there’s something else, too. She’s tough. And honestly, she’s been dealt a shit hand.” He recounted to Alison all about Kate’s husband, her job situation, the whole nine yards. “I want to help her. And for some reason I sort of feel...responsible...for helping her get out of this. She said earlier that she wasn’t a victim, and I believe her. I just wonder how many times you can get kicked when you’re down before that spirit becomes broken. What’s more, she didn’t come in here guns blazing and looking for immediate recompense the way that most people do when they feel they’ve been wronged. If anything, she’s skeptical and hesitant about the process. And I do feel that she—and certainly her daughter—truly have been wronged in this situation. And I want her to feel that she has someone in her corner. If this is what she wants to do, that is.”
Declan sat back in his chair and cupped his chin in his hand, trying to decide if there was more to say. He was struggling to find the words.
Alison raised her eyebrows. “I’d forgotten about your Knight in Shining Armor complex.”
He waved off her words. “No, it’s not like that. I really do feel that this is definitely a case worth exploring. It sounds like Kate’s heading for a tough future, assuming her daughter comes out of this even halfway OK. And based on what I learned about her this morning—” he paused a little, realizing he was speaking his thoughts aloud at this point “—I think she’s going to need an outlet—a distraction of sorts—something to work toward to help her get through it. I could be wrong, but she just strikes me as that kind of person.”
Alison shook her head. “You know, Dec, Dad always said you weren’t suited to law and, for once, I think he was right. Too much of a bleedin’ heart.”